Sharing our TOP 10 from 2020, with thanks to YOU
Sharing our TOP 10 from 2020, with thanks to YOU
December 18, 2020 - As we look back on this unusual year and look ahead with hope and optimism for the year ahead, I want to pause, reflect and thank you for being part of the Trust for the National Mall community.
With your help, our team has been able to keep our work growing and thriving, while bringing the best of the National Mall to you until we can come together in person. Before we close out 2020 and move fully into 2021, I wanted to share some of the Trust for the National Mall’s favorite moments of the past year. Whether you’re reliving these milestones with us or discovering them for the first time, I hope you’ll enjoy digging in, learning more and sharing them far and wide.
As I look back on all that’s happened in the past year, I am finding inspiration in the many examples of courage, resilience and creativity that arose to meet the many challenges this year brought. I speak for the whole team at the Trust for the National Mall when I say that our late nights, adjusted plans and new approaches were all made possible and worthwhile thanks to you -- our wonderful community of supporters.
We have some exciting efforts coming up in 2021 that we can’t wait to share with you. As winter settles in, our team at the Trust for the National Mall is working hard with an eye towards spring: making sure that the cherry trees and the Tidal Basin are healthy and well cared-for, so that DC’s beloved cherry blossoms come to life this coming spring and for generations to come. I can’t think of a better way to illustrate why our year-round work matters, and why you matter: so that we can keep “America’s Front Yard” evolving, growing and thriving to ensure that it remains inclusive and accessible to all.
I wish you a peaceful and healthy holiday season. Stay safe and well.
With appreciation,
Catherine Townsend, President and CEO
Top 10 from 2020
Everything we do is made possible by our donors and supporters. We hope you will help keep this work growing! Make a donation to help sustain our work year-round. Sign up for our newsletter, get involved with our leadership groups, follow us in social @TheNationalMall (Instagram , Twitter and Facebook) and add your voice with #MyNationalMallStory.
Trust for the National Mall Board Chair and veteran John "Chip" Akridge, III led our special effort to amplify the voices of veterans and volunteers “The memorials to our veterans and to our nation’s heroes keep history alive and help generations of young people forge their own connections to the ideals and meaning of America.”
Share your ideas and feedback! To promote the exchange of ideas and involve the public in the next phase of the Tidal Basin, the Tidal Basin Ideas Lab brings together five leading American landscape architecture firms, each with a distinctive concept to inform and inspire future plans to improve and sustain the environmental health of this vital space. Each firm reimagined the public space to meet the demands of a changing landscape, the public, and modern safety and accessibility needs, to create a bold, ambitious and integrated vision for the Tidal Basin.
Initiated by the Trust for the National Mall and the National Trust for Historic Preservation together with the National Park Service alongside civic partner Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), and presenting sponsor American Express, the proposals respond to daily flooding and crumbling infrastructure that threaten the sustainability of Washington, D.C.’s 107-acre site.
Check out the designs from world-renowned landscape architecture firms DLANDstudio, GGN, Hood Design Studio, James Corner Field Operations and Reed Hilderbrand and share your thoughts. Listen to NPR’s take on this important effort.
Watch it for the first time, or relive the exciting program featuring stories, musical tributes and celebrations of the individuals, organizations, and movements that represent the ideals of the National Mall, hosted by Norah O’Donnell, Anchor & Managing Editor, CBS Evening News. Special performances of America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee) by Denyce Graves-Montgomery, American operatic mezzo-soprano; America The Beautiful by Maggie Rose, American rock & soul singer; and Sing Out, March On by Joshuah Brian Campbell, Writer and Composer will leave you feeling transported and inspired.
We were thrilled to present the Honorable Lamar Alexander, Senator from Tennessee, with the 2020 History, Heroes, and Hope Award for his years of pioneering efforts effort to restore our national parks and as an early co-sponsor of the Great American Outdoors Act.
March On: History, Heroes, and Hope on the National Mall was made possible in part by Facebook, Boeing, Altria, Capital One, Clark Construction, EagleBank, Hilton, Korn Ferry, The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, PNC, Dr. Scholl Foundation, and many others.
Philanthropist Sheila C. Johnson, vice chair of the Trust’s board and chair of the fundraising campaign to fund the new U.S. Park Police Horse Stables and Education Center, led the groundbreaking on a crisp October morning, setting a year-long construction project in motion. Located between the Martin Luther King, Jr. and Lincoln Memorials, this new destination will transform the visitor experience, create an interactive education center with areas to observe horses, improve facilities used by the mounted patrols, and increase public safety and accessibility in the surrounding area. “This project is so close to my heart,” Johnson shared at the groundbreaking, as Chief--one of the horses who will call this new center home, thanks to Johnson herself—looked on. "It's going to be a game-changer for the National Mall."
Perhaps the greatest conservationist law in half a century, the Great American Outdoors Act is a historic, bipartisan conservationist bill that will support local economies, improve outdoor recreational areas, and protect public lands. Its passage reflects the work of the Restore Our Parks campaign supported by a coalition of national, state, and local organizations, including the Trust for the National Mall, seeking to protect national park and public land resources by addressing the maintenance backlog. The National Mall could receive much needed funding from this new legislation (it has the highest repair bill in the country!), but it will be only half of what is needed.
The Trust’s efforts, with donations from the public, will provide the additional investment needed for upgrades and modernizations - focused toward environmental sustainability - that will transform sections of the National Mall to significantly improve the visitor experience and preserve the long term legacy of America’s Front Yard.
Our next level of work has just begun and is more important than ever.
6. Developing the March On Program
A new experiential educational concept, March On complements the Trust's preservation and capital enhancement projects and provides a deeper connection to the National Mall’s contribution to our nation’s past, present, and future. Our timeline and related content gives users the opportunity to stand in the footsteps of those who led historic moments on the National Mall — to understand how this special place helped shape the course of America’s future. From marches and protests to rallies, performances, and art installations, The National Mall has a longstanding history as a civic stage for peaceful expression of First Amendment rights advance the cause of justice, human rights and racial equity. Throughout 2020, we had some important opportunities to highlight historic milestones and their immediate relevance, including The March for Jobs and Freedom and the 100th Anniversary of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment.
As part of our commitment to bring the best of the National Mall to you – until we can gather in great numbers in person again – we encouraged folks across the nation to watch the Fourth of July fireworks from the Monument Cam, situated at the top of the Washington Monument. It’s a view you can’t get on TV. Thanks to EarthCam's partnership with the Trust for the National Mall and the National Park Service, anyone can experience Washington, D.C. from the top of the Washington Monument, 24/7, 365 days a year. Monument Cam provides an unobstructed view of some of the National Mall’s most recognized memorials and sites including the WWII Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Reflecting Pool, and Constitution Gardens.
Thanks to The Washington Post for including us in the DC area’s best webcams!
Washington D.C.'s cherry blossoms signal the arrival of spring and symbolize hope, renewal, and friendship. Due to the pandemic this spring, the Trust for the National Mall – along with our partners the National Park Service and the National Cherry Blossom Festival – brought the beloved "peak bloom" into homes across the globe. #BloomCam received nearly 1 million views over the peak bloom period, and brought a pop of color and sense of renewal during the early days of the pandemic.
Find out how you can endow a cherry tree and stay tuned for exciting plans for cherry blossom season 2021.
We are proud to have piloted a new volunteer program at the newly dedicated Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial and are planning to expand the volunteer experience to several other locations in 2021. In partnership with The National Park Service, the Trust is reinvigorating the Volunteers-In-Parks (VIP) program through various improvements including better training, stronger communications, new scheduling software, leadership teams, and a mentorship initiative. It’s a model of public service and a great way to grow our capacity and visitor engagement at the same time.
10. Rebuilding the German American Friendship Garden
Located on the National Mall along Constitution Avenue, NW, and across from the Ellipse at President’s Park, this garden is dedicated to the more than 300 years of friendship between the United States and Germany. The Trust, with support from Volkswagen Group of America, rehabilitated the gardens and have developed additional plans to rebuild the two fountains. A partnership with Ambassador Emily Haber and the team at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany for a leadership gift and fundraising efforts has expedited the project to begin in January and a celebration of the new fountains in late spring 2021.
Rebuilding the German American Friendship Garden’s fountains is made possible in part by Volkswagen Group of America, Bayer, Haribo, Microsoft, Siemens, Allianz of America, Bank of America, BASF, BMW of North America, Infineon, Deutsche Telekom, DHL, Evonik, Robert Bosch LLC, SAP American, and Schaeffler.