Capitol Hill Community Foundation


			an electronic newsletter from the Capitol Hill Community Foundation Issue 1, Summer 2007

	Foundation Highlights Eastern Market —More Than A Building Eastern Market back open with vendors from the South Hall and weekend merchants out in force --flicker pic by jsmjr While were all stunned by the news of the fire on April 30th in historic Eastern Market’s south hall, the Capitol Hill community has truly come together to ensure that the Market will be rebuilt and return to be the center of our community. A temporary structure is under construction and should be open before the end of this summer for the inside food merchants to operate their businesses while the original Market building is restored by the city. But we don’t have to wait until then, as many of the South Hall merchants are open for business during the wee and on the weekends outside the Market building and along Seventh Street. To help ensure that the Merchants and their employees can survive the blow of the fire and that Eastern Market life retains its central role in our community, the Foundation has taken on the role of community fundraiser. The community response has been extraordinary with over $360,000 raised to date. These funds are being used now to offset loss of income, for the purchase or rental of equipment and supplies needed to get the merchants back in business, and a marketing campaign to remind all of Washington that Eastern Market merchants, farmers, and exhibitors are open for business. You can get updates on the fundraising process by visiting our website. Focus on Grantees Civil Rights Field Trip, Tyler Elementary School At spring break this year, a group of 4th - 6th grade students and their teachers representing the VOICE program at John Tyler Elementary School traveled to five cities in Georgia and Alabama as part of their continuing study of the history of the Civil Rights movement. Sites visited included the 16th Street Baptist Church and Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, Alabama; the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama; and Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, along many other locations where civil rights history was made. The Foundation was pleased to contribute vital funding for this fantastic opportunity to see and touch some of the key places and history of the Civil Right Movement. You can track their trip through the Tyler VOICE blog. Tyler student learning first hand about the history of the Civil Rights Movement at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center in Atlanta, Georgia --photo Colleen Clarke		Upcoming Event Highlights Target for delivery of temporary structure at "East Hall" site early July, grand opening early August... Invitations mailed for Literary Feast, September 12th... Application deadline for Foundation fall grants, September 28th... 2007 Literary Feast! October 27th School Libraries Project In 2006, the Foundation took on an ambitious $2.4 million initiative called the School Libraries Project, which aims to completely renovate and restock eight public school libraries on Capitol Hill. The first three libraries, at Brent Elementary School, Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School, and Stuart Hobson Middle School, were designed by local architects and completed in the fall of 2006. Construction is now underway on the libraries at Maury, Watkins, Payne, Tyler, and Peabody Elementary Schools this summer. The pieces are in place to complete this project by the time students return in September, but we are still seeking $50,000 in contributions to finish the project. To learn more about the project or make a contribution, please visit our website. Keller Award 2007 — Friends of Fort Dupont The Foundation was pleased to recognize the Friends of Fort Dupont this spring with the Arnold F. Keller Award. This special grant is awarded each year to one organization that has made a lasting impact on our community. Fort Dupont is the only public indoor ice arena in Washington. The Friends of Fort Dupont are committed to making ice skating available to kids from all around the neighborhood, around the ice arena and from across Washington. Subsidized ice skating lessons, open skate times, inexpensive skate rentals and partnerships with the DC Public Schools provide opportunities throughout the year for kids to learn figure skating, ice hockey and speed skating, as well as skating for fun!The award will provide skating classes and roundtrip bus transportation specifically for students from Capitol Hill public schools. Overbeck History Project The Overbeck History Project wrapped up its 2006-07 lecture season this spring with a presentation on the strange, ill-informed and occasionally accurate ways that Hollywood moviemakers have depicted Washington, DC. Hill Rag film critic Michael Canning showed clips from movies spanning most of the twentieth century, offering amusing examples of mangled geography and cultural tone-deafness, along with some notable cases where the filmmakers actually got it right. The series will resume in September at the Naval Lodge on Pennsylvania Avenue, with lectures on John Philip Sousa, the history of the Anacostia River and other topics. For more information or to volunteer, visit the website or call project manager Bernadette McMahon at 544-4544. Message from the President Welcome our first newsletter. We hope that you find it a useful resource giving you insights into what we are doing to help support our Capitol Hill community. Right now, of course, we are particularly focused on Eastern Market and the School Libraries Project. In future issues of this newsletter we will highlight grantees, special award winners, and the extraordinary generosity of the Capitol Hill community which makes all of the work of the Foundation possible. You can find more information on all of the work of the Foundation on our website. Please also send your comments and suggestions on this newsletter to neighbors@capitolhillcommunity foundation.org and feel free to forward this on to your friends and neighbors.
	Our Mission The Capitol Hill Community Foundation draws on the generosity and idealism of the neighborhood we love to help build a stronger, kinder, more thoughtful community. Every dollar we receive in donations goes back out in grants to local schools, charities, service organizations, arts groups, children’s sports leagues and other organizations and efforts that make Capitol Hill a better place to live. All administrative expenses are paid by members of our board of directors.
	If you received this from someone else and would like to subscribe to the Neighbors newsletter, please send us an email or give us a call at 202-544-1845.