By Grassroots DC, on December 30th, 2013 
Cross-Posted from Sociology in My Neighborhood: DC Ward Six Written By Johanna Bockman
Today in the Anacostia Community Museum Archives, I found photos of a museum exhibition put together by senior citizens living in Potomac Gardens public housing in 1994. Potomac Gardens is bordered by G and I Streets between 12th and 13th Streets, SE.The exhibit was based on the fascinating video, “In Search of Common Ground,” produced with funds from the DC Humanities Council. (You can see the entire video below. It is just 14 minutes long.)
These residents went on to testify before Congress in support of National Endowment for the Humanities funding. Here is part of the text from one of the placards in the exhibit. The quotations from the residents are particularly interesting.
The Potomac Gardens Community
Life in Washington has presented a variety of opportunities and challenges. Changes in marital status, shifts in earning power, and dispersion of family members has led many people to public housing developments. Communities such as Potomac Gardens were conceived as environments that would encourage social networks. In the 1950s these developments were seen as points of transition to improved rental housing and homeownership. In the late 1960s, however, the perception of public housing and those who lived in developments began to change. Some members of the Senior Resident Council began their relationship with public housing just as it was beginning to face enormous challenges.
Members of the Senior Resident Council are all vibrant, active people who care deeply for the community in which they live. While aware of their own advancing age and the limitations of a fixed income, they are rediscovering the joys of life and community-supported independence. They are concerned about their children and grandchildren. They volunteer. They travel. They speak up about crime and the physical condition of their residence. They are fulfilling lifelong dreams and creating new roles for themselves. They do not live in the past. They allow the objects and photographs from the past to inform and inspire their current activities. Their life’s journeys have been filled with faith.
“My whole life has changed since I’ve been here at Potomac Gardens. I wasn’t able to win nothing, but since I’ve been here everything has opened up for me.
Everything that ever happened to me would always make me stronger…The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. I am one that knows that I don’t need, don’t want for nothing. He makes a way for me all the time.” –Barbara Davis
“When we first came to live here in 1986, it really wasn’t a good place to live. It was crime ridden. Now, since they put up the fence [in 1992], it cut down on the running back and forth. The manager that we had, Mr. Taylor, calmed down a lot of the crime by talking to the kids. Then it got so we felt good to go outside and sit.
If it’s a bus, a train, or wheel barrel with a top on it — I’m gone. I’ve been to St. Louis, Atlanta, Atlantic City, Canada, Florida. I just enjoy life because I don’t have all that worry, and the thing of keeping busy all day long is like adrenaline, flowing through your body.
I was baptized a an early age, but I never stayed in church like I was supposed to. But I knew the rights and wrongs of things…but as far as having a spiritual thing, I didn’t. I’ve grown more spiritual in the past four years that Johnny’s been gone…It was like something had been taken from me because I never been taken care of the way he took he took care of me…I had to realized, ‘Girl, you’re on your own,’…and it was like a breath of fresh air…
After that I’ve been in more things since he died…Now that he’s gone I have my nose in everything just like I did at eight.” –Thelma Russell
“Before I moved to Potomac Gardens I was living in Minnesota for eight or nine months with my son. I lost my youngest brother, and it took a total loss on me…I went out there to get peace of mind for a while, and then my sister got sick, I came back because she had cancer. She died in 1991, so I came back here.
I always wanted to be involved in community work…Being a worker for Friendship House, I like talking to people…I like counseling and mingling with people. Lots of . . . → Read More: Senior Residents Speak About Life in Potomac Gardens
By Grassroots DC, on December 16th, 2013 
● Do you know someone who’s been arrested or locked up?
● Do you wonder why arrests rates are higher in “gentrifying” areas?
● Have you or someone you know been racially profiled in DC?
● Do you want to work for racial justice in our communities?
COMMUNITY SPEAKOUT will follow a short presentation about racial disparities in DC law enforcement. ALL ARE WELCOME! Please join us and share your experience and views. If you live or work in DC, especially in neighborhoods near Benning Road Library — CITIZEN, NON-CITIZEN, AND RETURNING (EX-OFFENDER) CITIZENS — all are encouraged to attend
Why: Recent reports by the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital and the Washington Lawyers Committee highlight staggering racial disparity in law enforcement in the District of Columbia.
END MASS INCARCERATION — END THE WAR ON DRUGS DEMAND A SAFE AND FREE DC FOR ALL.
This event is co-sponsored by the Family and Friends of Incarcerated People, the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital, Returning Citizens United, and the Washington Lawyer’s Committee.
By Liane Scott, on December 13th, 2013 
Iris McLauren-Southall and Commissioner Aquarius Vann-Ghasri
We would like to congratulate Grassroots DC member and DC Housing Authority Commissioner Aquarius Vann-Ghasri who was awarded DCHA’s “Excellence in Resident-Driven Leadership for outstanding performance and lasting contributions to Resident Council Leadership.” The award was presented on December 12,2013. Vann-Ghasri currently serves as the Vice President of the Potomac Gardens Resident Council and is on the Executive Board of the DCHA Citywide Advisory Board. She also works with many nonprofit organizations throughout the metropolitan area and holds several certificates for nonprofit leadership.
Commissioner Aquarius Vann-Ghasri’s latest award.
Commissioner and Resident Council President Vann-Ghasri would like to thank the following residents who her interpretation of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations (which governs the resident input into HUD governance) and her vision of the Potomac Gardens Family as a model for public housing: Tomasia Moore, Tina Hawkins, Shirley Marshall, Shonda, Ann Brown, Mrs. Brown, Quaina, Melinda, Shane, Carolyn Johnson, Ms. Lu, Mitchell, Ditesha, Larry Johnson, Tim Tim, Lorraine Leonard, Ms. Betty,Vernita Abney, Marry, Terry, Cortney, Carolyn Proctor and Bridget. “I thank you all. This is our award!”
Ms. Vann-Ghasri studied to become a paralegal at the Antioch School of Law, Urban Law Institute. She graduated with honors from the DCHA Community Monitoring Program. She served for two years with AmeriCorp Vista, and has worked with local groups such as Community Vision, Inc., National People Action, United Public Housing, DC Justice for Youth and the National Coalition for Homelessness. It is thanks to her support that Grassroots DC has a home at the Potomac Gardens Public Housing Complex. Our work here is fast becoming an integral part of Vann-Ghasri’s resident-driven leadership vision for public housing.
By Grassroots DC, on December 12th, 2013 
Cross-posted from the Washington Post By Aaron C. Davis and Emma Brown
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) chose a debate on education Monday night to make his campaign debut alongside council members, a restaurant owner, a former State Department official and others trying to keep him from a second term.
He could have picked an easier place to start.
Before a packed auditorium at Eastern High School of teachers, union leaders and activists — many of them upset with Gray’s current schools chancellor, Kaya Henderson — Gray was welcomed with a question that immediately put him on the defensive.“What is your criteria for selecting a chancellor?” asked President Elizabeth Davis of the Washington Teachers’ Union, which sponsored the forum.“Our chancellor is a person who understands the importance of working with teachers,” Gray began, eliciting a smattering of boos and groans.“She was the first appointment that was made in my administration.” More groans.As Gray got around to the heart of his response, the bell rang and he was cut off.“When you look at the results, our test scores have gone up . . . .”
Gray’s voice trailed off. He set down the microphone and returned to his seat.
It was as good as it got for the rest of the night.
The hostile crowd showed that the city’s long-beleaguered school system — and tense negotiations with its teachers union — could complicate the incumbent mayor’s reelection narrative that the city’s schools have improved under his watch.
During Gray’s three years in office, the District’s public school system has recorded rising scores on standardized testing, and Gray has highlighted those achievements as evidence of his seriousness about education reform. He would continue on that path if reelected, he said.
But in holding up test scores as the barometer of success, Gray has exposed himself to the charge that he has abandoned his skepticism of reform from his 2010 campaign. Then, he said test scores were not the largest measure of success — helping to attract the strong backing of the Washington Teachers’ Union.
On Monday, upstart candidates including restaurateur Andy Shallal, the owner of Busboys and Poets, and Reta Jo Lewis, a Democrat and former State Department official, drew the biggest applause, indicting both Gray and members of the council who seek to replace him for alienating parents and teachers amid a forceful push for school reform.
Shallal criticized mayoral control of the schools, which was authorized in 2007, saying that it has led to untenably high teacher turnover and “changed the way we put the public in public schools — people have become more disenfranchised, disaffected and disrespected.”
He also took aim at the city’s support for school choice, in which many children face long odds to win admission by lottery to the most sought-after schools.
“I don’t want to play Russian roulette with our kids,” he said. “Every single kid deserves a good education.”
Lewis drew hoots of support when she declared that, since the D.C. Council granted then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty power to take over the ailing school system, too many “secrets” have been kept about school management.
By Grassroots DC, on December 5th, 2013 
The fifth annual Cheap Art Sale will host artists from across the city who will show and sell original works of art, and donate half or more of all the proceeds to Family and Friends of Incarcerated People.
Most art will be priced at $50 or less. The Cheap Art Sale is an opportunity for shoppers to purchase unique holiday gifts and one-of-a-kind items.
Participating artists include Mike Ferguson, Tom LeGro, Anthem Press, MbM designs, Ian Delaney Doherty, Nebsi Camacho, Liz Navarro, Lisa Marie Thalhammer, Alexandra Silverthorne, Arelle Hughes and Wayward Broad Studio. Artwork sold will include prints, photography, knitted wares, jewelry and more.
Family and Friends of Incarcerated People brings services to the children of the incarcerated and at-risk youth. They promote social, cultural and youth development as a way of avoiding intergenerational incarceration through various programs including a summer youth retreat, roller skating socials and field trips.
To find out more about Family and Friends of Incarcerated People check out their website: http://www.ffoip.org/
Or their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FFOIP
Contact: cheapartsaledc@gmail.com
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