Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and Turkish Embassy
Celebrate the Foundation’s Landmark Ownership of Headquarters

WASHINGTON – The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. (CBCF) today marked a significant moment in its history: full and outright ownership of its headquarters building in the nation’s capital.

By retiring the mortgage on its headquarters at 1720 Massachusetts Ave. in Northwest Washington, CBCF joins a select few African-American non-profit organizations to own their building in the District of Columbia. In October 2002, CBCF purchased the four-story building on Embassy Row, in the corridor of prestigious think tanks and policy institutions, to house its headquarters. The 10,000-square-foot facility includes administrative offices, a conference room and archival space.

CBCF celebrated the acquisition of its building at the historic residence of the Turkish Ambassador on Embassy Row. The celebration reinforced an important relationship between the Turkish people and the African-American community. The Turkish Embassy Residence is where the late Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records, arrived for the first time in the United States in 1935 with his father, Munir Ertegun, who was then the Turkish ambassador to this country.

It was here that Ahmet Ertegun’s appreciation for the African-American experience and music was born. His many jazz and blues sessions before integrated audiences at the residence and elsewhere also challenged the era’s strict racial segregation laws. Ertegun, in collaboration with many African-American artists, including the likes of Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, went on to build one of the most renowned recording labels in American history. Thus, Ahmet Ertegun embarked upon a pioneering mission which built bridges that united a community at large and brought the Turkish and African-American communities together.

“In our Turkish home away from home, we are proud to congratulate CBCF for establishing its own permanent home in the nation’s capital,” Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy said. “Our common mission is bringing down the walls that might divide and creating settings that instead unite us.”

In a joint statement, U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek of Florida, the Foundation’s board chairman, and Elsie L. Scott, Ph.D., its president and chief executive officer, said: “We would like to express our sincere gratitude to His Excellency the Turkish Ambassador and Mrs. Nabi Sensoy for their enduring friendship and gracious hospitality in hosting CBCF at the Embassy Residence – where decades ago, inspired by jazz and guided by justice, the Republic of Turkey and the African-American community together challenged segregation, and now today celebrate the historic acquisition of the Foundation’s landmark building.”

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Keeping with the spirit that bonded these two communities in the 1930s, the reception featured music by the jazz band, Kush Abedey Quartet, led by a 16-year-old African-American musical prodigy. The inspirational force that was born out of jazz has now grown to include a lasting and expanding commitment to education. Just as a key CBCF priority is to fund internships, fellowships and scholarship programs that have offered invaluable experience and tools to thousands of young people, the Turkish-American community has recently joined in that endeavor by providing sponsorship for exchange programs and travel abroad for African-American college bound students.

Together, Turkey and the African-American community are building for the future of our children – one that is free from misunderstandings, strengthened by dialogue and reinforced by mutual respect and exchange, Ambassador Sensoy and Rep. Meek said.

Soon after purchasing its building, CBCF embarked on a “Landmark Capital Campaign” to retire the mortgage. At today’s reception, Ambassador Sensoy, Rep. Meek and Dr. Scott also recognized the contributions of entrepreneur Robert Johnson, AT&T, General Mills Inc., General Motors Inc., The Coca-Cola Company, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and many other individuals and corporations for their support of the Landmark campaign.

“The acquisition of this new headquarters was indeed a landmark achievement for the organization,” Rep. Meek and Dr. Scott said in their statement. “The CBCF headquarters continues to help enhance the credibility and integrity of the Foundation and entice alumni, future leaders, influential decision makers, corporate and civic leaders and all people to visit and become active and involved.”

Ambassador Sensoy said: “Whether in our house or CBCF’s house, we will continue to be inspired by African-American leadership in the arts, education or politics just as Ahmet Ertegun was decades ago. Hosting this historic event is one of the many ways we could express our gratitude for the opportunity to share in the richness that is the African-American experience.”

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Inc., established in 1976, is a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy, research and educational institute intended to broaden and elevate the influence of African Americans in the political, legislative and public policy arenas.