Washington Area Community Investment Fund

Amount Appropriated?

$4.0M

FFID tracks stages 1–2 — stages 3–5 vary by agency, assistance type, and earmark structure.

Project Description

Wacif plans to redevelop the Anacostia Arts Center (AAC) to reimagine and revitalize the space as a new 35,000 square foot hub for inclusive entrepreneurship, building small business empowerment, improving access to financial capital, and expanding access to healthy food options. This project will catalyze economic and community growth and job creation in Ward 8, an area that has been historically restrained by high unemployment, through the focus of the redevelopment to start, develop, and grow more small businesses across the community. Wacif will also locate its headquarters at the AAC, bringing its accessible and safe financial capital and tailored technical assistance to Ward 7 and 8 businesses that need it most. The redeveloped space will also infuse new energy, partnerships and approaches for The Hive 2.0 co-working space, the only co-working space east of the Anacostia River, and will bring new programming, services, and offerings to support high growth and high potential small businesses, retailers, and creatives. This project will lead to economic growth and employment in Ward 8, an area that has been historically restrained by high unemployment. Compounding existing structural inequities around access to capital, low household income, and lack of collateralizable assets, the COVID-19 pandemic brought increased pressures on small businesses east of the Anacostia, with most experiencing devastating losses to their liquidity position leading to job loss. During the first part of 2020, the unemployment rate in Washington DC increased from 11.1 percent to 20.7 percent effectively meaning 1 out of 5 individuals in Ward 8 were out of work. Today, Ward 8\u2019s unemployment rate sits at 16%.