This is the second installment of the monthly Project 222 charitable/non-profit spotlight series.

Maybe eight weeks ago or so, I forget exactly when, I heard an interview with some volunteers with the Anacostia Riverkeepers, a group of young (17-25) volunteers who actively monitor the Anacostia River's chemistry and biology and conducting clean-ups. Most of the volunteers come from the Greater Anacostia section of Southeast Washington, Washington's poorest, most heavily African-American and arguably undercapitalized section of the District.

The program provides practical civics and community organization skills to its volunteers, teaching them to care about the quality of life in their community. The skills developed in this volunteer effort translate into valuable employment skills in forestry management and other opportunities in the National Park Service and elsewhere.

The Earth Conservation Corps, the sponsor of the Anacostia Riverkeepers, organizes other environmental volunteer efforts in Greater Southeast and elsewhere in the District of Columbia including park maintenance and environmental educational programming for children in conjunction with the National Geographic Society. I look forward to learning more detailed information about this organization in the near future, and may follow this short post (written contrary to loud duress from an insomniac 5-year-old whom I do love dearly) with another in the near future outlining more fully some of the work of this organization.