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Board Chair Ellen Opper-Weiner

The District of Columbia City Council approved emergency legislation in June paving the way for the city to buy the Eastern Branch Boys & Girls Club and two other Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington buildings, but the future of the Eastern Branch is still an open-ended question.

The DC Council authorized the mayor to purchase the three sites for $20 million. The city is planning to bring in private organizations to run programming at the buildings in Hill East, Columbia Heights and Georgetown.

Hill East organization Neighbors United, formed shortly after the Eastern Branch closed two years ago, has a goal of running a wide array of community programming from the location. Neighbors United has also been offering youth programming at Payne Elementary and an activity center across the street from the school.

While the organization would seem to have a foot in the door when it comes to running the building, serious concerns about infighting and funding viability have lowered Neighbors United’s standing in the eyes of many Eastern Branch stakeholders.

Uniting the group
Neighbors United’s annual meeting provided a glimpse into problems facing the organization. At that late May meeting, Neighbors United Executive Director Jerry May and a standing-room-only crowd of neighborhood residents accused the board of not representing them. It was noted many times during the meeting that the board members did not live in the Hill East community.

Likewise, board members accused the staff of not fulfilling all their job requirements, and they dismissed the notion that their intentions were anything other than what was best for the community.

Board Chair Ellen Opper-Weiner called the community turnout at the meeting “an organized ambush” aimed at bringing down the organization. During the meeting, she fielded numerous questions from the audience about the future of the Payne programming. Opper-Weiner said Neighbors United will continue that programming even if they move into the Eastern Branch, but the community members present at the meeting thought that Neighbors United was preparing to abandon the Payne program.

To address community concerns, the board voted to bring four new board members, all long-time Hill East residents, into its membership.

Although Opper-Weiner said that the meeting was a deliberate attempt to undermine the organization, she admitted that the division between board and staff members is a serious problem.

“Neighbors United needs to be united,” she said.

May submitted his resignation prior to the annual meeting to raise attention to his concerns that the organization wasn’t representing the community, and attempted to rescind that resignation after the meeting and board member vote.

Opper-Weiner said that the board has decided to allow May to run the Payne activities through the end of the summer, but they are also looking for a new executive director. May said he decided to stay on to ensure that the Payne programming runs through the summer, but he declined further comment.

“I’m heartsick and I’ve never seen someone whose intentions were so noble, treated so badly,” Hill East resident Jim Myers said of May.

When a new executive director is hired, Opper-Weiner said they will have the final say on all staffing decisions, including the possible future role of May in the organization. That new executive director may also need to find a new staff, as the entire current staff threatened to quit if May was no longer working there. If that happened, May said that the Payne activities would likely have to be terminated, at least temporarily.

Moving forward
New board member Francis Campbell thinks that the tensions have simmered down a bit since the meeting, and he doesn’t think that May’s employment status ill make or break the organization.

“Hopefully the program doesn’t exist on the back of just one person,” he said.

In spite of the problems, Opper-Weiner is optimistic that the development regarding the Eastern Branch will help to bring the organization back together.

“This is a tough time, but I feel very optimistic,” she said. “There are lots of forces out there, but I think our team feels gathered together and focused, and I think we do represent the community.”

Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells said that Neighbors United’s goals are sound, but he’s not sure they will be able to pull them off.

“Unless Neighbors United gets a bunch of money from an endowment or something and comes in and shows that they’re viable without the DC government, I don’t see how it will happen,” he said.

Wells is forming a task force to examine the future of the Eastern Branch. He said that even if Neighbors United is not able to run the building, they might be able to run some activities there while another organization takes the reins at the site.

Campbell agreed that finding the funding to run the Eastern Branch will be a major challenge going forward.

“But considering what the Boys & Girls Club didn’t do there, I think anything would be better at this point,” he said.

Opper-Weiner said the building may ultimately need $150,000 in repairs, but many parts of the building are ready for programming as is. She also estimated that Neighbors United has enough money to run the building for six months without any income.

“It’s going to be a real challenge, but our fundraising, should we be able to get into that building, will change the picture altogether,” she said.

If allowed to operate the building, Opper-Weiner said Neighbors United would look at a wide array of activities to pay for the center and serve the needs of the community.