Kymone Freeman

Freeman is an award-winning playwright, activist and commentator. He is the subject of one chapter of the book Beat of a Different Drum: The Untold Stories of African Americans Forging Their Own Paths in Work and Life (Hyperion).

He is a 2010 Green for All Fellow & co-founder of We Act Radio, DC’s Best Social Justice Radio Station (2017 by Washington City Paper) and 1st Place (2017) Public Media Journalists Association Award winner for his Lion and the Map Commentary from the Anacostia Unmapped radio series on WAMU/ NPR’s most successful local production in 2016. He founded the Black L.U.V. Festival in 1997 & was honored at the Kennedy Center as a Mayor's Art Award Finalist for Excellence in Service to the Arts 2005. The 25th Anniversary of the Black Luvfest was the largest event of the 50th Anniversary of the Ft. Dupont Amphitheatre Summer Series sponsored by the National Park Service in 2022.

He was featured as a contributing writer in the most controversial Ebony Magazine in recent history as the last publication in print and PBS Online Film Festival for his short film "Fresh Prince of Anacostia." His work has appeared in Washington Post, Washington Informer and NY Times: "Can Anacostia Build a Bridge w/o Displacing Its People?" He has appeared nationally and internationally on BBC, French 24 TV, German ZDF, RT, CGTN America, Cuban National TV and TV One. He serves on the board of the Douglass Community Landtrust and is publishing a novel, Nineveh: a conflict over water, with Strong Arm Press.

Rebecca Lemos Otero

Rebecca Lemos Otero is a nonprofit executive, artist, and community builder who has dedicated her career to serving her hometown of Washington, DC. 

She is the co-founder and former Executive Director of City Blossoms, which cultivates community well-being through creative kid-driven gardens, with a particular focus of working primarily with Latino, African American, and immigrant children and youth in neighborhoods lacking free, safe green spaces. As a young person growing up and working in Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights Rebecca had the idea for this innovative effort in the early 2000’s and under her leadership, City Blossoms grew from a volunteer gardening program to an award-winning, million-dollar organization built by young people and rooted in communities across the city. One of her biggest points of pride is that City Blossoms was built on strong values around diversity and social justice that led the organization to share its expertise in the national youth-garden community’s efforts towards becoming more equitable.  

A leader with over two decades of experience as an entrepreneur, Lemos Otero enjoys most when she is able to merge community-informed and led efforts with organizational best practices to create experiences that are both impactful and long-lasting. As an artist, she is known for her unique approaches and creative perspectives.  

Most recently Rebecca has shifted her efforts towards participatory grantmaking, first as a member of the Diverse City Fund and now as the newish Executive Director of HumanitiesDC. In her first year at HumanitiesDC the organization distributed almost $2 million dollars towards individuals, groups and organizations working to capture and celebrate the city’s culture and rich history. Rebecca’s excitement only continues to grow in this new role as HumanitiesDC begins to develop public programming like podcasts, speaker series and citizen journalism projects in addition to its grantmaking. 

Lemos Otero received much of her initial education and training from a fierce and diverse collective of activist mentors, which was accompanied by a B.A. from Fordham University, an M.F.A from the Maryland Institute College of Arts and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University. Rebecca lives in Petworth with her dog Oso, tries to explore a new country every year, and is always in search of the best chocolate chip cookie. 

Barbara Harman

Barbara Harman began her career as a college English professor, landing at Wellesley College in 1977 where she taught literature and writing for 25 years. A graduate of Tufts University with a PhD in English from Brandeis University, she is also the author of three books (Harvard University Press, University of Virginia Press, Garland Publishing). After completing a study of women in the public sphere in 19th century British fiction, which she wrote over a ten-year period in a very small room in her house, she decided it was time to step out into the public sphere herself. She became Executive Director of the Harman Family Foundation in 2000 and founded the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington in 2003.

Barbara has received numerous awards and commendations. Under her leadership the Catalogue garnered eight Wilmer Shields Rich Awards from the Council on Foundations for Excellence in (web and print) Communications (2005-2010). She also received Latino Student Fund’s Community Builders Award (2007), Posse Foundation’s Power of 10 Award (2011), Young Playwright's Theatre's Giving Voice Award (2018), DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy’s Change the Conversation Award (2019), After-School All-Stars Rising Star Award (2019), and Learn-Serve International’s Civic Champion Award (2020). She shared with Jane Harman the Mayor's Arts Award for Visionary Leadership in the Arts (2013). She was named one of Washington's "most powerful women" by Washingtonian magazine in 2013, 2015, and 2017, and a Washingtonian of the Year in 2016.

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Barbara enjoys living half in a bucolic suburb of Boston and half in the busy Penn Quarter/Chinatown neighborhood of DC. She likes to work out, play with her three young grandchildren, discuss TV series with her professor husband, and read long novels. Barbara also likes speaking and writing–these days, about philanthropy.