12 Days of AF: Capital Area Hub
It’s no secret that the District of Columbia is weird.
It’s a place where our governmental overlords reside (as well as our true leader, the great Father of Two-Day Shipping). As a result, the city attracts all manner of political, nonprofit, and business leaders who come with big aspirations to change the world, or at least the United States.
The AF-Capital Area Hub sits right at the heart of the aspiration and seeks to attract young leaders in all of the industries that descend on DC and empower them to be champions for freedom and innovation in the work they do and in their communities.
While DC can seem like an alienating place for all of the expats it attracts, AF is their community and the place where they come to learn how to better invest in our community.
To that end, this past year we focused on regulations that hinder and break down communities like alcohol policy, cigar policy, and racism. We hosted a Black History tour and movie showing to learn more about the black experience in our own backyard and the black heroes who promoted liberty and economic flourishing like Thomas Sowell. From there we created the Socratic Dinner, small discussion-based salon dinners to talk through how the government restricts our community and small businesses through unnecessary regulatory burdens on the way we drink and smoke.
While we did a lot this year, we suffered some real blows due to strict covid regulations. But, that didn’t stop us! When we couldn’t meet indoors, we gathered for the Summer Picnic Series at various famous parks, including the National Mall, to catch up, get some fresh air, and talk about the post-covid world and how we might get involved ushering it in.
We even hosted a virtual May the 4th event to talk about international policy and Star Wars. And because it was such a success, we hosted the book launch of How the Force Can Fix the World written by Stephen Kent, which covers how lessons from Star Wars can help us bridge the political divide and bring discussions back to civility.
All in all it was a wild first year launching the Hub, during a pandemic, and welcoming the new HQ office in DC, but it was a great year filled with new friends, and great conversations.
To tease next year, we are going to focus on the narrative of “Why do Millennials Suck?” and prove to the other generations that we are awesome, we’ve just been dealt a terrible economic hand! Can’t wait to see you next year!”