RECIPIENT OF THE DC BLACK MBA ASSOCIATION 2023 LEGACY AWARD
Serving Our Community in the DMV
Marion Barry Avenue Sparks Hope, Demand for More Action to Promote Positive Change
Vol 59 No 5..., November 16 - 22, 2023
Observer's 60th Anniversary
Page 18
Project Purpose DC, Capitol Hill Boys Club Uplift Gun Violence Victims in Anacostia By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer Legions of D.C. residents are expected to converge on the 1800 block of Good Hope Road Southeast this weekend in honor of Marion S. Barry, Jr., for whom the corridor has been officially renamed. The D.C. Council approved legislation earlier this year that changes Good Hope Road to Marion Barry Avenue. While the name change, for some residents, brings about anxiety
about demographic changes on the horizon, others, like “Presto,” have wholeheartedly embraced it. Presto, an organizer and music producer, said that Barry’s legacy will evoke pride along a corridor that has experienced exorbitant violence, the likes of which claimed the life of his best friend Bernard “BJ” Hodges and, most recently, injured one of the young people Presto serves through his nonprofit, Project Purpose DC. Presto recounted watching then-
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5 D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser held a community walkthrough on Good Hope Road SE in January 2023. Good Hope Road SE will be officially renamed to Marion Barry Avenue SE on Saturday, Nov. 18. (WI File Photo)
Remembering Local Civil Rights Leader Maudine Cooper
Anacostia High School Students Co-Author Environmental Poetry Book
By Kayla Benjamin WI Climate & Environment Reporter
Dewand Hemsley, a senior at Anacostia High School, didn’t know he was going to be helping write a book during the six-week environmental justice internship he signed up for last summer. Neither did any of the other 11 high school participants. “Miss Caroline told us we had to write, and we said we didn’t want to write—then we kept complaining and complaining, complaining, complaining,” Dewand, now a published poet, said with a laugh. “Look at us now, we're like famous.” Dewand spoke with the Informer 5 The student co-authors of the new book “Through My Anacostia Eyes” and the book’s editor, Caroline Brewer, read aloud at a book launch at the University of
POETRY Page 24 the District of Columbia Nov. 8. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer)
Former President of the Greater Washington Urban League, Top Aide to Three D.C. Mayors By Hamil R. Harris WI Contributing Writer
Maudine R. Cooper, a civil rights advocate and a native of Mississippi who worked for three D.C. mayors before becoming President of the Greater Washington Urban League has died. She was 82. “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of our
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5 Maudine Cooper, who served as president and CEO of the Greater Washington Urban League for 23 years, has died. (Courtesy Photo/ History Makers)
Celebrating 59 years. Your credible and trusted source for Black news and information.