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Happy Women’s History Month from the Office of Planning (OP)! Be sure to check out our State Data Center’s Focus on Women Entrepreneurs featured in the OP Data Corner below.
As we gear up for a busy spring and summer at OP, we continue to embed racial equity in all of our work. You can read more about OP’s activities to advance racial equity at planning.dc.gov/racialequity. Stay tuned as future newsletters promise to be full of milestones and planning news. Please feel free to share with others, who can sign up here. In addition, you can follow our work on Twitter under @OPinDC.
Sincerely,
Anita Cozart
Interim Director, DC Office of Planning
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 On March 16th, Mayor Muriel Bowser presented her Fiscal Year 2023 Budget and Financial Plan to the Council of the District of Columbia as part of the District’s annual budget process. The proposed budget makes significant investments in housing affordability, transportation and environment, public safety, health and human services, education, and economic recovery.
Highlights from the Mayor’s proposed budget for OP includes a multi-year Community Planning Initiatives fund that will support technical analyses to inform neighborhood-specific land use, zoning, and urban design policy guidance that advances the District’s housing, economic development, and community resilience objectives. The budget also includes funding to enhance our Historic Preservation and Food Policy work and to establish a multi-year program to commemorate diverse Washingtonians in all eight wards. OP is committed to utilizing the funds from the Mayor’s FY2023 Budget proposal and financial plan to continue advancing the District’s shared goals on healthy and strong neighborhoods, affordable housing, relief and equitable recovery, growth, and access to opportunity for residents and businesses across the District.
Visit budget.dc.gov to view the Mayor’s FY2023 Proposed Budget Highlights.
View OP’s FY2023 Budget Oversight Hearing with DC Council’s Committee of the Whole.
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 Earlier this month, Mayor Bowser released the New York Avenue NE Roadmap which is a call to action for community, businesses, and government to collaborate on a vision that advances racial equity, increases resilience, provides job opportunities, and supports much-needed new housing along one of the District’s key corridors.
As a next step, OP will lead a series of coordinated, community-informed planning initiatives aimed at bringing 33,000 new homes – affordable and market rate – over the next two decades, along with new civic facilities and infrastructure, and equitable development to one of the key gateways into the Nation’s Capital.
To learn more and stay up to date on the New York Avenue NE Roadmap and related projects, please visit planning.dc.gov/NYAroadmap.
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On March 25th, Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development hosted the 8th annual March Madness, showcasing the District’s new and upcoming real estate, housing, business, and workforce initiatives. With hundreds of residents, businesses and stakeholders in attendance, Mayor Bowser announced a partnership with Google to train DC residents for in-demand tech jobs, OP released the New York Avenue NE Roadmap and many DC agencies announced upcoming solicitations and opportunities.
View the recording of March Madness 2022.
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The National Capital Planning Commission and its federal and local partners are excited to share a new vision for Pennsylvania Avenue as a pre-eminent event location and as a dynamic, accessible public space, contributing to downtown’s economic and community revitalization and elevating the Avenue’s national identity. Three design concepts explore different ways to achieve the vision that balance opportunities for significant events, every-day open space, and as a multi-modal transportation corridor.
Share your thoughts to help determine how to evolve and refine these concepts to move forward for further study and design. The public comment period runs from March 16 through July 13, 2022.
Learn more here about the Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative and how to submit your feedback, comments, and ideas.
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OP’s Food Policy Division is excited to announce the release of a new report, Opportunities to Strengthen Nutrition Programs in DC to Address Senior Food Insecurity. This report evaluates the barriers for seniors to access nutrition programs and presents recommendations focused on leveraging government-funded nutrition programs to increase senior food security in the District. OP and the Food Policy Council were thrilled to host Fleurian Filkins, a Congressional Hunger Center Emerson Hunger Fellow, who was the lead researcher and writer of this report.
Questions about the report? Please reach out to OP’s Food Policy team at dcfoodpolicy@dc.gov.
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The Draft Chevy Chase Small Area Plan is available for public review and comment through May 13, 2022. Visit the Chevy Chase Small Area Plan page to download the draft plan and information on how to share your feedback.
Learn more and get involved in our community planning projects:
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Welcome to OP’s Urban Design Corner, where we will share interesting tidbits about urban design every month. We’ll start with the basics this month – What is Urban Design?
Urban Design is the physical planning and design of the built environment in response to human needs and desires. The built environment includes the design of groups of buildings, infrastructure, streets, and public spaces, and their relationship to each other. It is the arrangement of entire neighborhoods and districts, and entire cities, with the goal of making urban environments that are equitable, beautiful, performative, and sustainable.
Urban designers at OP engage the community through intensive planning workshops where residents, designers and others collaborate on a vision for development at a plaza, along a corridor or across even a few neighborhoods.
To learn more about urban design in the District, see Chapter 9 of the Comprehensive Plan and check out the urban design page on our website.
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The number of women-owned firms in the District rose 34% over the past two decades. In contrast, the number of all firms increased 6% percent during the same period.
Among the economic development policies in the District’s Comprehensive Plan is the need to promote local entrepreneurship, including supporting women-owned businesses. District government plans, programs and policies have helped fuel the continued growth of women-owned businesses over the last two decades especially in core sectors such as professional, scientific and technical services, and healthcare and social assistance.
See Focus on Women Entrepreneurs for more data on women-owned businesses in the District.
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