Mission: Best Buddies International is dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The IDD community that Best Buddies serves includes, but is not limited to, people with Down syndrome, autism, Fragile X, Williams syndrome, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and other undiagnosed disabilities. The Citizens program matches an adult with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in a one to one friendship with a peer without a disability.
Website/Volunteer form: https://bestbuddies.org/take-action/get-involved/
Email: capitalregion@bestbuddies.org
Phone: (703) 533-9420
What volunteers do:
- Best Buddies are expected to commit to a year of volunteering, communicating weekly with partner, and getting together 1-2 times a month.
- Volunteers also can assist with: Donating products or services (ie office supplies, equipment, furniture, IT support, graphic design, etc), Providing fundraising support, Volunteering at a special event, Participating in one of Best Buddies' signature five-star cycling events and raising money for my local Best Buddies office.
Mission: The ACLU of the District of Columbia (ACLU-DC), with more than 8,500 local members, fights to protect and expand civil liberties and civil rights for people who live, work, and visit D.C., and in matters involving federal employees and agencies. Those who join us also become members of the National ACLU. ACLU-DC pursues its mission through legal action, legislative advocacy, and public education. In addition to representing clients in court, sometimes we work with government agencies to defend liberty without litigation. We also testify and lobby before the D.C. Council, and we educate the public through Know Your Rights trainings and materials, appearances on radio and television, social media activity, and meetings with community groups.
Website: https://www.acludc.org/en/volunteer
Volunteer signup form: https://action.aclu.org/secure/dc-volunteer
Email: n/a
Phone: (202) 457-0800
What volunteers do:
- Help with community organizing, grassroots lobbying, research, writing, and online activism.
- Provide fundraising assistance, multimedia support, translation, and graphic design.
- Monitor protests, and take photos/videos.
Mission: Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf (HEARD), is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that promotes equal access to legal system for individuals who are deaf and for people with disabilities. HEARD primarily focuses on correcting and preventing deaf wrongful convictions, ending deaf prisoner abuse, decreasing recidivism rates for deaf returned citizens, and on increasing representation of the deaf in the justice, legal and corrections professions. HEARD created and maintains the only national database of deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind detainees & prisoners.
Website: http://www.behearddc.org/get-involved/get-involved.html
Contact: http://www.behearddc.org/contactus.html
Phone: n/a
What volunteers do:
- Visit deaf and deaf blind prisoners in your area.
- Become a pen pal for a deaf or deaf blind prisoner.
- Help us raise awareness about wrongful arrests and convictions of deaf people.
- Become a "Know Your Rights!" presenter after completing your training with HEARD.
- Testify at a legislative hearing in your area.
- Donate stamps, envelopes, and old or new ASL dictionaries.