Three Dance Classes to Get Bodies and Minds Moving Are Being Offered by Montgomery Recreation

Dancing has always played a major role in most societies. From being deeply rooted in the history of cultures, representing and celebrating one’s heritage, to connecting people from all ages and backgrounds. This spring, Montgomery Recreation is offering classes in Senior Ballroom Dancing and Bollywood Dance Fitness and a Creative Combo class for girls ages 8-12.

Dancing has a transformative power over humans (and sometimes animals) to the point it has been considered one of the purest and most creative forms of self-expression.

The classes that will be offered are:

SENIOR BALLROOM DANCE

Embrace your love of ballroom dancing. Novices can learn new skills and gain self-confidence, while more experienced dancers will pick up new steps and polish their technique. Partners are not necessary to participate. Participants will rotate partners, with everyone learning to lead and follow. The program is free. Register today.

BOLLYWOOD DANCE FITNESS

Learn the latest in Bollywood dance while getting a great cardio workout. Techniques include hand, feet and body movements set to romantic popular music with a fast beat. Stay in shape while learning a fun art. Register today.

CREATIVE COMBO DANCE I

This high-energy class for girls 8-12 years old teaches a range of dance forms such as ballet, modern dance, cultural dance, mime, and flag techniques. Dancers will add their own unique moves to choreography and music curated by the Instructor. Register today.

Department Health and Human Services and Regional Services Centers to Co-Host Series of Virtual Conversations to Highlight Services and Get Input on Priority Issues

The Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), in partnership with the County’s Regional Services Centers, will host five virtual community conversations that will highlight the diverse array of services that DHHS provides to residents. During the forums, residents will be able to offer their opinions on issues and services. The meetings will be held from 7-8:30 p.m. on April 13, 18, 25 and 27 and on May 9.

The schedule of meetings:

• East County Regional Services Center – Wednesday, April 13, 7-8:30 p.m.
• Upcounty Regional Services Center – Monday, April 18, 7-8:30 p.m.
• MidCounty Regional Services Center – Monday, April 25, 7-8:30 p.m.
• Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center – Wednesday, April 27, 7-8:30 p.m.
• Silver Spring Regional Services Center – Monday, May 9, 7-8:30 p.m.

“I look forward to meeting residents over the course of several weeks to share with them about the many ways our department works to improve the quality of life for all residents,” said Raymond Crowel, director of DHHS. “From housing to mental health to food security to childcare, we are working to promote the safety, physical and mental wellbeing of Montgomery County.”

The community conversations halls are free and open to the public. Registration is not required. To participate in any forum, click on the location and date above for login information.

Attendees will be able to ask questions about DHHS’s work and make recommendations about issues the department should focus on. Dr. Crowel will provide an overview of the department, its work over the course of the COVID-19 health crisis and its future plans. Other representatives of DHHS leadership also will be available.

To request sign language interpreter services or other assistance to participate in the meeting, email Warren Hansen at warren.hansen@montgomerycountymd.gov with as much advance notice as possible, preferably at least three full business days before the meeting date.

To learn more about the Department of Health and Human Services, visit its website.

‘How to Avoid Scams Targeting Seniors’ Will Be the Topic of Seminars Around the County in April

Seminars on “How to Avoid Scams Targeting Seniors” will be presented at senior communities and centers around Montgomery County in April by John McCarthy, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney, and Eric Friedman, the ​director of the County’s Office of Consumer Protection. 

State's Attorney McCarthy created ​the “Crimes Against Seniors and Vulnerable Adults” unit (CASVA) to focus on the protection of seniors from financial and physical crimes. The office of OCP Director Friedman is active year-round in warning consumers of traditional and newly evolving scams.

During the April seminars, they will discuss common fraudulent activities, scams and other types of financial exploitation that target seniors. They will talk about how seniors—and their family members and friends—can be aware of suspicious activities. The seminars also will emphasize that awareness and prevention are the first steps in safeguarding assets—and early reporting that someone may have been tricked into a scam is imperative.

Among the advice they will offer is how it is critical to plan ahead for financial wellbeing and the possibility of diminished financial capacity.

The seminar at the Rockville Senior Center on Friday, April 8, will be broadcast virtually. It will not be an in-person event. Advance registration is required to participate online.

The schedule of the seminars:

• Rockville Senior Center. 1150 Carnation Drive, Rockville. Friday, April 8. 10-11 a.m. Virtual only. Register here.
• Holiday Park Senior Center. 3950 Ferrara Drive, Silver Spring. Monday, April 25. 1-2 p.m. In person and open to the public.
• Riderwood Senior Living. Thursday, April 28. 3-4 p.m. In person for residents and their families only.
• Asbury Methodist Village. 201 Russell Ave., Gaithersburg. Friday, April 29. Noon-1 p.m. In person and open to the public. Capacity limited to 250 people.

Learn more about the CASVA unit of the State’s Attorney’s Office at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/SAO/units/specialprosecution.html

'The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City’ Will Be Featured in Online Talk Presented by Silver Spring Town Center, Inc., on Wednesday, April 13

The new book, The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City, will be the subject of an online talk presented from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13. The event featuring the book’s co-authors, Kathy Jentz and Teri Speight, will be presented by Silver Spring Town Center, Inc.

To register to participate in the webinar, go to Meeting Registration - Zoom. The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City is about small-space gardening solutions. Whether you want to grow on a balcony, rooftop, front stoop or a tiny urban patio, it talks about turning growing dreams into reality. It seeks to help people build a unique garden that showcases personal style while still being functional and productive.

Kathy Jentz is editor and publisher of the award-winning Washington Gardener magazine and hosts the popular GardenDC Podcast. She is also the editor of the Water Garden Journal (IWGS), The Azalean (ASA), and Fanfare, for the local daylily society.

A life-long gardener, Kathy believes that growing plants should be stress-free and enjoyable. Her philosophy is inspiration over perspiration.

Currently, she is president of the Silver Spring Garden Club and is on the board of several other garden clubs and organizations.

Teri Speight is a native Washingtonian who is rooted in the earth. She is a garden writer. She writes about gardening in her blog Cottage in the Court.

After attending the University of Maryland, she became a Central Rappahannock Master Gardener in Fredericksburg, Va. She worked as a Water Wise Gardening Representative for the Virginia Cooperative Extension and was senior gardener for the City of Fredericksburg.

Special Events from Montgomery Parks Will Fill April Calendar

April will have a lot of opportunities to dust off the winter cobwebs and get moving with a month of special events from Montgomery Parks including Sunset Yoga and Salsa in the Park. There also will be Chess in the Park. The special events calendar also will include music,  locally crafted beer and food with the return of Acoustics & Ales.  

 
There will be opportunities to improve cocktail-making skills with the Craft Cocktail series: The Spirits of Spring. There will also be opportunities for fun and learning at the Josiah Henson Museum & Park One Year Anniversary.

April Montgomery Parks events will include:

• Sunset Yoga. Thursdays, April 14, 21 and 28. Long Branch-Arliss Neighborhood Park. 6:30-7:30 p.m. Free instruction will be provided by Thrive Yoga studio for beginner yoga. Learn new poses that will enhance your mind, body and soul through step-by-step instructions offered in English and Spanish with pose modifications. No equipment or registration is necessary.
• Salsa in the Park. Thursday, April 14. Columbia Local Park. 5-8 p.m. Salsa in the Park will feature free dance lessons from Salsa with Silvia and live music by local band Ocho de Bastos. The event will have food and beverages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) for purchase from local vendors. Community organizations will be providing fun activities, giveaways and resources. Invitamos tanto a los salseros como los amantes de la música en vivo, a que vengan a experimentar y apreciar la rica cultura de la música y el baile latinoamericanos en Salsa en el Parque.
• Acoustics & Ales. Friday, April 22. Elm Street Urban Park. 5-7:30 p.m. Adults and children welcome. Enjoy non-alcoholic beverages as well as craft beer from True Respite Brewing and 7 Locks Brewing will be available Food will be available from Pop Up Poutine Food Truck and Giacomo’s Brick Oven Pizza. The musical guest will be Ted Garber. Registration is not required.
• Josiah Henson Museum & Park One Year Anniversary. Saturday, April 23. Josiah Henson Museum & Park. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Light refreshments will be served and there will be a $1 admission. The historic park opened in April 2021 and is the first museum in the United States dedicated to Reverend Josiah Henson. It is built on the former plantation in North Bethesda where he was enslaved prior to self-emancipating to Canada.
• Craft Cocktail Series: The Spirits of Spring. Wednesday, April 27. Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park. 6-8 p.m. The Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park’s Craft Cocktail series will open with “The Spirits of Spring,” featuring locally distilled organic liquors from McClintock Distilling. Learn how to muddle, mix and strain the perfect cocktail for every occasion. Whether making a drink for one or for a whole party, this class will prep you for it all.  Registration for the class is $48 per person and includes admission, all ingredients and supplies and a take-home recipe card. Participants must be 21 or over.
• Acoustics & Ales. Friday, April 29. Fairview Road Urban Park. 5-7:30 p.m. Adults and children welcome. Non-alcoholic beverages, as well as craft beer from AstroLab Brewing  and Silver Branch Brewing Company, will be available. Food will be available from Catalyst Hot Dogs. There will be a special musical guest.
• Chess in the Park. Saturday, April 30. Fairview Road Urban Park. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Players ages 14 and under are invited to participate in an outdoor, drop-in chess tournament. Registration is recommended, but not required. Parents, families and spectators are encouraged to watch. Pop-Up Patisserie will be onsite selling food and drinks.

LGBTQ History in Montgomery County and Maryland to be Focus of Montgomery History Presentation Available on Monday, April 11

A collective of Maryland organizations and agencies have completed a groundbreaking research document, the “Maryland LGBTQ Historic Context,” making Maryland the second state in the nation to do so. The report, released in September 2020, illuminates Maryland LGBTQ history in rural, suburban and urban locations. The report will be the focus of a Montgomery History presentation available online starting Monday, April 11.

The presentation can be viewed on the Montgomery History website. No registration is required to see the presentation. It will be available through Monday, April 18.

“Maryland LGBTQ Historic Context” includes discussion about sites associated with non-binary historical figures, leading “out” elected officials, strong community groups, popular gay bars, advocacy for AIDS treatment and marriage equality and other important sites. The report has spurred local efforts to research and preserve specific properties–including two homes in Montgomery County associated with prominent LGBTQ Marylanders.

Free ‘GreenFest’ Returns In-person to Brookside Gardens in Wheaton on Saturday, April 23, with Green Craft Fair, Electric Car Show

The Seventh Annual Montgomery County “GreenFest” will return as a free in-person festival celebrating Earth Day from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, April 23, at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton. The theme for Earth Day 2022 is “Invest in Our Planet.”

Brookside Gardens is located at 1800 Glenallen Ave. in Wheaton. Onsite parking will be restricted to handicapped visitors only.

More than 60 vendors will be at GreenFest, representing green businesses, environmental nonprofits and family-friendly educational opportunities. The event will feature a variety of children’s activities including tree climbing, kid’s yoga, face painting and plant giveaways. There will be an electric vehicle car show featuring the latest models and technology. Visitors can shop for locally made products at the arts and crafts fair. Locally based food trucks will be onsite serving a variety of fare, including vegan and vegetarian options.

Attendees are encouraged to take advantage of the free parking and shuttle service between Glenmont Metro Station and Brookside Gardens. Free shuttles will be running every 15 minutes starting at 10:30 a.m., with the last shuttle leaving Brookside Gardens at 5:30 p.m. Pets are not allowed at Brookside Gardens, with the exception of service animals.

GreenFest is organized by a coalition of partners, including the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation, Montgomery Parks, Brookside Gardens, WSSC Water and the University of Maryland Extension. Local environmental nonprofit partners include One Montgomery Green, Bethesda Green and Poolesville Green.

For more information on GreenFest, visit https://montgomerycountygreenfest.org or follow #MCGreenFest.

Akan Biosciences, Intelligent Fusion Technology and Seraxis ‘Graduate’ from Business Incubator in Germantown

Three portfolio companies have “graduated” from the Germantown Innovation Center (GIC), Montgomery County’s business incubator program. The County’s incubator program started in 1999 to foster the growth and development of young technology companies. Akan Biosciences, Intelligent Fusion Technology and Seraxis are the three County-based companies that graduated from the program this spring.

“Montgomery County continues to be the epicenter of bio health and information technology in the region,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “Congratulations to Akan Bio, Intelligent Fusion Technology and Seraxis on their graduation from our incubator. We are excited for their continued growth in the County. Montgomery County is committed to having an economic development environment that fosters growth and entrepreneurship, and these graduates are just the most recent example of the great work happening in our incubators and throughout the County.”

The program offers educational, networking and collaboration opportunities, as well as shared resources that foster success and keep costs low in the early years of company development. The Germantown Innovation Center includes wet labs and clean rooms. It sits on the perimeter of Montgomery College, near its Bioscience Education Center, and offers connections to the County’s companies and resources in the bioscience community.

Akan Bio, located in Gaithersburg, is a biotechnology and cellular therapy company developing next generation injectable products for the treatment of degenerative diseases and injury. Akan Bio is developing cellular therapies and proprietary manufacturing methods to produce stem cell-based therapeutics using state of the art tissue engineering and cell-based approaches.

“Being at the Germantown Innovation Center was an excellent resource for my business,” said Mukesh Kumar, president and founder of Akan Biosciences. “We grew from one small office and one employee to a team of 16 located in Gaithersburg in six larger offices and labs. The resources of the Germantown Innovation Center and Montgomery College allowed us to set up our own small-scale, FDA-compliant, GMP manufacturing suite, obtain two IND applications approved by the FDA and launch multiple national clinical trials with our products. Despite several attractive offers to move to other parts of the country, we plan to stay a Montgomery County business.”

Intelligent Fusion Technology (IFT), located in Germantown, specializes in the development and implementation of Data Fusion Technologies. It extracts the maximum amount of information from many data sources to provide more accurate situational awareness than any individual data source could offer. IFT aggressively promotes the insertion of revolutionary technologies into the marketplace by producing hardware and software for the Defense, Commercial, and Industrial sectors.

“Intelligent Fusion Technology was launched at the Germantown Innovation Center with one office and three people,” said Genshe Chen, chief technology officer with Intelligent Fusion Technology, Inc. “Today, our team totals 23 and we are occupying 3,600 square feet of office space in Germantown. Programs and facilities like the Germantown Innovation Center are valuable and critical resources for the small business community of Montgomery County. We look forward to continuing our success, hiring local talent, and growing our business right here in Montgomery County.”

Seraxis is a private biotechnology company that launched in 2013 and is in Germantown. The Seraxis mission is to develop a practical and potent cell replacement therapy for insulin-dependent diabetes. Its team of scientists has developed a novel cell and immune-evasion technologies that, together, reverse diabetes in animal models. It is currently working to advance this therapy to the clinic.

"We are greatly appreciative to have had the chance to launch Seraxis at the Germantown Incubator Center,” said Carole Welsch, chief business officer at Seraxis. “The facility was conveniently located, had good, shared amenities and allowed us to grow. Launched with two employees and one laboratory, Seraxis grew over the years to a team of 15 and recently moved to a 7,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art laboratory located on the I-270 Tech Corridor. The GIC team was supportive, and we will miss them.”

‘Walking with Shakespeare’ Unique Stroll Will Be Held on Saturday, April 23, at Observatory Park in Gaithersburg

Gaithersburg’s Arts on the Green will hold its 2nd “Walking with Shakespeare” adventure from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, April 23, at Observatory Park in Gaithersburg.

Observatory Park is located at 100 DeSellum Ave. in Gaithersburg. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for those 18-and-under. Tickets can be purchased here. The program is recommended for ages 12-and-older.

Those joining the walk will experience William Shakespeare’s most celebrated plays as they come to life on this unique walking tour.

The walk will celebrate Shakespeare’s 458th birthday. It will meet up with traveling minstrels and go past scenes from six Shakespearian comedies and tragedies. Each scene lasts approximately 10 minutes, and all pathways are accessible.

Participating theatre arts program partners will include Rockville Little Theatre, the Montgomery Playhouse, the Mad Rabbit Society and Victorian Lyric Opera Company. Additionally, members of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) will be presenting a demonstration in weaving, calligraphy, medieval costuming and a live rapier exhibition. The SCA is an international educational organization dedicated to recreating the Middle Ages.

For more information, call 301-258-6394 or visit www.gaithersburgmd.gov.

County Recreation to Host Two Job Fairs on Saturday, April 9, for Seasonal Summer Positions

Montgomery County Recreation (MCR) is hiring part-time seasonal employees to work during the summer season and will have job fairs on Saturday, April 9, in Gaithersburg and Rockville. Numerous positions are available for aquatics and summer day camps. There also are openings in community recreation facilities, senior services, youth development, sports and therapeutic recreation.

The schedule of the job fairs, which will each be held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on April 9:

• Upper County Community Recreation Center, 8201 Emory Grove Road, Gaithersburg.
• Executive Office Building, 101 Monroe Street, Rockville.

Priority will be given to candidates who have registered for an interview slot ahead of time. Registration for interviews is available on the recreation interview scheduling website.

In-person interviews will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Applicants who are unable to attend the job fair are able to apply for open positions on the County’s Office of Human Resources website.

“I started my highly satisfying career path with MCR as a seasonal staff,” said MCR Director Robin Riley. “I encourage anyone interested in a service job that makes a difference in the lives of others to consider joining the MCR team.”

Part-time/seasonal pay is $15 an hour and increases based on experience. Applicants must be at least 15 years of age. Bilingual applicants are encouraged to apply.

As a condition of employment, all applicants must successfully pass a criminal background investigation. The investigation will include a State, Federal and sex offender background check.

To review and apply for open positions, visit WORK4MCG and click on the search tab.