| Washington, D.C., is sometimes characterized as being two cities: prosperous "west of the park" (referring to the city's famous Rock Creek Park) and economically and socially challenged "east of the park." This latter Washington is checkered with distressed neighborhoods that are racially isolated, underdeveloped, poor, and have high rates of illiteracy and joblessness. The Howard University COPC's target area focuses on seven of these challenged neighborhoods--Shaw, LeDroit Park, Edgewood, Eckington, Pleasant Plains, Columbia Heights, Bloomingdale, and Petworth--all of which surround the Howard University campus and are located in part in the District of Columbia's Enterprise Community.
Residents and community-based organizations in this target area have expressed a strong desire for a coordinated community plan to improve their quality of life. They have identified a number of issues that must be addressed including poor development coordination, high levels of illiteracy, deficient job skills, poor medical health, inadequate flows of mortgage and business capital, and a shortage of trained community development talent. Howard University is working with community-based organizations to undertake activities in the areas of community planning and economic development, family literacy education, health promotion, job training/microenterprise assistance, fair housing, and community development leadership. The underlying goal is to offset barriers to economic and social development in these otherwise attractive and accessible neighborhoods through a program of community empowerment and service provision.
Principal partners in this effort are the District government, the Urban Family Institute's Family Investment Center, the Coalition for Non-Profit Housing and Economic Development, the ECDC Microenterprise Company, and the Manna Community Development Corporation.
Howard University, considered the "capstone of black higher education," has a long-standing commitment to solving problems in Washington's disadvantaged communities through outreach activities.
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