A New Vision for the Trust

2005 brought many changes to the Trust. This special issue of the Friends of Preservation Newsletter is our first issue since the resignation of long-time Chair and Trustee Donna Schneider. Donna served in almost every capacity at the Trust over a period of eleven years. Her stewardship of this organization included many achievements, culminating in the acquisition of a new Trust headquarters in Upper Marlboro. The Schneider family almost single-handedly managed the Trust in recent years and we are grateful and proud of their efforts and achievements. We wish Donna all the best.

My first act as Chair was to initiate a strategic planning process for the Trust to evaluate past accomplishments and chart a new direction for the future. We received a special grant from Preservation Maryland and the Maryland Historical Trust that has been used to fund a strategic planning and board development program facilitated by Leni Preston of Preston & Associates. As part of this process we have engaged Prince George’s Heritage to be a co-participant and hope to eventually engage other members of the Prince George’s community.

Our next step will be to continue working on developing the tools necessary to make the Trust vibrant, sustainable and relevant in coming years Our immediate goals are:

Advisory Role: The Trust is frequently asked to evaluate key issues that come before the Historic Preservation Commission and comment. The Trustees have a duty to support and promote preservation issues, archeology, county history, and our historic sites all across the county.

Advocacy: Heritage tourism is a cornerstone of economic development. County officials must get the message that "Gorgeous Prince George's" wouldn't exist without four centuries of history to back it up. To define a "Livable Communities" without including heritage preservation is to miss a core piece of each area’s identity. Trash, storm water runoff, traffic, and crime have an enormous impact on our historic properties.

Heritage Tourism: Our mission statement gives us a mandate to preserve and promote the County's heritage sites. We are seeking ideas for ways to be supportive of heritage initiatives within the County such as the Anacostia Trails Heritage Area, the Maryland Scenic Byways Lower Patuxent River Tour, and promotion of County historic sites.
Visibility & Membership: We are seeking to build stronger bridges to our sister organizations within the county and state to identify partnering opportunities, avoid duplication of effort, increase membership, and forge alliances to support each other's agendas.

--Alfonso A. Narvaez, Chair