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On November 27, Mayor Muriel Bowser, Deputy Mayor Brian Kenner and Councilmember Trayon White broke ground on the Residences at St. Elizabeths East, a 252-unit apartment community with 202 affordable housing units on the historic St. Elizabeths East Campus, delivering on her commitment to provide high-quality affordable housing to the Congress Heights neighborhood in Ward 8.
“As we continue the transformation of the historic St. Elizabeths East campus, we remain focused on ensuring that longtime residents have the opportunity to enjoy and benefit from the housing and amenities that are coming to the area,” said Mayor Bowser.
Located at 1201 Oak Drive, SE, adjacent to the new Entertainment and Sports Arena, the Residences at St. Elizabeths East will be comprised of 252 studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, including affordable units for households earning up to 50 percent of the median family income (MFI), which is $58,600 for a family of four. The affordable units include 19 units available for 0 to 30 percent of the MFI and 183 units available for 31 to 50 percent of the MFI; another 50 units will be available at market rate. Amenities for residents will include a fitness center, clubroom, secured parking, and community areas including a playground, recreational area, and outdoor grilling area.
Video link here.
 Mayor Muriel Bowser, Deputy Mayor Brian Kenner, Councilmember Trayon White, developers, and community members officially break ground on The Residences at St. Elizabeths
 On November 13, Mayor Muriel Bowser participated in FiscalNote's annual Reinvent Summit where the leading government relations, public affairs, and regulatory affairs executives seeking to modernize their teams, maximize effectiveness, and anticipate change in an uncertain global environment gathered to reflect on the last year. Also at the event, the Mayor helped announce the Wendy Martinez Project. FiscalNote donated $500K to start the project and to support three areas that their late Chief of Staff cared about most: women in tech and entrepreneurship and community empowerment.
“We’re going to build on our success by continuing to support our local entrepreneurs, our aspiring technologists, and our DC-based companies like FiscalNote," said Mayor Muriel Bowser. "For all we’ve accomplished over these past few years, we’re going to do even more over the next four. We’re going to become even more inclusive and we’re going to spread opportunity and prosperity to even more Washingtonians."
DMPED recently teamed up with FicalNote to create a series of opportunities that seek to create pathways for DC residents to enter into the technology space, aligning with DMPED’s Pathways to Inclusion recommendations, as well as upcoming recommendations in our Economic Strategy. FiscalNote will create opportunities that will allow at least 100 District residents to enter into the technology space through a combination of high school enrichment, SYEP, apprenticeships and training.
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 Mayor Muriel Bowser taking questions from media on topics like technology and Amazon HQ2
As you may know, the District was in the running for the chance to bring Amazon's second headquarters to our city. It was announced on November 13th that the headquarters was being split between Crystal City, VA and Queens, NY. But, Amazon in Arlington is a win for DC. We will continue preparing residents with the skills and knowledge they need for the jobs of the future, including at Amazon. And, we want to thank our #ObviouslyDC team below for all the hard work they put into this project!
“We know that this opportunity will push us to work together on our biggest challenges like improving our transportation and infrastructure. We must continue our investment in safety, reliability, and capacity at Metro and find ways to enhance service, including late night service," said Mayor Bowser. “We offer our congratulations to Arlington and the Commonwealth of Virginia. We have always said that we would put our region and its people up against any other in the world. And as the federal government slows its growth, this announcement demonstrates that the technology sector will continue to flourish in our region as our economy diversifies.”
 On November 6, our Business Development director Karima Woods gave remarks to 24 Chinese government delegates at the Georgetown Global Education Institute, an international executive training program that provides education, training and mentoring to leaders and administrators from emerging economies. They were interested in learning about Washington D.C., The Deputy Mayor’s Office and the role of local government in economic development, as well as DC’s involvement with China.
"We are tasked with three jobs: creating and maintaining affordable housing, job creation and increasing tax revenue," said Karima Woods. "Creating jobs and growing the city’s tax revenue requires great partnerships and collaboration from other organizations and robust economies, such as China."
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 On November 28, Sarosh Olpadwala, DMPED's real estate director, gave remarks at the Children's National groundbreaking at the Walter Reed Campus in Ward 4. Children's Hospital is creating a one-of-a-kind research and innovation hub to drive discoveries that save and improve the lives of children, with a focus on pediatric genomic and precision medicine research anchored by Children’s National Center for Genetic Medicine Research and Rare Disease Institute. Construction should be complete by 2020.
When complete, the building will house an incubator space for biotech start-ups, an outpatient care center, and a conference center.
"The Mayor’s vision for Walter Reed is to create a community where residents can live, work and thrive. The Mayor also committed to redeveloping this campus in such a way that honored its rich history," said Real Estate Director Sarosh Olpadwala. "And, with partners like Children’s Hospital on this campus, we are realizing our vision for Walter Reed."
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 On November 14, Business Development Director Karima Woods joined 308 Professional Fellows from 60 countries and territories where she participated on a panel titled "Building an Impact Economy: Doing Well While Doing Good", hosted by the Professional Fellows Congress. Karima discussed the importance of social entrepreneurship and the role government plays to create a supportive and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in DC.
"We are a growing city with 700,000 residents," said Karima Woods. "What makes us attractive is vibrant and diverse neighborhoods, a stable economy and great transportation options."
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On November 14, DMPED had the opportunity to celebrate DC's "NASA girls," Mikayla Sharrieff, India Skinner and Bria Snell, the “S3 Trio,” who were recently included in the Google “Search On,” an original documentary series about people around the world using Google technology to solve big problems, answer hard questions, and take action. The story was translated into 37 languages, so the entire world can learn about the girls and their project to provide clean drinking water in schools.
Last year, the S3 Trio participated in the NASA's OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Promotion and Research Challenge (OPSPARC) which encouraged students in grades 3 - 12 to come up with possible NASA spinoff technologies. The teens’ project - H2No- to- H20- aimed to make water fountains drinkable in schools with lead contaminated pipes. The S3 Trio received over 80,000 online votes in support of their project. The team placed second in the competition and were awarded a $4,000 grant from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to work on enhancing their research and project!
Since the NASA challenge ended, the Trio has participated in many events around the country showcasing their project and learning about water crisis issues. The team participated in a Hackathon at Microsoft in Seattle, WA, traveled to MIT to work with engineers on their project, visited the US Department of Education to meet Secretary DeVos and staff, and lead a discussion at the American Medical Association’s national headquarters in DC. Most recently, the S3 trio traveled to Flint, MI to film a segment for Google’s latest Search On series on women in STEM who work on pressing water issues.
S3 Trio will also serve as ambassadors for SOCIALgrlz, a tech start-up social networking mobile app focused on STEM for girls of underserved populations, and will continue to work with CELIE, a national organization committed to expanding access and opportunity for all Americans.
 The S3 Trio Mikayla Sharrieff, India Skinner and Bria Snell after a panel at WeDC Fest on their project moderated by Shelley Bell, of Black Girl Ventures.
On November 13, the National League of Cities (NLC) announced the creation of a national task force to address how communities can better respond to the growing challenge of housing availability, affordability, investment, and quality. The National League of Cities Task Force on Housing is being created under the leadership of NLC President Karen Freeman-Wilson, mayor of Gary, Indiana, and will be chaired by Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser.
“The affordable housing crisis is one of the most critical issues we are facing in this country, and one on which we are effectively working to tackle in Washington, DC. From investing hundreds of millions of dollars for affordable units in new developments to building creative living spaces like grand-family housing for seniors raising their grandchildren, we know that mayors will lead the way in providing innovative solutions,” said Muriel Bowser, Mayor of Washington, DC and chair of the newly formed the National League of Cities Task Force on Housing. “I am honored to serve as the Chair of the National League of Cities Housing Task Force and look forward to working with NLC President Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson and other city leaders to advance solutions for our residents.”
Comprised of 18 elected city leaders, representing a diversity of city sizes, geography, roles in their respective regions, and market types, the task force will develop a set of best and promising practices at the local level, as well as policy recommendations to federal and state governments.
 Mayor Muriel Bowser talking affordable housing with the National League of Cities
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