Maureen Shea & Kenn Allen · 2023 Honorees

For almost forty years Maureen Shea and Kenn Allen have been stalwarts on their block of A Street SE, initiating group dinners on Friday nights, planning annual block parties, organizing weekly Zoom calls during Covid and inviting folks over for impromptu front yard glasses of wine – not to mention the hellos and sidewalk conversations that are a constant for regular dog walkers. They are good neighbors – not just to those living near to them but in a larger sense as well. Both have served on the Board of Samaritan Ministry with its city-wide services and “Next Step” programs. Maureen is one of the organizers of outreach to Afghan refugees through St. Mark’s partnership with Christ Church + Washington Parish and Good Neighbors Capitol Hill and is a regular participant in ministry to migrants bussed to DC. She is a driver for Food Rescue, delivering donations to local non-profits. Kenn served as a board member of Capitol Hill Group Ministry (now Everyone Home DC) and one of the organizers of their much-loved golf tournament fundraisers. Both have been involved in almost everything that has happened at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church for decades, Kenn as Senior and Junior Warden during the renovations that have allowed the church to host innumerable local events and concerts, Maureen as leadership for the annual Newtown Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence as well as the maker of hundreds of cups of coffee. 

Maureen and Kenn are both retired after distinguished careers. Maureen, a political science major from Hollins College, was Special Assistant to President Clinton for outreach to the religious community and then was Director of Government Relations for the Episcopal Church. Kenn, who holds a doctorate in Human Resource Development from George Washington University, served eleven years as senior executive with the Points of Light Foundation and went on to become founder and president of the Civil Society Consulting Group LLC, a global consulting firm based in Washington, DC, committed to the idea that volunteerism is the fundamental building block of civil society. Each of them traveled widely for work – Maureen making multiple trips to the Middle East, China, Tanzania, and South Africa on behalf of the Episcopal Church, Kenn visiting some 35 countries to promote volunteerism. In retirement they are happy to be in the neighborhood they came to, newly married, in 1980 and where they raised their son, Christopher, a political consultant.