Our Members
The Anacostia Park and Community Collaborative is a membership-based coalition, but organizations do not need to be voting members to attend meetings, participate in projects or share events on the calendar. If you are interested in becoming a voting member, apply here.
The Collaborative is led by a steering committee that meets every month. The steering committee is made up of organizations that chair each of our internal working groups (marked with an * below). Steering committee meetings are open to all, and members are invited to attend and vote on decisions.
Wards 7 and 8
Akiima Price is a national advisor on trauma-informed environmentalism. Her brand of programming creates nature-based experiences that consider the basic needs of economically stressed individuals, families, and communities to enhance their collective well-being.
Citywide
The Alice Ferguson Foundation was established in 1954 as a non-profit organization chartered in the state of Maryland. The Alice Ferguson Foundation’s educational programs unite students, educators, park rangers, communities, regional organizations, and government agencies throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to promote the environmental sustainability of the Potomac River watershed.
Anacostia Business Improvement District
Ward 8
The Anacostia BID works to ensure the area is clean, safe and vibrant for the entire community. The BID, alone and with others, is interested in revitalizing the commercial district and energizing commercial property owners and commercial tenants to invest in Anacostia's future. The BID also plays a major role in increasing and managing public and private investment in Anacostia as the area continues to evolve.
Anacostia Coordinating Council *
Ward 8
The Anacostia Coordinating Council (ACC) is considered to be the hub of Ward 8, focused on and facilitating information gathering and sharing, networking, community advocacy, and organizing. It was founded more than 30 years ago. Supplementing these efforts are civic-focused projects. ACC with East of the River Clergy Police Community Partnership and Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative, gathers the faith communities in Wards 7 and 8 with the goal of strengthening relationships among faith leaders for the benefit of residents, as well as working to restore and revitalize civic associations in Ward 8, which currently has the fewest number of civic associations in the city.
Citywide
Anacostia Riverkeeper is a non-profit organization working to protect and restore the Anacostia River and create opportunities for the community to connect to the river.
Citywide
The mission of the Anacostia Watershed Society is to protect and restore the Anacostia River and its watershed communities by cleaning the water, recovering the shores, and honoring the heritage.
Building Bridges Across the River *
Ward 8
The 11th Street Bridge Park, a project of Ward 8 based nonprofit Building Bridges Across the River, will be Washington, D.C.’s first elevated public park located on the piers of the old 11th Street Bridge spanning the Anacostia River: a new venue for healthy recreation; environmental education and the arts. After a seven-month design competition, the design team of OMA+OLIN was selected in October 2014. With the ongoing capital campaign securing more than $15 million to date, the Bridge Park draws on an extensive community outreach and consultative process, anchored by more than 1,000 stakeholder meetings for design development and impact. Pre-construction began in 2016 and the park is expected to open by late 2019.
Citywide
Capital Nature provides information on the DC region’s many available, but not always known, nature events: from forest walks to citizen science adventures to educational workshops and stewardship projects. We collaborate with partners and friends to create new opportunities for nature engagement, and invite all to share their stories of experience with the natural world.
Citywide
Casey Trees, committed to restoring, enhancing and protecting the tree canopy of the nation’s capital, has set a goal of attaining 40 percent canopy by 2032. They are well on their way to that goal, having planted over 25,000 trees. Casey Trees has educated thousands of residents about the importance of urban tree canopy; supported the tree planting efforts of the government and community; advocated for green, tree friendly development and similar pursuits; and engaged people of all ages in their work protecting trees across the city.
Ward 8
Chozen Consulting, LLC mission is to create a platform for design thinking and engagement. Working collaboratively with clients, Chozen provides solutions to complex problems and delivers tailored results.
Citywide
Clean Water Fund’s DC team has the goal of dramatically improving the water quality of the Anacostia River. Current campaigns toward this end are A Toxic Free Anacostia and Anacostia River.
Clean Water Fund is contributing its vast experience and expertise educating, engaging, and organizing community members in Wards 7 and 8 to the Anacostia Park and Community Collaborative. In addition to working with residents most affected, they will help skill up APACC member organizations in grassroots advocacy.
Constituent Services Worldwide
Citywide
We are a nonprofit organization working to advance the interests of cleaning up the river, enhancing the public lands, and bringing positive change to the nearby communities, We have read and will contribute positively toward APACC's vision, values and goals statement. CSW has been training and employing DC residents for 12 years. We love to collaborate with any positive entities for residents East of the River.
The DC Alliance, Empowering Homicide Survivors
Citywide
The DC Alliance, Empowering Homicide Survivors (DCAEHS) acts as a clearing house for supportive services. DCAEHS has assembled a team of trained professionals to assist victims, co-victims and families of domestic violence & homicides, when it occurs in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area.
Citywide
For over 20 years, DC Appleseed has helped make the District a better place to live and work. Their work has been on some of the city’s toughest problems--improving health care, advancing democracy, enhancing educational opportunities, bringing better jobs and more affordable housing to DC residents, and protecting the environment.
DC Appleseed’s commitment to the Anacostia River is longstanding. A 1999 report called for vast improvements to the District’s stormwater management systems. Their 2004 report on lead in the water led to the government’s creation of what is now the Department of Energy and Environment. And their 2011 report A New Day for the Anacostia: A National Model for Urban River Restoration presented a strategy for the federal government to partner with local jurisdictions, businesses, and residents to turn the river into a recreational centerpiece, spurring economic development, creating jobs and transforming one of the nation’s most polluted rivers into a national model for urban river revitalization.
Appleseed has also worked on housing east of the river, developing affordable housing requirements to help ensure some residents along the Anacostia River are not priced out of their neighborhoods by development and are able to enjoy the resulting benefits of a clean, urban river.
Citywide
The DC Audubon Society is the official chapter of National Audubon Society, and focuses on building people-powered, bird-friendly communities in all 8 wards of the District of Columbia.
DC Greens fills several niches including: environmental education, urban agriculture, food access, and community engagement.
East River Family Strengthening Collaborative
Ward 7
East River Family Strengthening Collaborative (ERFSC) is a nonprofit organization in Ward 7 whose mission is to empower families, youth, seniors and communities to become more self-sufficient through integrated and collaborative community-based services. Leading priorities are to ensure the Ward 7 community is equipped with the tools and skills to dramatically increase self-sufficiency and family stabilization, facilitate coordinated community-based resources, provide opportunities for organizations to improve their capacity, and provide technical assistance to help other organizations deliver the best possible services and supports to residents of this part of the city largely east of the Anacostia River.
Wards 7 & 8
Our niche is grassroots community organizing on issues such as tenants' rights, displacement prevention, public and affordable housing, air quality, land use, equitable community development, environmental justice and community history.
Ward 8
Fairlawn Citizens Association is comprised of residents living in the Fairlawn community which is bordered to the west by Historic Anacostia and to the north by the Anacostia River. It is one of the oldest communities east of the Anacostia River, developed in the 1920s as the rural part of the city began to be developed. Today, single family housing units account for more than 90% of homes. Notable community landmarks are Anacostia Senior High School, Anacostia Public Library, and the historic Smokestack of the old Carroll Laundry.
Family & Friends of Incarcerated People
Wards 7 & 8
Family & Friends of Incarcerated People (FFOIP) fosters community support that effectively meets the needs of at-risk children and families of those incarcerated. It operates solely to promote charity, literacy, public safety, and to avoid inter-generational incarceration. FFOIP serves DC area children of the incarcerated and at-risk youth by engaging them in social, cultural and youth development activities through our various projects, programs, and events.
Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative
Ward 8
Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative (FSFSC) was formally established in April 1996 through a Neighborhood Collaborative Capacity Grant made possible through the federal Family Preservation and Support Act. FSFSC is organized as a partnership of residents, agencies, government bodies, and institutions located in and/or doing business in the southeast community.
Faunteroy Community Enrichment Center
Ward 7
The Faunteroy Community Enrichment Center (FCEC) provides participants a true sense of community by empowering youth to become activists and learn how to affect their community in positive ways. FCEC is a safe haven for many of our youth, providing high-quality programming with social/emotional components infused in every program.
Ward 8
The Fresh Food Factory empowers underrepresented and undercapitalized entrepreneurs by providing them with a one-stop farming, food processing and distributing hub that equips these foodies with the essential resources to operate a successful healthy food venture.
Ward 7 & 8
Friends of Anacostia Park elevate Washingtonians as the protectors of Anacostia Park and connect the dots between the preservation of the environment and the uplift of historically under-resourced communities.
Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens
Ward 7
Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens supports public access to and engagement with the Anacostia River environment. Since 2001, Friends has partnered with the National Park Service and local nonprofit organizations to create opportunities for people to serve, learn, work, and play in the park, which harbors the greatest biodiversity in DC and the last remnant marsh on the Anacostia River. The nonprofit organization delivers thousands of volunteer hours devoted to community programming and park maintenance.
Ward 7
Friends of Marvin Gaye Park connect the abundance of healing arts, food, culture and story in our neighborhoods and provide events and activities that facilitate awareness, growth and community.
Ward 8
The Friends of Oxon Run (FOR) mission is to address the needs of conservation of natural resources and preservation of green space in Ward 8. FOR works collaboratively with representatives from the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation in an effort to populate the calendar of activities, improve safety, preserve green space and make Oxon Run Park park a viable destination.
Historic Anacostia Block Association
Ward 8
The Historic Anacostia Block Association works to keep neighbors informed and involved in the social happenings of the Historic Anacostia community. By bringing residents together, we utilize social networking and collaboration for the betterment of our community. HABA helps determine the community's needs and problems, and seeks solutions and relief. We work in harmony with all Ward 8 organizations and agencies in Washington, DC and provide a forum for exchanging ideas, information, research and opinions, thus improving the quality of life within and around our community.
Citywide
Grieving mom, helping the world understand new purposes after trauma!
Institute for Public Health Innovation
Citywide
The Institute for Public Health Innovation (IPHI) is a regional nonprofit organization that creates partnerships across sectors and cultivates innovative solutions that improve health and well-being for populations and communities across DC region, particularly those most affected by health inequities. Their work enhances the environments and conditions in which people live, age, work, learn, and play; strengthens health service systems and public policy; and builds organizational and community capacity to sustain progress.
IPHI’s experience assisting organizations and communities build and enhance their capacity to sustain progress is being brought to APACC members and partners to make improvements in communities along the Anacostia River.
Wards 7 & 8
JHP Inc. represents the voice of human service providers with a focus on workforce development and support with being a connector of exposure, education, and opportunity for both the APACC network and DC residents receiving TANF.
Living Classrooms - Kingman Island
Ward 7
Living Classrooms is a Baltimore-based non-profit educational organization serving the National Capital Region since 2001. Living Classrooms has a distinctive competency in experiential learning — literally learning by direct experience, or what we call “learning by doing.” Using proven hands-on training methods in our established after-school and supplemental education programs, health and wellness programs, violence prevention and reduction initiatives, clean and green projects, and job training focused on teen and adult ex-offenders, we provide results-oriented programming that helps youth and families remove barriers to success and build a bridge to a successful future.
Ward 8
Malaziah's Closet looks to bring ideas from youth and seniors to the group. We are a nonprofit organization working to improve the quality of life for residents who live in public housing. We have an afterschool program for our youth. We have a pipeline into the modeling industry for potential careers for our children who love fashion. We are agents for change to create a thriving community that works better together.
Citywide
Martha's Table believes every Washingtonian deserves the opportunity to thrive. The organization supports children, strong families, and strong communities by increasing access to quality education, health and wellness as well as family resources.
We are a grassroots driven community based organization that focuses on affordable housing, sustainability and youth and family programming to ensure that youth and the people around them.
The National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens
We represent people returning from incarceration and the underserved community.
Neighborhood Legal Services Program
Citywide and Wards 7 & 8
Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP) provides free civil legal services to low-income residents of DC. They provide help in the areas of safe and affordable shelter, family matters (custody, divorce, etc.), consumer problems (such as collections and predatory practices), domestic violence, healthcare and public benefits, employment, and wills. NLSP lawyers also provide assistance to veterans. In addition to legal services, NLSP provides legal information and resources into the community through interactive workshops alone and with partners.
Policy Innovation Lab at the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
Citywide
The Policy Innovation Lab draws upon and convenes the talents of students, professors, researchers, community leaders and activists to tackle urgent and emerging issues at the forefront of policy discussion and debate in the DC area and develop pioneering and forward-thinking solutions. Current policy work focuses on examining and making recommendations to key stakeholders on policy questions and innovative practices related to how the development of the parkland along the Anacostia River can provide optimum benefits to the residents of neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River. The specific questions they are trying to answer are:
How can the development of the Anacostia River parkland add lasting value to the community its neighborhoods and its people? What are the innovative strategies, policies and practices for creating this value?
How can communities in Wards 7 and 8 along the Anacostia River in Washington, DC benefit from the city’s strong growth and the impending spillover development fast approaching these neighborhoods so long untouched by economic growth.
How can the development of the parkland along the Anacostia River be leveraged to spur community benefits such as greater economic and social equity and inclusion in Wards 7 and 8, as well as the rest of the District?
Wards 7 and 8
Right Directions will bring its experience in mentoring at risk youth and Violence prevention to the group. We are a nonprofit organization working to advance the interests of cleaning up the river, enhancing the public lands, and bringing positive change to the nearby communities. We have read and will contribute positively toward APACC's vision, values and goals statement.
Krista Schlyer Photography and Writing
Citywide
Much of my work is connected to the Anacostia parks and community, I would like to be more connected with other people who are working in this area.
Citywide
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization with 755,000 members who explore, enjoy and protect the environment. For over 40 years, the D.C. Chapter of the Sierra Club has worked successfully to protect and improve the environment in the nation's capital. They are volunteer-driven and depend on the help of local Sierra Club members and activists to make an impact.
Ward 8
The organization focuses on urban agriculture through meaningful community engagement with students in DC Public Schools and other grassroots organizations that are deeply entrenched in Wards 7 and 8. The goal is also to plant the seed for new possible career choices that urban youth are seldom exposed to. We connect them to the land that will give back to them and they invest in giving back to nature.
Ward 8
The Undivide Project represents a new voice in APACC because we are focused on the intersection of climate resilience, digital justice, and community engagement. We have a proven track record of working with communities to develop and implement innovative solutions to the challenges they face.
Citywide
Founded in 1968, Urban Institute is a national policy research institution with a rich history, whose home is in the District of Columbia. Current research priorities range from the social safety net to health and tax policies, the well-being of families and neighborhoods, and trends in work, earnings, and wealth building. Work extends to residents, city and regional practitioners, and policymakers at all levels. Local projects mirror those done nationally.
Local leaders need reliable facts and analysis to inform solutions and evidence-based policy ideas for sustaining the region’s prosperity and spreading the benefits more equitably. Revitalizing the Anacostia River and Park would spark social and economic growth for communities in Wards 7 and 8, home to the region’s most vulnerable and impoverished families. Improving the life changes of the disenfranchised through evidence-informed decisions is central to Urban Institute’s mission.
Washington Area Bicyclist Association
Citywide
The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) empowers people to ride bikes, build connections, and transform places. WABA envision a just and sustainable transportation system where walking, biking, and transit are the best ways to get around.
Ward 7
The Ward 7 Business Partnership (W7BP) advances economic growth and investment by all stakeholders to preserve and enhance Ward 7 commercial corridors and cultural institutions.
The goal is to produce tangible results in public participation, preserving history and upgrading architecture, retaining existing businesses, recruiting new businesses, improving the physical attractiveness of buildings, maintaining a high standard of cleanliness of streets and creating or preserving a sense of commercial identity and place. The approach promotes entrepreneurship and cultural awareness and expands the customer base, investment and capture of the local financial base.
Ward 8
Ward 8 Woods Conservancy works to enhance and preserve the beauty, ecological health, and public use of the more than 500 acres of forest in the Ward 8 section of Washington, DC for the benefit of all.
Citywide
The mission of Washington Parks & People is to grow city-wide park-based community health and vitality by nurturing innovation and partnerships.
Pickleball is fun, social and accessible for most people. The rules are simple and the game is easy for beginners to learn, but it can develop into a quick, fast-paced, competitive game for experienced players.
Pickleball is played with a solid paddle and plastic, perforated ball. It combines elements of badminton, tennis, and table tennis and is played on a court that is the size of a doubles badminton court and with a net similar to tennis but a slight bit lower.