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Looking Back, Looking Forward
What a year it has been full of ups, downs and occasionally moving sideways…. 2024 has seen the completion of our capital campaign to fund the 11th Street Bridge Park’s construction costs, new programs supporting our local residents to stay & THRIVE in place and TONS of programming engaging District residents with everything from mushroom inoculation workshops to a sit-down dinner in the woods for 500 of our closest friends. Read along for a recap of the last 12 months and stay tuned for my next post sharing why 2025 will be such a HUGE year.
Planning, Permits & Pre-construction!
In September I led the year’s last community walking tour at the Miracle Theater on Barracks Row. As I was wrapping up my updates before heading down to the river, a resident (in a good naturedly way) asked why the permitting process was taking so long. I smiled & shared when the project involves transforming an aged out federal highway over a navigable river in the nation’s capital wedged between the National Park Service and an active Department of Defense installation – it’s complicated. But even with those complications, we made great progress this year. We received our U.S. Army Corps permit, approval from the District Department of Energy and the Environment’s Green Building Advisory Council, and this week we will submit our 100% final plans to the DC Department of Buildings with the goal of receiving our construction permit in January. That means that DDOT will solicit our general contractor in the new year & break ground in the summer. Wahoo!
Construction Funding
Our other big news in building the Bridge Park was learning that the U.S. Department of Interior selected the Bridge Park for a $15MM Outdoor Recreation Legacy Program grant which means that our entire anticipated construction costs are now covered. Wow. Special thanks to the D.C. Department of Parks & Recreation who was our co-applicant. To mark this amazing milestone, we gathered on the piers of the old vehicular bridge with DPR Director Freeman, DDOT Director Kershbaum, Anacostia Coordinating Council Board Chair Lamont Mitchell and over 50 residents. Sparking cider flowed as we watched sunset over the Anacostia River.
An Inclusive & Equitable Community
In 2024 we doubled down on our work to ensure the same tens of thousands of local residents who shaped the Bridge Park can be the ones that benefit from it. In the spring, we launched the third version of our equitable development plan that included new health & wellness goals along with environmental justice strategies. Over the last 7 years we have catalyzed seven urban farms in SE DC addressing the fact that Ward 8 has only one full service grocery store serving 75,000 residents. Fresh produce was harvested from several of these urban farms and distributed during our new Food & Farm Fridays program – a farmers market but removing the barrier of cost. We served cherry tomatoes, collards and kale grown in SE DC along with additional fruits and veggies from Capital Area Food Bank and hundreds of prepared meals from our partners at DC Central Kitchen. Special thanks to Capital One and Novo Nordisk for their support that served over 3,000 east of the river residents from May through November.
Supporting a healthier DC continued with a new wellness series every Saturday in June in Anacostia Park. We featured healthy cooking demonstrations, yoga classes, forest bathing and double dutch lessons. Families, seniors and everyone in between took walks through the woods, sampled tasty snacks and participated in mediation workshops next to the Anacostia River. Special thanks to Wells Fargo for supporting this effort and the National Park Service and Friends of Anacostia Park for partnering on this pilot which will expand to Saturdays in July & August next year!
In our housing work, we partnered with Manna to offer $2,500 closing cost assistance grants to graduates of our East of the River Home Buyers Club (thank you Geico & Wells Fargo!) and we’ve now seen 158 Ward 8 renters become homeowners building generational wealth. We also launched a new program providing energy efficient air conditioning units to Ward 8 homes to address the increased frequency and severity of heat waves east of the river. We’ll expand this work to another 100 homes in 2025.
2024 saw our 10th annual Anacostia River Festival celebrating the river’s restoration and the community that lines its banks. While this year’s event experienced a little rainy weather, it didn’t stop nearly 3,000 folks visiting Anacostia Park for Go Go Acts and the U.S. Navy Band performing from the main stage, an east of the river artist market and dozens of hands-on activities led by local non-profits. And in October, our Taste of the Harvest Festival was nestled into the Oxon Run woods where we served a sit-down dinner for over 500 of our closest friends and wrapped up the event with roasting s’mores under the stars.
As we enter into the closing weeks of 2024, I wanted to share a deep thank you to the community who we serve every day. I so appreciate your passion for this city that we love. And to the Bridge Park and Building Bridges Across the River team – it is an honor to work with you every day. Next year is going to be EPIC with a solicitation of our general contractor, a groundbreaking (finally!) and our 11th annual Anacostia River Festival. We will build on the strong foundation we’ve created these last 10 years working with you all.
Happy holidays everyone!
-Scott
