Happy New Year – sort of?
Like most of you, VNMS has been shell-shocked since last week’s violence at the Capitol building, here in our beautiful city. And like you, we have given ourselves a much needed few days to process, having lifted ourselves up by connecting with friends, comfort food, and some wine (always wine). We are now looking ahead, moving forward, and continuing our work because the pandemic and our emergency orders have not disappeared, our businesses are still struggling, and we have our mission to accomplish.
VNMS remains solid five years after its founding for many reasons but the most important reason is our dedicated board of directors. We were founded by visionaries and continue to thrive because of the leadership, vision, and work of our current board of directors. At the end of 2020, we said thank you and farewell to our outgoing President, Sarah Cumbie, our Events Committee Chair and Board Member, Patricia Davies and Design Committee Chair and Board Member, Matt Dreher. We will sincerely miss working with them, relying on their expertise and most of all their dedication to our neighborhood. Thankfully, Matt Dreher will continue to serve on the Design Committee. It is difficult to express how grateful we are to them!
A clear sign of VNMS’s health and belief in its critical mission is the willingness of people to serve on our board and this year, we are extremely proud to welcome FIVE new members for three-year terms. VNMS is in great hands with our incumbents that have helped lead us through this past year’s crisis and we all extend a big welcome to our new board members:
· Jonquilyn “JQ” Hill, WAMU
· Doug Loescher, Fairfax County Office of Community Revitalization
· Joff Masukawa, Diligentia Strategy
· Steven Shulman, Cultural Tourism DC
· Michael Triebwasser, Politics and Prose
Read more about the current VNMS board here.
One path to board service is committee service. Three of our four committees, Design, Economic Development, and Events, are open to service from you, our committed residents. Please reach out to VNMS at [email protected] if you are interested and willing to serve in this way! We would love to tap into your passion and expertise to continue to make Van Ness/Forest Hills/Wakefield main streets vibrant, diverse, walkable, sustainable, and safe.
Stay strong,
Van Ness Main Street
Serving Van Ness, Forest Hills, and Wakefield
