AARP Washington DC

It’s official. District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray has committed DC to being one of seven pilot sites in the AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities. At a news conference on October 3 rd, Mayor Gray announced that becoming an age-friendly city is the first of four goals in the city’s Strategic Plan for Community Living in an Age-Friendly City. The commitment marks the beginning of a multi-year planning and implementation process in the District.

Literacy - the ability to read and write - is important to everyone everywhere. However, some people still don't have easy access to the books they want to read. . The idea behind Little Free Library is to promote literacy and community-building by supporting book exchanges.

The District of Columbia is one of seven states piloting the AARP Age-Friendly Cities Initiative. Since, the initiative launched in April 2012, Mayor Vincent Gray and members of the DC Council have publicly expressed support for the effort. The Council passed a resolution supporting for for the District’s age-friendly cities initiative. Next year is an, important year for the effort. In October 2014, the needs and interests of the residents are to be transformed into an actionable plan. Of course, those needs and interests must first be identified, and community input is an important part of that process. Government agencies will come together with businesses, faith-communities, non-profit organizations, and other community stakeholders to improve the quality of life for persons of all ages. The AARP District of Columbia State Office is offering input wherever possible, and looks forward to more individuals and groups in the community getting, involved. Ideally, community planning would begin this year.

On April 23, the District of Columbia will hold a special election to fill an At-Large seat on the DC Council. The winner of this election will represent the needs and interests of all District residents. As such, AARP DC created two opportunities for persons to share those needs and interests directly with the candidates.

You could say it was a party with a purpose. Marcus Johnson, musician, wine entrepreneur, publisher, and producer, artfully blended jazz with tips, personal stories and motivational words about starting and running a business, then pointed out some of the principles that lead to success in any endeavor.

Join AARP for a Free Screening of “DuSable to Obama: Chicago’s Black Metropolis” on Tuesday, March 19th, 5:00 - 6:45 pm at Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Library, 901 G. Street, NW, District of Columbia.

AARP is targeting AARP members in the District of Columbia who are boomers for a motivational talk and a jazz performance with entrepreneur, motivational speaker and jazz artist Marcus Johnson. AARP Work Reimagined is an initiative dedicated to helping experienced professionals connect to more satisfying careers by connecting them to the contacts, information, and inspiration needed to succeed in today’s ever-changing workplace. One element of the AARP Work Reimagined initiative is entrepreneurship.

Two of the most famous events of the civil rights movement happened in places I have called home. The Freedom Riders, who sat in at “lunch counters” and helped integrate public buses, are legendary in Mississippi, where I spent my childhood and graduated college. And in Illinois, where I was born, the Chicago Freedom Movement called national attention to the plight of Americans forced to live in slum tenements. In both cases, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Black history icon I most admire, brought leadership, hope and inspiration to people by leading marches and by expressing their dreams with riveting oratory. The day we lost Dr. King is scorched in my memory; the south side of Chicago, where I lived at the time, seemed to implode around me. At eight-years-old, I can remember the violence and the anger, but my most poignant memory is the grief. I watched my young mother sobbing. She was inconsolable. In our grief, we thought Dr. King's dreams died on April 4th, 1968.

We're deep into the winter weather season and that reminds us to prepare for power disruptions. Tell us how past power outages - whether recent outages or from storms which happened as long ago as Snowmageddon - impacted you and your family by commenting to this article.

Looking to earn some extra money? Are you a people person? Love baseball? Live in the Washington, DC metro area? Well, we’ve got an opportunity for you!