Youth & Schools
$15M
down payment
for afterschool
programs
$12.5M
for school
maintenance
repairs
Neighborhood Investment
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high school
athletic field
renovations
Creation of Afterschool Fund
In 1999 WIN organized to get a $15 million appropriation to create an after-school education
enrichment program, including WIN-directed programs at four elementary and middle schools such as
Aiton, J.O. Wilson, Stuart-Hobson, and Whittier schools. This campaign set a standard for afterschool
funding leading to yearly investment totaling $100 million over 15 years.
“Excellence In Education” campaign for improved school facilities
Building on this success with afterschool programs, in 2000, WIN organized congregation members,
parents and educators to do school audits identifying thousands of unaddressed building problems.
The audits found that in one school 18 out of 20 toilets didn’t work, and others had asbestos warning
signs. Out of the campaign WIN organized and won $12.5 million in priority maintenance projects in
25 schools across the city.
High School Renovations
In 2000 WIN met student-athletes, parents, and coaches
from Dunbar High School that were fed up with their
condemned track, locker-room and poor athletic facilities.
Many youth had to walk home or ask a neighbor to
use the shower instead of using the run-down school
facilities. WIN organizers agitated Girl’s Track & Field
Coach Marvin Parker, along with parents like Regina
Shorter, Denise Benn, and Linda Buffey, asking “what
are you going to do about it?” This led to a public
fight with Superintendent Janey that won $23 Million
dedicated to renovations for Dunbar, Ballou, Coolidge,
Roosevelt, and Wilson High Schools’ athletic facilities.
DUNBAR HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS TRACK COACH MARVIN PARKER WITH
STUDENT ATHLETES.
In 2004, a member of St. Thomas More Catholic Church, and
a Beulah Baptist member were both murdered. This led WIN to
launch a campaign to re-invest in neighborhoods that had been
too-long ignored while DC invested instead in the renaissance
of downtown. WIN’s historic Neighborhood First Campaign
increased voter turnout in key neighborhoods by as much as 20%
and lead to the creation of Neighborhood Investment Fund and
its first $100 Million allocation.
As the city prepared to invest millions to finance a Baseball
Stadium, WIN and organizations throughout the city continued to
cry “Neighborhood First”! After long negotiations, in 2005, Mayor
Williams agreed to invest $450 Million in a Baseball Community
Benefits Fund. Unfortunately, the Baseball fund was cut during
the recession before it was fully realized.
The collective impact of hundreds of millions of dollars of
neighborhood investment meant the building and renovation of
affordable housing, libraries, parks, and community centers in
neighborhoods that were being left behind. The new Washington
Highlands Library and Mary Virginia Merrick Recreation Center,
swimming pool at Ferbee-Hope Recreation Center, the football field
at Benning Terrace, and renovations to Watts Branch, Ft. Davis and
Fort Stanton Recreation centers were all results of this work.
Community Safety
Community Safety was one WIN’s founding issues. In the mid-90s when DC homicide rates were
soaring and DC Police were being investigated, WIN and organizations across the city successfully
called on Police Chief Soulsby to resign. This came after abysmal rates of solved homicides and
allegations of financial impropriety. WIN continued building a relationship with police in the summer
of 1999 by working with Mayor Williams and Police Chief Ramsey to improve relationships between
police and community. Before community policing was a term, WIN demanded that officers “get out of
their cars and walk the streets” leading the city to deploy more than 300 foot and bike patrol officers
city-wide. WIN’s community policing organizing campaign contributed to changing the culture of the
Metropolitan Police Department. Today WIN is again tackling community safety by beginning a new
campaign which focuses on gun violence and police accountability, with the goal of making the city
safer for everyone.
PHOTO: DYCHELL ROSENBORO, WASHINGTON POST
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