Library of Congress looking for docents

The Library of Congress in Washington is seeking volunteers for its fall
2011 docent program. Docents are trained in a 14-week program that begins
Aug. 30. More than 300 volunteers at the Library of Congress greet and
provide tours to its 1.7 million annual visitors.

Docents learn how to lead tours of the Thomas Jefferson Building and
answer questions about the library’s collection. Volunteers who complete
the program generally work one four-hour shift per week, which might be
two two-hour tours. Interested parties can learn more and apply online.

The positions are unpaid, but perks include eligibility for free parking,
a discount in the library’s gift store and free flu shots.

Of course, to be a docent at the Library of Congress, you have to be in
Washington.

—Volunteer Opportunities
To best serve the more than 1.7 million visitors who come each year, eager
to view the magnificent Thomas Jefferson Building and learn about the
treasures it contains, the Library’s Visitor Services Office relies on
nearly 300 volunteers to greet the visitors and help them plan their
visits, guide researchers, and provide tours. There are three different
volunteer positions:

Docent
Each fall, the Library’s Visitor Services Office conducts an extensive
16-week training program designed to equip volunteer docents with the
information and skills necessary to lead tours of the Library’s historic
Thomas Jefferson building. The classes are presented by Library staff as
well as experts from outside the Library.

The curriculum covers all aspects of the Library and prepares docents to
give interesting and informative tours. The curriculum focuses on the
Library’s past, present and future; its organization and infrastructure;
its curatorial divisions and programs; the care and use of its
collections; and the art and architecture of the Thomas Jefferson
Building.

Classes are conducted twice weekly, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and
Thursdays. Upon completion of the classroom training, each
docent-in-training will give a qualifying tour of the Thomas Jefferson
Building. After qualification, docents are expected to commit to a weekly
half-day shift for a period of three years (including the training).

Apply to be a Docent : http://www.loc.gov/visit/volunteers/form_docent.php

H/T to H-DC & Historic Washington Listservs & LA Times Jacket Copy

Anacostia’s Sheridan Station Readies for 1st Phase Fall Opening

Wash Syndicate

In the early months of his second term President Bill Clinton’s motorcade, returning to the White House from Andrews Air Force Base, barreled down Suitland Parkway, riding past the abandoned Sheridan Terrace public housing development. The sprawling 11 acre site with multiple buildings housing 183 units sat vacant. It had become the domain of drug dealers who sold to squatters scattered throughout the graffiti strewn buildings; in the parking lot were burnt out cars with out-of-state license plates.

Topographically defined by its rolling landscape that reaches inshore from the Anacostia River, the neighborhood bearing the river’s name has numerous hills and bluffs. In the 1960’s, the Sheridan Terrace public housing project, built on the hill overlooking Suitland Parkway, was constructed and “touted as urban dwellings with a suburban appeal.”

However, its location quickly proved problematic as issues with water drainage slowly began to deteriorate the units. By the early 1990’s less than 50 families remained; the last resident moved out in 1993.

According to local lore, President Clinton realized foreign dignitaries flying into Andrews Air Force Base would likely take the same route to downtown Washington, passing by Sheridan Terrace. Clinton did not want the site to mar the foreign leaders’ impressions of the nation’s capital and therefore, in 1997 the entire development was demolished.

HOPE VI

For more than a decade the site sat as nothing more than a large pile of dirt until William C. Smith, well-known throughout East Washington, joined with Jackson Investment Co. and Union Temple Community Development Corporation to compete for HOPE VI funds being administered through the DC Housing Authority to redevelop the former Sheridan Terrace.

HOPE VI, a program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — an earlier phase of the program devoted funds to the redevelopment of the former Arthur Capper Carrollsburg Dwellings off M Street SE prior to the construction of the Nationals Stadium in 2006 — is a federal initiative that provides funds to develop sites of former public housing projects into mixed-income communities. Sheridan Terrace was the seventh such project in DC. Chicago is the only other city with a greater presence of Hope VI projects.

The ideology of HOPE VI focuses on defensible space, a concept of environmental design aimed at reducing crime and increasing neighborhood safety through the deliberate use of architectural design and new urbanism, a design concept promoting walkable neighborhoods made of mixed housing options that are connected to hubs of public transportation.

After three rounds of competition, the group led by WCS won a $20 million grant in 2007 to begin the first phase of the redevelopment of Sheridan Terrace, re-named Sheridan Station because of its proximity to the Anacostia metro station.

Sheridan Station, now within the area being branded as “CHASE” (Congress Heights, Anacostia, Saint Elizabeths), is located directly east of Sheridan Road, bound by Howard Road, Sayles Place, Bowen Place, Stanton Road, and Pomeroy Road.

Wash Syndicate

To fully fund the first phase, estimated to cost $28.8 million, nearly $6 million in federal stimulus grants have also been provided. The total project has an estimated cost of $105 million; it is to be completed in four phases and will eventually include 344 units, of which 161, 48%, will be for sale and 183, 52%, for rent.

Sheridan Station’s 1^st Phase

Lofts in the 1^st phase of development will be available for rent this fall, 114 units are planned to come online, with 45 former residents expected to return. There are 8 different layouts across available efficiencies and 1 and 2 bedroom units. The for-sale townhomes and condominiums, with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths begin at $250,000 and $235,000, respectively. Units offer 9 foot ceilings with stainless steel Energy Star appliances, walk-in closets, wood laminate flooring, and a washer and dryer. For units that face Suitland Parkway, the portrait windows have been re-enforced to block out noise from the passing traffic.

“Aside from the design itself, which we believe to be sleek and urban while capitalizing on unique topography and sight lines, we have the advantage of location, location, location,” observed Carol Chatham, Vice President, Communications of William C. Smith + Co.  

Breaking ground on May 10, 2010, WCS has remained tightly on schedule. Chatham points to “cooperation amongst financial partners, excellent consultants, and sub contractors” as the reason the project’s timeline has remained on pace.

“Sheridan Station is designed to do more than just uplift people. It will have an economic impact as well as improve housing options in the immediate area,” said Barry LeNoir, Chairperson of the Sheridan Station Hope VI Advisory Committee and President of the United Black Fund whose stand-alone building sits at the junction of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Howard Road, and Sheridan Road.

Over the past 18 months LeNoir has been involved in the “interactive engagement process” of “getting former residents ready to participate” in the return to the site of their former homes. The group has held monthly meetings since the project’s inception and focused on identifying needed on-site amenities, which will include a 5,500 square foot health and wellness center, community meeting rooms, green rooftop garden and a computer lab.

“The Advisory Committee is an invaluable resource. Being able to hear from former residents of Sheridan Terrace and having the benefit of their experiences, both good and bad, is helping us create a sense of place,” says Chatham.

Impact on Anacostia

For long-time Anacostian and community activist Hannah Hawkins, Sheridan Station is wait-and-see. Known for her work with Children of Mine, an enrichment program for neighborhood children located in historic Anacostia, Hawkins began her program in the late 1980’s by transforming two empty apartments in Sheridan Terrace into a welcoming community space.

“I went there when no one else wanted to go,” remembers Hawkins, who moved her program to its current location on Mount View Place in May 1992. “I walked those corridors every day, morning, noon, and night.”

Hawkins warned that “we know William C. Smith has done a wonderful job re-developing that area and we don’t want to see it a year later declining.”

Citing the growing perception of “a great conflict” between homeowners and government subsidized renters at the mixed-use development Henson Ridge off of Alabama Avenue in Congress Heights, Hawkins said, “I hope and pray they will do major screening. I want everyone, the owners, the renters, the developers, and the community to benefit from this.”

Wash Syndicate

With the recent opening of some notable small businesses on lower Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue and the continued growth of Anacostia’s arts district, WCS knows there is a newfound attention on the area.

“Many eyes are watching the Sheridan project,” says Chatham. “Success at Sheridan will encourage further development along the MLK corridor.”

“Retailers are always asking about new housing units when they are looking to invest in Anacostia,” said Stan Voudrie, Principal of Four Points LLC. “Sheridan Station, along with Matthews Memorial Terrace, is very positive for the neighborhood. High density helps to push commercial development and investment which everyone wants.”

* A print version of this article appears in July’s East of the River.*

White Girl Mafia Invades the Soufside; lower MLK Avenue

Wash Syndicate

After leaving yesterday’s Ward 8 Community Summit, I saw a sight that reminded me of my younger days coming up in the city’s uptown neighborhoods nearly a decade ago. The “white girl mafia” is not the same mafia of Soprano and Vito Corleone fame that we all know and love due to popular culture’s fawning romanticism. No, this mafia is quite different. Taking no prisoners, the “white girl mafia” has a well entrenched presence in uptown and cross-town city neighborhoods running social service agencies and non-profits out of their zealous zeal to make a difference in an environment they fall blinding in love with. Love can hurt, and some, including my man Quique, contend with experience as their irrefutable evidence that the cutthroat members of the “white girl mafia” do more to harm the communities they flock to than they do to help. Granted, we evaluate each case on its own merits. However, for tru (sic) city denizens they know like I know; when you see the white girl mafia coming to a block near you, you best run and hide because they undoubtedly will try to save you. We offer this short commentary as a warning to those it applies to (if you think it applies to you then it does); save yourselves somewhere else.

In actual factual reality, this group was not a group of tru (sic) white girl mafia members invading lower MLK Ave. SE. This group was from South Carolina in DC for a summer service project coordinated through and with the well-respected Monsignor East of St. Teresa Avila, the oldest Roman Catholic Church on the southside.

Wash Syndicate

However, the foreshadowing and danger signs would only be ignored by a fool’s fool. To those that know, they know the ”white girl mafia” has it sights set on new territory. The time for expansion and further empire building is now. Get ready as the “white girl mafia” makes it way to East Washington in full force.