In February’s post about Holla Back NYC, I referenced DC’s “slightly less thrilling, but equally as important” sister site “Holla Back DC.” This site had the beginnings of an excellent foundation of resources for men and women in DC who have been victims of harassment based on their gender, race and sexual orientation. Recently, Shannon, Co-Founder of Holla Back DC, redesigned the local resource giving the site the surge of power it deserved. I was lucky enough to hear from Shannon about the details of the new and improved, Holla Back DC:

I started Holla Back DC! with a friend of mine in March after we found out about Holla Back NYC and realized the one in DC had been down since last year.   Holla Back DC! aims to raise awareness and track street harassment as well as other forms of gender-based violence in the Washington, DC area.  We know that street harassment is rampant in this area and believe that it is a community problem that has largely been ignored.  Holla Back DC! is not only a space where individuals can email us their stories about being harassed, we will also plan to provide tips on how to prevent and protect yourself as we work to make the DC streets/public transportation safe.  Through the use of Google maps, the blog will eventually provide a way to track where street harassment is occurring most often. Our goal is to build a movement of individuals invested in creating a community free of gender-based public sexual harassment.

Also, we are hosting the Holla Back DC! launch party on April 29th from 6pm-8pm at Cafe Citron. Here we will celebrate the blog, collect stories from individuals,  discuss the need for grassroots activism, and hear from several activist who have been working to raise awareness on the problem.

Holla Back DC can only survive if we as readers share our experiences with street harassment as well as solutions to end this issue. You can follow the site on Twitter and e-mail the writers directly at dchollaback@gmail.com.