ABOUT SERVE YOUR CITY/WARD 6 MUTUAL AID

Serve Your City serves as the infrastructure hub for Ward 6 Mutual Aid, playing a pivotal role in facilitating and coordinating mutual aid initiatives within our communities. We operate under the model of “solidarity, not charity,” providing sustainable support to Black and Brown communities. Our programs uplift at-promise youth, foster healthy communities, and amplify the voices of our neighbors, all in pursuit of liberation.

We operate from and partner with Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, Faith Tabernacle United Holy Church and Capitol Hill Arts Workshop in Capitol Hill, DC, as well as ONE DC's Black Workers and Wellness Center in Southeast DC, to extend our reach. Together, we build collective support systems across DC and beyond.

OUR PARTNERS

OUR MISSION

Operating from a model of solidarity, not charity, Serve Your City/Ward 6 Mutual Aid coordinates efforts among organizers, passionate members and volunteers, and dozens of grassroots organizations to create sustainable communal support from within Black and Brown communities in DC and beyond. Through providing programming for at-promise youth, promoting healthy communities, and empowering our neighbors to ensure their voices are heard, we show up and work tirelessly every day. Together, we are marching proudly toward Liberation.

OUR TEAM

SYC_W6MA WEBSITE_ NEW TEAM HEADSHOTS_MAURICE

Maurice Cook

Executive Director of Serve Your City and Lead Organizer with Ward 6 Mutual Aid

Raised in Maryland and DC, Maurice was the first male in his family to attend college, eventually earning a master’s degree. His love of his hometown, coupled with his frustration with the systemic racism experienced by Black and Brown youth in DC and throughout this country, drove Maurice to create Serve Your City in 2009 and to step up as a leader with Ward 6 Mutual Aid when the pandemic struck in March 2020. He lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Jackie.

Michael Houck

Michael Houck was born and raised in Washington, DC, in the Anacostia neighborhood in Ward 8. As a youth he noticed rapid economic and structural changes happening both in his community and his city. He wanted to learn how to organize and fight against the oppressive challenges that affected him and his people, so he started his organizing journey in high school. Today, Michael manages Serve Your City/Ward 6 Mutual Aid’s tech program and resource distribution efforts on a daily basis.

SYC_W6MA WEBSITE_ NEW TEAM HEADSHOTS_CHRISTIAN

Christian Sutton

Christian Sutton was born and raised in Washington, DC. He is an organizer for Serve Your City/Ward 6 Mutual Aid’s food distribution and tech programs. He is a graduate of the University of the District of Columbia.

SYC_W6MA WEBSITE_ NEW TEAM HEADSHOTS_MIRANDA

Miranda Mlilo

Miranda Mlilo is the creator and coordinator of the Tutoring and Youth Enrichment Program at Serve Your City/Ward 6 Mutual Aid, known as the Free School for Unlimited Youth. She works to end the opportunity gap by providing academic tutoring and creative after school activities for students in historically underserved communities. As a child of immigrant parents from Palestine and Zimbabwe, Miranda is passionate about advancing equity and works in the community to organize around indigenous sovereignty, and racial and environmental justice.

Serve Your City Board of Directors

Naa Sackeyfio, Board Chair
Moriam Animashaun, Board Secretary
Mike Coburn, Board Member
Billy Mayfield, Board Member
Maddy Gitomer, Board Member

If you are in need of help, or if you know someone who needs help...

For more information on the food and supplies we provide to DC residents and others...