The service will be held today (March 21, 2005) at "All Souls Church" located on 16th & Harvard's Streets NW. The viewing began at 9:30 a.m., followed by the service at 11 a.m.

Alston, will be buried in Newport News, VA, which is where she was originally located.

Alston, 45, will be remembered as a gale-force personality who stormed through Washington, bringing people together and inspiring them to fight for social justice. A feminist and gay rights activist, she had served since 2001 as D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams's liaison to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

Alston served as the executive assistant to former NOW president Patricia Ireland and as special projects director at NOW from 1992 to 1996.
She helped to organize four national marches on Washington and a Fight the Right March in San Francisco and traveled to Beijing, China to participate in the Fourth World Conference on Women.

Alston, herself, said the goal of her post in the mayor's office was "to ensure that the district's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents are fully integrated into the city's civil and economic life."
She recently organized the first city-wide LGBT summit to be held April 30. She planned the summit to gather and organize input from LGBT citizens about the priorities of DC Government in governing the city and its resources.
Alston, a former co-chair of the D.C. Coalition of Black Lesbians, Gay Men and Bisexuals, received several community service awards: the 1994 Welmore Cook Award from Black Pride, Inc. given as the highest community service award by the Black LGBT community; the 1995 National Welfare Rights Union community award; and the DC Coalition of Black Lesbians, Gay Men and Bisexuals community service award, also in 1995. In 2004, she received the Trust Servant Award from the Transgender Health Empowerment organization.

City Year will be hosting an Open House to recruit new staff.

An Action Tank for national service, City Year seeks to demonstrate, improve and promote the concept of national service as a means for building a stronger democracy. An 'action tank' is both a program and a 'think tank' - constantly combining theory and practice to advance new policy ideas, make programmatic breakthroughs, and bring about major changes in society.

City Year's vision is that one day, the most commonly asked question of a young person will be, "Where are you going to do your service year?"

City Year works toward the full realization of this vision through three core activities:

• Running a full-time youth service corps
• Engaging citizens in service through large-scale, high-impact community events
• Leading discussion and development of national service policies and initiatives

Contact Rachel Hodges at 202.742.7367 or rhodges@cityyear.org to rsvp, to apply, or for more information.

MAKING COLEGE A REALITY FOR THOUSANDS OF DISTRICT STUDENTS

DC-CAP is a non-profit organization with the District of Columbia School System that provides counseling and financial assistance to students who might otherwise never have the opportunity to attend or graduate from college.

The Services Provided by DC-CAP:

• Individual and Group Counseling
• Financial Aid Assistance
• Scholarship Programs
• Parent Education
• College Application Assistance
• College Student Support

Positions pay up to $14.14 per hour

Working at a DPR camp or aquatic facility can be fun and rewarding. The campers are children ranging from ages 3-17 from various backgrounds who live in the DC Metropolitan area. DPR is seeking highly motivated and energetic people to spend four 2- week sessions at a recreational or aquatic facility. Employment includes 8 weeks of camp and one week of paid training. It will be mandatory that individuals attend the entire training session, offering a vast array of activities from reading time to environmental field trips; arts and crafts and cultural expression. If you are looking to build your resume, enhance your leadership experience, participate in team building, meet new and interesting people, but above all positively impact the lives of our youth - HERES THE JOB FOR YOU!

Office located at:
DC Department of Parks and Recreation
Summer Employment
3149 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20010
202-673-7603 (phone)
202-673-6759 (fax)
dprsummer@dc.gov (email)

The President's Volunteer Service Award is an initiative of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation in conjunction with the Corporation for National and Community Service and the USA Freedom Corps and is administered by the Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network.

This RFA is inviting applications for a three-year planning grant proposal. The first year of the grant is devoted to partnership development, community needs assessment, identifying the disease/condition for intervention research, and planning the intervention methodology with substantial input from the community. During the second and third year, a pilot intervention research study will be conducted with community participation.

The ultimate goal of this RFA is to support intervention research on health disparities that is jointly conducted by communities and researchers. This RFA will utilize the NIH resource- related research projects (R24) grant award mechanism. The total amount to be awarded is $4.5 million. The anticipated number of awards is 5- 10.

*Successful schools and educational innovations for K-12, higher education, and adult learners

*Healthy families/ healthy communities

*Livable wages, employment opportunities and job training

*Affordable housing for all

*Building and preserving diverse communities

*Using culture and the arts to promote community development

*Faith and spirituality as resources for community building

Registration

Register today to join us at the GWU Cafritz Conference Center to discuss these and other topics, learn more about the CoRAL Network, explore the principles of community-driven research, and network with community partners committed to social change. The general registration fee is $25 for individuals and free for students. Nonprofit staff (2 or more) flat fee of $40

We look forward to having YOU join us!

If you would like to share any announcements from your organization or campus with the CoRAL Network community, send a brief blurb to kcarter@coralnetwork.org by close of business each Thursday for inclusion in the following Monday's Newsbits.

Please note that submissions MUST be about local events, news, opportunities and activities that are related to community affairs in the District of Columbia, Maryland, or Northern Virginia.