From June 2001 NASW NEWS
Copyright ©2001, National Association of Social Workers, Inc.

'Baker's Dozen' Center Opens Doors Again

The building originally provided an activity center for local teens.

By Corinna Vallianatos, NEWS Staff

Twenty years after a building dubbed the Baker's Dozen in honor of its 13 founders was last occupied as a dance club and community center for teenagers in Washington, D.C., the Howard University School of Social Work held a dedication ceremony for the restored and reopened building, which had been deeded to the school but lay dormant for two decades.

The April ceremony marked the second stage in the life of a building that was originally purchased in 1946 by a "baker's dozen" of community-minded African-American women to provide a place for local youth to dance and socialize without the influence of alcohol.

Ruth Spencer, one of the baker's dozen, said that during World War II she and a group of friends noticed that the newspapers were full of stories about juvenile delinquency. The women put together a survey and circulated it among neighborhood youth.

"We found out that teenagers went to clubs to dance, not to drink, so we thought we'd give them their own club," Spencer said.

Spencer recalled that raising the funds for the purchase of the building was a slow process. "We rented a barge near the Lincoln Memorial and gave a concert with Duke Ellington. He made $6,000 and we made $5,000," she said.

The reopened Baker's Dozen Family and Community Resource and Research Center will house programs and services "consistent with the ideas and purpose of the founders and volunteers who operated their youth programs here from 1950 to 1962," according to a statement by Clarence Brown, director of the center, and Richard English, dean of the Howard University School of Social Work.

The center will provide programs for Howard students, faculty and community residents, and organizations in research and policy development.

"It's a real beacon of light in that area," Spencer said.

According to an article on the Baker's Dozen from Newspic, published in 1946, "[The thirteen women] watched their teenage membership grow from 45 to 500. They saw their program expand from a single activity on one floor to a variety of activities on three floors. Thus, the Baker's Dozen was forced to seek larger and more permanent quarters."

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