Our Elizabeth neighbor Carolina Zumarán-Jones is running for the Friendship Heights Village Council. She subscribes to the suggestions made in the open letter by concerned citizens.
Karren Alenier, #301
The Friendship Heights
community needs your vote for the Friendship Heights Council election on May 8.
We must hear from you at the ballot box so you can have a say in what happens
in the community where we and our families live.
My name is Carolina Zumarán-Jones
and I’m running for a seat on the Friendship Heights Village Council. My husband Jim and I have lived at The Elizabeth for 18 years. I have
lived in the Chevy Chase area on and off for over 52 years. I graduated from
Bethesda Chevy-Chase High School and Georgetown University.
I am running for a
Council seat because I care about my community. I’ve seen this area grow,
change, and adapt over many years. For the past year, through
community work, I’ve had ample opportunity to meet new and long-established
residents of Friendship Heights Village. I’ve listened to their hopes, their
expectations, and their needs. I am now more than ever convinced
that it is imperative for us to strengthen our sense of community so that
we can face the challenges and seize the opportunities that loom before us.
But for this to happen, we must bolster the ties that bind us, not through focusing
only on any single issue, but rather on the complex array of issues that confront
us.
FH Village Council
members have begun to reach out. Yet, more is required of us. To consider the important issues affecting us,
we must open spaces for participation and dialogue through effective committee
work. Our community is blessed with invaluable human capital, but we must
use its skills wisely. We must determine, for example, whether current
educational and recreational programs remain relevant, and how many people participate
in them. Again, our community has changed over the years, with the result
that we must know who we are if we are to enjoy success in programming FH
Village Center activities. And our Village must be proactive in
working with community organizations, with Montgomery County, and with other
groups so that we can identify common causes and can strengthen our position
and competitiveness.
Last but clearly not
least, we must encourage participation of Center staff—the Village’s
institutional memory, and a talented, creative, and dedicated group—in
meetings with community groups. Great ideas will surely come forth.
My professional career includes over 30 years of
managing complex projects in multi-cultural settings in the U.S. and abroad. I
have worked in non-profit, in corporate, and in public sectors. I have
had to navigate their institutional cultures. For the past decade, I have
managed corporate sponsorship for the American Association of Community
Colleges, where I successfully established partnerships and secured non-restrictive
funding for the organization. I Speak English and French, and am a
native Spanish speaker.
