Watch presentations, eat soup, listen to music, VOTE and help improve the 14th & Kennedy Street area!

Join the Kennedy Street Development Corporation (KSDC) and the Community Alliance for Upper Fourteenth Street (CAUFS) at their next "District SOUP" event at the Back Alley Theater. Four neighbors will present community projects to help support the neighborhood, while all money generated will go to help one of those projects become a reality. And you get a vote.

There will be food, drink and music, courtesy of Petworth-area musician David Curtin on his guitar.

Donations are $5, which gets you a bowl of soup and a vote for your favorite project. The winning project will receive a micro-grant to help bring their vision for our neighborhood to fruition.

KSDC and CAUFS are working jointly to receive Main Street designation for Kennedy Street from the District to assist in attracting and supporting businesses to upper 14th Street and Kennedy Street. Come support a great cause this Sunday, March 26th, 2-4pm!

Quesions? Email TheDistrictSoup@gmail.com.

DISTRICT SOUP

Sunday, March 26, 2017, 2-4pm
The Back Alley Theater (1365 Kennedy Street NW)

AGENDA

2:00 PM: DOORS OPEN
Feel free to mingle, settle into a table, relax and enjoy the music.

2:30 PM: PROGRAM STARTS/PRESENTATIONS BEGIN

A half hour is allowed for people to arrive and the program will promptly start at 2:30 PM. Brief introduction of CAUFS and KSDC, what's District SOUP, and what to expect from the evening. Introduction of community groups and/or artists will occur before presentations.
Opening remarks by Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd

Last year's Soup winner: Little Free Library (Reading is Fundamental) - JJ Velez will talk about what happened with Little Free Library since winning the Soup last May. Little Free Library was a project of the Kids Tent from the 14th & Kennedy Farmers Market and provided Little Free Libraries throughout the 16th Street Heights community. Little Free Library and stewards everywhere have been recognized by the Library of Congress for creating "communities of literacy." The idea is that community members can share books (leave a book, take a book) with one another and self-steward the program, based on an honesty policy.

Artist Presentation
We are pleased to have solo acoustical guitarist David Curtin. David lives in the Kennedy Street area.

THE PRESENTERS - by order of presentation

Four presenters will take the podium one at a time to talk about their project. Presenters are allowed four minutes for their presentation, and will answer four questions from the audience. We also encourage people to connect with the presenters over dinner to ask more questions or share ideas.

1. Project Name: Rooting DC: Youth Environmental Advocacy

Project Summary: Cohost event to support Youth Environmental Activists in DC.

Community Benefit: Project will benefit the community by: Support a convergence. Provide seed funding to eco-justice activists by supporting an art-build. Looking to copromote Kennedy Street artisans.

2. Project Name: DC Community Carrot

Project Summary: We take DC Opportunity Youth (unemployed, undereducated, and underserved) 18-24 year olds and help them bring their business ideas to life.

Community Benefit: Provides a pathway to the middle class for young adults.

3. Project Name: Urban Greenspace

Project Summary: I wish to turn the otherwise neglected alley structures and surrounding land into urban greenspace.

Community Benefit: It will provide an urban park in a dense residential neighborhood for all to see and enjoy. A number of structures will be re-allocated as part of the garden wall and walkways. Low maintenance plantings will go in after to soften the surroundings and provide bee and butterfly proliferation.

4. Project Name: Support for Ward 4's only historic theater - Park Theater

Project Summary: Funds are sought to contribute to the Theater at Dance Loft on 14, at 4618 14th Street above Value Furniture. The Dance Loft on 14 Theater is a renovated space, which was formerly the historic Park Theater built in the 1920’s. The purpose of this Soup project is for o that Ward 4 and specifically Petworth, Brightwood, Sixteenth Street Heights, and Upper 14th Street will have a professional-quality theater to attend right in their neighborhood.

Community Benefit: The Soup funds will be sponsorship/underwriting funds and will apply in two ways: 1) To purchase materials for the theater, and 2) to trigger a matching amount in free performance attendance for area residents. For the first component, ANC funds will contribute toward purchase of physical equipment needed to finish the theater: chairs, theater curtains, or theatrical lights depending on the time the grant is awarded. For the second component, Dance Loft on 14 will reserve a matching amount worth of free tickets to ANC residents. Specifically, the Loft will make available for free a minimum of 10-15 (and more if available) seats for area residents for each production. Since tickets to dance and theatrical performances typically cost $20-$30 per ticket, this will be a great cultural value to the immediate Ward 4 neighborhoods. Professional, contemporary dance productions by area professional dance companies and choreographers are slated for May, June, July, and September.

3:00 PM: DINNER AND VOTING

After the presentations are finished folks are encouraged to talk to neighbors and use the resource board to give feedback to the Presenters. Take this time to VOTE!

3:30-4:00 PM: WINNER IS ANNOUNCED