Washington, DC’s 11th Street Bridge Park is no small vision. The idea is to develop a defunct commuter bridge, built on the piers of the old 11th Street Bridge, into a vibrant public park serving as a venue for recreation, arts, and culture. When the ribbon is cut, DC’s first elevated public park will span the Anacostia River. The even larger vision is for the Bridge Park to serve as a driver of equity in the city, particularly for Black residents in Wards 7 and 8, who have faced long-standing barriers to resources flourishing on the other side of the bridge.
The Bridge Park team now enters its fifth year of implementing its Equitable Development Plan (EDP), a strategy driving four critical equity areas: housing, arts and culture, workforce development, and small business. The Urban Institute advised on the plan’s creation and has undertaken a multiyear evaluation of its implementation.
The forces of development continue to shape and change the neighborhoods in which the Bridge Park seeks to create equity. Preserving the culture of these communities and building community power with long-term Black residents is critical to success.
The 11th Street Bridge Park team is committed to advancing cultural equity, and the team’s efforts to promote Black arts, culture, and heritage are extensive. Four lessons from the field inform cultural equity’s role in equitable development.
Building power in communities catalyzes equitable development. But what does “building power” mean? And how is the 11th Street Bridge Park project building community power in surrounding neighborhoods?
