Background & Inspiration
A portrait of resilience.A call for accountability.An authentic celebration.
Capital M is a community humanities project documenting the lived experiences of DC mothers across all eight wards. It began as a personal inquiry that became a public one.
Motherhood is a complex and unique experience. Despite universal aspects such as pregnancy and caregiving, no two stories are the same. Capital M is a declaration that motherhood cannot be reduced to a statistic. It is a portrait of resilience, a call for accountability, and a celebration of the mothers who raise our city.
How does Washington, DC shape the experience of motherhood, and how do mothers shape the Nation's Capital in return?
Meet the Team
Charlia Acree
Capital M, Project Director
impactYOU, Founder & Principal
"Capital M is an ode to all mothers, in honor of my own. Nearly 20 years after my mom passed, and now that I am a mother, the questions I can no longer ask her, about how she experienced motherhood across decades, have become the inspiration and foundation for Capital M."
Community-rooted leadership
Nearly a decade embedded in DC families across wards — not as an observer, but as a neighbor, organizer, and volunteer.
Experiential design & cultural production
Through impactYOU, Charlia designs immersive activations that translate research and lived experience into public engagement — the methodology behind Capital M.
Strategic storytelling at scale
Led storytelling and digital campaigns for multi-sector partners including AARP, Wacif, Navy Federal Credit Union and others. Born & Raised builds directly on this work.
Grant-funded project execution
Experienced in managing complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives from design through delivery, with measurable outcomes and community accountability.
Lived experience of DC motherhood
A DC mother who has lived through the city's transformation across multiple wards and watched it shape families in real time.
Devan King
Creative Lead · devanking.com
A photographer, creative strategist, and storyteller, Devan brings a visual artist's eye and curatorial experience to Capital M — shaping the project's visual identity and translating the stories of DC mothers into a cohesive design language across the publication, activations, and digital presence.
Christina M. Jones, J.D.
Humanities Advisor · Command Joy Co.
A Ward 7 mom and Howard Law graduate, Christina brings a multidisciplinary lens that integrates legal analysis, public policy, and community-centered narrative. Drawing on senior leadership roles with the DC Office of the Attorney General and the Battered Women's Justice Project, she grounds Capital M's interpretive framework in the civic and institutional systems shaping DC motherhood.
Current Funders
Humanities DC
Community Culture & Heritage Grant · 2026 Grantee
Additional funding sources in progress. If your organization would like to fund a ward's story series, project pillar, the publication, or 2027 event productions — let's talk.