Come hang out with neighbors on Thursday, October 5th from 5:30-7:30PM at the Highland’s Cafe and Grill, located in the rear of Penn Branch Shopping Center. Also, be sure to thank our good friend, owner Chef Moe Garay and this amazing team for their donation to our recent community day and block party.
Don’t forget to wear your Penn Branch T-shirt!!
Penn Branch neighbors came together on Saturday, April 8th, 2023 to help clean 9/11 Memorial Gateway Park and along the Pennsylvania Avenue corridor to Ft. Davis Drive before the entrance to Ft. Dupont Park. Several neighbors expressed concern to PBCA executive board members about the amount of trash that was visible from the street and from along the Circle-Park Hiking and Biking Trail that borders our neighborhood.
And they wanted to do something about it.
The DC Department of Public Works and the National Park Service (NPS) donated cleaning cleaning supplies, trash bags, bug spray, and grabbers. Then, our roughly 30 neighbors went to work on brisk spring morning. They were picking up trash and removing weeds. Others cut grass and help trim roses in our park.
Thanks to all who pitched-in. A few hours work did really made a difference!
#Springcleanup #SEDC #community #WearePennBranch #DC #Ftcircleparks
The First Annual Penn Ave East Main Street’s Art All Night and the Third Annual Porchfest SE events have come and gone. However, questions and concerns remain.
Both music-filled events were held in the rear parking lot of the renovated Penn Branch Shopping Center. What a milestone! Inside the shopping center, we now have thriving businesses (and non-profits) with multi-year leases. Art Art All Night and Porchfest brought music, minority-owned vendors, special presentations, food trucks, dancing, and dozens of smiles under KN95 face masks, outside of the building. The shopping center that bears our name is becoming both an economic beacon and gathering place for our community.
Last Sunday, Channel 9 News featured a story about Adams Morgan and Penn Branch Porchfest events. Then, tragically, just 72 hours later, Nikiesha Thomas was fatally shot by her boyfriend in the same parking lot. This generated a different type of news story. A story that adds to the stigma that East of the River communities are violent, crime-ridden, and generally unsafe. Bad things will happen. Still, the question remains: How do we change the narrative about our area? Do we want to be known for festivals and community gatherings? Or, crime stats? Finally, what more can we all do to outweigh bad news with stories about good events in our community? The choices are ours.
We all want what’s best for our community—and naturally, passions will flare as we debate different methods. However, our association is only as strong as your level of involvement and support. Join a committee: Help PBCA to better coordinate and plan future community events that will reflect the best of who we are. Become a block captain: Help us to distribute our newsletter and keep everyone informed about what is being planned.
Please continue to be safe, take care of each other, and I’ll see you at the meeting!
The Porchfest SE music festival took place on Sunday, October 3rd from 11:00am until 7:00pm at the Penn Branch Shopping Center. Check out this video from WUSA Channel 9.
Last month PBCA Communications Director, Paul Grant was awarded a grant from DC Humanities, Oral History Collaborative Partnership to collect personal narratives from early Penn Branch families. The project, ‘We Are Penn Branch DC’ will focus on the stories of individuals who became residents of Penn Branch between 1945-1968.
About DC Humanities
The DC Humanities Oral History Collaborative Partnership funds projects that explore and preserves Washington, DC life, history and culture through interviews with the people who have lived it. Created in 2016 in response to a growing need to capture unrecorded Washington history, the DC Oral History Collaborative documents and preserves the stories and memories of DC residents as communities experience change and as residents age. The Collaborative increases awareness of existing oral history recordings and gives residents the training and financial resources they need to conduct new interviews. HumanitiesDC specializes in working with grantees who want to create new recorded stories or who want to dig into the archives and tell an old story with a new twist.
Why Oral History is Important?
Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is both the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, and one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the 1940s and now using 21st-century digital technologies. These personal stories help fill gap between the major historical facts that we know and how real people experienced and understood these moments. As the Washington, DC area and continues to experience significant political, cultural, and economic change over the past 70 years, it is critically important we preserve the memories our most senior, and long-time residents and understand how the city’s evolution has impacted them.
The entire collection of stories will be archived in the permanent collection of the DC Public Library and the PBCA Executive Board is planning to host a public exhibition of the stories, once pandemic restrictions on public gatherings are released. Interviews will be filmed through October 2021 and participants will receive a $75.00 honorarium for their time.
To share your story, please contact:
Paul Grant | E-mail : [email protected] Tel.: (202) 888-3236
To learn more about HumanitiesDC, please visit: