BLOOMINGDALE VILLAGE SQUARE INITIATIVE

Grant Award Announcement & Description

“Taking Village History to Our Youth”

The Bloomingdale Civic Association (BCA) is proud to announce its award of a $20,000 grant from DC
Humanities Council for BCA’s Bloomingdale Village Square (BVS) Initiative on ‘Taking Village History
to Our Youth.”. The Co-Directors of this project, who co-authored a BVS timeline history of the
Bloomingdale neighborhood in Washington DC, are Bertha Holliday, PhD (a community psychologist)
and Paul Cerruti (a community historian)
PROJECT RATIONALE
National and DC land use policies (e.g., how land is used, by whom, and to what ends) coupled with
inequitable non-inclusive housing policies and vestiges of ideologies of racial segregation and white
privilege have spawned significant gentrification and displacement of long-term DC residents, who often
are of color and/or working class. In addition, many newcomers sometimes have little prior experience
with diverse urban neighborhoods, experience difficulty in 'reading' their new social environments, and
may be uneasy about participating in established neighborhood institutions, organizations and rituals --
thus contributing to their demise. For long-term residents, gentrification often results in a loss of a sense
of both community and their place in that community. For youth, this sense of 'disconnect' with their
gentrifying neighborhood is further exacerbated by school policies encouraging 'choice' (e.g., magnet &
charter schools) and the de-valuing of neighborhood schools. Consequently, it is not uncommon for
youth to not actively know and interact with other youth on their block, and parents often do not develop
relationships with other nearby parents.
BVS seeks an inclusive neighborhood. And the proposed project, through use of history, seeks to
address this goal by both increasing Bloomingdale youth's sense of connectedness with neighborhood
and other diverse youth, and enabling youth to exhibit civic leadership by using neighborhood history as
a tool for encouraging increased youth engagement and voice in issues of neighborhood change.
PROJECT BACKGROUND & OVERVIEW
Background
With a grant from DC Humanities Council, BCA's Bloomingdale Village Square (BVS) Initiative was
established in 2015. The major products of that grant (e.g., 22 oral histories and a related composite
video, a written neighborhood timeline history, a PowerPoint of architectural and design
recommendations for Bloomingdale’s public spaces, and informational brochures) are available at the
BVS website: www.bloomingdalecivicassociation.org/villagecenter
As part of the Taking Village History to Our Youth Project, the 44-page Bloomingdale Timeline History:
(1800 – 2015), will be updated, expanded and re-printed, and serve as the project’s primary cornerstone.
This innovative history is visually -oriented and juxtaposes architectural and land use events, and
contextual social, institutional and organizational events, and by so doing, reveals intentional policies and
initiatives that most influenced neighborhood change over time. Project planning will occur June –
October, 2019. Youth activities will begin October, 2019 – February, 2020.
Curriculum & Instructional Development and Settings
The current project focuses on the booklet's use by at least 100 middle & high school students living in
Bloomingdale, or attending its neighborhood-serving schools. Curriculum approval and use and
identification of students and teachers will involve collaboration with DC Public Schools and
neighborhood youth-serving organizations & churches.
In school settings, the project could either be integrated into existing social studies curricula, and/or take
the form of an after-school program. At neighborhood churches and youth-serving organizations, the
project could take the form of an after-school or Saturday program. For all project sites, there might be
limited opportunities for all project students to convene for very special project events.
A Curriculum Development Specialist will be contracted who, in consultation with a historian will:

• develop two 10 - 20-hour Bloomingdale history curricula (based primarily on the revised Timeline
History booklet) including lesson plans and activities guides that meet 7th & 11th grade SBOE
social studies standards, and emphasize collaborative experiential learning and exploratory
excursions,
• conduct 2 to 3 hours of training for teachers and assistant teachers (including volunteers) on the
content and use of the Timeline History booklet, curriculum/lesson plans, and related teacher &
activity guides;
• provide technical assistance (primarily by phone) to teachers and assistant teachers upon
request.
Major Project Activities

• REVISION & RE-PRINTING OF BLOOMINGDALE HISTORY TIMELINE: Revisions will focus on

addition of events and illustrative materials (e.g., photos, factoids, etc.). We seek to print at least
2500 copies of the revised timeline, most of which will be disturbed to every Bloomingdale
residence. But at least 500 copies will be reserved for the project's youth and teachers, local
public and school libraries, media, City officials, and prospective funders.
• DEVELOPMENT & IMPLEMENTATION OF CURRICULUM MATERIALS. These efforts are
described in the preceding section.
• COMMUNITY EXPLORATION EXPPEDITIONS. The Project’s Steering Committee will develop
a list of community, historical and expert resources ( e.g., ,urban planners, libraries, DC history
collections, social research institutes, and neighborhood churches, civic and political
organizations, beautification and historic preservation groups, etc.) for use in community
exploration expeditions, which will focus not only on history, but also on related research,
information and data sources and methods..
• COLLABORATIVE SMALL GROUP PROJECT DEVELOPMENT. After completion of the
Project’s curriculum and community exploration expeditions, groups of 4 to 5 students will
develop a project proposal based on an event in the Bloomingdale History Timeline. The project
may take the form of a history, narrative, visual/media arts or performance – but must address the
past, present or future implications or /impact of the selected event. After defining their project
focus and major questions to be addressed, each group will be assigned a volunteer expert who
will provide guidance and consultation on the project’s development.
• BLOOMINGDALE YOUTH & HISTORY EXTRAVAGANZA. At this special community event,
project youth will present and discuss their completed projects with Bloomingdale residents.
historians, social scientists, urban planners, DC officials, and others.

For more information (including volunteer opportunities) CONTACT:

Bertha Holliday, PhD OR Paul Cerruti
bhollidaypsy@gmail.com paulcerruti@gmail.com
202-491-3996 917-294-7438