OUR PARTNERS
DCCH is proud to work with great partners on behalf of the residents and businesses of the District of Columbia.
DCCH received a contract from the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to provide entrepreneurship trainings to residents and local entrepreneurs who agreed to establish a business within the District of Columbia. The DHCD funding was used to subsidize the cost of the training for 37 participants. DCCH subcontracted XediaLabs to develop the curriculum and facilitate the instruction.
XediaLabs guided students through the Design Thinking and the Lean Startup process. The workshops were designed to stand alone so entrepreneurs could select which course modules would be the most benefit to them. During each session, students worked on the details of their business model canvas. Ten-week sessions were planned on Saturdays from 10am–12pm. Learn more about our Entrepreneurship Lab classes.
DCCH work with Horning Brothers to transform the dilapidated Tivoli Theater into the new, mixed-use Tivoli Square located at 14th Street and Park Road NW.
The Tivoli Theatre was built in 1924 at a cost of $1 million and was until its closing in 1976, one of the most elegant movie houses in Washington, D.C. It was also one of DC’s segregated theaters.
On May 13th of 2007, the historic location was then completely converted into a mixed-used project full of diversity. It houses a Super Giant, the Gala Hispanic Theatre, sit-down restaurants like Nori Asian Bistro and Rumbero’s Cuban cuisine, ground floor retail, office space and 40 condo units named Tivoli Towns of which 20 percent were set-aside for low-and-moderate income households.
DCCH partners with the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) as a Community Based Non-Profit Organization (CBO) to provide business support services to small and retail businesses in eligible commercial areas in the District of Columbia.
Business support activity improves the overall economic viability of neighborhood commercial corridors by spurring new private investment into commercial and nearby residential areas. These technical assistance activities are essential to business attraction and retention in neglected corridors. The assistance provided can include but is not limited to micro-loan packaging, business planning, entrepreneurial training, one-on-one business technical assistance, tax preparation assistance, accounting assistance, or legal assistance.
Storefront Facade Improvement
DHCD provides funding to highly qualified community-based non-profit organizations to develop storefront façade improvement projects in low/moderate income retail/commercial areas in the District of Columbia. Typically, a project is comprised of between ten and twenty-five, preferably concentrated within a few blocks, storefronts selected by the participating non-profit. Qualified business and/or commercial property owners within the targeted area receive matching grants for general repairs/maintenance and for the installation of doors, windows, signs, storefront systems, awnings, and lighting. The non-profit organization provides the business and/or property owners with professional design and construction services throughout the storefront renovation.
Storefront façade improvement enhances the image and overall economic viability of neighborhood business districts by improving the function and appearance of individual building facades; and by spurring new private investment in commercial properties in the same location and in adjacent commercial districts. Successful storefront improvement projects manifest readily observable outcomes that positively affect the community.