Our work in the community

ECAC continually finds ways to empower the residents of Pleasant Plains to create a vision for their community, and to communicate this vision to those seeking to redevelop the neighborhood. Although much of the focus has been on Columbia Heights, the Georgia Avenue corridor is considered the next frontier for redevelopment with many major projects underway. ECAC's goal is to reunite and reestablish the voice of the community leaders in this process.  This is a natural extension of ECAC's role in the community. Since 2006 we have been a voice of the community through our activities. We have a strong presence in the Pleasant Plains Civic Association, ANC 1A and 1B meetings, Howard University Community Association meetings, and MentoringWorks2 Community meetings, and we promote our activities door-to-door monthly to at least 300 neighbors, and weekly via email to over 2,500 people. Building on our previous outreach efforts and relationships with businesses and nonprofits, we are establishing a network of residents and business owners that can be informed and active in the community.  

In June of 2009, ECAC partnered with Mentoring Works 2, who works with the youth in the community, the Pleasant Plains Civic Association which has been active since 1921 and Sankofa Video and Books, a significant cultural bookstore, café, and entertainment venue, to create a neighborhood network and newsletter. This monthly publication, the “Pleasant Plains Neighborhood Network News” features articles on neighborhood events, volunteer opportunities, neighborhood history, environmental concerns, youth perspectives and civic issues. Future plans include business advertisements and web presence. ECAC will use this forum to educate the community about history and environmental concerns, new development, volunteer opportunities, social events and civic meetings. Feel free to download the electronic version of our first issue, distributed door to door to 1,500 households during the week of August 17th with volunteer help from American University.  

Having researched and documented the building's heritage, ECAC wanted to extend the research into the neighborhood of Pleasant Plains.  Inspired by the Columbia Heights Heritage Trail, we approached Cultural Tourism DC in the summer of 2007 requesting a heritage trail for Georgia Avenue from the Shaw to the Petworth Metro Stations. A Heritage Trail is a self guided walking trail based on a set of signs installed in public spaces forming a walkable route.  The signs lead visitors through a neighborhood along a route that can be walked in 90-120 minutes, a distance of typically two miles. A trail comes with two summary booklets, one in English and one in Spanish, intended for free distribution by businesses and institutions along the route. Cultural Tourism DC has initiated a process for the creation of the trails. The first step of this process involves the community in the research and documentation.  

ECAC received Neighborhood Investment Funds to purchase equipment and training to conduct video and audiotaped interviews of elder residents and business owners. Using middle school students, high school students, college students and residents, we conducted over a dozen interviews, capturing many fascinating stories about the neighborhood.

Decisions involving all aspects of the Georgia Avenue/Pleasant Plains (GAPP) Trail came from the monthly Community Working Group meetings held at ECAC. We made a significant effort each month to recruit neighbors and business owners to the meetings, and they were well attended. In June 2008 the trail moved into Phase II, where Cultural Tourism hires a historian to continue the research and draft the signs.

The GAPP Trail will highlight the history of Georgia Ave. and will include points on Sherman Ave and 6th St as well as Howard University. We feel that the history of this area contributed greatly to the development of businesses, education, and activism for African-Americans and other cultures as well. Almost 700 volunteer hours went into the development of the trail which shows a significant commitment from the community. Work done thus far on the trail can be viewed at www.ecacollective.org/trail.

Building on the research collected for the GAPP Heritage Trail, ECAC received funding from the Humanities Council of Washington DC to conduct one day workshops for children ages 5-12 to teach them local history and the African Brazilian martial artform of Capoeira Angola. Both of these workshops highlight very important aspects of learning for young children.  Recognizing the sites of historical interest gives children more consciousness about their surroundings. Many of the children recognized the places they saw in the history presentation, but did not know that anything significant happened there. As part of the workshop the children did artwork about the history they learned which further reinforced their connections.

The Capoeira Angola sessions held in the afternoon connected the children to traditional African culture through movement, music and singing. Capoeira Angola is a traditional African art brought to Brazil with the slave trade, and practiced in secret until the 1930s. Learning the artform exposes children not only to the acrobatic movement and singing, but also to the aspects of community that are required as part of the artform.

We conducted 10 sessions during the summer of 2009, reaching almost 200 children. The artwork was truly inspiring, and all of the groups shared how much they learned from these workshops.

Working in collaboration with Dr. Ernest Quimby, Sociology professor at Howard University, ECAC has participated in his Community Technical Assistance Project (CTAP) for the past three semesters. Recognizing the need for students to experience the community outside of the classroom, Dr. Quimby began CTAP in several years ago as a way to make meaningful connections between Howard University and neighborhoods in the city. In January 2008, he offered ECAC assistance in conducting research on the Georgia Avenue/Pleasant Plains Heritage Trail. His class was assigned to research points on the trail and to make a formal presentation at ECAC at the end of the semester. The presentations were videotaped and audiotaped, and much of their work was adapted for the GAPP Trail website. The students also took the training for the interview team, and helped conduct interviews of the elder residents and business owners.

In the Fall of 2008, our collaboration with Howard University continued with further research into the demographics of the Pleasant Plains neighborhood.  Students compiled qualitative and quantitative data in areas such as jobs, education, and crime. Their final presentations have become part of ECAC's initiative to compile a comprehensive neighborhood profile.

In January 2009, Dr Quimby's students, in collaboration with ECAC, compiled profiles of individual Pleasant Plains businesses, non-profits, and schools. Through photos, interviews and research they provided ECAC with comprehensive data that will be used in a future project to create a CD-ROM about Pleasant Plains.

The ECAC/CTAP collaboration represents a significant bridge between Howard University students and the community that will ultimately improve long term relationships. Through CTAP, Howard students learned about the history and significant resources in the neighborhood that they had not been exposed to. Business owners had an opportunity to interact with students in a positive way. Our relationship with Howard University continues as we prepare for Fall 2009. During this semester, we will examine and document the relationship between Howard University and the community.