When Cinque Culver’s family found a home in the River Terrace community, located in the northern region of Ward 7, it was known for hitting one of the loudest notes in the chorus for quality living east of the Anacostia.
 
After moving to Atlanta, Ga. as a child, then returning to the District four years ago, Culver came back to a community whose leadership had dwindled, a community that had consequently fallen into the cracks of forgotten neighborhoods in the Ward.
 
In February 2013, Culver accepted the position of president of the River Terrace Community Organization. Elevation DC sat down to talk with Culver about his plans to use his two-year term as president to turn minimal resources and a lack of direction into the re-establishment of a powerhouse community.
 
Why did you decide to run for office as President?
I never really decided to run for president. Initially, I got involved with the fight to keep River Terrace Elementary School open. And as I got involved with the community, I began to learn more and more about some of the deficits that we had—I tried to work with their leadership and that person didn’t have time to dedicate to it.
 
So, as people asked me to run for office, I just eventually accepted. I talked about what I wanted to accomplish as the president of the River Terrace Community Organization and I was elected as president.
 
Right now, what do you see as the biggest problems in the neighborhood?
When I took office there wasn’t really an infrastructure; we hadn’t had executive committee meetings in years, we didn’t have a treasurer, we didn’t have any committee chairs. The biggest problem right now is re-establishing the organizational structure and making sure that’s working.
 
And then really getting the resident’s ideas about what they want to see for their community and as much as I can implement it, I do—from youth and arts, to crime initiatives and prevention to community cleanups.
 
How will revitalizing River Terrace have an impact on the overall development in the ward?
If you drop a rock in a lake, the ripples reach all sides. If you drop two or three rocks in a lake, the ripples are stronger at all sides. My uncle gave me that analogy when I was a little kid, we were out fishing and he was just showing me cause and effect.
 
In the ward right now, we have three or four really, really strong communities. And those communities are what most of the ward relies on whenever we have an initiative that we would like our government to address. So, River Terrace is re-entering the fold in strong communities for the ward. 
 
Recently at the Mayor’s economic development summit, we made a strong showing again. And the effect was immediate. People were like, “Oh my God, we’re glad to see that River Terrace is back. That’s another community that we can rely on to maintain Ward 7’s culture, values, heritage—to know what the people there are committed to our overall quality of life in their community and in communities around the Ward and in communities around the city.”
 
Are there any big initiatives that the communities in the ward are pulling together for?
I’m still really involved in the school closure issue. During Mayor Fenty’s administration, over 20 schools were closed. And that has begun and continued with the closure of River Terrace and about 15 other schools in the city.
 
Recently the Mayor announced that he was going to release those properties from the DCPS inventory and that opens them up for commercial or charter development, and the community hasn’t had an ability to weigh in.
 
And in a lot of cases, especially in African American communities, African Americans don’t have the expectation that they can weigh in on land usage within their neighborhoods, their city, their geographic areas. But if you vote and you pay taxes, you are a member of the decision-making process.
 
So right now, there’s a fight to keep schools open and a fight to improve the quality of education available in the ward.
 
Why is education a big issue for you personally?
Personally, I’ve always had a strong love for education, knowledge and wisdom.
I myself have four children, and those guys were at River Terrace Elementary school.
 
Its something that allows you to see farther than you can reach. The more you understand a situation, the more of that situation you have an opportunity to influence and affect, positively or negatively.
 
This interview has been edited and condensed.