I have always been a firm believer that “you have to see good in order to do well” which is why personally I always surround myself with really talented and genuine people. Being in the presence of wiser and more accomplished people inspires you (directly and indirectly) to raise your own standards. The flip side is why I don’t affiliate with crabs or poverty pimps on any level. I also "call 'em like I see 'em" but that is because I have no tact. :)

It has been my experience, that although well meaning, some ANCs just don’t know what “good” or “great” looks like, at least when it comes to ANC operations and finances. They don’t realize that they may be deficient because they don’t have a standard to compare themselves too. It’s like operating in a vacuum – you can’t judge your progress.

I make a point to check the DC Auditors website often to stay up to date on the audit reports for Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. Not just to stay informed of those ANCs with failing audit reports (and for some reason East of the River seems to have more than its share) but to stay on top of the ANC’s whose audit reports receive top marks from the DC Auditor’s office. I like to see what successful ANCs are doing with the hopes that we can take that success and translate it to our community. In Corporate America it’s called “best practices” research and we could use much more of that in Ward 8, probably more so than we need the “woe is us” mentality that in my own personal opinion has gotten us little in the way of achievement and a whole lot in the way of apathy.

During my research, I found this great audit report of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6B 6A. Not only did ANC 6B 6A follow all the laws governing ANC operations and followed the auditor’s recommendations but they also earned all of their District allotments and did some really great things with the allotments – like issue grants! All of their grants were allowable under the ANC laws, auditor guidelines, and that were issued responsibly.

A Ward 8 ANC Commissioner once told me that “the DC auditor won’t let us give out grants” another Ward 8 ANC commissioner told me “I will never approve a grant being issued, it’s too much work.”

Hmm....

While I was searching for a good ANC audit report (and this wasn’t the only one I found) I had to sift through some bad audit reports --- many of them from Wards 7 and 8. Including links to these audit reports below:

ANC 7A Audit Report for Fiscal Years 2005 – 2008
*Allegations of theft by the ANC treasurer

ANC 8C Audit Report for Fiscal Years 2007 – 2009
*Allegations of mismanagement/waste of ANC funds

ANC 8E Audit Report For Fiscal Years 2006 – 2009
*Allegations of lack of receipts to document expenditures

To be fair, I have heard commissioners from all over DC complain that the ANC operations process is very cumbersome and vague, that the DC Auditor doesn’t make clear what expenditures are allowable and why, and that the ANC laws themselves are somewhat outdated and don’t have a lot of “teeth” when something goes wrong.

While I do think there may be some truth to those claims, I do wonder what role (if any) does education, work experience, and basic life skills play in the ability to accomplish certain ANC tasks? How equipped is our community as a whole to manage its own challenges and accomplishments in-house? How can you expect someone with no budgetary experience to create a sound budget and stick to it? How would you know what the professional standards are if you have never encountered them before? How would you know how to resolve a problem if you never admitted there was a problem in the first place? How could you hold someone accountable if no one ever held you accountable?

It’s no secret that nearly half of Ward 8 is functionally illiterate. That means 1 out of 2 Ward 8 residents can’t read this post and that is a real tragedy. How can you recruit competent Ward 8 community leaders and elected officials when over half of the Ward 8 population can’t read or read well enough to fully grasp the message?

How can you inform people who can’t read of important community news or find ways to incorporate them into the process? How can you feel empowered when you don’t know what is going on? How can you tell fact from fiction when you can’t do basic research? How can you complain effectively when you can’t even write clearly enough to be understood?

For those of us who at least have basic reading and writing skills we take it for granted that others can. To be honest I have made that assumption myself. When I first moved to Congress Heights, I sent an invitation to one of my most favorite neighbors to attend a neighborhood event I was hosting. Surprised when he didn’t come I made inquiries and found out from another neighbor that although he was well into his sixties, he couldn’t read therefore he couldn’t read the flier I sent. I was dumbstruck. It never occurred to me that he couldn’t read, it didn’t make him any less valuable (he is awesome) but it did limit his participation in community events and meetings which is a shame because he is one of those great people that the community needs more of.

When I first started going to ANC 8C meetings I would read past audit reports and I couldn’t understand why all my neighbors weren’t doing the same and why they weren’t as upset as I was that our ANC was always receiving failing marks from the DC Auditor. I couldn’t understand why the ANC commission wasn’t reading the reports and implementing the DC Auditor’s very clear recommendations. It never occurred to me that perhaps the people who were responsible for reading and responding to those audit reports didn’t because they couldn’t (to be fair I think “won’t” still plays a big part).

By no means am I saying that everyone in Ward 8 is illiterate and that all of our elected officials are unable to read and understand the ANC laws and procedures but I do think that literacy does plays a very significant part in why Ward 8 finds itself behind the “eight ball” in too many things.

Colbert King of the Washington Post wrote a very insightful article on the subject in 1994, one that I quote here on CHotR often:

“The Ruling Class; Home rule made the people’s choices count. But now, the people need better leaders to choose from.”

It’s a great article and I strongly encourage everyone to take a moment and read it. In fact, although I have many thoughts on this subject I am just going to finish my comments right here and link to the Colbert King article because it says it so much more clearly and succinctly what I am trying to say. As a community, we need to elevate the standards so that we may all benefit. Those at the top of the curve should reach back to pull those behind up, those behind need to reach forward and take positive steps to pull themselves up.

We need to start holding ourselves responsible and accountable and find ways to make improvements from within and stop putting such an emphasis on what others are or are not doing. We come from a long line of people who have worked hard, faced adversity, and had to struggle to make a positive impact in this world. We can do this. We already have, we just need to do it again.

Frederick Douglass said it best, “ People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.”