It was my privilege to assume the Chairmanship of the STRIVE DC Board last spring, and to lead a hardworking group of board members in support of the work of STRIVE DC. Karen Zizmor is a hard act to follow! Karen, who served as STRIVE DC's Founding Co-Chair of the Board with Brenda Richardson, and later as Board Chair, provided dedicated and selfless leadership to us for five long years. Under her leadership, STRIVE DC raised sufficient start-up funds to recruit staff and launch the program, and has grown ever since. We are all so grateful for her many gifts to STRIVE DC, and that she has consented to stay on as a member of the Board!

After five years of operation, and with Christine Hart-Wright's inspired and persevering leadership, we know that the STRIVE DC program works. Now that we have proven the efficacy of our program, we need to turn our attention to stabilizing our core funding and to growing important elements of STRIVE DC's service.

Our goals for the next two years are to secure public funding for graduates placed into employment, and to significantly increase the long-term support and follow-up we offer our graduates. As you can readily imagine, STRIVE DC is growing its total number of graduates every month, and we need to keep expanding staff to help those graduates retain employment and increase their earning power.

This year we will also launch a friends of STRIVE DC group to provide a way for those who support our work to sustain us financially. I know we can count on you to keep STRIVE DC working and growing by giving what you can.

I welcome your suggestions and feedback at any time.

Sincerely,
Jean F. Duff

Samuel A. Hartwell,
Founder STRIVE National

F. Barton Harvey III,CEO
Enterprise Foundation

Rev. Raymond B. Kemp

John D. Macomber

David O. Maxwell

Brenda Lee Richardson
Women like US

Karen Zizmor, Esquire

Jean Duff
Board Chair
Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation

Kristi Cunningham
Jubilee Enterprise

Hal Gordon
Community Action Group

Emily Guthrie
Capitol Hill Group Ministry

Fisher Howe

Amelia Letcher
Nordstrom

Caroline Moran
Bond Beebe Advisors & Accountants

Edward Warren
Commnet Supply