A polling place in Hillcrest during the June 2020 primaries by GKJ.

If you ever pondered about how to make a bigger difference in your community well, maybe you should run to be an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner. These elected officials help inform decisions that directly impact neighborhoods within the District.

On Thursday, July 16, at 6 pm, join GGWash for a training on how to run, and how to be, an ANC Commissioner. Sign up here.

We’ll be joined by outgoing commissioners James Harnett (2A08) and Nick Cheolas (5E01), who will share what they’ve learned and can answer your questions about serving. Robb Dooling (a former commissioner who’s now running for 6A06) will discuss the links between ANCs and broader community activism and can answer questions about running in 2020.

I’ll give some insight on GGWash’s recruitment and endorsement process, as well as how commissioners are critical to advancing our goals of more housing, particularly in affluent areas, and frequent, reliable transportation citywide.

We’ll keep this informal. Questions and discussions are encouraged!

As of June 26, you can pick up materials and begin to collect signatures to get on the November 3 ballot. We wrote about that here, and there’s more information, from the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, here. To read about what ANCs do, check out these posts. And see what current commissioners think about the pros (and cons) of serving on an ANC here.

This will be a Zoom call, so we’ll record it! If you can’t make it but have a question, leave it in the comments or email abaca@ggwash.org.

Over 30 people are already registered. Join them, and us, on July 16. Sign up for our ANC training here.

Alex Baca is the DC Policy Director at GGWash. Previously the engagement director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth and the general manager of Cuyahoga County's bikesharing system, she has also worked in journalism, bike advocacy, architecture, construction, and transportation in DC, San Francisco, and Cleveland. She has written about all of the above for CityLab, Slate, Vox, Washington City Paper, and other publications.