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Happy Pride month from the DC Office of Planning (OP)! Check out OP’s Historic Context Statement for Washington’s LGBTQ Resources, which documents and highlights the history of the District’s LGBTQ communities. Our Commemorative Works Corner below also spotlights the District’s LGBTQ history.
As we celebrated Juneteenth this month, OP’s Historic Preservation Office was awarded a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to protect and preserve sites representing African American history. You can read more about this exciting opportunity below under Healing Souls with Heels and Soles: The Peter Bug Shoe Academy.
June is also National Homeownership Month, and we are celebrating the District’s robust housing programs. The District has made significant investments, land use and policy changes to realize Mayor Bowser’s goal of 36,000 new housing units by 2025, with 12,000 of those affordable. Our Data Corner below presents the progress towards the first-in-the nation affordable housing goals by neighborhood set to remedy the historic inequity in affordable housing distribution across our city.
OP is hiring! Join us on Tuesday, July 11 at the Hot Days, Hot Jobs hiring event presented by the DC Department of Human Resources. Registration is required.
Sincerely,
Anita Cozart
Director, DC Office of Planning
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Pop of Spring, April 2022, 9th & F St NW
On June 15, Mayor Bowser and OP awarded $650,000 in grants to eligible Business Improvement Districts and Community Improvement Districts through the Streets for People Grant Program. Streets for People grants, launched in 2022, encourages daytime and nighttime activity supported by infrastructure investments for streets, sidewalks, and alleys for people to enjoy civic spaces, cultural amenities, and uplift local businesses located in Downtown DC and nearby areas.
Last year, Streets for People supported over 100 events that attracted more than 110,000 people Downtown. Streets for People expanded the use of Downtown’s public spaces. Highlights include mobile pop-up kitchens, art walks, concerts, comedy shows, parklets, and even an interactive street oasis with swinging chairs. Mount Vernon Triangle’s Photo Walk, FRESHFARM Mobile Kitchen, and Retail Kiosk—all funded through Streets for People in 2022—were awarded a Designing for Equitable Communities citation from the Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Additionally, nearly two-thirds of event attendees surveyed last year made a purchase at a nearby business.
The 2023 grant recipients are:
Each of the grantees is partnering with local artists, cultural organizations, and businesses that focus on Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color.
Upcoming Streets for People events include Foggy Bottom Whomp Stompers performing at Dupont Circle on July 15, Adams Morgan Summer Food Festival on July 29, and the Lotus Light Festival at Chinatown Park August 13 - 20.
For event details and more information about Streets for People, please visit publicinput.com/dcstreetsforpeople.
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OP continues to work on innovative ways to support Downtown’s economic recovery and advance DC’s Comeback Plan. Building on the success of the Streets for People initiative, OP has kicked off the Downtown Public Realm Plan which will generate design ideas that will make our downtown streets, sidewalks, plazas and parks more friendly, vibrant, and inclusive for residents, workers and visitors of all ages and all walks of life. The final Downtown Public Realm Plan will show how we can elevate Downtown as a livable place for 15,000 new residents by 2028.
We need your input! OP would like to hear your thoughts on the future of the public realm in Downtown. Please take a moment to complete our short survey and share with all of your friends and neighbors!
Take our Downtown DC Public Realm Survey.
You can also share feedback with OP at a Community Walk Shop, guided 45-minute walks to understand lived experiences in the public realm. Reserve your spot here for one of the walks happening July!
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For over 46 years, John “Peter Bug” Matthews has used his namesake shoe academy in Capitol Hill to teach and mentor District youth. As of November 2022, the Peter Bug Shoe Academy is a DC Historic Landmark. OP’s Historic Preservation Office has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to repair the building. The Peter Bug Shoe Academy building was originally the recreation center for Buchanan School Plaza, which was built in 1968 as part of Lady Bird Johnson’s Beautification Program and featured a unique adventure style playground.
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 The Academy’s namesake, John “Peter Bug” Matthews, standing next to a historic sculpture on the site.
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 Peter Bug Matthews teaching a young student about shoe repair. Photo: Peter Bug Shoe Academy.
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 The exterior of the Peter Bug Shoe Academy.
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 A photo from 1968 that depicts the playground that used to be located just behind the Peter Bug Shoe Academy building. Photo: The Playground Project, Gabriela Burkhalter and Kunsthalle Zürich.
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Caroline Howe joined OP this month as our new Food Policy Director. She brings experience across District government at the intersection of sustainable food systems, social equity, and entrepreneurship. She coordinated the implementation of Sustainable DC 2.0 at the Department of Energy and Environment and served a detail at the COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center alongside the Office of Planning Food Policy staff. At the Department of Small & Local Business Development, she led the Food Waste Innovation Grant Program and the Aspire Program for entrepreneurship for justice-involved individuals. Prior to the District government, Caroline has worked throughout the food system on urban & rural farms, running her own food business, working at farmers markets, teaching cooking & food preservation at food pantries, and managing Federal grants to expand fresh produce access through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) & Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
To learn more about upcoming food policy initiatives, you can read the 2023 DC Food Policy Priorities, developed in partnership with the Food Policy Council. The Council is focused on making nutrition programs more accessible, building connections between urban agriculture and affordable housing, supporting DC’s food as medicine programs, expanding and promoting resources for locally owned food businesses, and increasing sustainability of government-purchased foods.
Stay connected and learn more at dcfoodpolicy.org.
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As we plan how DC can grow and change in ways that serve all residents, we want to hear from DC kids and teens about their favorite places in their neighborhoods and what they would like to have in their neighborhoods.
Take our DC Planning Survey for Kids and Teens.
OP is committed to supporting the next generation of designers and planners that reflect the rich culture and diversity of the District. We visit DC schools to allow students to step into the shoes of a planner or designer. If you are interested in having OP present to a class or youth program, or know of students who would like to connect with OP staff to discuss careers in planning, design and preservation, please contact us at planning@dc.gov or call us at 202-442-7600.
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Alice Kligerman is working with OP’s Archaeology Team. She is a second-year master's student at Florida State University studying Social/Biological Archaeology. Her thesis focuses on the intersectionality of social theory with biological archaeology, specifically from 4000 B.C. - 2500 B.C. in Cyprus.
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Juliet Brown is working with OP’s Archaeology Team. She is currently a graduate student in the Anthropology Department at American University studying Archaeology. She has a master’s in Linguistics and has taught English Language Learners for eight years.
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Harrison “Mac” Hyde is working with OP’s Urban Design team as a summer intern through the DDOT/Howard University internship program. Mac is a second-year master’s student at Virginia Commonwealth University studying Urban and Regional Planning with a focus on Urban Design and Transportation. Prior to graduate school he studied Environmental Science at American University where he worked on a stormwater runoff treatment/abatement project.
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In 2019, Mayor Bowser set a bold goal to create 36,000 new housing units by 2025, 12,000 of which are new, dedicated affordable housing units. To realize this goal and put the District on a path to achieving an equitable distribution of affordable housing, the Office of Planning and the Department of Housing and Community Development produced the Housing Equity Report, which set affordable housing goals for each of the District’s ten Planning Areas.
This month’s Data Corner features the significant progress the District has made towards its housing goals. 82% of the overall housing goal and 63% of the affordable housing goal have been met.
Visit the OP Demographic Data Hub for more reliable, up-to-date demographic data on the residents of the District of Columbia.
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Washington, DC is the nation’s capital and a city of neighborhoods and residents with a local history of people, places and events deserving of honor and remembrance. DC is home to many Commemorative Works honoring individuals and events of both national and local significance. This month, we are featuring the Butt-Millet Memorial Fountain in honor of Pride Month.
 Photo: NPS/Clair Hassle
The Butt-Millet Memorial Fountain honors two United States officials who perished aboard the RMS Titanic. Francis Millet, who served on the Commission of Fine Arts and took part in the design of the National Mall, and Archibald Butt, a Major in the U.S. Army and a presidential military aide, were popular, well-respected men. The fountain was dedicated in 1913 at President's Park in memory of the two close companions who shared a house for many years, often attended social gatherings and parties together, and are widely believed to have been romantically involved with one another. Millet was also a painter and directed the American Academy in Rome, Italy. Major Butt had been a military aide to both President Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. The fountain is not far from where Major Butt's White House office was located. The fountain includes a military figure with sword and shield representing Major Butt, and an artist with palette and brush representing Millet. It was the first memorial built on the Ellipse grounds bordering the White House. The Butt-Millet Memorial Fountain is located on E Street NW north of the Ellipse and maintained by the National Park Service.
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Do you have an idea for a person, place, idea, or event that should be honored in the District? OP is providing design assistance to residents seeking to bring commemorative works to their communities in Wards 4, 5, 7, or 8. Nominations are due by July 7th.
Learn more and submit a nomination by visiting publicinput.com/cwtap.
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Learn more and get involved in our community planning projects:
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Join us at the following events where OP staff will be available to answer questions and share information about OP’s work:
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Open Streets on 12th St NE, June 4th
Open Streets on 12th St NE, June 4th
Community Conversation, Nannie Helen Burroughs Small Area Plan, June 25th
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Open Streets on 12th St NE, June 4th
Day of Archeology Festival, June 10th
Community Conversation, Nannie Helen Burroughs Small Area Plan, June 25th
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