May 17 | Support the Anacostia Business Improvement District at the Designing Dreams Competition-Pitch Night

Go HERE to get your ticket now! The Anacostia Business Improvement District needs your support and vote to help them win $20,000 in free design services. Tickets are only $10 if you buy them today -- $15 at the door.

MakeDC’s Designing Dreams Competition-Pitch Night happens just five days from now. It’s going to be an energetic evening devoted to making D.C. a better city through Public-Interest Design. You’ll hear from seven finalists pitching their inspiring projects: Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens — Improve the public access and visitor experience at the park, home to the city’s only remaining tidal marsh. D.C. Youth Orchestra - Develop a portable installation that would allow musicians to hold a concert anywhere in D.C. Anacostia BID - Manage a design charrette to bring all neighborhood stakeholders together and create a uniform vision plan for the new BID. Groundswell - Develop a creative campaign to educate D.C. residents about how Groundswell works to bring the benefits of the clean-energy economy to all. [Groundswell has replaced Kid Power, which unfortunately had to drop out of the competition.] Latin American Youth Center - Implement a sustainability retrofit for LAYC’s anchor site, and increase the organization’s efficiency through well-designed user spaces. Joseph’s House - Redesign and upgrade the 1,500sf healing garden that surrounds this end-of-life care facility for homeless individuals. Georgetown BID - Programming, architecture, and landscape design for the underutilized C&O Park Mule Yard, adjacent to the historic C&O Canal. And join the seven distinguished jurors who will decide which project wins design services from MakeDC: Jessica Fulton, Outreach Director, D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute Neil Takemoto, Co-Founder, CSPM Group Philippa Hughes, Chief Creative Contrarian, Pink Line Project John F. Settles II, Entrepreneur and Community Leader Patricia Zingsheim, Associate Director of Revitalization and Design, D.C. Office of Planning Who are the other two jurors? One is MakeDC, and the other is YOU. That’s right: The public has a place at the judges’ table! Everyone who attends can vote towards the People’s Choice award, and that vote will count in the final deliberation. That’s why it’s important for us to have a full house — we want as much public participation as possible! We’re nearly there, but there are still a handful of tickets left. Pitch Night takes place on Saturday, May 17, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.at the District Architecture Center; get your ticket today! Pitch Night is a unique opportunity not only to learn about the many design needs throughout D.C., but how to make a difference. Come to the DAC on Saturday to meet the MakeDC team, the jurors, and the finalists. Want to learn more about MakeDC? Check out our website, like us on ourFacebook page, and follow us on Twitter. Thanks for reading — and for your support in helping to MakeDC a better city. We’ll see you at the District Architecture Center this Saturday! Greg & Scott Co-Founders

MakeDC is a not-for-profit Public Interest Design studio that sits at the intersection of design and community interest. We collaborate with local organizations to help build community-centric projects.