Community Council Quarterly Meetings and Community Dialogues

The WAMU Community Council will hold its first quarterly meeting of the year on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in the community room at the station, 4000 Brandywine St., NW.

Quarterly Meetings

The WAMU 88.5 Community Council meets four times a year. Meetings are held at the station in the fourth floor community room and are open to the public. Laura M. Chambers is the 2012 Chair of the Council and Kent W. Lynn serves as Vice Chair. Dates and times for the quarterly meetings are posted on our website and announced on-air at least seven days in advance. For further information, please call Anne Healy at (202) 885-1264 or send an e-mail to ahealy@wamu.org.

The WAMU Community Council held its final meeting of 2011 on Wednesday, December 14th. Council Chair Pat Mathews presented the report of the Council’s nominating committee which recommended the appointment of five new members to three year terms beginning January 1, 2012, and the reappointment of Don Quayle and Delphine Peck who had completed their first terms on the Council. The Council approved the report of the nominating committee and the appointments were made by General Manager Caryn Mathes. The new members are Colleen Boothby, an attorney specializing in telecommunications law; Paul DesJardin, Director of the Department of Community Planning and Services at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments; Rawn M. James, Jr., an author who serves as a civilian sector trial attorney with the Department of the Navy; Jody Steiner Kelly, Director of Clinical Administration for the Arlington Free Clinic; and Margaret K. O’Bryon, President and CEO of the Consumer Health Foundation. Following the approval of the nominating committee report, Council Members elected the officers of the Council who will serve during 2012. Laura M. Chambers and Kent W. Lynn were unanimously chosen as Chair and Vice Chair respectively.

Community Dialogues

Every year since its reorganization in 1991, the WAMU Community Council has sponsored a series of discussion meetings with community leaders and experts on a wide variety of issues of concern to our community. These off-the-record discussion meetings provide background information and valuable contacts for the station's news and programming staff. Topics for recent Community Dialogues have included the following: "What's Working in Education in DC;" "Transportation – A Look Into the Future;" "What is the Reality for Youth in the District of Columbia;" "Using Music and Art to Address Social Tension and Help Disparate Groups Communicate;""Changing the American Dream - How the Needs and Expectations of College Students have been Affected by the Downtown in the Economy;" and an exploration of Region Forward, A Comprehensive Guide for Regional Planning and Measuring Progress in the 21st Century."

During 2011 the Council continued its exploration of the challenges and goals put forth in Region Forward. This comprehensive planning guide was prepared by the Greater Washington 2050 Coalition and approved by the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments on January 13, 2010. Among the issues discussed in the 2011 Community Dialogues were “Examining the way in which Community Colleges in Washington Metropolitan Area are Preparing their Students for the Changing Workforce”; “ Cars, Pedestrians and Bicyclists, Can We All Get Along?”, and, “Working to Achieve a More Prosperous Region.”