As we enter the 50th Anniversary of the Greater Washington Community Foundation, we’ve taken a moment to look back at the incredible people behind the founding of our organization, including members of our very first Board of Directors.
We are excited to share their stories with you, as we continue to learn more about their legacy, their leadership, and the impact they have had on the Greater Washington Region!
Founding Board Member Marie Barksdale (far Right) with Civil Rights Activist Dorothy Height (far left).
Marie C. Barksdale moved to DC in 1961 as the Executive Director of Howard University’s Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. A member of the NAACP, the National Council of Negro Women, and Alpha Kappa Alpha's American Council on Human Rights, Barksdale was a powerful advocate of the Civil Rights Movement. In the summer of 1964, she joined Wednesdays in Mississippi (WIMS), a movement dedicated to strengthening interracial solidarity and support for Black women in the South. She continued her advocacy for social and economic justice as a member of the Johnson Administration's Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) and the Women in Community Service Initiative.
Marie was also deeply involved in community development efforts in the Greater Washington region. In 1973, she was among the first stakeholders engaged in conversations surrounding the forming of a “Community Foundation for Greater Washington”. Later that year, she joined the Board of Directors, where she would serve for at least the next decade.
In 1983, she became the first Executive Director of Young Audiences, Arts for Learning DC- a nonprofit providing arts education services to DC children. She remained heavily involved with the organization until her death in 2003.
Marvin Bordelon (then Msgr Marvin Bordelon) moved to Washington in 1967. A Catholic Priest with nearly two decades of service to congregations in Shreveport, LA, Marvin joined the US Catholic Conference (USCC) as their director of the Division of World Justice and Peace. During his time in Washington, he was appointed as the US delegate to UNESCO.
In December 1972, Marvin resigned from the priesthood to become a consultant with the Council on Foundations in New York, with the purpose of “working on the establishment of a Community Foundation for Greater Washington”.
On May 10, 1973, Marvin gathered with fifteen prominent Washingtonians at the Federal City Club to discuss the founding of a Community Foundation of Greater Washington. Shortly thereafter, the Board of Directors was organized and Marvin became the first President of the Community Foundation of Greater Washington. He would lead The Community Foundation for a number of years before passing the baton to Lawrence S. Stinchcomb sometime around 1978. Marvin passed away at his home in Rockville, MD in 2009.
Peggy Cooper Cafritz came to DC in 1964, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement to attend George Washington University – an institution which was still largely segregated at the time. By her senior year, she had organized a black student union and become a driving force towards the integration of the school’s fraternities and sororities. In 1968, she co-founded what would become the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. In the 1970s, she became the youngest fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and served on the committee that created the University of the District of Columbia.
In 1981, Peggy married Conrad Cafritz, becoming part of one of the most prominent mixed-race couples in Washington. She became one of the region’s leading supporters of the arts – particularly African-American art and was a founding member of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. In 1973, she joined the Board of Directors of the newly organized “Community Foundation for Greater Washington,” where she would serve for at least the next decade. She was instrumental in cultivating the relationship between the fledgling Community Foundation and The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, which continues to this day.
In 2000, she was elected President of the DC Board of Education – a position she would hold for the next six years. Peggy Cooper Cafritz passed away in 2018, at the age of 70.
Nancy “Bitsy” Folger came to Washington in 1958 as the daughter of Neil McElroy, Secretary of Defense in the Eisenhower Administration. She got a teaching job in Montgomery County and joined the Junior League. While there, she joined forces with DC leaders like John W. Hechinger in advocating for DC Home Rule. She was one of the first Board Chairs of the Black Student Fund, a nonprofit founded in 1964 to support Black students and the integration of schools. Bitsy quickly gained a reputation as a prodigious fundraiser. She would go on to serve as Chair of the White House Endowment Fund and a member of the White House Historical Association.
In 1973, Bitsy was among the first stakeholders engaged in conversations surrounding the forming of a “Community Foundation for Greater Washington”. Later that year, she joined the Board of Directors, where she would serve for at least a decade. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, Bitsy rejoined the Board of Directors, serving from 2003-2007. She is currently a fundholder at the Greater Washington Community Foundation.
Maceo W. Hubbard was one of the first Blacks to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1926. Hubbard moved to Washington in 1942 to work as a lawyer on the Committee on Fair Employment Practices, a committee established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prevent racial discrimination in the War Industries.
After the war, Maceo joined the Department of Justice, where he was an adviser in the civil rights division. Maceo helped developed policies and legislation related to school desegregation that became part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Maceo was heavily involved with the National Capital Area United Way (today the United Way of the National Capital Area), serving as one of the first presidents of the organization in 1975 – just a year after the chapter’s founding. He also served as president of the board, chairman of the trustees assembly, and treasurer for the organization.
In 1973, Maceo joined the Board of Directors for the newly formed “Community Foundation of Greater Washington” – a position he would hold for nearly a decade. His involvement on the board would be critical to establishing The Community Foundation’s relationship with the National Capital Area United Way, which continues to this day. Maceo passed away at his home in Chevy Chase in July 1991.
Polly Shackleton moved to DC in 1939 to work on President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s third Presidential Campaign. After settling in Ward 3, she became heavily involved in politics after the war, becoming a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1956. In the 1960s she served alongside future DC Mayor Walter Washington on The Committee for a More Beautiful Capital, set up by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson.
Polly was a strong advocate for DC Home Rule. When President Johnson expanded the appointed form of DC government from a single commissioner to three in 1967, Polly was named to the council. In 1974, she won a seat on the first elected council, a position she would hold until her retirement in 1986.
Polly was among the first stakeholders engaged in conversations surrounding the forming of a “Community Foundation for Greater Washington”. Later that year, she joined the Board of Directors. Polly passed away in July 1997.
Davidson Sommers came to Washington as the General Counsel for the World Bank in 1949. He later transitioned to the International Finance Corp, a World Bank affiliate, where he would stay until 1960, retiring as VP of the organization.
In 1951, Davidson was approached by Eugene Meyer about becoming President of a family foundation he had established six years earlier. He served as President of the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation until 1975, helping the organization grow from disbursing $70,000 in grants annually to disbursing $879,000 in 1974.
In 1972, Davidson was one of the first stakeholders engaged in conversations surrounding the forming of a “Community Foundation for Greater Washington”. In 1973, he was appointed to serve as the organization’s first Chairman of the Board of Directors. Davidson passed away in December 2000.
Henry “Hank” Strong was born and raised in Washington, DC. His great-grandmother, Hattie M. Strong, was the wife of the co-founder and president of Eastman Kodak Company. She established the Hattie M. Strong Foundation in 1928, which Hank would later lead as President and CEO.
Hank served in the Navy during WWII. After the war, he joined the Foreign Service, stepping down in 1967 to take over leadership of his family’s foundation. Under Hank’s leadership, the Hattie M. Strong Foundation began a new focus on investing in the Greater Washington region. They invested extensively in neighborhoods impacted by the 1968 Race Riots and transitioned scholarship programs to support more local students.
In 1973, Hank joined the Board of Directors for the newly formed “Community Foundation for Greater Washington” – a position he would hold for more than two decades. He was heavily involved in the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers (WRAG), and mobilized the Hattie M. Strong Foundation to respond to community needs. Hank passed away in March 2007.
Bishop John T. Walker was the first African-American to attend the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA. He began his ministry in the Greater Washington region in 1966, at the only integrated Episcopal Church in DC, serving some of the city's most economically challenged neighborhoods.
In 1973, he joined the Board of Directors for the newly formed "Community Foundation for Greater Washington," lending his support to setting up a new avenue for philanthropy in the region.
In 1977, he became the first African-American diocesan bishop for the Diocese of Washington (only the second African-American Bishop in the nation). He also served as the President of the Board of Directors of Africare -- an aid organization focused on community development in Sub-Saharan Africa -- from 1975 until his death in 1989. He was a close friend of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a vocal opponent of the apartheid regime.
In honor of his legacy, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington organized The Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys in 2006 to address the serious educational challenges facing African American boys in the low-income communities east of the Anacostia River.
Joseph L Whyte moved to Washington in 1946 to join American Security Bank, where he would work until 1978, retiring as the bank’s Vice Chairman. A WWII Navy Veteran, Whyte held a law degree from George Washington University, a graduate degree in Banking from Rutgers, and was a member of the Georgetown University Law Center faculty. He participated extensively in higher education fundraising and in 1965 was tapped to chair American University’s fifth annual sustaining fund drive.
In 1973, Joseph was one of the first stakeholders engaged in conversations surrounding the forming of a “Community Foundation for Greater Washington”. He played a critical role in securing support from local banks for the young foundation. Later that year, Joseph was named as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Board of Directors, where he served for a number of years. Joseph passed away in January 2000.