Brookland - ��Ӱ��

After 12 years, Right Proper is still getting it right

Terrance Williams — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 15:33:21 +0000

Right Proper Brewing Co., the��D.C. brewery that has��operated��for the past 12 years, is expanding again with a new location opening in��Eckington��next spring.��

What began as a single restaurant and bar next to the Howard Theater on U Street has now grown into an operation that oversees production and distribution in Delaware and all over the DMV.��

Still, the company says its focus is on bringing value to D.C. neighborhoods and making high quality “beer flavored beer.”

Right Proper Brewing Co., which has operated in the District for 12 years, is expanding once again. (Terrance Williams)

“It’s kind of like a Cheers situation,” said Bri DeOrsey, a bartender at Right Proper’s Brookland bar and production facility.��

DeOrsey has worked at the bar for eight years, one of the only employees who has been on staff since before the pandemic. In addition to bartending, DeOrsey also handles event coordination and other responsibilities for the company. ��

She said that, even with the company’s expansions,��it’s��still a neighborhood spot, with a neighborhood feel.��

“This was an old autobody shop,” she said, referring to the Brookland location. “There are neighbors who still remember it as that.” ��

While the company strives to keep the vibe local, customers like Bob Woodward and Jocelyn Nieva make the journey, regardless of the distance.��

“There are no great breweries near our house,” said Nieva. The two, who live near American University, routinely bike the seven miles to enjoy a drink at the Brookland location.��

“We’ve been coming here for years, and we love it.” Upon hearing the news that a new location is opening in��Eckington, they both agreed it would be “one more place to drink.”��

The new location in Eckington will be the largest of the company’s three locations, though it will be similar to the Shaw location. The overall focus will be to bring value to the community.��

“They don’t really have a restaurant over there,” said Thor Cheston. He and his wife Leah Cheston co-own the business. “We’re looking forward to being of service to the community,” he said.��

According to Thor Cheston,��construction at��the��Eckington��facility started��two weeks ago, but��there’s��no official opening date yet.��

“We would love to have an official date,” he said. “As of right now,��Maypril.”��

Construction has begun on Right Proper’s newest location, set to open in Eckington next spring. (Terrance Williams)

While the brand is successful, the focus��remains��on making high-quality products. “We could sell more than we’re actually producing,” said Chris Broome, head��brewer��and production manager for the company.��

Broome has been with Right Proper for about two years but has been a brewer for��10.��

He said that while other breweries are focused on new and unique, Right Proper is leaning into four core beers, keeping things simple with a focus on the details.��

The choice to keep a limited product line reinforces the company’s overall goal of reducing cost and increasing quality, he said. ��

“When you think of D.C. craft beer, we want you to think of Right Proper,” Broome said. “We��aren’t��trying to re-invent the wheel.��We’re��making beer flavored beer at the highest quality possible.”��

At current capacity, Right Proper brews and distributes about 5,000 barrels of beer per year. Current plans to expand capacity in the next six to 12 months are underway, with a goal of 6,500 barrels per year.��

Going beyond that, however, would be a challenge.��

“The more tanks you have, the more space you need for raw materials,” Broome said.��

Since raw materials for beer making attract rodents, the production facility also employs Prima, to help combat pests.��

“Prima is a working cat,” Broome says. “Lots of breweries have them.”

Prima, Right Proper’s working brew cat, patrols the grounds for unwanted guests. (Terrance Williams)

Prima is just one of several ways the Right Proper has been able to innovate through the volatility of recent years. Partnerships such as Zeke’s Coffee, which��operates��inside the Brookland location, allow the shop to offer something that otherwise��wouldn’t��be on the menu.��

“Zeke’s is very good at making and serving coffee, and we are really bad at it,” said Thor Cheston. “We’re��not going to pretend we know what��we’re��doing, so��we’re��going to get people who��do. We make��very good��beer and��we’re��going to stick to what we know.”��

For Leah Cheston, it’s also about being able to pivot.  ��

“Sometimes it still feels like we’re surviving the pandemic,” she said. “You just keep going.”  ��

She said she and her husband both worked in the restaurant industry and started Right Proper because they saw a need for more places in D.C. where you could get a relaxed, comfortable environment and good affordable food.  ��

Over the years, she learned it doesn’t necessarily get easier.��

“There’s no destination really,” she said. “You just get better at flexing.” ��

Like her husband, Leah Cheston expressed excitement about becoming a part of the Eckington community.  ��

“We identified Eckington as a place that needed more amenities,” she said.  ��

The 5,500 square foot location will seat 180, and will feature a full kitchen, but smaller brewing capacity. While there will unfortunately be no brew cat because of the restaurant, she said the kitchen is sure to be its own draw.  ��

“People forget we have really good food,” Leah Cheston said.  �� ��

The new facility will be��located��at 1625 Eckington Place, NW.  ��

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D.C.’s first Black, LGBTQ+ Councilmember Zachary Parker contemplates his new role

Lalini Pedris — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 18:22:29 +0000

“Humbling, sobering…a great responsibility” – those were the words that Zachary Parker used to describe his recent victory as D.C.’s first Black, out LGBTQ+ council member.��

The newly elected Ward 5 councilmember said his approach to leadership centers heavily on facilitating community engagement.

Parker told ��Ӱ�� that he has “already established a help team where constituent services can help address neighbor concerns,” started a weekly newsletter, and will soon be appointing a community engagement director to his team. He said he hopes that this engagement and his focus on providing “strong constituent services” that will guide Ward 5 residents towards the best channels for addressing their concerns will foster inclusion.

Parker.�� Photo credit: Zachary for Ward 5 (Press Kit)

“On one hand, black, gay, lesbian, trans folk in the broader gay community don’t always feel seen and heard. And so that is important for me to help reflect that and change that on the council,” Parker said. “At the same time, within the black community, as D.C. is changing so rapidly, many within the black community feel as though that change is happening to them versus with them, that they are not participating in the growing prosperity of the city.”��

Parker said that “tailored policy prescriptions” are needed that “meet the realities of Washingtonians” and ensure that their voices are heard.��

At the top of his agenda are responding to the demand for affordable housing – which Parker notes is rising given the “changing face of D.C.” – and public safety.

“We’re on the heels of a tragic mass shooting in Colorado Springs. And so that responsibility goes beyond just representation, but that I actually need to fight for the community and provide a voice at the table –through policy, through action, through oversight – to make sure that the LGBTQ+ community is centered in the city’s policy decisions,” Parker said.

Parker engaging with constituents, Photo credit: Zachary for Ward 5 (Press Kit)

He said that the shooting “reinforces the need for us to address the crimes here locally”.

“And so, it’s just a reminder that what the LGBTQ community needs is much more than parades and flashy events, but actually housing and protection and access to jobs. And those are the things that I’m going to be fighting for and against.”

Parker views inequity in the city’s housing market as a larger system issue affecting marginalized communities, one in which “Wards 8, 7 [and] 5, usually in that order, start seeing disproportionately more cases of everything – violence, sickness, cases of COVID”.��

A former representative of the D.C. State Board of Education for over a decade, Parker views public school safety as yet another example of entrenched inequity.��

“What we’re seeing happen is a system issue within our schools. And it is unconscionable that we would have students in school buildings work without working HVAC systems, heating systems, and it will be important for me to hold the city, including our mayor, accountable to the interests and the needs of Ward 5 residents,” Parker said.��

Parker said that public-school safety is an issue that affects Black and LGBTQ+ disproportionately and described the importance of acknowledging intersectionality amongst his constituents “because those challenges are not the same across the community.”��

“We know that bullying in school is on the rise. We know that, as members of the community affirm their own identity with their family, at times, that puts them out on the street either because the family is not accepting or welcoming, or they are facing bullying within the home,” Parker said.

“So, very quickly, you can see how members of the community, especially marginalized members of the community, are facing many barriers in many facets of their lives, working to housing to safety, and the list goes on. And it’s important for us to address that.”

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Ward 5 Voters: DC’s affordable housing market available but poorly accessible

Lalini Pedris — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 20:51:35 +0000

Mayor Muriel Bowser this week on a project that will convert a large, vacant commercial building on Kalorama Road, NW into a multi-family affordable housing complex. ��But the state of affordable housing across D.C. remains a contentious issue for the city’s voters, a concern reflected in comments this morning from voters at the Woodridge Library in Ward 5.

“Democracy brought me here to the polls today,” said Noma Faison. “Democracy is something that allows us as voters to be able to make decisions to make sure that everything is enabled to help people. It allows them to be able to get jobs; young people can go out and get jobs with assistance … They need food, they need shelter. They need electricity. They need water. They need gas, and maybe help with their utilities and rental rates. Now, there’s no rent ceilings.”

Faison isn’t the only voter with concerns about affordable housing access.

“The prices are just through the roof. People who can afford it are even going to be priced out if [rent payments] just keep rising,” said Edward Robinson.

According to Robinson, “politicians and people in power making decisions that help the people” might be able to make a difference. “You have to monitor and be aware of how you treat the people in your communities and provide for them.”

Akram Abdul-Khalek said he understands the need for development, but he adds that the people who live here should be able to stay here and that housing should be affordable to them.

Referring to Bowser’s track record on affordable housing, Abdul-Khalek said, “I think she’s a little more about development and making sure, you know, her supporters and developers in the area make money.”

��Perspectives from voters at the library on the availability of affordable housing in D.C. ranged from in good standing to nonexistent. A shared concern was barriers to access.

“There is no affordable housing in Northeast, anywhere in the District,” said Catrina Felder. “I work in the District. I live here, but I can’t buy – I rent. And I work here, but I still can’t buy. I can’t afford it, and I work every day.”

“They build these outrageous residences when they start at $2- or $3,000 a month, and chicken costs me $20. And, as you can see, I’m used to eating a little bit of chicken and other things,” Felder laughed. “How am I going to be able to afford a $3,000 mortgage?”

For Nurya Saffron-Bey, inefficiency and barriers to information keep affordable housing from those most in need.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with several women through domestic violence, in advocacy. And affordable housing seems to be a major concern, a major issue, here in the city [as well as] lack of access to it,” said Saffron-Bey.

Residents have to navigate an endless circle of people to get clarity and answers for things like specific dates, Saffron-Bey said. “It just seems to be a long, drawn-out process.”

“It’s kind of like one person passing the buck to the next, you know what I mean? And then maybe, finally, you get to someone that has enough compassion to say: Okay, well, let me see if I can help this person,” she said.

Andrea Burks agreed. The D.C. homeowner said, a problem she has noticed is that, while housing is available, the information is only advertised to a few, so vacant units get snatched up before a community in need of access is even able to hear about it.

“They need to share that information,” Burks said, so that the distribution of affordable housing access is more equitable.

Like Burks, Saffron-Bey said that the “people at the top are not necessarily communicating with the people who actually need the services.”

This becomes a problem because sometimes services are available, but people never get them or a deadline to access them passes, Saffron-Bey said. It is important that “the people at the top” are communicating with people at the grassroots level so those who really need the resource will be able to access them immediately and not months down the road, she said.

Uncontested candidate for Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Vijay Kumar said, “The amount of our city that falls in the category of less desirable is diminishing, which also means that private developers are going to have a lot of pressure to renovate the existing housing stock.”

“And as a result of that process, you end up with new a lot more new housing as a proportion of our housing, which means that we have less affordable housing. And I think that is the crux of the problem that most folks have,” Kumar said.

“We need to hold developers accountable and hold the D.C. government accountable for its voucher system, for its inclusionary zoning occupying system, Kumar said. “We also do need to just be building more expediently. We need to unlock more of our land for construction of homes besides detached houses.”

Darin Burks said a lot of people in D.C. cannot afford some of the new homes in the city because so many appear to be high-end condos.

“And they just put all of the underprivileged and the low-income people in the same location, which causes all issues that’s going on – shootings, stabbings, robberies, thefts,” said Burks, referring to crime that is often associated with low-income housing areas.

But Jackie C., who asked that ��Ӱ�� not use her last name, said there’s a solution to crime plaguing areas where low-income housing develops – the government should go a step further in providing for more than just access to affordable housing by also integrate community recreation areas – particularly for youth, who “need an outlet, in a way, to get out some of that anger and frustration.”

“I learned how to ride a bike. I learned how to play tennis. I learned how to play flag football and how to swim. All those things are therapeutic for children, you know, being brought up in low-[income] areas of the District of Columbia,” she said.

These voters all agreed on one thing – that affordable housing is a necessity.

As new Ward 5 resident, Juita Martinez, 29, said, “I just think it’s a human right to be able to have housing and to have shelter, and everyone should have access to it.”

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Suspect flees from scene plowing Lexus into apartment in NE D.C. – new details emerge

Lalini Pedris — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 19:39:36 +0000

A vehicle plowed through a family home at Clermont Apartments Sunday night, and the suspect is still at large.

According to Metropolitan Police Department Public Information Officer Alaina Gertz, the driver of the vehicle fled the scene following the incident, which occurred at 11:18 P.M. at the 4500 block of Clement Drive NE. Officers De Roo and Ferrell of the Metropolitan Police Department were on the scene Monday morning but declined to comment.

A piece of the vehicle is shown here beneath crime scene tape.

Although no injuries were reported, the crash caused significant damage to the home of Gaius Boumediene and his family. Boumediene’s wife, mother-in-law, two-year-old son and baby daughter were in the living room of their apartment when the champagne-colored Lexus crashed into their bedroom, landing on top of a mattress without causing any casualties.

“I was talking to my wife and mother-in-law, we were just discussing, and we just heard the sound, ‘Boom!’” Boumediene said, standing in front of the rubble of his home.

A family photo can be seen on the wall beyond the wreckage.

“Around that time, my son, we always send him into the bedroom to go and sleep, so that was just by God’s grace that we did not send him to the bedroom – and this is our bed here,” said Boumediene, pointing to the bed now crushed beneath the weight of the sedan.

Boumediene said that the space is unlivable, and he worries about the state of his damaged household items.

“For now, they are going to, first of all, remove all the big pieces [of rubble], and then, after that, we are going to maybe take any important belongings.”

The property manager for Clermont Apartments declined to comment. The property’s owner, Dreyfuss Management, did not return calls seeking comment.

The Boumediene family living room shows the destruction caused by the crash.

Boumediene said that, to his knowledge, it is the first time that the apartment complex has experienced this.

“This is America, and I know that before building a structure, I think engineers came to [test] the scenarios that may happen,” said Boumediene, whose family is originally from Cameroon. “I think they need to put something like a fence here.”

The father of two did not see the driver, but heard that the suspect exited the car and ran down Webster Street NE.

The vehicle is a tan Lexus sedan with D.C. license plate number GL 5861.

Velvet Grimshaw, a resident living next door to the Clermont Apartments, arrived home with her husband around 2:00 A.M. to see police at the scene.

“I’m completely floored,” Grimshaw said. “We were totally in shock, like, we got out the car right here because we couldn’t believe it. Like, wow.”

The scene of the crash was initially boarded up until contractors were able to begin cleaning up the wreckage.

Local resident living adjacent to the Clermont Apartments, Velvet Grimshaw, described the intersection of Clermont Steet NE and Webster Street NE as “dangerous”.

Grimshaw was not at the scene when the crash occurred but said she believes the driver meant to take a right turn onto Webster Street NE.

“This is a dangerous intersection right here, this curve here. So, from our assumption last night, it looked like they may have missed that curve, because I’ve been in the car with people that had almost missed this and came this way right thinking that this is a normal turn.�� It’s not a normal turn.”

If you have any information on this vehicle, please contact the Metropolitan Police Department at (202)-727-9099.

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Winter is coming — and Ward 5 schools are unprepared

Lalini Pedris — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 18:21:25 +0000

Temperatures are dropping down to the thirties this week, but public schools in D.C.’s Ward 5 aren’t prepared.

On this third week of October, the Facilities Maintenance Division of the Department of General Services is expected to begin its to prepare public schools for cold weather conditions.

But, as the DGS’ own Public Work Order Dashboard shows, numerous school repairs are still pending and unfulfilled – some delayed by months.

Jennifer Fitzpatrick, a concerned parent and a teacher at Langdon Elementary School, brought the to the public’s attention last month, when she spoke with WUSA9 about how some of the school’s students have been learning in the dark.

Jennifer Fitzpatrick, a parent and a teacher at Ward 5’s Langdon Elementary School, has been a vocal advocate for addressing the state of public school repairs across DCPS.

Faulty lighting has been an ongoing issue, and though some of the school’s lighting has . The president of its Parent Teacher Organization, Shemika Smith, said that there is more to be done and recalled how teachers had to provide their own headlamps and appliances to compensate for the lack of proper lighting.

The D.C. Department of General Services Public Word Order Dashboard shows open and completed work orders from all D.C. public education campuses.

“I think the root cause of the issue is that when DCPS fixes things, it’s like they just put a band-aid over it, instead of doing a complete overhaul,” Smith said. “And I think that’s why continues to be an issue, not just in our schools, but [in]schools across D.C. When they fix it, they don’t do a complete fix.”

With winter approaching and autumn already here, the most concerning delays in public school repairs are the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, or HVAC, services.

“Every year when they switch from air conditioning to heat, it’s not fully functional, and every year, staff and parents and the community are left wondering why these issues are not being addressed when kids are not in the building when we had this whole pandemic year, we had all this time to check on all of these facility-based concerns,” Fitzpatrick said in an interview with ��Ӱ��.

The inability to regulate temperatures and faulty HVAC systems puts students, teachers, and staff health at risk.

“I guess my main concern is just being able to have a safe learning environment for my kids and other kids at the school. DC talks a lot about equity and equity within the school system, and equity starts with making sure that you have a safe learning environment,” Smith said.

Langdon Elementary isn’t the only public school with delayed repairs in Ward 5.

Smith said that schools with higher percentages of minority students – particularly Title I schools and those east of the Anacostia River – tend to be the schools most affected by delayed repairs.

In Wards 5, across 10 public education campuses alone, there are 116 open orders for HVAC services. In Ward 8, there are 130 open word orders for HVAC services across 18 schools; the earliest expected completion date is from May 2022. Comparatively, Ward 2, which has a lower minority population, has roughly 28 open work orders for HVAC services across 10 schools.

The earliest expected completion dates for these repairs are from ten months ago, in December 2021. It is unclear why maintenance issues across DCPS are so numerous and so significantly delayed.

“It’s clear that if we’re having issues right after modernization has [been] done to so many buildings, that something is not being completed correctly. If this was my house and that was the result of getting a remodel done, I would be in court suing the contractors, because they didn’t do the work correctly,” Fitzpatrick said.

In a statement emailed to ��Ӱ�� in response to several requests for comment,��Keith A. Anderson, director of the Department of General Services, said��the Department of General Services ��is conducting its annual cooling-to-heating changeover at all District-owned properties, starting Oct. 15.

“During this transition, DGS will be working with all District government properties to transfer air conditioning systems to heating services.�� The 2022-23 heating system transition will include municipal buildings, schools, recreation centers, police stations, fire and emergency stations, homeless centers, and senior centers and will last for approximately 30 to 45 days,” Anderson wrote.

“The process of switching from air conditioning to heating involves significant engineering detail and, as a result, systems cannot return to cooling once taken offline, until the following spring season – which is a standard practice,” he said. ��“During the transition, building temperatures may fluctuate up to 30 degrees within a 24-hour period which may impact target comfort levels, before leveling to desired comfort levels. DGS works closely with DCPS on any contingency plans for heating matters to ensure students, teachers and school administration are in a comfortable, safe environment.”

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D.C.’s faith-based organizations help combat food insecurity

Lalini Pedris — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 18:34:22 +0000

Lou Maroulis calls it the “tip of the iceberg” – a beautifully manicured, peaceful oasis in the northeast quadrant of D.C. that frames the Franciscan Monastery with vibrant flora. The Franciscan Monastery Garden in Brookland’s Ward 5 is open to all visitors, but that access is limited. Past the courtyard, at the edge of the garden, there is a gate. Walk past that gate, and you enter another world.

Honoring its namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, the monastery’s garden is more than just a tranquil escape from the noise of the capital. St. Francis was known for his service to the poor and for living a charitable life and was . The monastery gives merit to the life of St. Francis by doing just that – addressing poverty and feeding the hungry.

Rows of prize-winning vegetables grow in the monastery’s farm. A goldfinch perches on a
birdfeeder. Photo credit: Lalini Pedris

Behind the monastery, rows of vegetables grow amongst the fields of the monastery’s farm, and fruit trees dot the orchard nearby. Apples, peaches, pears, plums, sour cherries, mulberries, pecans, crab apples, and papaws are several of the fruit varieties grown on the farm. The Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild, of which Maroulis serves as chief executive officer, has plans to expand the orchard.

An apiary buzzes with activity beside the farm’s barn, as bees busily build their combs to make honey that will be harvested and strained and poured into glass jars for sale.

Aside from honey, nothing is for sale.

In fact, the farm produces and freely contributes 100 percent of the produce to a network of food banks and other charitable organizations that work to provide meals for communities living in the city’s food deserts, particularly in Wards 5, 7, and 8.

Maroulis said that larger organizations, like D.C. Central Kitchen, can haul as much as 500 pounds of produce at a time.

According to D.C. Central Kitchen’s chief development officer, Alex Moore, the organization prepares roughly 10,000 meals a day.

“We are a city that is marked by significant disparities [in our] economic prosperity, health, and well-being, by the social determinants of health in different communities. And all too often those lines are, by and large, demarcated by race. The color of your skin and your zip code has a major influence on your physical well-being and your food security and your economic fortunes here in Washington, D.C.,” Moore said. “If you look at the farthest corner of southeast D.C. in Ward 8, and the farthest corner of upper Northwest D.C…there’s a 21-year difference in life expectancy, which is just a staggering reality.”

A greenhouse helps to stabilize temperatures for produce during summer and winter seasons.
Photo credit: Lalini Pedris

In fact, food insecurity affects approximately 33 percent of people in the D.C. area, according to the . And while the issue of food insecurity in D.C. is well known, the need for food provisions has surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels and rising food prices and fuel costs have contributed to a greater and more desperate need for regular access to nutritious food.

To fill these gaps, many faith-based organizations have stepped forward. The concentration of these institutions in the Brookland neighborhood offers extra avenues of support.

“There is a level of devotion that we see with our friends in the monastery,” Moore said, noting that the Franciscan Monastery donates all of the produce they provide.

“They are so consistent; they are so receptive to feedback. They are so intentional in the way that they plan and arrange what it is that they’re doing so that they can have the maximum benefit to the community. And I think that that is something that makes them really a leading partner in that regard. They are so responsive; they really want to make sure that the effort and care they pour into growing – which, in itself, is sort of an act of fellowship – is also manifested in the end quality and highest and best use of what we then do with that donation. And so, I think that that speaks to their character and their commitment to service.”

D.C. Central Kitchen works with the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center of Washington, D.C. and Hindu American Community Service, Inc., as well as other faith-based institutions to provide and prepare nutritious food.

But as Brandon Vaidyanathan, a professor of sociology at the Catholic University of America, explained, faith-based organizations cannot tackle D.C.’s rampant food insecurity on their own and should not be perceived as the solution to this growing, structural issue.

“That being said, I think it’s really crucial to have band-aids when the social fabric is really being stretched or torn or when people are hurting,” said Vaidyanathan. ��“The network-based nature of this [i]s not just one organization trying to tackle the problem. The monastery is one example of an organization that’s growing the produce…but if you go to Catholic Charities, they have multiple other sources from which they’re getting produce.”

The ability to form an organic network of organizations to collect and distribute produce from multiple sources – such as the Franciscan Monastery Garden – is one key aspect of the success that faith-based organizations have had in helping to reduce food insecurity.

D.C. Greens Food Resources Map for Ward 5 shows the abundance of faith-based organizations working to fight hunger in the Brookland neighborhood.

“The thing about faith-based organizations is they have a lot of this motivation to feed the hungry, right? It’s part of their religious obligations,” Vaidyanathan said. “All sorts of religious traditions do this.”

Vaidyanathan referred to other establishments like Sakina Halal Grill in Mt. Vernon Square whose owner, Kazi Mannan, is driven by a passion .

Maroulis pointed to the wealth of intimate knowledge these faith-based institutions have about the communities they serve and highlighted that they also have access to thousands of volunteers, making them particularly successful when it comes to outreach.

Both Vaidyanathan and Moore reiterated that at the heart of these institutions, there is a passionate commitment to service. And while fully addressing and fixing systemic food security and poverty is an enormous feat requiring comprehensive policy change and much greater financial support, faith continues to feed the hungry in the nation’s capital.

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Residents, children block Brookland intersection advocating for safer streets

Hanna Holthaus — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 23:01:04 +0000

“The manholes have never looked so pretty,” Rachel Maisler told a young girl using chalk to draw on the intersection of 14th and Irving Streets Northeast Sunday. Children ran across the intersection carefree, occasionally stopping to decorate the streets with chalk as their parents watched and discussed street safety.��

Maisler, along with , organized a shutdown of the intersection to advocate for safer streets in memory of Allie Hart, a five-year-old who lived in the neighborhood before being on her bicycle by a driver in September.��

“We were trying to think of a way to memorialize what happened here while also celebrating her life,” Maisler said in an interview. “As a 5-year-old, she loved hearts and flowers, and we’re just here drawing on the sidewalk and filling it with what Allie loved.”��

Even though the protest did not have a permit, police blocked the intersection from traffic on all four sides of the intersection. (Hanna Holthaus / ��Ӱ��)

Police blocked the four entrances of the intersection after hearing about the protest. Maisler said she did not acquire a permit for the event because she believed the community’s right to gather in protest is guaranteed by the First Amendment.��

Maisler plans memorials for all city cyclists struck and killed by cars. Allie’s story, she said, is heartbreaking but not out of the ordinary. A , 9, last week.��

According to , 39 people have been killed in vehicular incidents this year. Vision Zero, which Maisler labeled as a good but severely underfunded program, is the city’s initiative to end traffic fatalities by 2024. ��Ӱ�� reported on the unlikely ability to accomplish the program’s goals earlier this year.��

Keeping up with all the accidents is proving to be more and more difficult, Maisler said.

“My God, I mean every time this happens, it’s a preventable crash, and the community is aching and looking for ways to call on the mayor, call on the district,” Maisler said.��

City Council-at-Large member Christine Henderson attended Sunday’s event with her daughter. Henderson sits on the Committee on Transportation and the Environment and felt “pleasantly surprised” the police blocked off the intersection for community members.��

Henderson said community members gathering to advocate for safety and taking up the street “didn’t hurt anybody” and were “not a huge inconvenience.” It did, however, allow them an opportunity to gather together and show support for the families impacted by traffic violence.��

The group occupied the intersection for three hours, allowing children to run and draw as much as they liked. (Hanna Holthaus / ��Ӱ��)

Henderson said she is working toward legislation specifically promoting infrastructure around schools to help keep children safe, especially as students return to in-person classes.��

“For kids just coming back in person, we can’t say to families ‘yes, your kids will be safe walking in crosswalks to and from school,’ so we need to do more to get cars to slow down,” Henderson said in an interview.��

Allie’s teacher, Wendy Aleman, attended the event and said Allie’s death “traumatized” her. Even when taking children to the park to play a couple of blocks from their school, Aleman said she is flooded with memories of Allie as she tries to keep the students safe.��

“Now is better than before,” Aleman said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about [Allie] and crying.”

Aleman’s daughter was in Allie’s class, along with Thor and Leah Cheston’s daughter. One of the hardest parts, the parents agreed, was figuring out how to tell their children.��

Leah Cheston found out about Allie’s death through a parents’ group message. She and the other mothers then called one another as they “Googled how to tell your 4-year-old that her friend died.”

“It’s really hard. It’s really hard to tell your four-year-old that her friend isn’t coming back,” Leah Cheston said.��

Leah and Thor Cheston said they have considered moving out of D.C. because of the traffic violence. Drivers, Thor Cheston said, are “selfish” and do not care about pedestrians.��

Event organizer Rachel Maisler said the street signs represented their message, “protect our kids.” (Hanna Holthaus / ��Ӱ��)

Thor Cheston hoped the protest would make a change because people were not safe as long as the government did nothing to help.

“Somebody needs to be pulling these people over and holding them accountable, and it’s not happening, it’s not,” Thor Cheston said.��

Community members have done their part, Henderson said. Now, she believed the government had to act.��

“We need our agencies to react and respond to the advocacy we have seen thus far,” Henderson said. “I don’t want to tell people ‘You have to march 10 times’ or ‘You have to do these types of events at every school in order to get someone to notice.’ It shouldn’t take this.”

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After a rough start, Ward 5’s only middle school is ‘crushing it’

Jacob Wallace — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 19:50:18 +0000

Sarah Graham is nervous about high school. An eighth grader at Brookland Middle School, she’s been involved in the arts for the past three years, and wants to find a way to pursue her interests her freshman year.

“I’ve visited Duke Ellington, Banneker,” Graham said. “I’m still seeing what’s there.”

On Dec. 3, Graham went to an after-school high school application fair at Brookland Middle School with her aunt, Janette Byrd, where she got to hear from eight different high schools about what they have to offer. Byrd said she was happy that high schools were coming to Brookland Middle School and recruiting students just a short walk from her home.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for the kids and the parents to be a part of,” Byrd, manager of the nearby Woodridge Library, said.

Teresa Scott, a special education teacher at Brookland Middle School, leads Sarah Graham in a practice interview, where she encourages good posture, a firm handshake and eye contact. (Jacob Wallace / ��Ӱ��)

Brookland Middle School hasn’t always been this engaged with the community. When the school opened in 2015, it drew parents and their children from across the city as the only standalone middle school in Ward 5. The resulting crush of new students in the school stretched the faculty to their limits, giving the school a bad rap in its own neighborhood.

Five years later, Brookland Middle School now has the second highest enrollment increase in all of D.C. Public Schools, and the highest of standalone middle schools. How it got there is a testament to the power of changing the narrative around a school and its students.

Wendy Hamilton began working at Brookland Middle School as a long-term substitute teacher in its first year. When the middle school opened, DCPS was expecting about 250 students, but by the time the year began 350 had enrolled.

“The first year was rough as any school would be,” Hamilton said. “By the end of that year they had nicknamed us ‘the Brookland Zoo.’”

From its first year to its second, Brookland Middle School lost about 100 students. Hamilton, a part-time pastor at Open Door Metropolitan Community Church in Montgomery County, was hired full-time as an enrollment counselor to help bring back students. She said initially she had a tough time convincing parents to re-enroll their kids at Brookland Middle School.

“This is just as much ministry as going into church.” Hamilton said. “It took us a year or two to regain the confidence, to shift the narrative around Brookland.”

“They had nicknamed us ‘the Brookland Zoo.’ That was discouraging because it felt like something that we could not control.” – Wendy Hamilton

The school’s improvement began in earnest in 2017, when Principal Kerry Richardson came to Brookland from Kelly Miller Middle School in Ward 7. Richardson said he immediately set to work getting to know his new neighborhood, even changing his dry cleaners to one not far from the middle school. When he began reaching out to the community, Richardson was troubled by the school’s poor reputation.

“I kept saying, ‘My students aren’t like that at all.’ So one of the first things I did was a changing of the narrative,’” Richardson said.

Richardson scaled back on some of the elective courses at Brookland, first billed as an arts-centered middle school, and decided to focus on the fundamentals.

“I really wanted to strengthen the core classes and have honor classes and pre-AP classes,” Richardson said.

At the same time, Richardson has also made himself accessible to parents. He describes himself as a “very visible” principal, keeping his door open to parents visiting the school and even taking them to tour a classroom during the school day, allowing parents a rare glimpse into what a middle school classroom is actually like.

Hamilton, the enrollment counselor normally in charge of recruiting new students from elementary schools, said Richardson has attended as many outreach events at D.C. elementary schools as he could.

“All I can say is, last year Mr. Richardson was like, ‘Give me the calendar of what events are going on and I will go with you,’” Hamilton said. “He’s very active and hands on in a way that I think also reassures parents.”

“That’s really what is was: telling our story.” – Kerry Richardson

Enrollment numbers rose after Richardson’s first year, and he continued to hire more staff to support students, including social/emotional support staff members for each grade level. Richardson said he wanted to bury the “Brookland Zoo” narrative that had plagued the school’s first early years.

“That’s really what it was: telling our story and our staff telling our story,” Richardson said. “We had to rebound from that and really rebrand ourselves.”

Last summer, everything changed. The middle school enrolled a record 365 students, far surpassing its projection of 311 students. With that increase came challenges, but it’s also brought its own form of success.

“I think for the students it’s exciting. It’s an opportunity to meet new people,” said Dakari Taylor-Watson, a counselor at the middle school. “For them, it’s excitement, it’s a method for them to expand and see who else is in the school.”

Dakari Taylor-Watson directs students to activities at a high school application fair, where eighth graders prepare for the essays and interviews required by elite schools. (Jacob Wallace / ��Ӱ��)

At the same time as the enrollment increase, Brookland Middle School has also implemented a new Structured Enrichment Model, or SEM, where teachers start clubs like woodworking and yoga that students participate in every other morning. The program is meant to give students an incentive to show up to school on time and also stretch their creativity and explore new interests.

“Because we’ve had an influx of students it’s caused the staff to be creative, structured but creative,” Taylor-Watson said. “We’re thinking more outside the box.”

Hamilton’s job has changed as the school once again reaches its upper limits of attendance. She now anticipates that the middle school will have to turn some kids from non-feeder schools away as the parents of elementary school students in Brookland increasingly choose their local middle school. But Hamilton said she’s happy to have that problem.

“I went from cold-calling to turning people away,” Hamilton said. “I have been shooting for that for three years.”

Richardson said the success has had a notable effect on the student body too. From last school year to now, Brookland Middle School saw a re-enrollment number of 92%, its highest since the school opened. These days, the principal is confident that the school is on track for a successful future.

“It’s been just a lot of phenomenal gains,” Richardson said. “I walk around and see the students, and it’s as they say, ‘We’re crushing it, Mr. Richardson.’”

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Kerry Richardson.

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In Brookland, a community stands behind its public schools

Jacob Wallace — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 21:02:27 +0000

Tensions in Brookland were running high this spring. Newer residents had started calling the police on children and teenagers after school as they were walking home and stopping by convenience stores — something most kids are prone to do.

So community members decided to confront the issue. On March 26, members of the Brookland Middle School parent-teacher organization held a meeting where parents provided statements from students who confessed to feeling unsafe in their own neighborhoods.

“They were calling the cops on kids because they were laughing in the alleyway, I mean are you kidding me? That’s silly,” said Jhonna Turner, parent engagement program coordinator for the Washington Lawyers’ Committee.

After the meeting, Turner realized there was an opportunity to do something more. With support from the Washington Lawyers’ Committee, where her job is specifically designed to facilitate community organizing, she brought together local pastors, parents and other professionals to create the Village of Brookland organization.

Though the nonprofit is still in its early stages, the Village of Brookland will grow in the next year to support not just Brookland Middle School but every public school in the Brookland neighborhood. In a neighborhood where wealthy white residents are sending their kids to private or charter schools, Village of Brookland plans to provide resources to Brookland’s public schools and change narratives around the public school system in the neighborhood.

“We have older people, younger people, Brooklanders who’ve lived there their whole lives, people who have just moved in,” Turner said. “We’re just trying to make sure that all kids have equal resources and opportunities.”

“We’re just trying to make sure that all kids have equal resources and opportunities.”

In Philadelphia, a coalition of parent-teacher organizations has worked since 2012 to spread organizing ideas for school support and revitalize public schools in underserved neighborhoods in a manner similar to the Village of Brookland. In his role as education committee chair in Philadelphia’s Crosstown Coalition, Jeff Hornstein runs the Friends of Neighborhood Education group (FONE), where he has found ways to facilitate city-wide support for the public school system.

“There’s always power in networks,” Hornstein said. “When you’ve got schools, contiguous schools working together, you start to build more of a buzz.”

Philadelphia is different from Washington in that it’s still in the early stages of gentrification following its near-bankruptcy in the ‘80s. Even so, Hornstein acknowledges that there’s a fine line between getting newer, whiter residents to contribute to their local schools and gentrifying established communities out of their neighborhoods. He said he’s found that part of building equitable support for public schools meant getting well-meaning white people in Philadelphia neighborhoods to put their money, and kids, where their mouths were.

“It’s really about a narrative change. More resources, and change the narratives,” Hornstein said. “If you are truly a person who espouses equity and equal opportunity, does that argument stop at the schoolhouse door?”

In Brookland, Turner is up-front about the fact that the issue of support for public schools has a racial component. The students who were getting the police called on them were not white, while the people who were calling the police often were, Turner said. In a one-page flyer the Village of Brookland shares with community members, the organization describes its goal as putting “an end to separate and unequal schools in Brookland.”

The numbers appear to support the organization’s allegation of “separate and unequal” schools. Brookland Middle School is 94% black, while the neighborhood is only 64% black, according to U.S. Census data. Nearby Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School is 39% black, and Washington Yu Ying Academy, a charter school by Catholic University is 33% black.

“You have parents that chime in saying they’ve been living in the neighborhood their whole lives and they don’t feel comfortable in their neighborhood anymore,” Turner said. “It’s more than just providing resources in their school, it’s about the kids feeling more comfortable and more confident.”

“They’ve been living in the neighborhood their whole lives and they don’t feel comfortable in their neighborhood anymore.”

Ebony Lea is the CEO of A Fresh Start Therapy and lives in the Brookland area. Though she doesn’t have children, Lea began attending Village of Brookland meetings to get involved in supporting the neighborhood’s schools. She said \that as a resident and as someone who attended public schools in Washington, she understands the importance of supporting the next generation of students.

“Children grow up to be adults,” Lea said. “I think something we forget is that children need [positive] experiences in their schools.”

Lea feels it’s important for communities to provide extra support for their public schools when competing charter schools are frequently well-funded and well-supported by high-income parents. She said having a long-term public middle school is a major ingredient for families to maintain a generational connection to their neighborhood.

“The school’s really doing some positive things and we want to support them,” Lea said. “We want families to get to a point where after 20 years they can say, ‘My kids are going to Brookland Middle School.’”

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Brookland residents say police should focus on stopping tire thefts

Chris Casey — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 18:59:01 +0000

��A series of tire thefts reported from cars parked on Brookland’s residential streets has residents looking for answers for how it can be prevented.

Last week, Bill Skinner said that he parked his car on the street outside of his home as he always does and woke up the next morning with all four of its tires removed. He shared the photo with his neighbors in the Brookland Facebook group, where many others shared stories of tire theft that happened to them or their neighbors.

“Keep an extra eye out and be careful,” Skinner cautioned his neighbors in the post.

Residents in the Brookland Facebook group shared similar recent stories of tire theft.

Clinton C. Johnson, a Brookland resident, said that the Metropolitan Police is not prioritizing the issue enough, the way they would with other cases of crime.

“It seems like this would be a very solvable case if they were doing any legwork,” Johnson said. “It has to be a team of people doing the same crime over and over again, not different people coincidentally.”

Brian Stevens says that he has seen tires being stolen from his neighbor’s cars on his street numerous times in the middle of the night. He says he has videos from several of the incidents.

“I have contacted the police every time and they have never followed up,” Stevens said.

Lauren Wiesner, a longtime resident of the neighborhood, told ��Ӱ�� that she had seen it happen several times in recent months, though she was not able to identify who was committing the crimes.

“They’ve all happened by 20th Street,” Wiesner said. “It is scary.”

This was echoed by resident Michelle Tonelli. She told ��Ӱ�� she’d seen a number of parked cars without rims or tires. However, she does not think it is unique to Brookland.

“I have no idea how it compares to other neighborhoods, but it seems like a citywide crime,” Tonelli said.

K.T. Stevenson said that he has observed tire thefts for several years in the neighborhood and that the issue is only getting worse. Last week, he saw tire burglars on his street late at night.

“It is one of my worst fears,” Stevenson said.

Recent Catholic University graduate, Julia Bergamini, said that the police should not trivialize the crime and should take the instances of tire theft more seriously, as they have impacted many residents.

“Treating any crime as ‘general’ is tolerating it,” Bergamini said. “It only allows the deviancy to grow and worsen.”

Tips from the police

��Ӱ�� requested Brookland tire theft numbers and statistics from the Fifth Ward of the DC Metro Police. The department said they don’t track tire thefts specifically, as they fall under “general” theft or auto vandalism, which are both large problems.��

Officer Jules Lucas told ��Ӱ�� that while he could not provide records for tire theft in Brookland, his department takes each case very seriously. He said that buying a bolt lock for tire rims at a car repair shop “like AutoZone” is the main precautionary method they recommend to residents in order to prevent tire theft.

“We recommend this because once you buy the lock, you can feel more assured that your tires will not be stolen,” Officer Lucas said.

He also cautioned residents against leaving any valuable items visible inside of their cars as it will make them more susceptible to crimes like tire theft or break-ins. If a resident hears any strange noises in the middle of the night and does not feel safe going outside, he said, they should call the police department as they will then patrol their street.

“Usually, that scares them away,” Officer Lucas said.

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