5K/10K Walk, Run or Bike Saturday, May 15 to raise awareness and promote ally-ship for the Human Rights Campaign!

This first Wednesday of March we celebrate Women’s History Month. As we make the transition from commemorating Black History Month to celebrating Women’s History this month, we spotlight Black women entrepreneurs creating community and camaraderie through commerce. Tell your partner, friend, and family about these amazing women and join us in celebrating!

RB & Co.

Roxanne Bellamy, longtime friend and wife of our Co-owner Kevin, is also the owner and Creative Director behind her own full-service, event design & planning firm RB & Co. The firm specializes in producing refined events for clients who value quality experiences. Roxanne prides herself on collaborating with other BIPOC and women owned businesses, and is currently curating a month of virtual events in celebration of Women’s History and International Women’s Day. Click here to find out more: RB & Co.

Follow on Instagram: @roxannebellamy 

OH-MAZING FOODS

OH-mazing owner and fellow D.C. based entrepreneur, Stephanie Williams set out to create a scrumptious alternative to snacks filled with allergens and preservatives. We first met Stephanie 3 years ago at an architecture firm's networking event where we showcased as vendors in a “Future of Retail” test module. There I got a taste of her healthy creations and have been hooked ever since. The tasty granola that comes in flavors like Lemon Bar and Caribbean Delight are a long time favorite of ours! Click here to shop: OH-MAZING FOODS 

Follow on Instagram: @ohmazingfood

ALL VERY GOODS

I first met All Very Goods owner, Ama Schulman, while the both of us worked our retail chops for J. Crew. I randomly discovered her goods on social media and became a customer before realizing it was her business. The thank you card that came in my initial order and subsequent orders are as much of a gift as the goods themselves. The All Very Goods designs celebrate Black culture, community, art, activism, and allyship. The collection offers something for everyone and makes for great gifts year round to accessorize your look. Click here to shop: ALL VERY GOODS

Follow on Instagram: @allverygoods

SASCHA CANDLES

My fiery friend Sascha Lee has always had a light of curiosity and exploration in her DNA. This Afro-Latina launched her line of curvaceous candles on March 1, making Women’s History Month LIT, figuratively and literally. The candles are made in small batches sold on Etsy. Definitely one to watch on the journey of building a brand born out of an idea followed by action. Click here to shop: SASCHA CANDLES

Follow on Instagram: @sas.cha_

Figured what better way to kick off the year than by making our first release something tangible for the community I have grown even intimately closer to over the last 12 months.

I just turned 42 and I think about the significance of that number, the symbolism and the mystery. Going to take you down a bit of a rabbit hole here with my train of thought, so try to follow the best you can.

 This year to commemorate H ST. Festival we decided to put our best foot forward in a meaningful way, by kicking off our inaugural H STREET 5K WALK, RUN, RIDE; keeping with our tradition of community engagement.

This past Saturday, we teamed up with Erica Jackson and Kristen Gnau to host the event all in an effort to register voters, encourage folks to work the polls on Election Day, and to raise funds and awareness for H ST. NE neighborhood non-profit HIPS DC. 

We thank our partners; Maketto, Cool Kids Vinyl, Dryy DC, Hill Prince, Rock The Vote, Too Many Tabs and our 5K participants coming together for a safe and great event. We would like to graciously thank our friends near and far for helping us reach our donation goal.

Please continue to support HIPS DC and send donations directly through the link below:

https://hips.nationbuilder.com/

Let’s support our community and give our very best to our friends at HIPS DC.

Over three months have passed since Breonna Taylor was killed at the hands of police.

I met Brit Sigh (@midnightrun54) back in 2010, when we both worked for the same company as recruiters driving diversity and inclusion. Much of what we learned and brought to the table with that work we continue to practice in our everyday lives. It’s been a while since we talked in depth, but we’ve reconnected to collaborate on a pro-activism push for justice. Brit has contributed his artistic skills to create this beautiful portrait featured on the downloadable postcard. We hope you will join us and get activated.

Read how below:

1. Scan code using your camera app, and follow the link that appears.
OR
1. Click the link here: POSTCARD.

2. Follow the instructions on how to download and print.
3. Sign it put a stamp on it.
4. Drop in a mailbox or at a post office.

This is the first in a series we are launching focusing on activating concerned citizens in pursuit of justice for victims of police violence in America.

THE STORY BEHIND THE H ST. NE FOOD DRIVE

Our  hyperlocal H ST. NE FOOD DRIVE initially started as a way to bring relief for children impacted by the school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of these kids were no longer getting their primary source of nutrients that school breakfast and lunch provided. With our close ties to our H street NE Corridor of neighborhoods, we took it as our responsibility to provide the best we can for a community that has given us so much. What we soon discovered is that no good deed goes without its own sets of challenges.

With the city government's goal of flattening the curve, our original donation/distribution point, Hill Prince Bar had to close its doors for business. Although we understood the importance of the closure, it was frustrating for all of us, as they have been great partners in the community, opening their doors for pop-ups, local art exhibits, book signings, and fundraisers. Their closure presented a hurdle we didn't anticipate and as soon as we started our effort we had to suspend it until we could source a new location.

Like many of us hunkered down, either working from home or in many cases out of work due to the pandemic, the silver lining to it was having a moment to slow down and catch up with friends, through FaceTime or phone calls of course. One of the first phone calls I made was to Chef Opie Crooks of A Rake's Progress. We covered a lot in that phone call but to make a long story short he connected me to Chef and restaurateur Erik Bruner-Yang.

Now let me preface this by saying I had never met Chef Erik before, but maybe off the strength of his relationship with Chef Opie, maybe their shared love of community and maybe just being good dudes with big hearts, we were able to re-establish our food drive within hours after being connected.

H ST. NE FOOD DRIVE had its home at MAKETTO! Chef Erik and the team there provided us with a space for folks to safely donate, and for those in need to pick up non-perishable food items. It has been important to us to address the hyper-local hunger concerns in our Ward 5 and 6 neighborhoods, and being at Maketto allowed us to do just that. What's fantastic about having the food drive at Maketto was the accessibility—with operating hours Monday - Saturday from 7:30 AM - 9:30 PM daily, we were able to offer a much wider window for those in need vs. the limited hours and locations that DCPS and other non-profit organizations are currently able to provide.

Our food drive also goes beyond being limited to just serving the youth. What we thought would be a great way to provide meals for kids, evolved into something so much bigger. We've been able to feed families with children, single parent households, our service industry family, and even the elderly and our neighbors with special needs. Our impact has gone beyond what we could have ever imagined.

Now our mission is simply to be a stop gap, a relief supplement to services on the way from the Federal government, along with those already offered by city government, DCPS, and other larger organizations. What we are able to do is acutely attack the issue of hunger in our neighborhood during the pandemic when the above resources are already being stretched to the limits, inaccessible, or aren't eligible to those newly impacted. We are able to fill in the cracks, so to speak, in our community that other organizations may miss. What the pandemic has done is expose inadequacies when it comes to food accessibility and distribution. Prior to the pandemic many folks didn't need or meet qualifications for assistance. Guess what? Now they do. The pandemic has also exposed accessibility challenges unique to these specific circumstances.

Our food drive pantry alleviates many of the health and monetary challenges that going to the grocery store now poses. Since all our food donations are free to take you are in and out within a minute or two, tops. There are no crowds to deal with and we are only a short walk for our neighbors in need. There's no decision making on how best to spend what little money you may have, and now you can use that towards other necessities.

What we did was swiftly and decisively move into action with help from our community to assist those who have been in need and those now finding themselves newly in need of food. Thanks to an out pouring of monetary donations, physical donations, and people spreading the word we've been able to put a significant dent in fighting hunger in the H Street Northeast corridor.

We still face challenges with our effort. Our hyper-local pantry gets wiped out daily, so we are in a constant battle to restock it. To better replenish our shelves and help those in need we have moved to a model that will allow people to order non-perishable food items online and have them directly ship to Maketto. This protects those that want to donate allowing them to do so from the comfort of home using platforms like Giant's Peapod, WholeFoods Amazon delivery, Aldi's grocery delivery, etc. We want to point those platforms out in-particular as they provide the most efficient means to restocking our H ST. NE FOOD DRIVE shelves.

It's our hope that this new innovation to our supply chain will help us keep the shelves filled and people fed here in our community. Beyond that though, we hope that this can serve as a model for how other communities can quickly mobilize as private citizens to bring relief to their neighborhoods.

THANK YOU FOR ALL DONATIONS AND HELP PROVIDED.

Thank you for your continued support!

Lots of love,

Chris Cardi Team

H ST. NE HYPER LOCAL FOOD DRIVE

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, children and families of our H St. NE community are going hungry. This problem existed prior to the pandemic but is now exacerbated due to school closures and service industry folks being out of work. Many of the people in our community depended on school and work to provide them with their primary source of nutrition, leading some of the most vulnerable of our community to now be at an even greater disadvantage, creating a new percentage of Ward 5/ Ward 6 residents in need of assistance. With lack of availability to these resources we are pleading to those of us who can help our neighbors to do so.

To families struggling to provide meals to their children, to our service industry friends out of work, to our senior citizens, and to all of those with special needs here in the H ST. NE corridor, we are here to help. All donated items are free to those in need. Please practice social distancing guidelines and be sure to disinfect any packaging prior to consumption to protect yourself and your family. We ask that you only take what’s required for a couple days so others in need have access too. This will be an ongoing community effort.

THANK YOU FOR ALL DONATIONS AND HELP PROVIDED.

Thank you for your continued support!

Our first release of 2020 continues to pay homage to the neighborhood we have called home for close to a decade now. Our I​ ❤️​ H ST. NE winter capsule incorporates our focus on producing goods in a sustainable fashion. The capsule features a hoodie, crew-neck, and crop-top sweatshirt with the initial release. The garments are made of a weighty 11oz. cotton/poly blend French Terry fabric, produced in the U.S.A. Each limited edition piece is designed, cut, sewn, and screen printed, right here in Washington, D.C. Our eco-conscious approach hones in on the reducing pillar of reduce, reuse, recycle, as we will only produce a limited quantity of 13 in each style, representing the 13 blocks that make up the H Street NE corridor.

The hoodie features a unique front cubby pocket that extends from side seam to side seam, dropped shoulder, drawstring hood, and ribbed cuffs and hem.

The crew-neck features our classic fit, ribbed collar, cuffs, and hem.

The crop-top features a dropped should, ribbed collar, ribbed cuffs, and unfinished high-low hem.

We encourage you to act fast, as we expect the pieces to sell out quickly. Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Items ordered from this capsule will be guaranteed delivery on or before February 10, 2020 if ordered by January 25, 2020. A portion of our sales will be donated to The Capital Area Food Bank.​