Columbia Heights plaza pilot shows results, but private sector is missing link

The Columbia Heights Civic Plaza represents a microcosm of the perfect storm threatening economic prosperity in DC and the country more broadly: a reduction in social services and outreach as COVID-19 public health emergencies expire, while elevated rates of mental health and substance use disorders persist. The plaza has long lacked holistic operations and maintenance, and its condition rapidly deteriorated during the pandemic, physically and socially.

By the spring of 2021, the plaza was in a significant state of disrepair and a large group of individuals experiencing substance use disorder and co-occurring challenges continuously congregated there. It was clear to everyone something had to be done, but if it was going to be successful, it would have to be a multi-sector effort.

As a community-based economic development nonprofit, District Bridges worked with local partners to address this through the Civic Plaza for All community ecosystem development pilot project. Launched in the spring of 2021, it is focused on enabling community stakeholders to work collaboratively and holistically to address the needs of the most vulnerable residents and promote community-based economic development.

On a weekly basis, our team helps people obtain identification documents, access detox and in-patient residential rehab programs, and get direct referrals for legal assistance, just to name a few. Over the course of the pilot, our community navigators provided over 1,300 hours of direct support and more than 190 Columbia Heights residents have supported our efforts through volunteering at the over 125 free and accessible community events.

Through the pilot, we’ve engaged over 50 stakeholders in developing partnerships and collaborative interventions to create a better functioning continuum of care for vulnerable residents. But we need the private sector.

To further move the needle on this critical community ecosystem development work at the Civic Plaza, and scale this successful model to other DC neighborhoods, we need property owners, businesses, and developers reaping the benefits of this still-thriving community to step up before it’s too late.

A vibrant but struggling public space

The Civic Plaza, located at 14th and Kenyon Streets NW, was once a thriving community gathering space, but it lacked both a long-term management plan and an entity charged with implementing it, relying instead on a variety of government and private stakeholders that each “own” a piece. Over the years, there have been multiple unsuccessful efforts to address these challenges.

The Civic Plaza for All pilot was launched with seed funding from the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), with the goal of developing a dynamic, multi-sector approach to address the challenges that residents frequenting the plaza were experiencing. We aimed to develop interventions that support holistic community development, break down silos along city agencies and service organizations, and leverage assets already present within our community to address systemic challenges our neighborhoods face.

So in partnership with Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, we launched a monthly plaza maintenance working group. District Bridges was able to rally local businesses, property owners, and nonprofit partners, while Nadeau reached out to the many government agencies with responsibility for the plaza: the Department of Parks and Recreation, Department of General Services, DDOT, City Administrator, Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services, ANCs, Office of Planning, Department of Behavioral Health, Department of Human Services, and MPD.

By using established networks and building new partnerships, we mapped the ecosystem of the Civic Plaza to better understand the root causes of the issues, all of which have a direct impact on ensuring the area remains a corridor conducive to keeping buildings leased up and foot traffic bustling.

All of our efforts to help manage the Civic Plaza — physical maintenance and enhancements, activation of public space, connective social services, and business engagement and support — improve quality of life for residents and visitors, as well as performance of investments for businesses and property owners.

We’ve also had some great policy wins: Nadeau spearheaded legislation on the DC Council in 2022 and 2023 to establish the community navigation program, and in FY24 the program will expand to Lower Georgia Avenue, U Street, and Mount Pleasant.

In the coming year, the District government will be building a sobering center at the old fire station on Park Road. This location will enable individuals experiencing substance use disorder to access detox treatment just steps from the Civic Plaza and divert them from emergency rooms and jail cells. This is a critical part of the long-term strategy in the plaza and more broadly in Ward 1.

Lessons learned

Practically speaking, to develop these interventions we had to understand the needs and priorities of the individuals we were working to serve, and figure out who was already working in the community. Our Community Navigators developed relationships with the residents congregating in the plaza to understand what challenges they were facing.

One important revelation was that for these individuals, many of whom are homeless or housing insecure, the plaza represented a place of safety and community. Many grew up in the neighborhood — this is home to them. One of the challenges in helping them access the treatment they need is that the majority of facilities are in other wards, meaning they are taken far from home to an unfamiliar place, often alone. Community and social support are profoundly important parts of successful addiction treatment, yet the current model for care does not incorporate culturally sensitive or interpersonal connections.

While the majority of our current clients are Spanish speakers with limited English proficiency, the detox and rehabilitation facilities are not staffed to provide translation services and primarily rely on the language phone service to provide translation. The phone line is grossly inadequate and the personal touch necessary in these moments of crisis is often lost.

It should not be the responsibility of the individual in crisis to navigate a complex and fragmented system. That is why our model of Community Navigation is so unique and important. Our community navigators help individuals in crisis navigate the complexities of their unique circumstances and find the support and resources they need.

Addressing physical plaza maintenance was also complex. Typically, DDOT is responsible for repairing the public sidewalks in DC. However, in Columbia Heights, the pavers that were used throughout the public realm were stored with DGS. So when a repair to these pavers was needed, DDOT said it couldn’t help because DGS had the pavers and was responsible, while DGS would claim public sidewalks were DDOT’s responsibility. For years, no one could even physically locate the pavers.

Because there was no centralized entity that was holding these agencies accountable to working together, the cycle of passing the blame continued for years. Once we were able to introduce the maintenance working group, we started to see repairs being made in a reasonable time.

Private sector needed for continued progress

To date, we’ve captured case notes on over 180 vulnerable residents who frequent the Civic Plaza. In September, we hosted an event at Columbia Heights’ historic Gala Theatre to release our report and discuss the findings.

We’ve learned a lot along the way. There needs to be more collaboration and connection between service providers, and there’s a lot of education to do with the broader community about better understanding the mental health and substance use disorder challenges of our most vulnerable residents.

However, a critical need is more financial support to enable us to continue forging one-on-one relationships rooted in compassion and understanding, and our private sector partners are currently missing from the table.

We’ve seen this type of public-private collaboration in other parts of the city. Developer WC Smith stepped up to help create and grow Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC), providing essential opportunities and resources to the underserved Ward 8 community. In response to rising crime in the area, property owners and retailers along Half Street SE near Nationals Stadium came together to pool resources to utilize MPD’s Reimbursable Deployed Officers to increase police presence. Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund supported Jubilee Housing’s efforts to create more affordable housing in Adams Morgan and rescue a senior living facility in Friendship Heights. (Editor’s note: Senthil Sankaran, managing principal of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, serves on the GGWash board of directors.)

As District Bridges heads into the next phase of this work — expanding the number and reach of community navigators throughout Ward 1 to serve Columbia Heights, Lower Georgia Avenue, U Street, and Mount Pleasant — we invite our developer and property management stakeholders to join us. Get in touch with District Bridges and ask how you can help support efforts to make this community more resilient for everyone, including your bottom line. We’ve got a seat at the table open for you.