By Liane Scott, on April 4th, 2012  Men of Ivy City at Ivy City Reunion, Summer 2011 Ivy City is a neighborhood in northeast DC. Bordered on one side by Gallaudet University and Mt. Olivet Cemetery on the other, it’s a little off the beaten path. Not being within walking distance of a Metro subway line, development and it’s not so welcome counterpart displacement have not overwhelmed the area. For those in the neighborhood whose incomes cause them to fear the harsh winds of gentrification this is both a blessing and a curse. Nearby Trinidad, which is just a little closer to the H Street Corridor, has gotten a state-of-the-art recreation center along with its increased property values and higher-income neighbors. Ivy City on the other hand can’t get a library kiosk or a basketball court but it has gotten a youth detention facility. This is in keeping with the slow decline of Ivy City which was one of those DC neighborhoods where African-American families were able to thrive despite segregation during the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. Unfortunately, like many low-income and working class African-American neighborhoods, it began to decline in the 1970s and ’80s. Many Ivy City residents site the closing of Crummell, the community’s elementary school, in 1972 as marking the downward trajectory of the neighborhood. For more than thirty years, the Crummell School Alumni Association has tried to convince the District Government to turn Crummell into a community center or a recreation center or a workforce development center, anything that would be a positive investment in the community and uplift its residents. The following audio documentary produced by Empower DC as part of their Ivy City History Project gives you a good idea of how much work has gone into the effort.
We Act Radio’s Live Wire: Empower DC Community Hour 2-27-12 – Ivy City Audio Documentary
This version of the podcast varies slightly from the original as we broadcast it on We Act Radio’s Live Wire: The Empower DC Community Hour. Unfortunately, this was to be our last episode of the radio program as the Grassroots Media Project is already stretched beyond our limited capacity. We are continuing to produce radio features to air on WPFW, and hopefully We Act Radio as well, but a one hour broadcast each week is not possible at this time. With that in mind, I’d like to invite anyone out there in radio land who would like to help us build our capacity to a…
Grassroots Media Project Open House
Meet the Director of the Grassroots Media Project &
Find Out How You Can Contribute To The Work of Empower DC’s Media Corps.
Sign up for classes in basic radio & video production and help Empower
DC get the word out about our work!
Saturday April 21 & 28
Anytime between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM
1419 V Street NW
(2 ½ blocks northwest of the U Street/Cardozo Metro Station, 13th Street Exit)
Snacks Will Be Provided. Children Are Welcome. Please RSVP Liane Scott at 202-234-9119 ext 106 or email Liane@empowerdc.org.
By Liane Scott, on January 8th, 2012 Both schools have been considered under-enrolled, yet one was demolished and the other completely refurbished. William Jordan, a member of the list serve Concerned for DCPS has some theories as to why. I’ve reprinted them below because I think they are worthy of your consideration.
 Takoma Educational Campus after the Rehabilitation Posted on the Concerned For DCPS List Serve on January 5, 2012:
I would suggest anyone who has followed or participated in the “Bruce Monroe School” over the years to pick up the Wednesday, December 28, 2011 addition of Northwest_Current 12.28.11 . On the front page is an article about the reopening of the Takoma Educational Campus one year after a fire closed the school. The article is relevant to Bruce Monroe because the city and officials, including Councilmember Graham, etc. found a way to address the needs of Takoma doing the very things they told our community and Bruce Monroe stakeholders they could not do months prior to the Takoma fire. It reveals the pattern of dishonesty and political disdain by then Chancellor Rhee and Councilmember Graham toward this community and the population of families and students served by Bruce Monroe.
 Bruce Monroe Elementary after the Demolition The article explains how the city initially planned to make $2 million in repairs but later decided to invest $25.5 million in a complete rehab. Via a bait & switch, Councilmember Graham and Rhee mislead this community into believing that the DCPS capital budget could not be adjusted to do a complete rehab of Bruce Monroe either as part of the redevelopment of the old site or as rehab of Bruce Monroe at Park View as they promised in prior years.
As evidence of what was actually promised, the notes from community meetings in which the future of Bruce Monroe was discussed can be downloaded via the following links.:
Notes_from_Meeting_With_Graham_and_Rhee_4-6-10
Parents_Meet_With_Jim_Graham_March_16_2010
Notes_from_Meeting_With_Graham_and_Rhee_4-6-10
Bruce Monroe, Park View & Meyer were closed down as part of the 2008 DCPS Rhee closings supposedly because of low enrollment. It should be noted that Takoma Enrollment was on par with Meyer. However, Bruce Monroe was reconstituted and the students shipped to Park View the least hospitable of all 3 buildings. In fact Park View at the time could have easily been considered dangerous. Despite this Bruce Monroe students were not relocated to the Meyer building which was in much better shape, they went to Park View. In the meantime, Councilmember Graham placed a boxing program in Meyer Elementary, to which he had been funneling earmarks for years with no community or practical oversight. Clearly, Ward 1 closings were not so much about education, but politics and real estate development. Rhee closed schools with minimal responsibility and Councilmember Graham place his political concerns above those of DCPS students or the community at large.
In this case Councilmember Graham and then Chancellor Rhee engaged in operating at one of the lowest political and ethical standards possible under the guise of school reform. To politically punish and breakup the Bruce Monroe school family, they place a school primarily serving working class Latino and African American families in building (Park View) which at the time had become unfit when better alternatives were available. The positive outcome for Takoma when placed in context makes clear the dishonest nature of reform under Rhee, the unethical cesspool that is Ward 1 politics and ultimately the nexus between pay-to-play politics, real estate development and school reform.
William Jordan
By Sean Furmage, on December 13th, 2011  On Saturday November 19th Empower DC hosted the 100 Year Anniversary Celebration of Crummell School. The celebration also covered by local media with a video by NBC 4 and an article from the Washington City Paper. The school is located in Ivy City, a historically African American neighborhood in Northeast Washington, DC. The school was established in 1911 and named after Alexander Crummell, an educator, clergymen, and advocate for African American rights. W. E. B. Du Bois devoted a chapter of The Souls of Black Folks to Alexander Crummell in which he writes, “I began to feel the fineness of his character – his calm courtesy, the sweetness of his strength, and his fair blending of the hope and truth of life. Instinctively I bowed before this man, as one bows before the prophets of the world.” Crummell School embodied the determination of Crummell to uplift African Americans through education.
The school was closed in the 70s and Ivy City was left without a vital community center. Rezoning and neglect on the part of the city government led to Ivy City becoming the dumping ground for the city’s unwanted facilities and left this residential neighborhood buried under industrial warehousing and highways. Coupled with the harsh effects of deindustrialization, high rates of unemployment and the mass incarceration of African Americans the heart has been taken out of the neighborhood. After years of struggle and little to show, it seems the community lost the hope to continue the fight against this injustice. But is Ivy City coming back for more?
Alumni, former teachers, and former and current residents came out to participate in the celebration. Crummell School holds a special place in the hearts and memories of a number of people who feel they have their roots in the historic neighborhood of Ivy City and in the education and grounding they received at Crummell.
We aired the latest version of the short documentary “Crummell School: Heart and Soul of the Community” – to be finished in the near future – in order to get feedback and try and involve the community in its production.
The Ivy City community is resurrecting their historic Civic Association (also established in 1911) after a long hiatus. Newly elected Vice President Alicia Swanson-Canty delivered a strong and passionate speech at the event. Residents are beginning to raise their voices a little louder and in unison in regards to what they want to see develop in their community as new housing projects come in. Questions linger over whether the school can be restored as a much-needed community center as part of an ongoing neighborhood revitalization project. The community has spoken, but will they get what they so badly need? This community, and African Americans in historically segregated communities all over the United States, have had to fight for education and resources. This historic struggle continues…
Our hearts are with the people of Ivy City as they attempt to rise from the ashes of long-forgotten struggles for racial equality that still burn with an ugly determination in this divided country. As thousands take to the streets and parks to denounce the brazen greed and indifference of the “1%” it is more important than ever to remember the long and bloody battle for civil rights that have taken place in our local communities for decades and that continue to this day.
By Liane Scott, on November 21st, 2011  Free Franklin Activists Hang Banner From Franklin School that reads, "Public Property Under Community Control." At 2:00 PM on Saturday, November 19, 2011, a small group of activists associated with Occupy DC took over the vacant Franklin School building at 13th and K Streets NW, Washington, DC. Their occupation did not last long as the police arrested eleven activists around 7:00PM that same evening. The activists call themselves Free Franklin. They’re goals, motivations and calls to action are posted at FreeFranlkinDC.blogspot.com. A public forum about the future of Franklin Shelter and the importance of public property for essential human services is scheduled as follows:
Public Forum on Franklin Shelter
Monday, November 21
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Asbury United Methodist Church
11th & K Streets NW
All DC community members are encouraged to attend. For more on the November 19 takeover of Franklin School I suggest Luke Kuhn’s post at DC’s Independent Media Center.
The recent history of Franklin School illustrates the conflict between the needs of long-term DC residents and the actions of District government who, more often than not, represent the interests of developers and the wealthy over those of low and moderate-income residents. Since the Fenty Administration, the government of the District of Columbia has been attempting to declare Franklin School surplus and sell it to a private entity, this despite the school’s long history of public service. One of DC’s first public high schools, the building was used as an educational facility for most of its life. Up until 1995 the Franklin School housed an adult-education center, at which time it was closed for renovations that the city promised but (surprise, surprise) never materialized. The school remained shuttered until 2002 when homeless advocates took over the building and turned it into a shelter. By 2007, the Franklin Shelter was housing 300, working, homeless men. In 2008, then Mayor Adrian Fenty shuttered Franklin Shelter ignoring emergency legislation passed by the council to keep it open, Franklin Shelter Closing Requirements Emergency Act of 2008. After more than two years in the courts, a lawsuit brought by the Committee to Save Franklin Shelter and former residents finally failed in January of 2011. Despite this, homeless advocates continue to challenge the closing of DC’s homeless shelters in the courts. More information about their efforts can be found at FranklinShelter.org.
Except for its brief re-opening on November 19, the Franklin School has remained empty since September 2008. Homeless advocates would like to reopen it as a shelter. Others interested in the property as a historical landmark and District treasure such as the Coalition for Franklin School would like to see it reopened as a school or some other educational or cultural institution. The city seems most inclined to sell the property to private developers interested in turning the Franklin School into a boutique hotel. In accordance with District of Columbia Code 10-801, DC government is not allowed to surplus and sell any property without first conducting a pubilc hearing and soliciting input from the community. Unfortunately, as the above video of the surplus hearing for Franklin School conducted on November 18, 2010 demonstrates, these hearings are far too often used as a forum for city officials to present to the community their reasons for a decision that they’ve already made, rather than a hearing in which public comment is genuinely considered. Is the surplus of Franklin School a foregone conclusion? Stay tuned.
By Binnie Katti, on November 1st, 2011 Following the successful screening of the preview of our Crummell School documentary at American University, we now present to you our latest cut. We need your comments, so feel free to leave them here or on our facebook. A more final version of the documentary will be screened Saturday, November 19th at the “Alexander Crummell School 100 Year Anniversary Celebration” at Trinity Baptist Church, to be organized by Empower DC. Save the date.
This documentary by Empower DC’s Grassroots Media Project is a work in progress that explores the history of Crummell School, located in the Ivy City neighborhood in Northeast Washington, DC. When finished, the film will be a platform for residents, former residents, and alumni of the school to give their own oral histories of the area and school; describe the neighborhood as it is now; and voice what they would like to see happen to the school.
By Binnie Katti, on September 17th, 2011 This documentary by Empower DC’s Grassroots Media Project is a work in progress that explores the history of Crummell School, located in the Ivy City neighborhood in Northeast Washington, DC. When finished, the film will be a platform for residents, former residents, and alumni of the school to give their own oral histories of the area and school; describe the neighborhood as it is now; and voice what they would like to see happen to the school.
Crummell School is an important historical and cultural site. Despite this, the underserved Ivy City community stands to lose this resource that once stood as the center of community life. Can the school be saved and turned into a community resource center that serves the Ivy City community or will another historic District public school be sold to private developers? In this short clip, we learn about memories former students have of their teachers.
The documentary will be publicly screened in several locations, including this October at American University’s 8th Annual Public Anthropology Conference: “(Re)Defining Power: Paradigms of Praxis”. More details to follow.
By Liane Scott, on May 3rd, 2011 According to Wikipedia, Ivy City is a small Washington, DC neighborhood located on a triangular strip of land in the central part of DC’s Northeast quadrant. It’s bounded by New York Avenue to the northwest, West Virginia Avenue to the east, and Mt. Olivet Road to the south. The neighborhood is surrounded on all sides by significant landmarks: Gallaudet University (across Mt. Olivet Rd.), Mt. Olivet Cemetery (across West Virginia Ave.), and Amtrak’s Ivy City yard (across New York Ave.).
 Better Days in Ivy City I give you all this information because unlike Columbia Heights or Anacostia, Ivy City is not well-known. It has long been a tight-knit, working-class, African-American community with a proud history. But as the economy changed–the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad went away, warehouses closed down–what was once a thriving neighborhood became blighted.
This of course is not uncommon. Many of the District’s neighborhoods have their own histories of decline, but for some revitalization or outright gentrification has turned things around. While U Street, Georgia Avenue and even the long-neglected H Street corridor have seen major changes, revitalization projects in Ivy City have been proposed, promised and abandoned.
Those who look closely at revitalization in neighborhoods like Columbia Heights and Shaw may consider the residents of Ivy City fortunate. Relatively few native or even long-term residents have been able to remain in those other neighborhoods. Ivy City may not have the amenities that come with gentrification but it has not had the displacement either. Question is, will that last. The city is again planning projects that would promise revitalization, but will it come without displacement?
That is the question first time filmmaker Sean Furmage is preparing to answer in a documentary about Ivy City that he’s recently begun working on through the Grassroots Media Project. The project will be a part of his course work as a PhD candidate at American University. An introduction to the project is posted here. In it Furmage focuses on two recently proposed Ivy City redevelopment projects. The first, the Adaptive Reuse of Alexander Crummell School was scheduled to begin last summer, but it looks now like the city is trying to surplus the school instead. The other is the Ivy City Special Demonstration Project which will bring 58 units of “affordable” housing to the community, but it is unclear how many of those units will ultimately be awarded to current community members.
Furmage’s documentary will look at the struggles between local residents and the city council, developers and non-profits and their contrasting visions for the future of Ivy City. What’s posted here gives you a flavor of the finished documentary, which we hope will be complete by this fall.
Empower DC is currently seeking out residents of Ivy City to join the campaign to save the historic Alexander Crummell School from for-profit developers. As is clear from the video, Ivy City residents who have the time and inclination to be active want to keep Crummell as PUBLIC property, for use by the community and residents city-wide – to RESTORE the school for uses that benefit the community, serve community needs and preserve the history of the school and community. For more information, and particularly if you know anyone from Ivy City, join the Facebook campaign to save Crummell School.
By Liane Scott, on November 12th, 2010 Have you ever heard the phrase, “if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu?” The Parents and Friends of Bruce Monroe Elementary School thought they were at the table when former School Chancellor Michelle Rhee and soon to be former Mayor Adrian Fenty promised that the school would be rebuilt by the fall of 2011. They sent their children off to Parkview Elementary School on Warder Street NW, out of the site of hungry developers and the passing traffic that helps keeps crime on Georgia Avenue at bay.
While test scores dropped and rodents infested the cafeteria, the $20.3 million allegedly put aside to help rebuild the school seemingly disappeared. The city did manage to come up with $2 million to construct an interim-use park on the site, so as not to remind the community that they don’t have the school they were promised. The first request for proposals that the city put out didn’t garner any serious takers now that Georgia Avenue doesn’t look like the developers dream that it was before the recession. And the latest RFP requires that developers submit two proposals, one for a school with commercial elements and one for commercial development only. No school included. Our presumptive mayor Vincent Gray has gone from saying that the promise made to the Bruce Monroe parents was a “cruel joke,” to “we can only afford one school,” meaning either Bruce Monroe or Parkview.
On August 10th, when the city planned to present this new RFP to developers, the Parents and Friends of Bruce Monroe Elementary School, were not invited to the table, as is blatantly clear in the video posted above. But being unwilling to be eaten alive, they showed up in force anyway.
Having community members show up at a meeting that was clearly meant for developers only may help to keep the Bruce Monroe site in the hands of the city’s residents. The Parents and Friends of Bruce Monroe Elementary School are scheduled to meet with Mayor Elect Gray, Ward One Councilmember Jim Graham and Council Chair Kwame Brown on Tuesday November 16. At the Ward One Town Hall meeting, Vince Gray expressed his appreciation for the activism of the Bruce Monroe community and claimed to be an activist himself. Next week will tell us whether he’s also willing to give them a meaningful position at the negotiating table.
To get involved in the Campaign to Rebuild Bruce Monroe, contact Empower DC’s education organizer Daniel Del Pialago at Daniel@empowerdc.org.
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