EA - An EA's Guide to Washington DC by Andy Masley

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: An EA's Guide to Washington DC, published by Andy Masley on April 10, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.Note: We (Andy and Elika) are posting this on the suggestion from this Forum post calling for more public guides for navigating EA hubs. This guide is not a representation of the views of everyone in the community. If you have suggestions for this guide or general feedback, please comment or message us.If you are visiting or new to the DC area and are looking to get connected to the local EA community, this guide is a useful place to start. This guide is most helpful if you’re considering moving to DC and want to get more context on the community and culture. We’re not trying to convince you to move or to be fully comprehensive.DC is a great place with a vibrant EA community! We hope you enjoy it and are welcomed warmly! To encourage that, feel free to reach out to any local community organizers listed in the People section!OverviewThe Washington Metropolitan Area includes DC itself and other nearby cities in Virginia and Maryland. It's the sixth most populated metropolitan area in the US and contains many distinct neighborhoods. The EA scene in DC is spread across different neighborhoods and there isn’t one specific cluster of EA activity.DC is one of the most active EA hubs. There are a lot of people focused on each of the major EA cause areas, especially AI, biosecurity, animal welfare, and global health. Many of the EAs who live in DC are working on policy directly or indirectly.DC EA CultureWhile we can’t speak for the view of everyone in our community, in our opinion, the EA culture in DC is great! Everyone is friendly, very motivated to do good, and works hard. Here’s a few bullet points on culture:Things are a bit more private in DC.Many in the community are less publicly affiliated with EA. There are a few reasons. The most common we’ve heard is that professionals are more hesitant to associate with any big ideas or belief systems that may not be popular in the places they work.There’s a less intense EA culture.EA DC’s members exist on a large spectrum of involvement with EA. While many members regularly use EA principles in their work and life, you’re likely to find fewer “all EA all the time” people than in other large EA hubs like the Bay Area.Many EA DC members work at non-EA organizations or do cause-specific work.The community tends to be a bit older.In the 2021 EA DC community survey, 50% of members were between 21-29 and 38% were between 30-39.Many people are spread across the DC suburbs, Maryland, and Northern Virginia.There are active groups focused on particular cause areasEA DC has active cause area meetup groups for AI, animal welfare, biosecurity, global health and development, and international security and foreign policy. To join a cause area meetup group just fill out this form or reach out to EA DC at [email protected]'s generally a good EA network to know people in.EAG have been hosted here.EA DC has members working in many different areas of government and policy work and is well-connected to the broader DC political scene.The community is more formal / professional than super social.EA DC is primarily a professional community. A lot of members form friendships in the group, but the primary goal of the organizers is to spread EA thinking, help members network professionally, give members access to effective careers, and promote effective giving.In comparison to places like the Bay Area, there is less overlap between the local rationalist groups and the EA group.EA groups and organizationsEA DC exists, is great, and is always looking for organizing / volunteer help. To get connected to EA DC fill out the welcome form and explore other resources here. Contact EA DC at [email protected]...