For 50 years, Jubilee Housing has both fostered and benefited from the gifts of many exceptional leaders. This February, we are fortunate for the opportunity to celebrate Black History Month at the same time we are celebrating five decades of mission.
“Let’s think of Black History Month the way our nation honors its greatest moments and greatest people,” says Audrey Walker, Jubilee Housing Director of Youth Services and head of the organizing committee for Jubilee’s Annual Black History Month Celebration. “Let us appreciate Black History Month in a similar way — as when our government sets aside a month or day, thereby giving it a special meaning for all Americans. No one should think that Black History is confined to the month of February, when evidence to the contrary appears everywhere and in every month. Black History Month is not a token. It is a special tribute — a time of acknowledgment, of reflection, and inspiration — that comes to life in real and ongoing activities throughout the year.”
Many Black leaders have shaped and fueled Jubilee’s work, and we are honored to share stories of three of those leaders this month — Margaret Wanjui, Rosa Hatfield, and Charletta Cowling — with more stories to come in the year ahead.
50th Anniversary Stories
Charletta Cowling: A Voice in the Room
by Shelley Picot
Charletta Cowling is a Jubilee Housing resident, honorary lifetime Board Member, former staff member, and neighborhood volunteer.
Stepping Into the Ritz
Charletta arrived at Jubilee Housing in the 1990s. She and a friend, who had been staying in a shelter for a month, were walking through Adams Morgan when they spotted The Ritz apartments. Charletta stepped in to inquire about availability. Soon after, she and her friend received a call back — they were now residents of Jubilee Housing.
Charletta moved into The Ritz with her son, who was in elementary school. She enrolled him in the Good Shepherd Ministries after-school program, the precursor to Jubilee Youth Services. It became a vital resource, supporting her son’s academic path through middle school, to a private high school, and to American University.
Reflecting on those formative years, Charletta’s pride is evident as she recounts her son’s achievements.
“It was great because he went from the [Good Shepherd Ministries] program to junior high, to a private high school, and then he was awarded a four-year scholarship to American University,” she beams. “He was on the Dean’s List for all four years, and after that he went to teach in Japan for the next four years, before returning to complete a second degree at American University.”
Charletta also found companionship and support within the Jubilee community. Through Good Shepherd Ministries, she became close friends with Jubilee Housing co-founder Barbara Moore. She also became close with co-founder Terry Flood when she started volunteering at Jubilee Jobs.
When asked what the Jubilee community meant to her during this time, Charletta says, “When my son and I first came to Jubilee Housing, I wasn’t that close with my family, as I came through two foster homes. When I became part of Jubilee Housing, they became my family, for me and my son. And even to this day, they are my family.” She goes on to add, “So it has taught me a lot and it has taught me how to give back as well.”
The phrase giving back can barely encompass the many ways Charletta has embraced and supported the Jubilee Housing community. In addition to engaging with Good Shepherd Ministries, volunteering with Jubilee Jobs, and raising her son, Charletta made significant contributions to Jubilee Housing as a staff member and a Board Member. She worked her way onto the staff first as a volunteer office manager and soon after as a full-time office manager. There are a decade of Jubilee residents who found their way to Jubilee through Charletta, and she was often the staff voice that conveyed the good news that an application had been accepted for an apartment.
“People would say, ‘When I got the call from Charletta I knew that my life was going to be different, my life was going to be better,’” shares Jim Knight, President and CEO of Jubilee Housing, who first met Charletta as an intern in 1992 and upon his return to helm the organization in 2002. “She was and is the embodiment of Jubilee Housing, of the mission.”
She later became a resident services coordinator on Jubilee Housing’s staff, sharing her experiences and learnings with countless Jubilee residents, and then became a member of the Board of Directors. She also volunteered at Samaritan Inns, Christ House, and Joseph’s House, all longtime Jubilee partners that provide compassionate care and support for homeless individuals.
Charletta fondly remembers the dinners that she and her son would often have with the men at Joseph’s House, which offers medical respite and end-of-life care for individuals with HIV and cancer experiencing homelessness.
“That was very touching,” she says. “My son got really attached to one of the guys who lived there and when he passed, it was really hard on him. But being part of the community… has taught me a lot about giving back to the community.”
A Voice for the Community
For more than ten years, Charletta was an essential member of the Jubilee Housing Board of Directors. Her firsthand experience as a resident and staff member gave her a unique perspective, and she was able to amplify resident voices in decision-making processes.
While her contributions were numerous, there is often one story that many Board Members share when they reflect on the tremendous power and impact that Charletta’s role on the Board had on the direction of the organization.
An opportunity became available to partner with tenants under DC’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) to acquire a building in Adams Morgan. The Board was facing the decision of whether or not to move forward, as it was a heavy financial undertaking in a very short timeframe. They wondered if it was the right time, if it would be possible to raise funds quickly enough, and if it was a financially sound decision for the organization.
Charletta, in the midst of this challenging discussion, spoke up and shared a story no one expected.
At a recent stay in the hospital, she had shared a room with another woman, and the two had engaged in thoughtful conversation. The woman was a resident of the building under debate. Aware of the building’s impending sale, the woman said that she and many neighbors were afraid that the loss of their homes was imminent.
“I said, ‘I have a friend that I met in the hospital that lives there,’ and I told them her story,” Charletta says. “She was afraid that the building would be bought, that they wouldn’t have a place to stay… And when I told that to the other Board Members that night, they were like, okay, we have to do something.”
“At first, going around the room for input, many of us on the Board felt that the opportunity was likely a little too fast, that we weren’t going to be able to raise funds that quickly,” says Jim. “Charletta was the one who said ‘I respect what others have said, I hear you, I just want others to know my friend’s experience. I know we may not be able to do it, but we need to think of her when we make this decision.’ And you went back around the room, facial expressions had changed, countenance had shifted — it was clear we were going to try.”
Charletta’s voice and willingness to share her friend’s story dramatically shifted the direction of the discussion. Jubilee Housing’s Board of Directors greenlit the decision to partner with tenants under TOPA, receive the tenant’s right to purchase, and acquire the building.
“I think what happened in that moment is an example of what has happened within Jubilee Housing for decades: the perspective, participation, and engagement of people who live in the community have opened doors and made things happen that would not have happened without them,” says Jim.
In 2018, 1460 Euclid St NW was officially acquired, and the process of working with tenants and setting the course for redevelopment of the building began. After breaking ground in 2022 and carrying out extensive construction on the building — which, like its Jubilee predecessors The Ritz and The Mozart, had been left in a significant degree of neglect — the project is now nearing completion. “Euclid II” will deliver 50 units of deeply affordable housing in Adams Morgan. Among them are five three-bedroom units and two four-bedroom units, meeting a critical need for larger family-size units in Ward 1.
“And my friend will have a bright new place to move into,” Charletta joyfully shares.
Though Charletta is no longer in a formal role on the Board, she was recognized for her contributions by being named an honorary lifetime member of the Board. She also continues to advocate on issues affecting low-income families in Washington, DC.
“There’s such a shortage of low-income housing and such a big need for families to have a place to live and to raise their children,” she says. Speaking on the importance of supportive services and neighborhood resources, she adds, “I know over in southeast, there’s a neighborhood with just one grocery store and they want to close just that one grocery store. This community has many. There are grocery stores, pharmacies, all types of stores and health care in the community, which we need. Some people travel from such a long distance to come to this area for services, and it should be all throughout the city.”
Love Given and Received
From those fateful first steps through the doors of The Ritz to her prominent position on the Board, Charletta has never wavered in her values. She speaks frequently of the commitment and compassion of the Jubilee Housing community, but that spirit is evident in her own actions and in the future she envisions for the organization.
“There’s something special about Jubilee Housing,” she warmly shares. “And I feel that we have been truly blessed to have all those people that came together to start, aren’t we? And that from then until now, 50 years later, that we’re still here, and going strong, and moving forward, and that we’re going to keep going, and that we’re not going to give up the special sauce — which I believe is the care and compassion, the love that you receive, and that they make you feel like you’re not alone.”
As we celebrate Black History Month and Jubilee’s 50th anniversary, we are grateful for the incredible Black leaders who have shifted and driven Jubilee’s mission in untold ways. When you read about the three featured this month, know that there are countless more whose work and gifts have had lasting impacts on the Jubilee Housing community, the neighborhood, the city, and beyond.