September 4, 2019

Dear Members and Friends,

I hope you have all had a fun filled and productive summer. However, with the end of summer we, just like all of all of you get back to work.

We are pleased to announce a new member organization, Marshall Heights Community Development Organization (mhcdo.org). They are a storied organization in our city. This brings us to 25 member organizations and we continue to grow. We ask that you encourage your friends and organizations to add their names and email addresses in our website, dccitizensfederation.org.

Our next general assembly will be held on September 24, 2019 at 441 4th Street NW on the 11th floor from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. Our guest speaker will be Parisa Norouzi, Executive Director of Empower DC. Parisa is leading a grassroots effort on the Comp Plan and affordable housing in DC. Please come out and bring someone with you. These are important discussions.

I know it’s early but save the date. Our holiday party will be held on December 2. More information to follow.

Best Regards,
Earl Williams
President

June 6, 2019

 

Dear Members and Friends,

 

For those of you who missed the April meeting, you missed a great opportunity to interact with Andrew Trueblood, Director Office of Planning. Director Trueblood answered questions on the amendments to the Comp Plan and his plan on rolling out them out for public comment.

On June 4, the Federation hosted our first member association president’s reception. The event was held at the Arts Club of DC. The purpose of the reception was to connect our member associations. Many presidents had never had the opportunity to meet and interact with other community organizations like theirs. It was a great success. Our Board members and the presidents talked, laughed and enjoyed the food and setting. Several connections were made, and information exchanged. Replacing the word citizens in our name with community and occasionally holding joint meetings with a member association on a citywide issue were two of the topics we discussed.

The Federation does not fund raise and we rely on dues payments to fund our activities. So please if you have not already paid your 2019 dues, please pay them now.

I’m sure none of you has ever gotten a traffic ticket. However, you may know someone who has received one and they may want to attend our June 25, 2019 general meeting. Our guest will be Tony Dugger, Adjudication Ombudsman, Department of Motor Vehicles. Mr. Dugger will be able to answer questions on speed cameras, parking issues and other subjects. Our meetings are open to the public. The meeting will be held at 441 4^th Street NW from 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM. This will be our last meeting until September.

As always, we are open to suggestions on topics for future meetings and questions or comments about the federation. We ask that you spread this widely and we encourage everyone to visit our website, dccitizensfederation.org.

 

Best Regards,

Earl Williams

President

May 8, 2019

Dear Members and Friends,

I hope this message finds you well. The report on the Comprehensive Plan will be issued shortly. Our guest for our May meeting is Andrew Trueblood, Director of the Office of Planning (OP). For many, it may be the first time to meet and question Mr. Trueblood on his plans on changing the culture of OP and the rollout of the Comprehensive Plan’s amendments. Please join us on May 21, 2019 from 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM at Judiciary Square 441 4^th Street NW. Our meetings are open to the public and we encourage you to send this meeting notification to anyone who may be interested.

The Citizens Federation will hold a reception for the presidents of our member associations at the Arts Club of Washington in June. This will be the first time the Citizens Federation has met solely with the leaders of our member associations for many years. We will be discussing several initiatives the Citizens Federation plans on rolling out in the Fall of 2019.

We want to increase the number of people on our listserv. If you know of anyone who may be interested in the activities of the Federation, please ask them to go to our website, dccitizens federation.org and add their email to our list.

I hope to see you on May 21. If you have any questions or would like to discuss any issues, please contact me.

Warm Regards,

Earl Williams

President

Dear Members and Friends,

My letter is late this month because a lot has happened, and I wanted to include all of it. For those who missed our March meeting, the information we received on Health Link and the panel discussion on DC Statehood was enlightening.

We have a new feature on our website, dccitizensfederation.org, for our members only. Click on news and two boxes drop down. One for events and one for issues. Our members now can list events in their neighborhood and list issues that are important to them for anyone visiting our website to see.

Our Federation continues to grow with the addition of the Brookland Neighborhood Civic Association, brooklandcivic.org. I know they will be an active member. Our motto has always been “We are stronger together”

On April 13 for the first time in both our histories, members of the Federation of Civic Association’s Board and members of the Citizens Federation Board met at my home for a meal and conversation. We had a facilitator to help us with our discussion. The history of our interaction has not been good. Eighty years ago, when the negro associations applied for membership in the segregated Citizens Federation, they were refused and formed their own Federation. That act has haunted both our organizations to this day. We acknowledge our role in the despicable era of segregation in our city. However, we have not been that organization for many years. Our discussions showed we all have much in common. The Board of the Citizens Federation voted several years ago to pursue a merger with the Civic Federation. We understand that they are not ready to take that step, but we stand ready when and if they are. We hope to have more opportunities to interact with the Civic Board members. We welcome your comments and thoughts on this initiative at president@dccitizensfederation.org.

Earl Williams

President