Make a Difference
Every year. An important cause.
Each year, for Nate's birthday, he highlights a specific cause and organizations to sponsor. This year's cause is:
The Year 1968.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the D.C. uprisings of 1968.
1968 was a momentous year in US history. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. The Poor People's Campaign, which Dr. King was organizing at the time of his death, brought activists from across the nation to the District.
Locally, 1968 brought the groundbreaking of what would become the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, the founding of the Duke Ellington School for the Arts and the opening of Federal City College, now part of the University of the District of Columbia.
Historically, Washingtonians embraced Dr. King as awareness of his work expanded from segregation and white supremacy protests in the south to include his critiques of poverty, capitalism and the Vietnam War.
For further exploration
Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital by Chris Myers Asch and George Derek Musgrove
Previous Causes
Mass Incarceration in the United States. See 2017's efforts →
Practical ways to get involved and donate.
Below highlight three DC-based organizations that are doing great work in the realm of civic engagement.
DC 1968 Project
The dc1968 project is a digital storytelling project about Washington, DC during the entire year of 1968. Ambitious in scope, the project moves beyond the hyper focus on the uprising after the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and amplifies the art, activism, architecture & every day life that made 1968 such an extraordinary year in DC. It is open and iterative, inviting Washingtonians and others to share their stories.
DC Civic Innovation Council
The newly launched D.C. Civic Innovation Council is an organizing a group of leaders, coming together from across D.C.’s 8 wards, committed to finding new ways to address and resource local solutions to this city's challenges. Historical inequity and silos across the city continue to dampen the effects of the collective work done by hard-working community leaders. In order to find more innovative, creative, and resilient ideas, DC CIC will mobilize a more representational group of this city's greatest resource, its people, into the problem-solving and coordination process, addressing DC's hairiest problems.
CORNELIUS CORPS
Cornelius Corps is a faith-based organization focused on building transformative relationships through a network of churches and individuals committed to a shared journey of racial justice/ reconciliation and spiritual formation. Inspired by the Biblical story of Cornelius and Peter in the book of Acts (10:1 - 11:18), Cornelius Corps hopes to transcend boundaries of race, culture, and privilege toward a common goal. The organization leads walking tours and workshops that focus on the spiritual foundation and legacy of the modern Civil Rights Movement and our ongoing journey for racial justice and reconciliation in our society today.
Nate's Birthday Celebration at District Space, April 2018