The District of Columbia has announced a $1.7 million grant to build a Downtown Day Services Center to serve individuals experiencing homelessness. The center will be managed by the DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID), with social services provided by Pathways to Housing DC (Pathways), District agencies, and other key partners.
“A Downtown Day Services Center has for many years been the missing piece in our shared effort to comprehensively address the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness in the District,” said DowntownDC BID President & CEO Neil Albert. “Today, this vision has finally become a reality through the essential and significant public-private partnership between the District of Columbia, the DowntownDC BID, Pathways to Housing DC and other nonprofit partners.”
[Read Mayor Muriel Bowser’s full press release here.]
Twenty years ago, the DowntownDC BID operated a Downtown Services Center, which was run by Linda Kaufman but was forced to close when the space was no longer available. Now, with more than 30 years experience in homeless services, Linda has returned to the BID as the director of homeless services and will now serve as the director of the new center and work with our longtime partner Pathways to Housing DC, the city and a variety of public and private partners to operate this new Downtown Day Services Center.
The center is slated to open this November and will be housed at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church (1313 New York Avenue NW). It will operate from 9am-5pm Monday-Friday, filling a gap in support by offering daytime services when city shelters are closed. Food, showers and laundry, computers, social workers, behavioral health, legal assistance, employment support, housing assessment and more will be offered by a range of providers.
For more information or to get involved, please contact Linda at lindak@downtowndc.org.