Dorothy
Douglas
For
over thirty years, Dorothy Douglas has been a heartening voice for
the neighbourhoods of
Washington, DC as a volunteer community
advocate for improving the quality of life for DC residents.
She
has served as a member of, and has held leadership positions in
several community and social organizations. Her hallmark
accomplishments have been focused on her dedication to community
service and education.
Dorothy has always been involved in
the community and her devotion to public services developed from
humble beginnings. She was born the fourth child of nine and raised
by her mother who did not receive a formal education; however,
she was able to instill in Dorothy the principles of humility and
the
importance of obtaining an education to provide a better
life. At age 13, Dorothy began her career as a volunteer worker
campaigning for the Joe Lewis foundation and helped ward 6 raise the
most funds in DC to be donated to children diagnosed with
cerebral palsy. She attended Payne Elementary School, Hine
Junior High School and Eastern and Springarn High Schools. She
received a Bachelors of Science degree from the University of the
District of Columbia in Elementary Education. After I graduated from
UDC I received recognition from “Who’s who?” for completing 10 years
of education and continuing on to higher education. I received
this recognition for being the only Ward 8 resident to achieve this
honour nationally.
For the past twelve years, she has
been the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner of wards 7C and 7D
to
coordinate and ensure that the residents have availability to
resources within the community. As the ANC commissioner, she
supported the Abe Pollin and Linda Parkside Development project and
helped to implement the development of affordable housing for
seniors and low‐income residents within the Parkside community.
In 1992, Dorothy became the Director of Deanwood Youth Services,
Inc., a community outreach aimed
to helping DC youths with summer
and after school jobs. To ensure that the budget could cover costs,
Dorothy decided to forgo a salary but rather have those funds
allocated to the services. Then Mayor,
Sharon Pratt‐Kelly and
the United Planning Organization recognized her for her contribution
to
increasing youth participation and awareness of employment
services. Dorothy’s dedication and
commitment to the residents of
Ward 7 inspired her to increase unity by organizing the annual
Deanwood Community Day. On this day, the residents and businesses
of Deanwood come together to
network, share, and to raise
community awareness. At this time she was also elected as
Deanwood
Civic Association President for her involvement and
advocacy in the community.
As a former employee of the DC
public school system, Dorothy is committed to improving the quality
of
education by strengthening academic achievement to provide
students with the necessary resources for success. In 2008, she
was elected as the first black woman as a ward 7 representative for
the DC State Board of Education. Her contribution voted on
rules, policies and regulations for education reform to develop
programs that would address the growing deficit within the DC Public
School System.
In a joint effort to enhance the current
standards of curriculum and to support the transitional
infrastructure from classroom to workplace Dorothy collaborated with
the State Board of Education and
Office of the State
Superintendent of Education to write the grant for the “Race to the
Top and Common Core” Proposal. Race to the Top will provide
programs that will adopt and implement workforce development
standards and assessments of those standards that prepare students
to succeed in college, the workplace and compete in the global
economy.
The programs will support ongoing educational
initiatives through accurate data collection that
measures
students’ growth and successes and informs teachers and principals
about how they can
improve classroom instruction. The programs
will raise the bar and diminish the acceptable standard
through
an established incentive and reward system which recognizes students
of excellence. The end
result will increase high school
graduation rates, proficiency in English for ESL students and
enhanced
disability support services. Dorothy’s commitment to
excellence was only solidified August 24, 2010,
with the
announcement that the District of Columbia was awarded the grant in
the amount 75 million
over four years. “Common Core” standards
will strengthen the current core initiatives in English,
Mathematics, Language Arts, History/Social Studies and Science for
all students. Improving the use of
technology, engaging parents
and the local community to help our students achieve and
collaborating
with outside agencies will help to ensure a
successful program. Dorothy Douglas is a tireless advocate
for
students, education and working to bring a high quality of life to
DC residents and will bring that
same focus and energy to her
work with DC Democratic State Committee.
Dorothy is a native
Washingtonian who has been a resident of the District of Columbia
all of her life,
living in Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8. For the past 30
years, she has been a resident of Ward 7 longer than she has been
a resident of any other Ward or community in DC. She is a single
mother of three and a proud grandmother of seven. She is also
a former foster parent of four of her great nieces and nephews. Dorothy faithfully participates in church, is a self made
horticulturist, and loves to bake cakes.
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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