In 2021, 11th Street Bridge Park (Bridge Park) in Washington, DC, received a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the JPB Foundation to establish a “five-city pilot” to expand its highly regarded workforce-development approach to similar equity-focused parks around the country. – Urban Institute
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One of these projects, within the network of the highly successful High Line project in New York, is the 11th Street Bridge Park in DC. Scott Kratz, Director of Building Bridges Across the River, spoke about the project on a panel during Bloomberg’s CityLab conference. In his comments, excerpted here, Kratz addresses the importance of community and local engagement when it comes to altering the built environment, as well as the overall mission of Washington DC’s bridge reuse project. – The Planning Report
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The Bridge Park has helped found job programs that have already placed over 150 residents in construction jobs, who will be the first to actually build the park. It has also supported people’s training on culinary skills and technical assistance to black owned businesses and provided a total of over three million dollars in grants and loans to help prepare their businesses well in advance before the park opens… – The Urban Activist
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Community Forklift’s Community Building Blocks (CBB) program provided free paint from our reuse warehouse to aid in the construction of The Bridge Spot mobile kiosk. The kiosk is designed to support a group of small businesses from east of the Anacostia River, allowing them to travel around the city and vend at festivals and markets. – Community Forklift
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From landscape design to economic development, equitable public space and infrastructure-reuse projects must interact with many different domains to fulfill their missions. But this web of partnerships and stakeholders also necessitates growing data collection and analysis responsibilities to measure performance and meet equity goals. – Urban Institute
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““We need to be willing to remold our plans based on feedback and truly listen to the needs and desires of the community we’re serving.” – Scott Kratz” – I Am Northwest Arkansas
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Hundreds of young people and adults converged on THEARC in Southeast D.C. on Sunday to reflect on the current state of affairs in the District and talk about what they believe to be solutions to the violence that has rocked their communities over the past several years. – The Washington Informer
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Select businesses will get pro bono assistance from … – Washington Business Journal
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A small business kiosk is providing added visibility to Black-owned startups from east of the Anacostia River across Washington, D.C., as it hits the road for the very first time this summer.
Known as The Bridge Spot, this distinctive two-tone green mobile kiosk aims to provide visibility and improve marketing and sales for businesses in Wards 7 and 8, with an eye toward helping entrepreneurs build generational wealth. For Angela Chester-Johnson, Founder of the tea, spice and sauce shop Plum Good, The Bridge Spot also offers an opportunity to promote health and well-being across the District and beyond. – Capital One
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The $92 million project, scheduled for completion by early 2026, will be the first elevated park in the nation’s capital – literally a park that is also a bridge. Stretching the length of about three football fields across the Anacostia River, the 11th Street Bridge Park will connect the city’s Navy Yard with the Anacostia neighborhoods in Southeast D.C., particularly the historically disenfranchised neighborhoods of Anacostia, Fairlawn and Barry Farm east of the river. – The Kresge Foundation
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Washington D.C.’s first elevated park will span the Anacostia River and serve as a new venue for healthy recreation, environmental education, and the arts.
Providing Southeast communities with greater access to healthy, affordable food, urban agriculture education and career opportunities.
Comprised of three buildings, farm, and playground that sits on 16.5 acres, this humanitarian mall provides world-class services to the east of the Anacostia River community in Washington, DC.
Created to provide DC residents living east of the Anacostia River entertaining and enlightening experiences that can impact their lives and brighten their futures.
Provides high-quality workforce development programs in one location, leading to work-ready candidates, career-focused job placement, economic self-sufficiency, & improved quality of life.