New BID Staff

The Downtown BID office is abuzz this summer with new staffers: Alec Stewart, Lindsay Mamula, Kelly Peterson, Danielle Piacente and six summer interns from the DC Department of Employment Services’ (DOES) Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) have joined our busy team. Both Alec and Lindsay are new placemaking interns working full-time this summer, and then part-time during the 2010-2011 academic year, with our streetscape and environmental program and services managers, as well as with our GIS program assistant and director of operations. Alec, a graduate student at George Washington University’s Department of Geography, also has an undergraduate degree in geography from the University of California at Berkeley. Lindsay, a graduate student at the University of Maryland/College Park’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, received an undergraduate degree in psychology from Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio.

Kelly is a former transportation program associate now working with DC Surface Transit, Inc. (DCST), a Downtown BID affiliate organization, conducting research on the relationship between streetcar investment and development in DC and the boarder metropolitan area. She is working on a master’s degree in city and regional planning, with a concentration in economic development, at the University of Pennsylvania. Danielle is the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s (NCBF) new communications manager, but she’s not new on the block. As a publicist and manager at Linda Roth Associates, she ran the Festival’s local, national, and international public relations campaign for four years. In addition, she managed community and media outreach for multiple businesses within the hospitality industry. NCBF manages Arts on Foot, the Holiday Market and the Downtown Events Corporation for the Downtown BID, which provides the organization a home and staffing support.

Each year, SYEP interns join the Downtown BID as project assistants as part of a cooperative arrangement with DOES. While we provide them critical real-world skills and allow them to gain valuable workplace experience, they provide much-needed project support compiling data, working on databases and assisting with special projects and surveys. The students are all DC residents, either in high school, enrolled in colleges or engaged in career explorations. They are:

• Alysia Pridgen – Montgomery College
• Bernadette Palmer – Penn State University
• Lauren Marshall – University of Pennsylvania
• Shakia Brockenberry – Ballou Senior H.S.
• Andre Ford – H.D. Woodson H.S.
• Reese Williams – Anacostia SHS