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Updates from the DC LISC Team
Museums are not just for tourists, and they don’t just store artifacts of the distant past. They are for us and for now.
The National Building Museum and the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum have both connected us to LISC's work, helping us understand our challenges and opportunities, and paying homage to the changemakers who preceded us.
The National Building Museum highlighted St. Elizabeths Hospital in Congress Heights for its pioneering impact on mental health care in the United States. Though outdated now, the founders created a baseline of care for the vulnerable and a self-sustaining community within. The campus, however, was isolated from the rest of Washington, completely surrounded by a fence. For decades after it closed, neighbors and district leaders envisioned a new chapter for St. Elizabeths, one where it is integrated with the community — an asset with multiple purposes. That vision is now becoming a reality with last week's groundbreaking of 252 units of new affordable housing that will reuse former patient dormitories as homes for families.
LISC made a groundbreaking investment to advance St. Elizabeths to construction. Our $6 million for St. E’s is the largest predevelopment loan ever made by LISC anywhere in the country. We also provided capacity building grants to the Anacostia Economic Development Corporation (AEDC), who partnered with developer Flaherty & Collins. The overall plan for the St. Elizabeths campus combines business, research, higher education, a new hospital, a sports arena, and residences in a collaborative environment.
Across town, Walter Reed Army Medical campus was also cut off from the surrounding Brightwood neighborhood for decades. The redevelopment there integrates the campus with the community, bringing much-needed amenities to the surrounding area, including a state-of-the-art international public charter school, which LISC helped to finance.
HELP USA, one of the nation’s largest homeless housing developers, is now developing the HELP Walter Reed Apartments. Read about how LISC, through our affiliate NEF, supported HELP USA to create the 170,000 square foot apartment building that will provide permanent supportive housing for homeless and at-risk veterans.
A Right to the City at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum is a powerful encapsulation of resistance, resilience, and participation as it “explores more than five decades of neighborhood change in the nation’s capital as well as the rich history of organizing and civic engagement that accompanied it." Several of our nonprofit partners and key neighborhoods are featured, and the exhibit's Community Phone Booth has a recording of Oramenta Newsome discussing community development. Few people know more about Washington than our Local Advisory Committee, but even they learned new lessons and gained insight on our city, thanks to a guided tour led by the exhibit's lead curator, Dr. Samir Meghelli.
Last month, Ramon also moderated a panel at the museum's symposium, A Right to the City: The Past and Future of Urban Equity. A full recording of the panel can be found here.
LISC on the Move
These past few months, the DC LISC team kept busy at community development events throughout the city. We attended Jubilee Housing’s Coming Home breakfast, where we heard stories of community members who have benefited from Jubilee’s Justice Housing. LISC is opening an office in Charlotte, so community leaders from Charlotte’s Historic West End Partners came to DC to learn about our investments and the work that LISC does. We participated in a learning journey, visiting nonprofit organizations in Anacostia, Columbia Heights and Mt. Pleasant as part of the Consumer Health Foundation’s 20th anniversary celebration. We also attended CNHED’s A Community of Leaders event, a celebration of those leading community development in DC.
We celebrated with The Sanctuaries during an event commemorating their 5th year of activating arts to build power, shift culture, and organize. Highlighting small-press and independent and diverse authors, the East of the River Book Festival made reading fun for all ages. Kiva grantee Village Café opened up their inaugural coffee shop near Union Market, sourcing its coffee from Southeastern Roastery, and other local businesses.
Speaking of the caffeine dependent, Ramon celebrated his 20th anniversary at LISC!
Upcoming Events
December 12: Capital Area Asset Builder's #DCEITC Forum - 10a - 2p
December 14: The Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development's Annual Meeting & Holiday Mixer - 12p - 2p
Job Postings
- The DC Fiscal Policy Institute is hiring for two positions: a Public Policy Analyst for Affordable Housing and a Policy Director. Learn more about the positions and apply here.
- The Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers (WRAG) is seeking candidates for President. Learn more here.
- There is a job opportunity as a Civic Engagement Coordinator for the DC Public Library. Read more here.
- Literacy Lab is seeking applicants for their Leading Men Fellowship for 2019-2020 school year cohorts in Washington, DC; Baltimore, MD; Milwaukee, WI; Richmond, VA; and Kansas City, MO. Applicants must be recent graduates or seniors graduating in 2019 from public high schools. Apply here.
