The DC Area
Minority Peace Corps Association
Chapter
"We
must transform conversations that matter into actions that make a
difference."
~
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Hi my fellow
RPCVs,
Let's all
get together and make a difference. Below gives the story of the park
we've adopted as our signature project. We can really make a difference
in this community. We've all been all over the world to serve.
Now let's share some of that energy here in our immediate community.
April 17th. Saturday
Time: 9:30a.m-12:30p.m
Directions: read
below.
Take good care,
Christopher
Community Service Coordinator
Senegal (96-98)
Watts Branch Park -
Service in Action
Until 2001, Watts Branch
Park in Far Northeast Washington -- DC's longest city park, its biggest stream feeding
the Anacostia River, and home to the community with its second-highest
percentage of children -- had also been one of the most forgotten parts of the
city. One of the nation's oldest continuous African American urban populations,
the stream valley was the boyhood home of Marvin Gaye. It was also home to
thousands of years of Native American settlement by the Nacotchtank tribe. But
decades of neglect led many people to give up hope and even to abandon the
place that generations had called home.
Now Washington Parks & People, who run the Josephine Butler Parks Center
and the Watts Branch Community Alliance, are leading what has become the
largest community park revitalization campaign in DC history. Over 14,000
volunteers have come from across the city and region and around the world to
help the community reclaim the park and stream as centers of community life.
They have pulled out over one million pounds of trash, planted 250 large native
trees, and produced over 150 community programs of all kinds.
This effort is much more than a park clean-up. Children have created a
community farm stand where the heroin market reigned supreme for decades.
Ex-offenders are turning their own lives around along with the park as they
gain job and life skills helping to maintain the park. Community residents now
lead parades down the length of the park to celebrate its renewal, and to
support stronger efforts to transform the community.
Plans for the park go even further. At the heart of the park, a once-violent
hillside is developing a new life as the Marvin Gaye Amphitheater. A section of
forest once impenetrable with dumping and invasive weeds is becoming the Martin
Luther King Nature Sanctuary. A barren stretch of grass is becoming DC's first
ever native plant nursery. And an abandoned nightclub where Marvin Gaye first
performed professionally nearly 50 years ago has now been purchased by Parks
& People with the intent of creating a town center for the community, with
plans for a healthy living cafe and a space for music and yoga, and other
community programs linked into the park across the street.
So the part of the community that people thought was most hopeless is now
breathing life into the rest of the community. There is an urgent need and opportunity for MPCA to bring new light and peace that will
help this community use the park to reach a new level of living -- one that can
inspire other communities across the area.
Watts Branch Park
Clean-Up
every third Saturday
of each month
9:30 am - 12:30 pm
This event repeats on the third Saturday of every
month.
Event Location:
Watts Branch Park
Street:
Division Foote Street N.E
City: Washington, DC
Park Contact Murphy
Williams 202-412-9798
Directions:
Take H street next to union Station until
it becomes Benin Rd
Take Benin Rd across Annacostia River
to Minnesota Ave
Mk Left on Minnesota
Mk Rt on Nanny Helen Bauer Rd
Go 3/4 of a mile to Major traffic light or Division St.
Mk Rt on Division
Go 1/2 block and mk Left on Foote.
It's a White house on the block