Rashida’s In-District Work

The heart and soul of Rashida’s public service is staying #RootedInCommunity, including partnering with Michigan organizations, activists, and workers who are building a better world. She has been fighting for and alongside marginalized communities for years, securing important progress for justice and raising the bar for constituent services. 

The residents of her district have been crucial decision-makers and partners in Rashida’s policymaking. She makes sure to bring residents of her district to Congress and to bring members of Congress to her district. Rashida also understands that getting people through everyday challenges is as important as getting bills passed. 

Do you live in Michigan’s 12th congressional district?

How Rashida has fought for her district in addition to legislation:

• Secured over $55 million in federal funding for 25 local community projects that directly benefit youth, seniors, and more communities in need of this kind of investment. This includes $7 million to replace dangerous lead service lines and support the right to clean water, as well as funding to provide affordable housing, to address flooding, to develop wellness hubs and expand clinics in the effort toward health equity, to expand high-speed broadband, to clean up industrial pollution, and more. See details by city here.
• Returned more than $5.5 million back to district residents in the form of social security and disability benefits, veteran benefits, debt reduction, tax returns, securing back pay, and helping people navigate government services.
• Created three Neighborhood Service Centers throughout the district, bringing critical services to residents that continue to make an immediate impact in people’s lives. Through these centers, our team has assisted thousands of residents with constituent services, including supporting residents with utility and water payments, ensuring residents applied for FEMA assistance after 2021’s flooding, advocacy on landlord tenant issues, legal services, and assistance with various everyday challenges. 

Housing and environmental justice:

• Rashida has helped ensure that her district was included in the latest CDC eviction moratorium—a district court judge explicitly thanked her for clarifying the law and keeping families in their homes.
• Used her office and resources to check on 200,000 people throughout her district—connecting residents to the resources needed during the pandemic and listening to people’s concerns.
• Brought three congressional hearings to the district on housing affordability and environmental injustice, so members of Congress could hear from local experts. By bringing decision-makers to directly impacted communities, we can get Congress and the federal government to act with the urgency we need.
• Created the bipartisan Get the Lead Out Caucus in the House of Representatives to push for urgent action to remove lead pipes. In coordination with local grassroots water rights coalitions, Rashida and her team organized a Get the Lead Out tour of Michigan communities with lead contamination, where members of Congress heard directly from community leaders on the ground.
• Coordinated 3 different toxic tours for members of Congress and Michigan’s Attorney General, to listen to people on the ground who are leading the way on the frontlines of social and environmental movements for justice.
• Launched an investigation into corporate polluter Marathon Oil for its role in funding front groups and lobbying to weaken vehicles’ fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards.
• Hand-in-hand with local lawmakers and neighborhood residents, Rashida has successfully pushed Michigan’s environmental regulation agency to hold Fiat Chrysler (now merged with Stellantis) accountable for dangerous violations of its air quality permit. 

• Through her Rooted in Community Leadership PAC, Rashida and her team have trained young community leaders in a local fellowship, as well as people interested in running for local and state-wide public office—some of whom later won their elections! Getting people like us to run for office is critical to securing the bold policy changes we need.
• Created three local legislative working groups to address environmental injustices, access to housing, and civil rights and liberties (including police brutality and facial recognition technology).
• Rashida and her team are laser-focused on making sure we get our fair share of resources. The team created an e-newsletter and host webinars on how organizations can apply for federal grants.
• Engaged over 30 district schools to promote child literacy.
• Helped raise over $370,000 for grassroots organizations, many based in Rashida’s district, including:

Raised over $30,000 dollars to help bail out Michigan mothers who are in cages simply because they cannot afford bail—so they can go home to their families for Mother’s Day and beyond. 

Raised over $17,000 for local organizations supporting seniors and families who faced displacement during 2021’s catastrophic flooding. 

Raised and donated over $34,000 for food banks and food distribution services in the district. 

Raised over $100,000 for local Black-led, Indigenous-led, Latine-led, and undocumented-led groups.

Raised thousands of dollars for local abortion care.

Raised about $7,000 for a full-service program providing asylum-seekers with safe shelter, food, clothing, legal aid, access to medical and mental healthcare, and support with finding employment and housing.

Want more information about Rashida’s policymaking work? Check out more here.