News + Ideas

For over eight years, MGAC has been working with the DC District of General Services (DGS) and DC Public Schools (DCPS) on the modernization and renovation of various schools throughout the District. This February, in honor of Black History Month, we are celebrating the recent completion of two of our DCPS projects, which have deep roots in the Black community—the Browne Education Campus and the John Francis Education Campus. MGAC was pleased to work with both DCPS and our project partners on their mission to ensure that culturally affirming spaces and learning experiences are the norm for DC students every day.

Browne Education Campus

The Browne Education Campus is situated in Washington, DC’s Carver-Langston neighborhood, nestled against the west side of Langston Golf Course and just south of the National Arboretum. MGAC had the privilege of providing project management services to modernize the 160,000 SF campus, which opened its doors to students in December of 2024. The neighborhood’s name pays tribute to two prominent figures: George Washington Carver, a prominent Black scientist and inventor, and John Mercer Langston, the first dean of Howard University Law School and the first African American elected to Congress from Virginia. Langston Golf Course, which opened in 1939, was the first in the United States to welcome Black golfers and became a gathering place for several notable African Americans. Nearby, Langston Terrace holds historical significance as the first federally funded public housing project built specifically for African Americans in 1938, during the era of segregation in the District.

John Francis Education Campus

Stevens Elementary School and Francis Junior High School were both historic schools in DC. The Stevens School was built in 1868 as one of the first publicly funded schools for Black children, and before its closing in June 2008, it was the City’s oldest school in continuous operation. Francis Junior High School was built in 1927 to serve underprivileged Black students whose families lived in the swampy area of the District known as Foggy Bottom, as well as Black students from Georgetown. With the exception of the addition of a gymnasium in the 1950s, the Francis school today is the same as it was in the 1920s. After promoting its last class of 9th graders at the close of the 2006-2007 school year, Francis became a middle school after DC Public Schools decided to move all 9th graders out of junior highs to the senior high schools. The two schools successfully consolidated during the 2008-2009 school year to become Francis-Stevens Education Campus (EC), which served students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade.

At the start of the 2024-2025 school year, students stepped into a new modernized facility, for which MGAC had the honor of providing project management services. The school also introduced a new institutional name, John Francis Education Campus. This change represents a new chapter in the school’s history with a continued commitment to fostering a community where every student feels valued and inspired to achieve.