NoMa has emerged from the pandemic stronger than ever, establishing itself as one of Washington, DC’s best-performing neighborhoods. NoMa’s recovery reflects the collective vision, investment, and adaptability of its stakeholders, with renewed activity, stable demand, and growing confidence underscoring its resilience. Return-to-office workforce policy changes helped to accelerate NoMa’s recovery, with the neighborhood feeling as active and vibrant Monday through Friday as on the weekends.

Progress on this initiative in 2025 included:

• Making NoMa a place people want to be regardless of workplace.
• Hosting another full calendar year of in-person events that are convenient and attractive to NoMa residents working from home and visitors alike, including place activations, art openings, the weekly NoMa Farmers Market, movie nights, and large-scale festivals.
• Bolstering the local business community by hosting quarterly business socials that provide opportunities for employers and their employees to get to know one another, develop mutual support structures, and plan collaborations.
• Expanding and relaunching the Metropolitan Beer Trail, a free digital passport and prize-incentivized marketing program, and inviting thousands of customers to visit 11 NoMa and NoMa-adjacent breweries and bars along the Metropolitan Branch Trail.
• Realizing a steady increase in the neighborhood’s average pedestrian count.
• Tracking and heralding record-setting Metro ridership, which exceeded the pre-pandemic record high of 30,000 trips in one day during the first quarter of the year.
• Storytelling and effective messaging to communicate the story of NoMa’s transformation into the post-pandemic neighborhood of choice and a place where businesses can succeed.
• Continuing to track and communicate data to demonstrate traffic and other metrics that tell the story of NoMa’s vibrancy.
• Launching and leading tours of the neighborhood with groups of placemaking professionals, urban planners, and visitors to showcase the neighborhood’s success.

Targeted work on this initiative for 2026 will include:

• Partnering with the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED), the Washington DC Economic Partnership (WDCEP), and the Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) to showcase the neighborhood and help attract future tenants.
• Celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Metropolitan Beer Trail and the dozen-plus participating bars and breweries.
• Launching targeted campaigns to enhance engagement with people who work in NoMa.
• Continuing to host the quarterly NoMa Business Social and Property Managers Social.
• Launching a fresh and full calendar of events that are free and open to all to attract residents and visitors alike to the neighborhood.
• Continuing data collection and sharing to tell the story of NoMa’s success.
• Publicizing the results of the 2026 Community Survey and highlighting benchmarks to demonstrate progress post-pandemic.
• Continuing to invite professional groups, individuals, and businesses to tour NoMa and see the success firsthand.
• Proactively pitching news media on NoMa successes to secure positive press coverage.