It is not just cherry blossoms that are blooming in Washington, DC

April is always an exciting time of year in Washington, D.C., as thousands flock to the city to experience the blossoming of the Yoshino Cherry trees. This year the peak bloom was April 11-14th according to the National Park Service.

Yet on April 14th the National Museum of African American History and Culture also had some exciting things blossoming. The first of the building’s exterior panels for the Museums Corona have been hung!

Each panel is roughly 3’ by 5’, and approximately 3,600 are required to clad the entire building. The design of the panels is our architect David Adjaye’s modern interpretation of slave-made New Orleans ornamental iron work. The panels are made of cast aluminum with a custom artisan painted finish and weigh from 95-130 pounds each, depending on the opacity of the design. There are four opacities ranging from 10% open to 35% open for the panels on each side of the building. This opacity will allow a certain amount on sunlight into the building helping to regulate the temperature of the building. This will help establish the buildings LEED Gold Certification for an energy efficient building.

The installation of the panels is slated for completion towards the end of June or early July. Once completed, the corona will visually define the Museum inside and out. Sunlight entering through the panels will gently illuminate the Museum’s wood-covered interior walls. And at night, light reflecting off the corona’s spectacular exterior will make the Museum truly stand out on the National Mall — as it reaches to the heavens to express the faith, hope and resilience of the African American spirit.

We wanted to take this chance to thank YOU for all your support, and helping to make this Museum become a reality! These construction milestones would not have been possible without the steadfast commitment from our amazing Charter Members!

We hope if you live in the area or will be visiting in the next few months, you will stop by our construction site to go see this amazing milestone in progress.

Sincerely,

Edison R. Wato Jr.
Membership Program Manager

By CAP Action War Room

Right As Republicans Vote Against Equal Pay, New Evidence Reaffirms the Gender Wage Gap

Last night, only a week after the Republican National Committee claimed that all Republicans support an equal wage, Senate Republicans unanimously voted to block the Paycheck Fairness Act. The bill, which failed to advance despite achieving a majority of 52 votes in favor, would ban salary secrecy and tighten rules to try to narrow the persisting wage gap between men and women.

This isn’t the first time that the GOP has blocked bills that require equal pay for equal work over the years. They usually claim that the gap isn’t as large as stated and that provisions are already in place to protect women workers. But we know those claims to be untrue: the gender wage gap can’t just be explained away and discrimination against women is likely at least partly to blame.

What’s more, this morning the Census Bureau released new numbers on the earnings of men and women that proves that the GOP’s position on equal pay remains out of touch. In 2013, according to the Census, the average woman who works full time makes 78 cents to every man’s dollar, just a single penny improvement from the 77 cent wage gap in 2012. As the chart below depicts, in 2013 median earnings for men were $50,000 while median earnings for women hovered at just $39,200.

CREDIT: Census Bureau

We already know that the claim that the gender wage gap is a myth is a myth itself. The new evidence shows that the problem isn’t getting any better — in fact, for the last decade, there has been little progress on closing the wage gap. The Paycheck Fairness Act is one of many policies that would help address this gap, and more broadly help increase economic opportunity for women and families.

BOTTOM LINE: With their latest vote to block equal pay for equal work, Senate Republicans continue to ignore the facts about the gender pay gap and continue to reject policies that would help women and families succeed. New data from the Census Bureau released today proves that point by showing the wage gap hasn’t budged. If conservatives really supported women, they would stop paying lip service to women on the one hand, and voting against policies to help women and families on the other