After a nice summer that started with Brightwood Day and ended with relaxing break, the BCA is back up and moving again. Our meeting yesterday evening ran just over an hour and we got a lot done.
LOCAL HIV/AIDS PROJECT
Ms. Diossa Flemming, a Girl Scout pursuing her Gold Award for Community Service, gave an excellent presentation seeking support for her project -- "Back to School: Free HIV & STD Testing & Counseling." Her slogan was, "End the dread, stop the spread." Ms. Flemming noted the grim statistics regarding the STD and HIV levels among D.C. youth and decided to do something about it. She has organized this event, which will take place on Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 from 6:30 - 9:30 pm at Emery Recreation Center, and will include workshops, literature, confidential screening and testing, and counseling, as well as food, prizes, entertainment and giveaways.
We've added the event to the BCA calendar. This young lady has an important goal, presented it well, and answered all questions posed to her. She has the BCA's full support in this effort and we encourage you to help spread the word.
LITTLE GREEN NEST DAYCARE SEEKING TO INCREASE FROM SIX TO UP TO TWELVE CHILDREN
Representatives of the Little Green Nest Home Bilingual Daycare gave a presentation on their business and requested a letter of support from the BCA. They answered several questions posed by the community regarding their compliance with the law, their general practice and their goals. In their presentation they said that they were meeting a need for home daycare in the community and this expansion would help them do so more. They contrasted a home daycare environment with a daycare center, stating that a home daycare has a different feel for the children more similar to home and has less of a revolving door when it comes to the care providers. The same provider would be present for the year or two that the child uses the service, which supports building security and stable relationship, they said.
No neighbors from their street were present, but they did show us a few letters they had received from their neighbors as well as a letter of support from Ms. Karen Dresden, head of the Capital City Public Charter School.
Without objection, the BCA agreed to provide them with a letter stating they have presented their request, satisfactorily answered our questions and stating we have no objections to supporting their expansion. If anyone has any questions about this expansion and was not present, the Little Green Nest will next be presenting their request to ANC4A in the October meeting.
LINCOLN-THOMAS DAY, SEPT. 22, 2012
I gave an update on the progress of Lincoln-Thomas Day, which the BCA has been supporting. The Mayor has now informed us he will be glad to attend and give a speech. Representative Norton will also be in attendance and provide remarks for the occasion. Quite a few people have asked for more information about who Thomas is, so I will write a follow-up article giving a more detail about her, and the background of the day.
BCA BOARD NOMINATIONS
We were glad to see some new faces at the meeting and even more so to hear a few of them are interested in serving on the BCA board. IMPORTANT: We previously thought that you needed to have been a full paid member of the BCA for at least one year to serve on the board. This is not the case. According to the bylaws, only the president needs to have been a member for a full year. For any other position, you need only to live in Brightwood and be a paid member of the association. We are accepting nominations for all positions and will be electing the new board members at our October meeting.
Otherwise it was great to see everyone and I look forward to seeing you all next month!
