In March 2021, DC's Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio participates in a walk through of the Ivy City community focused on the future of the historic Alexander Crummell School. Residents urge him to invest $20million in the city's upcoming budget to restore the school as a community center.

On the 109th Anniversary of the opening of Ivy City's historic Alexander Crummell School, we call on DC Mayor Muriel Bowser to end the decades-long wait and fully fund the restoration of Crummell School as a community center, park and playspace in her next city budget

On July 1, 2020 kids from the Ivy City community in NE DC led a march through their community to call attention to the need for recreation and play spaces. Since the closing of the historic Alexander Crummell School 40 years ago, kids in Ivy City have had no safe place to play - forced into narrow city streets to play amid dangerous car traffic. Enough! Every kid in DC deserves a safe, healthy place to play close to home. Support kids in Ivy City by calling on Mayor Bowser and the DC Council to immediately fund the restoration of the Crummell School as a community center with a park and playground on it's two acre lot.

On Feb 25, 2021 State Board of Education Representative Zachary Parker convened a townhall meeting to discuss Ivy City's longstanding campaign to restore the historic Alexander Crummell School as a community center.

Ivy City, DC hasn't had accessible green space in decades. Mayor Bowser, Fix Crummell Now to provide Ivy City families with a community center!

Empower DC's People's Property Campaign was inspired by our work with the Ivy City community in Ward 5, and their fight to save the historic Alexander Crummell School, which has been shuttered for 30 plus years. Despite the historic significance of the school, the city allowed it to fall into disrepair. Over the years the Ivy City community has advocated that the school be renovated and reopened as a multi-use community center to serve the surrounding area, and has fought attempts to dispose of the school to private developers. The city recently again initiated discussions about the fate of the Alexander Crummell School. This video was taken from the Ivy City Commuting Meeting on the Adaptive Reuse of the Crummell School, hosted byCommissioner Jacqueline Manning (ANC 5B09) and held on May 8, 2010 at Trinity Baptist Church. The meeting went on for well over an hour. We recorded close to 60 minutes of footage. The ten minutes of video uploaded here is taken from the first half of the meeting. The Alexander Crummel School is named for abolitionist and educator, Reverend Dr. Alexander Crummell, who resided in Washington during the last quarter of the 18th Century and worked for the uplift of African American people. The historic African American Ivy City community chose to name its school for Crummell, reflecting their own desire for community uplift. The Ivy City Civic Association was founded in 1911, the same year the school was built.

Empower DC's People's Property Campaign was inspired by our work with the Ivy City community in Ward 5, and their fight to save the historic Alexander Crummell School, which has been shuttered for 30 plus years. Despite the historic significance of the school, the city allowed it to fall into disrepair. Over the years the Ivy City community has advocated that the school be renovated and reopened as a multi-use community center to serve the surrounding area, and has fought attempts to dispose of the school to private developers. The city recently again initiated discussions about the fate of the Alexander Crummell School. This video was taken from the Ivy City Commuting Meeting on the Adaptive Reuse of the Crummell School, hosted byCommissioner Jacqueline Manning (ANC 5B09) and held on May 8, 2010 at Trinity Baptist Church. The meeting went on for well over an hour. We recorded close to 60 minutes of footage. The ten minutes of video uploaded here is taken from the second half of the meeting. The Alexander Crummel School is named for abolitionist and educator, Reverend Dr. Alexander Crummell, who resided in Washington during the last quarter of the 18th Century and worked for the uplift of African American people. The historic African American Ivy City community chose to name its school for Crummell, reflecting their own desire for community uplift. The Ivy City Civic Association was founded in 1911, the same year the school was built.

A project produced by graduate students in the American University Public History Program on DCPL's list of Most Endangered Places in Washington, DC.

Charlotte Leonard: Charlotte Leonard gives an extravagant interview on how much she loves Ivy City and she tells about the past quite a bit. She tells about how the resident of ivy city have been distraught and torn apart by the lost of the Alexander Crummell School. She also tells about how if she opens the school she would have a track and a field so the kids could have enjoy themselves and play football. She even says that she will put forth any assistance she can give if need be. She tells about how she had to change her lifestyle and mindset whilst living in Ivy City because she faced some very harsh tragedies in her younger days. At the end of Charlotte's video she says everybody should take nothing and just give, she also states that her gifts come from God. shot by Bennie Katti and edited by Stephon Scarborough