By the time President Donald J. Trump federalized the Metropolitan Police Department , the Rev. Dr. Brian Scott Relford, Sr. and other members of Union Wesley African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church had already spent weeks planning for an annual event that connects residents to various resources.

For Relford, the event known as Unity in the Community served a much greater purpose this year for congregants and community members, many of whom were blindsided by federal government furloughs , cuts to Medicaid, and more recently, the surge of federal law enforcement agents and National Guard members in District neighborhoods.

“We understand that in order for the community to be safe, in order for the community to be better for all of us, then we have to work together,” Relford

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