Category Archives: Nature

Around Town: October 29-30

Posted on by
Reply

Happy (almost) Halloween, Greater Washington! Before trick-or-treating on Monday, consider spending a weekend day with one of our non-profits. We have great events coming up at …

Earth Sangha (at Rocky Run Stream Valley Park, Awbrey Patent Drive, Centreville, VA)

Enrich this stream-buffer site with a planting of native wildflowers and other herbaceous & small woody plants around Rocky Run on Saturday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. More volunteer info available here.

Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture (at Glen Echo Park’s Bumper Car Pavilion, 7300 MacArthur Boulevard, Glen Echo, MD)

“Fall Frolic” is a FREE public Halloween-themed festival on Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. Activities include hands-on crafts, face painting, pumpkin decorating, costume parade, and studio visits. Full schedule right here.

Continue reading →

Around Town: October 15-16

Posted on by
1

Happy mid-October! We have plenty of cool places to spend your weekend, including …

Multicultural Career Intern Program (Columbia Heights Education Campus, 3101 16th Street NW)

Between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM on Saturday, head over to MCIP’s 3rd Annual Booksale in support of the middle school and high school libraries at the CHEC — thousands of books in all genres at very reasonable prices.

Earth Sangha (at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, 13950 Dawson Beach Road, Woodbridge, VA)

Help out with invasive plant removal, clearing invasive vines and grasses from Earth Sangha’s grassland site, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturday. Directions right here.

Continue reading →

Around Town: October 7-9

Posted on by
Reply

Enjoy the weekend, Greater Washington! And consider spending it with …

Dance Place (3225 8th Street NE)

Precise, positive, and powerful. Join the Dance Place Step Team for “Step It Up DC,” an afternoon of workshops followed by an informal performance starting at 5:30 PM on Friday.

Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County (9110 Gaither Road, Gaithersburg, MD)

Do you need to gain control of your energy expenses? If you attended the first session of “Watt Watchers,” stop by for your second FREE energy saving class on Saturday from 10:00 AM to noon.

Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE)

Starting on Saturday at 5:00 PM, the Capitol Hill Art League (CHAL) proudly presents an all-media juried exhibit entitled “The Art of Craft.” The juror of the show is Steve Fleming, artist and instructor at The Art League.

And in this coming week … Earth Sangha will be planting sumac, wingstem, and various goldenrods at Meadwood Recreation Area on Wednesday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM; the Mautner Project‘s Raffle for a Reason begins on Wednesday too!

Around Town: October 1-3

Posted on by
Reply

Welcome to October, Greater Washington! You could spend your weekend in any number of cool places. Such as …

Literacy Council of Northern Virginia (at James Lee Community Center, 2855 Annandale Road, Falls Church, VA)

Love volunteering? How about education and language-learning? At a 2-day workshop, starting on Saturday at 9:30 AM, you can become a basic literacy tutor for LCNV. To sign-up: email Belle Penaranda, volunteers@lcnv.org.

Coalition for Smarter Growth (meet at south-east corner of 3rd & H Street NE — near the Capitol Bikeshares kiosk!)

At 10:00 AM on Saturday, take a walking tour with DC Councilmember Tommy Wells, discuss the future of the H Street Corridor, and explore several major redevelopment projects. Plus discover all the small businesses cropping up on H Street.

Continue reading →

Around Town: September 24-25

Posted on by
Reply

So … what would you like to do in this final weekend of September?

Support A Non-Profit:

Enjoy a Taste of Arts, complete with festive music and dancing, to benefit the Alzheimer’s Family Day Center tonight (Friday) at 6:00 at Westwood Country Club in Vienna. On Saturday at 6:30, ASHA for Women (Asian Women’s Self Help Association) hosts their annual gala dinner in Fairfax; learn about Hope Through Empowerment here. And on Sunday at 11:00, Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) will hold their 14th Annual Fall Brunch at the Mandarin Oriental in DC; you can support LGBTQ youth, who face discrimination everyday in their homes, schools and communities.

Continue reading →

Around Town: September 17-18

Posted on by
Reply

Busy, busy weekend at Catalogue nonprofits. So … what interests you?

Volunteering!

All day Saturday, the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia will be training teaching volunteers for the ESOL Learning Centers or Family Learning Program; email volunteers@lcnv.org to sign up. Or from 10:00 AM to noon, join the “Weeding Divas” of Earth Sangha for a round of invasive plant removal at Marie Butler Leven Preserve; a team from George Mason University’s Circle K International will also be working away at Rutherford Park in Fairfax.

Continue reading →

Greener Cities?

Posted on by
2

From yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, “How To Build A Greener City” by Michael Totty:

Urban populations around the world are expected to soar in the next 20 years, to five billion from more than three billion today. If the current rate of urbanization holds steady, cities will account for nearly three-quarters of the world’s energy demand by 2030 […] So, cities aren’t going to have be made a little greener; they’re going to have to be rethought.

Continue reading →

Around Town: September 10-11

Posted on by
1

DC Youth Orchestra (at Eastern Senior High School, 1700 East Capitol Street NE)

A full day of rehearsals, masterclasses, and sectionals for advanced students on Saturday at 8:30 AM. You can sign up right here. Musicians will perform a free concert for the public at 7:00 PM the same day.

New to music? From 9:00 to noon, visit the Open House & Petting Zoo — meet the instruments and try them out.

The Posse Foundation (at Southeast Tennis and Learning Center, 701 Mississippi Avenue SE)

The Posse Foundation identifies, recruits, and trains incredible young leaders from urban public high schools and sends them in “posses” to top colleges. Volunteer to help out with Posse’s first stage of Dynamic Assessment Process (DAP) and identify young people who have outstanding leadership qualities on Saturday at 8:30 AM. Call Andres Maldonado at (202 ) 347-7071 x221 for more info.

Continue reading →

In The News …

Posted on by
Reply

Can job training help solve the jobs crisis? (Washington Post Blogs): “In the southern US, 51 percent of current job openings are middle-skill, but only 43 percent of the region’s workers are trained to that level, according to a recent study by the National Skills Coalition […] In a major speech next week, [President Obama]’s expected to propose support for job training as part of his renewed push for job growth, focusing especially on the 6.2 million Americans who’ve been out of work for more than six months.” In other words, the current jobs crisis is two-fold: too few entry-level jobs and too few workers for middle-skill opportunities. For some innovative solutions right in DC, check out Catalogue non-profits Byte Back (where adults can access Advanced Certification training and mentorship in technological fields) and New Course Restaurant and Catering (where the kitchen staff all receive comprehensive on-the-job training in commercial food preparation and customer service). Or learn about one our newest non-profits, the DC Students Construction Trades Foundation. Continue reading →

Around Town: August 19-21

Posted on by
Reply

Welcome to the weekend! Consider spending a day at one of our non-profits, such as …

The Reading Connection (1200 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA)

On Friday from 10:00-11:30 AM, employees of The Boeing Company’s northern VA offices and the staff and partners of The Reading Connection will be stuffing 420 backpacks for children to take back to school. Backpacks and all materials have been donated by Boeing employees.

Capitol Hil Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE)

Join Jake and Danarae Stevens for a free tango practica on Friday from 6:30-9:00 PM at CHAW. Tango dancers of all levels have an opportunity to practice, collaborate, and learn in a collective space. Free and open to all! Continue reading →