Flash flooding isn’t new to Rhode Island Avenue NE or Ivy City residents whose basements historically flood, often with combined sewage overflow. But an August 2023 rainstorm made headlines when 10 pet dogs died at a local doggy daycare. Suddenly, the District’s tendency to flood—which had long impacted the city’s poorest communities—was headline news.

Join us for this online program on Thursday, April 25 at 6 pm as we dive into flooding as an environmental justice issue. The land where Washington, DC is today was never a swamp, but it was built over creeks and pockets of wetland among rich farmland, including plantations. In 150 years of building, city planners fundamentally changed the topography of DC, visible and concealed. Tiber Creek, an iconic example, turned from stream to canal to buried sewer over the years—resulting in part of the city’s wastewater overflow issues, now being rectified by enormous public works like the Northeast Boundary Tunnel. But even as the city completes such projects, the ever-present threat of climate change looms over the District: major storms become more frequent and intense, leading to an increased risk of damaging floods and threats to infrastructure.

This Earth Day, ask yourself: Who is most at risk of flooding in DC? Where in the city do local and federal governments invest funds to prevent flooding? What actions can we take today to prevent future flooding in the nation’s capital? Learn from our panel with research expertise, organizing histories, and lived experience about the history of rising waters in DC.

Curated by Carmen Bolt, PhD candidate in history from American University, this program is the latest installment in the DC History Center’s Context for Today series of online conversations with thoughtful and thought-provoking historians, activists, journalists, and community members.

This virtual event is free, but your donation makes our mission-driven programs, like this one, possible. We appreciate your generous contribution at any amount. If you require accommodations for a disability, please email the DC History Center at programs@dchistory.org with your request as possible. We are committed to making events accessible for all participants.

PANELISTS
Carmen Bolt (she/her/hers) is a public historian and doctoral candidate at American University. Her current research and forthcoming dissertation investigates water-related environmental injustice over the course of the 20th century including: the development of the sewer system along a racialized geography, inadequate or deficient infrastructure, routine and extreme flooding, and housing insecurity as a result of dispossession and displacement.

Nicholas Bonard is the Chief of the Water Resources Protection and Mitigation Branch in DC's Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE). In this role he helps the city and vulnerable residents become more flood resilient and protects floodplains, groundwater, wetlands, and rivers through construction permitting and regulation. He previously worked at the National Capital Planning Commission to make federal government assets more resilient to flooding and extreme weather.

Brenda Lee Richardson is an eco- feminist, working on welfare reform, environmental justice, economic development, education, behavioral health and health issues for the past 30 years. She serves as the Coordinator of the Anacostia Parks' Community Collaborative and is active with the Friends of Oxon Run Park and Friends of Parkland Turner Library. Current Board roles include: Casey Trees, Potomac Riverkeeper Network, Urban Forestry Advisory Council, Capital Nature, and Bridges Across the River. Past Boards include: Anacostia Watershed Society, DC Public Library, and DC Water. She holds a BA in Political Science (University of Michigan) and a Master’s of Social Work (University of Maryland, Baltimore).

Sebrena Rhodes is a DC Native from Deanwood who stands up for the rights of friends, neighbors, and other overlooked residents. She holds an associate degree in early childhood education and was an educator in North Carolina for 11 years. Back in DC, Sebrena serves in numerous roles serving Ivy City: Community Organizer with Empower DC and Community Coordinator for Ivy City Clubhouse; a Member of the Community Advisory Board for Unity Health Care; Friends of Crummell; and ANC (5D02). Sebrena believes using her voice and being informed empowers our children—herself a mom of six with nine grandchildren.

MODERATOR
Marcelo Jauregui-Volpe (he/him/his) is a journalist and audiovisual producer. He is the assistant editor at Hola Cultura, a nonprofit news site in Washington, DC. As 2021 editorial fellow, he led a youth reporting group and co-wrote an investigative series on heat islands in DC to map temperature differences across the city and examined the disproportionate effects extreme heat can have on DC’s residents along racial, ethnic, and class. He is host of the related podcast "The Climate Divide."