In 2021, The Gathering Spot DC opened its doors in Washington, D.C., to professionals, entrepreneurs and cultural leaders across sectors so they could connect, collaborate and build community.

Now, the private membership club is launching Safe House, an opportunity for non-members in the area to use the space as a sanctuary to “work, rest, connect, or simply find refuge in community” during this politically charged time.

Read on for more about the initiative.

D.C. locals interested in Safe House must complete an application and vetting process

As the National Guard deployment and federal control continue to strain Washington, D.C., Safe House hopes to provide locals with a place to breathe. The Gathering Spot DC explained that locals interested in attending Safe House must complete an application and vetting process to get in.

The Gathering Spot’s co-founder, Ryan Wilson, explained in an Instagram reel shared earlier this week that “it is more important that we are in community during moments like this than ever.”

He clarified that while non-members won’t have the same access as The Gathering Spot members, they will get the “opportunity to be with one another.”

“This is what The Gathering Spot was created to do in many ways,” he said.

Wilson urged D.C. locals to “resist” and find power in connection.

“We have to actively resist what we are seeing,” he said in the clip. “This is absolutely unprecedented and unacceptable, but together in community, we will be able to overcome.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Gathering Spot DC (@dcgathers)

Trump has deployed around 500 federal agents and the National Guard in D.C.

On Aug. 8, after the beating of former Department of Government Efficiency operative Edward Coristine, President Donald Trump deployed around 500 federal agents into Washington, D.C., under a 1973 law that allows the president to take temporary control over the capital’s police, The New York Times reported. Since then, he’s commandeered the city’s police force and deployed the National Guard to secure D.C., which Trump said is a hotbed of violent crime.

It’s the first time a U.S. president has taken over the city’s police, a move Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser finds “unsettling,” per The New York Times. She said crime is under control in the city and considers deploying troops an “authoritarian push,” the BBC reported.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, violent crime is down 26% this year compared to last year, and robbery is down 28%, per the BBC.

Trump has expressed a desire to initiate similar deployments in New York and Chicago.

The Gathering Spot

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week