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washington
Brossard residents in Washington DC

Washington D.C.

Turning Neighborhoods Around

Living Cities has been a major contributor to the effort to generate investment and promote small businesses in Washington’s neighborhoods. Over the last decade, Living Cities has invested over $17 million in partnerships with the Enterprise Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), funding housing, education, job training, and crime prevention across the city.

H Street Rises from the Ashes

For decades after the 1968 riots, the H Street corridor was lined with abandoned storefronts, vacant row houses, and pawn shops. In the 1980s, the H Street CDC launched a campaign to bring small businesses and economic development back to the area, and through the Homestead Program CDCs have participated in the renovation of abandoned houses throughout Capitol Hill. H Street CDC is also a major supporter of the Near Northeast Neighborhood Association, through which residents have battled crime in their neighborhood. Redevelopment efforts are expected to get a major boost from completion of the New York Avenue Metro Station.

Bringing Business to Columbia Heights

Columbia Heights, currently the city’s most ethnically diverse neighborhood, includes a large portion of the District’s Hispanic population. Since 1990, when an influx of white, middle-class homeowners began to drive up property values, CDCs have been working to prevent the displacement of local residents and small businesses. The Latino Economic Development Corporation has been active in both Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights, offering business startup training classes, microloans, and commercial corridor revitalization. Local CDCs are also providing homebuying seminars to renters and prospective first-time homeowners.