Inter-American Development Bank Hosts DowntownDC SAMs

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The DowntownDC Business Improvement District’s (BID’s) Safety/Hospitality and Maintenance Employees (SAMs) expanded their international knowledge at their August employee-of-the-month meeting and learned about Downtown’s Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

IDB (1300 New York Avenue NW) opened their Cultural Center to the caretakers of Downtown last week and informed SAMs of the bank’s work to facilitate investment in economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean. IDB shareholders are 48 member countries, including 26 Latin American and Caribbean members. The bank offers loans, grants, technical assistance and conducts research.

Division Chief Gerardo Martinez-Freyssinier, who serves as Liaison to the BID Board of Directors, rose at last week’s meeting to credit the SAMs for the major evolution Downtown has undergone since 1997. He also offered his own personal anecdote of contact with the SAMs. 

Martinez-Freyssinier said that he mistakenly left his bag outside in Downtown as he waited for his wife one day after work. The next day, he received a call from the SAMs notifying him that they had recovered his bag and they returned his belongings to him.

[Read a sampling of SAM appreciation letters here.] 

SAMs then heard from BID leadership including Deputy Executive Director Richard T. Reinhard, who explained to the SAMs that IDB, which is a tax-exempt property, elects to make voluntary contributions to the BID to support the SAMs and the BID’s overall work to enhance and augment Downtown. Reinhard thanked IDB for their continued partnership.

Reinhard also highlighted the public and often free events hosted by IDB. The bank recently hosted a free film screening of the documentary “Finding Gaston” and a reception in conjunction with Guckenheimer, Del Campo Restaurant, Macchu Pisco and the Embassy of Peru.

[For more IDB events, visit the bank’s event page here.]

Director of Operations Everett D. E. Scruggs also addressed the SAMs at their monthly meeting, noting that the meeting provides him a rare opportunity to speak to the entire SAM staff at once and personally express his gratitude for their hard work. Scruggs then read a letter of appreciation for Safety/Hospitality SAM Donna Riley, who recently helped a woman locate her car.

Staff took time to recognize three D.C. Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) participants, Derrick Bowman, Jeffrey Stone and Raheem Turner, who worked in the Operations Department.

As part of the city program, which connects District youth ages 14-21 with city employers, Bowman, Stone and Turner experienced the job of a zone cleaner in the BID and completed graffiti removal, mulched tree boxes, watered plantings in the New York Avenue islands, cleaned Franklin Park, and maintained Reservation 068 at 11th Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW all under the tutelage of of Dispatcher Freda Mintah and Maintenance Services Manager Ron Jones. The BID worked to help provide Bowman, Stone and Turner employment tools and characteristics to transition into the working world.

“These three young men gave rise to the belief that the future of the workforce is in good hands and I was extremely proud of how they grew during their short time with the BID,” Scruggs said. “They represented themselves and their families, the BID and the Nation’s Capital very well and should be justifiably proud of all they accomplished.”

The BID, which has served as an SYEP host employer for 11 years, employed a total of eight SYEP participants this summer.

In addition to recognizing the Summer Youth participants, the BID each month designates two SAMs as SAMs-of-the-Month for their outstanding service. July’s winners were: Safety/Hospitality employee Ronald Lloyd and Maintenance employee Ethel M. Frye

Ronald Lloyd is an original SAM who has been an employee since the BID’s founding in 1997. He said the SAM-of-the-Month honor caught him off guard, but “it feels good to win.” He said a simple “thank you” is enough of a reward and that he “finds pleasure in just helping people” during the course of his daily work. Over the past 17 years, Lloyd has witnessed firsthand the significant changes in Downtown, which once had a reputation of being “dull, dirty and dangerous.” Today, he is struck by the development of the area, and in particular, the proliferation of restaurants. Lloyd enjoys photography in his spare time and recently completed a portfolio. He also enjoys jazz music.

Ethel M. Frye has been employed by the BID for over 10 years and said her award for July is her sixth time earning recognition as SAM-of-the-Month. The native Washingtonian enjoys helping people and is known for her punctuality and for being so dedicated to her job she has to be encouraged to take days off. Even though she’s a self-proclaimed “night owl,” Frye sticks to a strict routine, rises early and is “never late,” she said. In her free time, the former softball player enjoys supporting her local team and spending time with her family. Frye is the proud mother of one daughter and one son and has two grandchildren.