NoMa is home to thousands of people who build their lives and raise their families here. Though we are a business improvement district, working to serve the residents is critical to the neighborhood’s success.

This past year, as crime trends rose across the neighborhood and city, public safety emerged as a top priority for the BID. In response, we expanded staff capacity and intensified our efforts to meet the community’s needs. We’re proud to share that these efforts have paid off, with crime trends now showing a promising decline.

Progress on this initiative in 2024 included:

• Delivering the BID’s core services, among them the daily work of the Ambassador team in ensuring the neighborhood is clean and cared-for.
• Hiring a seasoned Senior Director of Public Space Operations with a strong background in public safety who would be a liaison to both BID stakeholders and MPD to address crime and public safety concerns.
• Enhancing data collection processes to better document and report public space activities.
• Reducing response times and improved planning for public space maintenance.
• Working with the h3 Project in NoMa led to—among many other things— 102 housing matches for unhoused persons (24% increase over 2023), with 26 move-ins (3% decrease over 2023).
• Hosting a special in-person public safety forum in February in response to several violent crimes in the early weeks of the year.
• Hosting monthly Public Safety Meetings that enable connections and collaboration between workers, residents, law enforcement agencies, and city agency representatives.
• Organizing, hosting, and joining neighborhood safety walks with political and business leaders, neighborhood organizations, residents, and law enforcement officials.
• Increasing presence at local public meetings for transparency and accountability to NoMa’s residents and neighbors.
• Increasing collaboration with neighborhood public safety stakeholders, including law enforcement representatives, violence interrupters, state and federal prosecutors, and more.
• Ensuring that all BID events are 100% free to attend and are marketed to all of NoMa’s residents.
• Developing and deepening partnerships with city agencies and offering testimony in support of their effectiveness during DC’s budget process.
• Providing direct financial support and coordination/communication support to businesses that experienced incidents of crime, such as King Street Oyster Bar.
• Working with property owners on specific actions that can be taken to address areas with high incidents of crime both inside and outside the BID boundary.
• Expanding the BID’s network of outdoor security cameras with additions at Alethia Tanner Park, and planning new camera installations for Swampoodle Park, Swampoodle Terrace, the NoMa Meander, and other locations.
• Enrolling the BID’s cameras into MPD’s Real Time Crime Center.
• Piloting a mobile camera unit emplacement to provide monitoring and deterrence to crime at specific locations in NoMa.
• Securing a $55,000 grant that allows the NoMa BID to work with private property owners to install a security camera that is connected to both MPD’s Real Time Crime Center and our own CCTV system.
• Coordinating with MPD to strategically place their police vehicles (empty) randomly in locations throughout NoMa to deter crime.
• Working with MPD to launch a QR code check-in system for MPD at key locations so officers check in with property staff.
• Conducting a quarterly streetlight audit to report outages and request replacements to improve visibility and increase the feeling of safety at night.
• Working with other BIDs to encourage the city on public safety, housing-first solutions to homelessness, and other initiatives, including attending trainings organized by the US Attorney’s Office aimed at increasing BID awareness of and access to public safety interventions.
• Expanding access to and attendance at NoMa BID public safety meetings, and increasing BID staff attendance at public safety meetings held in adjacent areas.
• Increasing BID staff awareness and internal coordination on issues of resident concern, including public safety.

Targeted work on this initiative for 2025 will include:

• Revising and rewriting our public space aesthetic guidelines for property owners and developers.
• Working with local stakeholders to remove the underpass barriers on M and L Streets NE.
• Planning and executing new, unique placemaking activations to enliven street-level spaces with positive activity and promote safety throughout the neighborhood.
• Delivering on the $55,000 city grant that allows the NoMa BID to work with private property owners to install a security camera that is connected to both MPD’s Real Time Crime Center and our own CCTV system.