Capture the Moment

CAPTURE

For more photos, visit www.washingtoninformer.com the moment

(top right) Monty Hoffman, Hoffman & Associates founder, and chair, and managing director of the Wharf, speaks during the second phase celebration in Southwest on Oct. 12. (Marckell Williams/The Washington Informer)

(top left) Mayor Muriel Bowser greets Alan Fuerstman, founder and CEO of Montage International, a luxury hospitality management company, during the celebration of the completion of the second phase of the Wharf in Southwest on Oct. 12. (Marckell Williams/The Washington Informer)

(above) Batala DC all female Afro-Brazilian percussion band performs during the celebration of the Wharf’s second phase completion on October 12. (Marckell Williams/The Washington Informer)

(left) The newest DC Fire & EMS recruiters with the DC Fire Academy on Martin Luther King Jr Avenue in Southeast on Oct. 13. (Roy Lewis/ The Washington Informer)

additional community members, extending the clinic’s standard services from the Max Robinson Center in Anacostia with an expansion of women’s health and youth services, as well as a wide array of community resources able to address various concerns including STI/HIV, LGBTQ issues, and more.

While HIV infections remain active around the District, the Ward 8 community has shown a significant presence of Black and Brown residents historically impacted by the virus. D.C. continues to have high rates of new HIV infections despite efforts to lower these occurrences.

According to the DC Department of Health’s DC Health’s annual HIV, Sexually Transmitted Infections, Hepatitis, and Tuberculosis Surveillance Report for 2021, roughly 1.7 percent (or 12,161 people) of the city’s population are reportedly living with HIV, with the leading cases being of Black men sleeping with men almost doubling the diagnosis rates of White men sleeping with men by 15%.

But while Whitman Walker focuses efforts to assist newer cases of the illness, the health center additionally highlights the senior citizens surviving with HIV, who have managed with the disease into older age. The opportunity to honor these thriving residents spawned the creation of Silver Pride, a host of events dedicated to the senior population to provide continued support, especially for those most isolated from the community.

The celebratory activities are sponsored by United Health Care who have provided donations of food, beverages, and funds to the Silver Strider’s initiative, as the organization jointly provides sponsorship for the clinic’s Silver Pride program.

“We love our senior patients and senior members of the Whitman Walker family because the seniors love us and the care they receive from us,” Venson said. “Unfortunately, this year we had to cancel Silver Pride activities because there was the new wave of Monkeypox and then the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and just out of caution for them, we chose to postpone Silver Pride activities. So, with the walk being scheduled and deemed safe, we figure this would be a great opportunity to have some sort of Silver Pride activities,

Venson wants all residents of Ward 8 to know they are welcome to participate in the Walk to End HIV and be among residents who fight in support of HIV awareness. The upcoming event is Whitman Walker’s pillar fundraiser that has already raised roughly 86% of its funding goal.

“The existing rates of HIV, while they are going down, it’s important to remember that HIV is still prevalent amongst our community as a whole, and it’s still important that we have these conversations, especially in the face of the ovid-19 pandemic, as well as Monkeypox. The walk itself is a great space for advocacy to see folks of all different backgrounds come out together and rally around one cause, but it’s also a great opportunity for Whitman Walker to be celebrated in a sense for the work that we’ve done all these years,” said Venson.

WI

REDESIGN from Page 1

lies, and alumni to develop Dunbar’s DC+XQ Redesign.

The Dunbar and Cardozo Education Campuses recently counted among the first of several District public schools to roll out the DC+XQ Redesign this year. It is an exercise that engages young people and other stakeholders to envision and execute their ideal high school experience.

Over the next several months, Dunbar students and staff members will put in place a holistic, Afrofuturistic education model that allows students, regardless of area of study, to utilize technology and directly interact with community institutions to solve real-world problems and advance their college and career goals.

Kidus, a junior at Dunbar, said that project-based learning sits at the center of the DC+XQ Redesign, as requested by his peers.

“We have a lot to improve on to make school better for everyone to enjoy, like giving students life-based classes and not just memorizing [facts] and graduating,” Kidus said.

“It’s about making school more engaging and giving students some knowledge and hands-on experience,” he added. “The best part is learning something and getting a chance to really go out there and see how processes are done.”

While Dunbar pursues Afrofuturism to reimagine the future in real-time, Cardozo’s Redesign will focus on financial independence with the infusion of business and finance entities in the school’s various academies. Overall, Redesign involves tailoring curricula to the specific needs of students in the school communities.

Since February, D.C. Public Schools has collaborated with XQ Institute, an formed with all the jazz greats such as Sam Rivers, Freddie Hubbard, Duke Pearson, Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Horace Silver, George Benson, Stanley Clark, Roy Hargrove, Wallace Roney, Christian McBride, and so many more.

Then there are artists outside of jazz whom Carter accompanied, including Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, Roberta Flack, Billy Joel, GilScott Heron, and A Tribe Called Quest. All of his recordings are organized CDs cataloged alphabetically in his home.

“Every bass player today, whether they know it, like it, or whatever, when you play jazz bass, there’s a bit of Ron Carter in everyone,” said bassist/composer Clarke.

Spending almost two hours with this documentary left me wanting more time with Maestro. It feels good to hear his son Ron, Jr. lovingly tell how his dad was available even with a packed recording and travel schedule. Carter’s second wife, Quintell Williams-Carter, talks about their shared sense of style. As a former model, she knows clothes and uses her skills to design and make clothes for her husband.

It’s hard to believe that Carter is 85-yearsold. He walks with vigor, is still curious, lovingly shares with others, and has a sneaky sense of humor accompan ied by a smile that convinces his fans he is not his age. Always working, Carter is currently

5 An DC+XQ school bus on the streets of Washington, DC. (Courtesy photo)

organization dedicated to rethinking the high school experience. They have facilitated meetings to determine the greatest needs of each school community and identify opportunities to enhance the curricula to meet students’ college and career needs.

Last summer, experts from the K-12, university, civic, business, and philanthropic sectors evaluated redesign applications from Dunbar and Cardozo, Coolidge High School, Columbia Heights Education Campus in Northwest, and Ron Brown College Preparatory High School and H.D. Woodson High School in Northeast.

During the implementation phase, Dunbar and Cardozo will continue to receive monetary support and tools that will allow each school to carry out the Redesign autonomously.

“We will be given the resources to bring our bold design to life -- an Afrofuturistic learning opportunity with the metaverse [where] students use their voice to make changes in their community,” said Nubia Gerima, director of Dunbar’s Redesign.

“You can expect the whole Dunbar community to rally around this design and implement aspects,” she added. “You may see teachers looking at how they can leverage immersive technology and our city as a classroom.”

In 2019, Anacostia High School and Ballou High School, located in Southeast, participated in the DC+XQ Redesign. As students, teachers, and others navigated the process throughout the pandemic, students at Dunbar and other schools continued to contemplate how to take the quality of their education to the next level.

That’s why Nadine Smith, Dunbar’s principal, welcomed the chance to engage students, teachers, and community members in discussions about the future of their beloved school.

Even though Dunbar, a District public school with a rich legacy, implemented cultural and career-centered academic programming over the last few years, Smith described the DCXQ Redesign as a step in combining and accentuating those efforts.

“We’re implementing what students have been telling us,” Smith said.

“The work we’re about to undertake has so many components. It starts with believing in the importance of our students understanding the greatness of where they come from and the possibilities of their future. This is the liberation work we educators have whispered about.” WI @SamPKCollins CARTER from Page 29

in a residency for all of October at the historic Birdland Jazz Club in New York City.

Tune in for “Finding the Right Notes” on PBS beginning October 21. A soundtrack and book for the documentary are also available. Keep up with Carter on his website: https:// roncarterjazz.com/ In the meantime, here is a clip from the documentary. https://youtu.be/5p0LYr02gw0 WI @bcscomm

6 Ron Carter at the Detroit Jazz Festival (Courtesy photo/Partisan Pictures)