YATF Arts and Crafts Program at Greenleaf Recreation Center



SOUTHWEST NEIGHBORHOOD ASSEMBLY

ANNUAL REPORT 2010

“The mission of the Assembly shall be to improve the quality of life for all residents of Southwest; to open to every resident the wide cultural horizon of urban living; to help create rich and equal social, educational, and economic opportunities for residents of Southwest; to assist in providing the opportunity for gainful employment for all, and to promote development of the economic and aesthetic potential of Southwest. This mission shall be pursued without regard to the social, economic and racial barriers that have divided cities in the past.”

SWNA Officers & Board Members 2

Message from the President 3

Treasurer's Report 4

The Southwester 5

History Task Force 6

Scholarship Task Force 7

Youth Activities Task Force 8

Technology Task Force 9

Employment Task Force 10

SWNA 2009-2011 Officers and Board Members:

President: Carolyn Mitchell

Vice-President: Kael Anderson

Secretary: Anne Martin

Treasurer: Ellen Winship

1st District Representatives: Grace E. Daughtridge, Emir Frisby

2nd District Representatives: Saadia Athias

3rd District Representatives: Kael Anderson

4th District Representatives: Ken LaCruise, Vandana Sareen

Task Forces:

The Southwester: Tiffany Klaff & Erin Fitzgerald

Youth Activities: Rick Bardach, Saadia Athias

Scholarship: Carolyn Mitchell

History: Lida Churchville

Technology: Perry Klein

Employment: Vandana Sareen & Grace E. Daughtridge

==============================================

Message from the President

Carolyn Mitchell

Thanks to the Southwest community for continued support of the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly. Whether through attending meetings, financial support; placing an ad in the Southwester or donation of a computer not in use, we thank you.

This year started with one of the biggest snowstorms Washington, DC has ever seen, with many of us home- bound for days. Still, many faithful residents made their way out to the January General Meeting held at the First District Police Station to hear about the value of completing the 2010 U.S. Census and watching a little history of Southwest Development: Past and Present in the film The Bulldozer and the Rose.

On March 22, 2010, SWNA moved into our permanent office located at 1101 4th Street SW, Suite W110, along with the ANC office next door.

Monthly meetings brought fabulous and informational speakers such as the National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women and a panel on Race in America and Southwest DC. Our community forums brought many residents from near-Southeast to find out more on the CSX Project in how they plan to revamp the railway tunnels running through Southwest and Southeast. Spring is always started with an update as to what we can expect from the Washington Nationals Baseball team. April and May proved to be exciting meetings with Arts in Southwest, Community Programs for Youth and Seniors, and the dedication of two separate neighborhood Call Box projects, dedicated to Dr. Dorothy Height and four other women civil rights leaders and to Justin Dart, father of the American with Disabilities Act. We heard from the Amidon-Bowen and Jefferson school Principals, Representatives and PTA Presidents on what we could expect for the 2010 – 2011 school year for the youth. Candidates for ANC positions were out in full force to let the people of Southwest know to vote for them, and the year finished with development updates from Safeway, St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, the Consolidated Forensic Laboratory. And PN Hoffman & Madison Marquette gave a glimpse into the future of their plans for development along the Washington Channel.

Continued participation in other community organization’s events has help to bring an awareness of the Assembly. The Southwester’s Dining Guide was a big hit at the Cherry Blossom Festival. Many enjoyed viewing old photos at Southwest Unity Day, and residents enjoyed Southwest Neighbor’s Night at the Army’s Twilight Tattoo presented at Fort McNair. SWNA representatives also worked with the Safeway Task Force.

Monthly meetings continued with the Washington Nationals to help to get the appropriate street parking signs posted, coordination of distribution of many baseball tickets to our seniors and young people to attend games, planning of Southwest Night at NatsTown and to help identify students to participate in the National youth baseball clinic.

The Southwest Neighborhood Assembly looks forward to continue working with the community in making the Southwest/Capitol Riverfront Communities a better place to live and work.

Carolyn G. Mitchell

President

[pic]

The Southwester

Tiffany Klaff and Erin Fitzgerald, Co-Editors

We are excited about the opportunity to work on the The Southwester newspaper! We have large shoes to fit and hope to be able to carry on with the level of professionalism where Glenn left off.

Tiffany Klaff has lived in SW for the past 5 years. She is a Senior Editor at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Tiffany helped out with copy editing in The Southwester for the past few months.

Erin Fitzgerald has live in SW for the past 2 years. She is a Publications Specialist with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Erin helped out as Assistant Editor with The Southwester for the past year.

As of March 2011 we have published two issues, Jan./Feb. and March, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who assisted by submitting information, taking pictures, or advising us as we worked through our first issue as editors. Some highlights include:

• An announcement of the PN Hoffman first-phase PUD (which was announced in The Southwester two days prior to the Washington Business Journal)

• Notice of the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly’s upcoming elections, with list of current nominations

• A write-up about the Near SE/SW Parents and Neighbors for Education Excellence Now! group and their plans for the future

• A update on happenings at 4th and M streets

• An update on the MLK day competitions at the King-Greenleaf recreation center

We have garnered the help of two volunteer business managers who are currently coming up with a business plan for the paper’s bookkeeping and advertisers. We are also looking to find more volunteer writers who will help provide a greater variety of submissions.

One of our first goals as editors will be to create an internal statement regarding submissions. We hope that by creating editorial guidelines for all writers we will be able to improve the quality of the copy and the overall journalistic value of the paper.

We hope to improve the range of content to ensure all aspects of our great neighborhood are covered, and this includes maintaining coverage of the Capitol Riverfront Community.

We also hope to streamline the processes so we can begin to maintain a somewhat predictable production schedule. That way, we will have the papers out at the same time each month, and they can be something residents begin to look forward to!

Lastly, we hope to increase the quality of all photos and images included in the paper.

We thank you again for your patience as we “jump in the deep end.” And want to remind you all that if you ever have any ideas for articles please send them our way!

History Task Force

Lida Holland Churchville, Chair

Following the great success of 2009’s History Task Force call box events, including the dedication of 14 Cherry Blossom call boxes on April 11, 2009, as well as the Thurgood Marshall call box unveiling on May 17, 2009, the History Task Force received financial assistance for three additional call boxes. At the time of the gift, we learned that Cultural Tourism DC would not be involved in future call box projects. This fact made it very important to use our gift wisely.

Perry and Susan Klein encouraged their apartment neighbors to honor Dorothy I. Height, and other professional women in Southwest, by dedicating the two call boxes in front of 700 7th Street SW. The first call box was dedicated to Dr. Dorothy I. Height, President Emerita of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). The other call box highlighted four Southwest neighbors who worked in the Civil Rights Movement, namely: Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, who lived at Waterside Towers, SW; Hawaii Congresswoman Patsy Mink, 611 6th Street SW; former Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, 700 7th Street SW; and, former National Organization for Women President Molly Yard, 610 7th Street SW.

The dedication of the 7th Street call boxes took place on May 21, 2010 at Jefferson Middle School. Although Dr. Dorothy Height had died just one month and one day earlier at the age of 98, the day was a happy one. MC Thelma Jones, former SWNA President, noted that Dorothy Height had been an important part of the planning for her call box. Dr Height loved to wear big hats, and she was glad to know that her call box would be adorned with a hat!

Those who worked with the Kleins include Theresa A. Jenkins, Dr. Patricia E. Ortman, Saadia Athias, Benè Millinery, Atlas Manufacturing Company and Guy Brami of Gelberg Signs.

The third call box had originally been part of a pair. A few years back, a truck had toppled one of the pair, but left the original base. The call box and base are located immediately in front of Waterside Towers, 901 6th Street. Recognizing that this might be the last call box venture for some time, it was noted that the call box and base were in front of Waterside Towers, the home of the late Justin Dart, Jr., a neighbor who had moved to Southwest Washington to work for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Never without his cowboy hat and boots, Justin accomplished wonders for those with disabilities by his success in helping to get ADA passed and implemented. Wherever Justin Dart went, his wife Yoshiko was there to help Justin reach his goals right up to the time of his death in 2002.

Realizing that the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act would be celebrated in DC in July 2010 by the disabled from all over the country, the History Task Force members encouraged Yoshiko Dart to become part of the call box project. Richard Treanor, attorney and disability rights advocate, was commissioned to create a painting of Justin Dart, Jr. to go in the Call Box. Yoshiko Dart inspired everyone when she suggested that the broken call box base be made into a wheelchair-height column bearing the names of those who fought for disability rights. Guy Brami of Gelberg Signs did an excellent job fulfilling Yoshiko's wishes.

Most of the basic call box painting had been completed by young members of the DC Earth Conservation Corps before our History Task Force began working with the final artwork. However, a bad rainstorm prevented the Corps members from painting the call boxes in front of Waterside Towers. The Task Force was most fortunate in having Southwest volunteers handle the job: the three painters were William Marshall, Niles White, and Joseph Xavier.

The dedication of the Waterside Towers call boxes fell on July 24, 2010 – one of the hottest days of the year. After the unveiling of the first call box by Councilman Tommy Wells and Linda Donavan Harper, Executive Director of Cultural Tourism, DC, and the second call box by Yoshiko Dart, Ron McBee, Chair, ANC 6D, and Carolyn Mitchell, President of SWNA, the group moved indoors to hear the rest of the program. Thelma Jones served as MC for greetings from disabled friends of Justin Dart, and Yoshiko Dart cut the 20th Anniversary cake and led a singing of Happy Birthday. An excellent videotape was made by History Task Force member, Douglas Galbi, who has posted the ten-minute video on YouTube.

Thanks to the help of Councilman Wells and his staff, the History Task Force was able to convince the DC Police that parking signs needed to be changed in order to give anyone in an automobile, or on a bus, a view of our ADA call boxes, the tall one and the shorter one – just the right height for someone in a wheelchair.

================================================

Scholarship Task Force

Carolyn G. Mitchell, Chair

The Scholarship Task Force continues to provide financial support to Southwest students in their pursuit of higher education from the donations of the Southwest residents, organizations and businesses.

Now in its 35th year, SWNA’s Scholarship Program, has helped approximately 252 neighborhood youth achieve their educational goals by the financial support with help toward the cost of tuition, purchase textbooks, provide for small necessities, or help pay for activities and travel.

In school year 2010 – 2011 seven students were given grants totaling $7,500 thanks to the generosity of Southwest residents. These donations allowed the all-volunteer SWNA Scholarship Task Force the opportunity to assist these seven students to achieve their educational goals. Individual student awards ranged from $500 to $1,500. University of Buffalo Junior, Alan Kellogg was selected to receive the Friends of Southwest, $1,500 award. Three of the students who have been recipients during their four continuous years of school will be graduating. Two will be entering the workforce and one will be entering medical school to become an obstetrician/gynecologist.

The Students

Any student who lives in the “near Southwest” (zip code 20024) community and has been accepted to an accredited college or post-secondary institution is eligible to be considered for a grant. A personal interview, scholastic achievement, financial need and community service are considered when making the awards. Because of the varied housing and income levels of Southwest, our scholarship recipients come from public housing, subsidized housing (Section 8) and middle-income residences.

Here is one student’s expression of appreciation:

I am honored to have been a recipient of your scholarship and will like to sincerely thank you for contributing to my financial needs during this upcoming fall semester of my senior year at Virginia State University (VSU). This previous semester, I had found myself in a financial standstill and wanting to continue on with my education. It was your consideration and thoughtful donation that made it possible for me to do so.

The Volunteers:

Thanks are due our volunteers, Rick Bardach, Anita Allen, Marsha Letsinger, Dale MacIver, and SW Library Staff, who made sure applications were distributed and collected and kept us informed about the status of the applications.

Youth Activities Task Force

By Saadia Athias

The mission of YATF 2010 was to provide community youth with activities and learning experiences that teach leadership and social skills which are effective deterrents to drug abuse, gangs, violence, and teen pregnancy. The SWNA YATF goals for 2010 were to develop community partnerships and programs for the youth in our Southwest community. The partnerships were slated to target additional facilities to support summer and year round workshops for the youth in our area, particularly the 13 year olds, who were omitted from the summer programs and who are potentially at risk without wholesome programs that provide structure, instrumental role models and extracurricular activity, where they can gain to improve themselves.

Department of Recreation (Ward 6 representatives), DC Public Schools “Out of School Time”, Tommy Wells Youth Consortium Committee and YATF discussed the programs slated for the Greenleaf Recreation Center, with the concern for limited space and over running Greenleaf. We reiterated the importance of our need for facilities to run programs for our youth, where there are gaps in services. In the previous year we had movies in the park, community festival, Arena Stage. We discussed the use of the Lansburgh Park facility with DPR director (Jesus Aguirre) for workshops and community run garden that we were trying to keep ongoing. The DPR discussions were also based on the vital need for the Randall Recreation Center and for the Randall School to be returned to the community because of its essential purpose for our community resources and much needed facility.

Also there was an opportunity to use the Jefferson Middle School for programs, and ideas to plan a “Summer Youth Calendar for Drop in Programs”. YATF supported the Principal Stephanie Patton at Jefferson Middle School who was able to launch a transition program from 9am to 4pm from July 12th through July 30th. The Principal was also able to provide feedback for the YATF survey, requested by DPR, which were questions answered by the Middle school students on which summer activities that they would like to join. The intention of the survey was to substantiate evidence that they show interest in recreation. The most popular were swim lessons, gourmet cooking, All Star Games and Sports, Field Trips, Gymnastics, College Bound activities, photography, and arts and crafts. We were also able to provide space for the Mayor’s Summer Youth programs at Jefferson. Other coordinated activities were with local community partners such as the Dragon Boats, Arena Stage and The Harbor Patrol.

The SWNA Youth Activities Taskforce lunched The Arts and Crafts Program at Greenleaf Recreation Center. There was a $300 start fee donated by YATF. The program was initiated by Saadia Athias acting Chair of the YATF from April to October 2010 at the Greenleaf Recreation Center on Fridays from 5 to 8 pm. These fun and basic arts and crafts projects are for younger children who love painting, gluing, sculpting. The Arts and Crafts program was made a complete success by the youth who were from the ages of 8 to 12. The program serves no less than 15 children a session who are very eager and delighted to become artistic and create beautiful craft projects.

The Mother’s Day project was a huge success where the boys and girls made picture frames with sea shells. Other craft projects were seasonal projects such as wind chimes that were made with sea shells and wood craft assembly projects. We personalized our summer crew hats and back packs with fabric paints. We also added music the “Cha Cha Slide” for the children’s enjoyment.

Volunteers have included Rhonda Hamilton, Dr. Beryl Rice and Romaine Copper.

Volunteers, funding and craft supplies are needed to keep this wonderful program for the youth in our community.

Technology Task Force

Perry Klein, Chair

The Technology Task Force strives to help residents of our community through the use of technology, especially computers and the Internet.

We achieved a major milestone this past year with a complete redesign of SWNA’s web site, . Eda Robinson spent many hours to completely restructure the web site. She added drop-down menus to make it easier to identify topics, and a calendar and photo gallery were set-up. The home page even has a slide show of the SW community. With the help of Kael Anderson, a large quantity of information about our community was added. The site has become quite popular for reading The Southwester on-line. Not only can you find the latest issue there, but also issues archived back to 2000 and a few from 1978 – 1980. For the period from May 2010 to March 26, 2011 (330 days), the web site recorded over 57,000 page-views by over 24,000 unique visitors.

In our effort to give out computers to families in our neighborhood, we collected dozens of computers from individuals, and organizations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Woman’s National Democratic Club. We assisted in setting up a computer center for residents at Greenleaf Midrise to use, and are planning to set up similar centers at Syphax Gardens and James Creek.

==============================================

SWNA Employment Task Force (ETF)

Vandana Sareen and Grace E. Daughtridge, Co-Chairs

The District’s Consolidated Forensics Laboratory has been under construction by Whitening and Turner, General Contractor and is one of the projects in the SW neighborhood that is currently underway. The project has a First Source requirement, i.e., that at least 51% NEW hires be DC residents. SWNA Employment Task Force members have regularly attended the monthly construction meetings as well as a job fair held in June 2010. Capital City Associates has been hired to follow through on community outreach and to assist in meeting the First Source commitment. Unfortunately, the project has reported only 3 people hired from SW initially as general labor; no additional hires have been made from the SW; furthermore very few new hires overall. It turns out that the reason for this is that the project is a union job, meaning only qualified union members can apply for the open positions. A second job fair in spring of 2011 is expected to have some non-unionized contracts (carpet and tile-laying for example). Perhaps DC Employment Services would consider creating a program that would help promote the hiring of the under-employed and unemployed in the many development projects planned and currently under way in Washington, DC.

The Q Street Hostel is a planned project by CARR Hospitality and had one community meeting to present the development concept and meet the neighbors in June 2010. The team was open to further discussions on how to have meaningful community involvement through the construction and operation of the project. Construction has not yet begun.

The SW Waterfront Wharf project anticipates 600 to 1000 construction jobs, as well as an estimated 1000 new permanent jobs. The project has a commitment for 35% of the goods and services from Community Based Enterprise (CBE) from Wards 5, 6, 7 and 8; however it is clear that there are few, if any, CBEs in Ward 6 and the DC Govt. has focused little on supporting the supply in Ward 6. Also, a list of CBE services needed throughout the project is not yet available. The project is projected to start in 2012. While the project representatives have stated they will contribute $1 million to fund workforce training, the funds are for overall DC workforce. No specific plan has been presented either by developers or the District for the use of the one million dollars for the one and half billion dollar project. No community meetings to promote employment opportunities for residents in Washington, DC have been scheduled yet.

WASA Water Tower – Grace E. Daughtridge also attended WASA Community meetings for the new water tower to promote the hiring of residents in its project.

The Employment Task Force concludes that, while some general commitments by DC Government and developers are in place for the various projects to hire locally, the majority of the population unemployed and in need of employment in Ward 6 are neither sufficiently skilled nor qualified. The practical result is that there is no coordinated plan that will benefit the overall community in employing local residents. Furthermore, there is lack of transparency and clarity in the existing commitments and agreements.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download