Office of Employee Appeals Lafayette Barnes Confirmation Resolution of 2026

M
URIEL BOWSER
MAYOR
May 11, 2026
The Honorable Phil Mendelson
Chairman
Council of the District of Columbia
John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 504
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Chairman Mendelson:
In accordance with section
2 of the Confirmation Act of 1978, effective March 3, 1979 (D.C. Law 2-
142; D.C. Official Code § 1- 523.01), and pursuant to section 601 of the District of the Columbia
Government Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act of 1978, effective March 3, 1979 (D.C. Law 2- 139,
D.C. Official Code § 1-606.01), I am pleased to nominate the following individual:
Mr. Lafayette Barnes
Mississippi Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20032
(Ward 8)
for appointment as a member of the Office of Employee Appeals, replacing Arrington Dixon, for the
remainder of an unexpired term to end April 6, 2028.
Enclosed, you will find biographical information detailing the experience of the above-m entioned
nominee, together with a proposed resolution to assist the Council during the confirmation process.
I would appreciate the Council’s earliest consideration of this nomination for confirmation. Please
do not hesitate to contact me, or Steven Walker, Director, Mayor’s Office of Talent and
Appointments, should the Council require additional information.
Sincerely,
Muriel B owser
Mayor
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Chairman Phil Mendelson
at the request of the Mayor
A PROPOSED RESOLUTION
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
15 To confirm the appointment of Lafayette Barnes to the Office of Employee Appeals.
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17 RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
18 resolution may be cited as the "Office of E mployee Appeals Lafayette Barnes Confirmation
19 R esolution of 2026".
20 Sec. 2. The Council of the District of Columbia confirms the appointment of:
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22 Lafayette Barnes
23 Mississippi A venue, SE
24 Washington, DC 20032
25 (Ward 8)
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27 as a member of the Office of Employee Appeals, established by section 601 of the District of
28 Columbia Government Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act of 1978, effective March 3, 1979
29 (D .C. Law 2-139; D.C. Official Code§ 1-606.01), replacing Arrington Dixon, for the remainder
30 of an unexpired term to end April 6, 2028.
31 Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia shall transmit a copy of this resolution,
32 upon its adoption, to the nominee and to the Mayor.
33 Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
Lafayette A. Barnes Page 1
Lafayette A. Barnes
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Resolute public administrator, with twenty years of experience, using innovative management and
technology solutions to transform key policy initiatives into successful program outcomes. Served in
the Executive Offices of Mayors Anthony Williams, Adrian Fenty, Vincent Gray, and Muriel Bowser .
Held s enior executive and agency director positions in the Government of the District of Columbia
while directing organizational capacity, grant and resource management, and international
collaboration opportunities, with specific focus on Africa. Possess excellent communication, external
relations, interpersonal, and organizational skills, sound judgment, strong multicultural skills, and a
working knowledge of conversational French.
KEY DISTRICT GOVERNMENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Executive Office of the Mayor
Established Mayor’s Office of Partnerships and Grant Services (OPGS) to enhance the government’s
capacity to increase its receipt of competitive grant awards, promote greater accountability and
transparency in its grant making process, and build the capability of local nonprofits to collaborate
with District agencies . Hired, mentored, and evaluated a diverse staff of African, Asian, Latino, and
American professionals who have developed into a highly creative , loyal, productive, and solid team
dedicated to accomplishing the organization’s mission and annual work goals.
Prepared and delivered written documentation, reports, and testimony before Members and staff of
the Government Operations Committee of the Council of the District of Columbia during its annual
budget and performance oversight hearings. Testified on OPGS’ annual SMART goals and related
program activities and outcomes.
Spearheaded OPGS’ community outreach and social marketing campaign to promote greater
awareness of the office’s online services which resulted in a 100% increase in the number of website
visits from 61,300 to 129,408 between fiscal years 2012 and 2013.
Achieved 60% reduction in the number of staff hours used to prepare quarterly donation reports and
donor thank you letters and expedited District agencies submission and tracking of their donation
applications by implementing the innovative Intuit QuickBase application process.
Instituted the District government’s donation process for soliciting, accepting, and using contributions
from private sector, individual, and other potential donors and authorized the acceptance of over
$110M in philanthropic donations made to the government.

Lafayette A. Barnes Page 2
Directed OPGS’ grant development research and production of the Funding Alert, a weekly electronic
publication, containing some five billion dollars in total federal, foundation, and district competitive
grant opportunities and related technical assistance information annually.
Led Mayor Adrian Fenty’s initiative in collaboration with the Governors’ Offices in Maryland and
Virginia to co-host the “Expanding Globally in Partnership with the USTDA” conference in Washington
DC consisting of International Financial Institutions , foreign embassies, and 235 businesses from the
Greater Washington Metropolitan Region; and
Served as a surrogate for several District Mayors at numerous local and international ceremonies,
conferences, media, and neighborhood events.
Grants Development and Management
Pioneered the development of an Agency -wide “Grants Made Database” to generate real -time
reports on the District government awards and disbursements of its grant making agencies grants and
sub-grants to promote greater efficiency and transparency in the process.
Simplified and produced, the first ever, City -Wide Grants Manual and Sourcebook that provides a
uniform set of grant and sub -grant making guidelines for all grant making District agencies,
departments, and offices subject to the Mayor’s authority.
Launched the “Grants Information Data System” an automated searchable database used to post
competitive grants announcements in OPGS’ Funding Alert, place District agency notices in the “DC
Grants Clearinghouse ,” and administer federal grant applications as the District’s authorized State
Single Point of Contact.
Guided Mayor Vincent Gray’s Department of Small and Local Business Development proposal
development and submission for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s State Trade and Export
Promotion (STEP) Grant resulting in the $548K grant award to assist District small businesses to
better compete in the global market; and
Initiated Eight Week “Grant Proposal Writing” course to teach some fifty grant development staff to
write competitive federal grant proposals. The participants learned to prepare compelling statements
of needs, logic models, and program budgets and were also required to write a draft proposal for an
actual Notice of Funding Availability.
Nonprofit Capacity Building
Orchestrated the planning and execution of fourteen OPGS’ Annual Public Private Partnership
conferences including the 14th Annual Conference entitled, “ Building Nonprofit Capacity: Realizing
Tomorrow’s Promises ” to promote best practices used for nonprofits capacity building, and
establishing funding and programming partnerships.
Lafayette A. Barnes Page 3
Facilitated the “Nonprofit Community Leaders Briefing ” consisting of 145 nonprofits, in collaboration
with the White House Office of Public Engagement, to promote a dialogue with select Obama
Administration and White House officials to learn about available and planned resources to
strengthen the nonprofit sector; and
Briefed nonprofit leaders from the White House sponsored’ Mandela Young African Leadership
Program, Northern Ireland Council of Voluntary Action, Belfast, Ireland, Cordoba Foundation based in
London, England and Hungarian Business Leaders Forum from Budapest, Hungary, and the U.S.
Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.
Sister City Relations
Served as Mayor Williams’ chief envoy to Pretoria, South Africa at the US Embassy, USAID Mission,
and City of Tshwane (Pretoria) government officials to conduct the Official Signing Ceremony for the
first Sister City Agreement between the City of Tshwane and the District of Columbia.
Directed Mayor Williams’ Trade and Cultural Delegation visit t o Dakar, Senegal in West Africa, and
organized the meetings with US Embassy and USAID head officials, Senegalese President Abdoulaye
Wade, Mayor of Dakar Pape Diop, and Senegalese business leaders to explore potential partnerships.
Briefed Mayor Fenty’s Office of the Secretary staff on the District’s agreements with government
officials from the City of Tshwane (Pretoria) and recommended initiatives to include in the Mayor’s
subsequent Official Signing Ceremony to renew the second Sister City Agreement between both
municipalities.
Engineered an agreement between the Office of Partnerships and Grant Services (OPGS) and
Umlambo Foundation in Johannesburg, founded by the former Deputy President of South Africa , to
organize an 8 -week training program for its General Manager to learn about the District’s public
education reform and resource development strategies; and
Instrumental member of Mayor Gray’s delegation who convened with Executive Mayor Ramokgopa
of the City of Tshwane and his delegation to review the terms of the re newed third Sister City
Agreement that was subsequently enacted during the Official Signing Ceremony between the two
municipalities at City Hall in Washington, DC.
Lafayette A. Barnes Page 4
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
President & CEO, Zulu Global Enterprise, LLC 2015- Present
Director Office of Partnerships and Grant Services, Executive Office of the Mayor, 1999 - 2017
District of Columbia Government
Director Foundation Giving, Freddie Mac Foundation 1998 - 1999
Corporate Development Officer, Office of Institutional Advancement, University of Maryland 1995 - 1997
at College Park
Director External Relations – School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland at College Park 1993 - 1995
Research Analyst, Washington D.C. Office, The Capital Group Companies,
a global institutional investor corporation 1986 - 1993
Foreign Affairs Analyst, Foreign Affairs and National Defense, Congressional Research Service, 1984 - 1985
Library of Congress
ESOL Teacher, High School for International Affairs, Public School District of Philadelphia, Pa. 1982 - 1984
Program Evaluation Assistant, Opportunities Industrialization Center International (OICI), 1979 - 1981
Philadelphia, Pa.
EDUCATION
Georgetown University , Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Washington, DC, Master of
Science in Foreign Service, 1979
Université of Dijon, France, Certificat Pratique de Langue Francise 1st Degré, 1979
LaSalle University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, 1976
CERTIFICATIONS
Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Business Foundation, Richmond, Virginia,
International Business Certificate Program, 2011
Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Senior
Executives in State and Local Government Program, 2004
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Commission on African Affairs, District of Columbia, Mayoral Appointed Commissioner
Executive Leadership Institute, National Forum for Black Public Administrators, Alumnus
Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers, Associate Member , Former Board Chair of the
United Planning Organization (UPO), and Board Member of UPO Inspire, US Army Veteran.
E
xecutive Office of the Mayor – Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments
John A. Wilson Building | 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite 600 | Washington, DC 20004
L
afayette Barnes
Mr. L
afayette Barnes is the President and CEO of Zulu Global Enterprise.
He is a r esolute public administrator with twenty years of experience
using innovative management and technology solutions to transform key
policy initiatives into successful program outcomes.
He previously served in the Executive Offices of Mayors Anthony
Williams, Adrian Fenty, Vincent Gray, and Muriel Bowser, where he held
senior executive and agency director positions while directing
organizational capacity, grant and resource management, and
international collaboration opportunities.
A Ward 4 resident, Mr. Barnes earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political
Science from LaSalle University and his Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown
University.

GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Executive Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser
Office of the General Counsel to the Mayor
______________________________________________________________________________
The John A. Wilson Building • 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW • Suite 300 • Washington, D.C. 20004 • Office (202) 724-7681
To: Kimberly A. Bassett, Steve Walker
From: Betsy Cavendish
Date: April 24, 2026
Subject: Legal sufficiency review of a resolution appointing Lafayette Barnes as a member
of the Office of Employee Appeals
This is to Certify that this office has reviewed the above-referenced resolution and
found it to be legally unobjectionable. If you have any questions in this regard, please do not
hesitate to call Michael Porcello, Deputy General Counsel, Executive Office of the Mayor, at
202-727-0872, or me at 202-724-7681.
______________________________
Elizabeth Cavendish