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 our residents is critical to our neighborhood’s success.

Since 2019, the NoMa BID has been partnering with the h3 Project to deliver targeted, individualized outreach services to people who are unhoused in the neighborhood. In 2022, that partnership continued and enabled h3 to expand its staff and services.

Significantly, this year also saw the closure of the encampments that have occupied the NoMa underpasses for many years, through a District pilot program for housing encamped residents called C.A.R.E.S., enacted by the office of the Deputy Mayor for Housing and Human Services (DMHHS). The city completed the pilot project in NoMa in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, and the results were unequivocally a success.

Progress on this initiative in 2023 included:

• Delivering the BID’s core services, among them the daily work of our Ambassador team in ensuring the neighborhood is clean and cared-for. 
• Hiring staff whose primary focus is public safety and community engagement. 
• Continuously evolving our in-house system for tracking and reporting issues in the neighborhood, and coordinating with city agencies via 311 and other mechanisms to ensure prompt attention and resolution. 
• Working with the h3 Project in NoMa led to—among many other things—82 housing matches for unhoused persons (116% increase over 2022), with 27 move-ins (59% increase). 
• Hosting The Giving Tree Project fundraiser in partnership with NoMa businesses, which raised more than $55,000 (a 15% increase over 2022). 
• 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. 
• Working with MPD to deploy a rapid-response signage campaign aimed at reducing “hop-in” motor vehicle thefts which successfully reduced incidences of this crime in the targeted areas. 
• 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 of our events are 100% free to attend and are marketed to all of NoMa’s residents. 
• Developing and deepening our 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. 
• Growing the Giving Tree Project fundraising goal by 20%. These monies were donated to the h3 Project. 
• Expanding the BID’s network of outdoor security cameras with additions at Alethia Tanner Park, and planning new camera emplacements for Swampoodle Park, Swampoodle Terrace, the NoMa Meander, and other locations. 
• 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. 

Targeted work on this initiative for 2024 will include:

• Piloting a mobile camera unit emplacement to provide monitoring and deterrence to crime at specific locations in NoMa. 
• Revising and rewriting our public space aesthetic guidelines for property owners and developers. 
• Expanding access to and attendance at NoMa BID public safety meetings, and increasing BID staff attendance at public safety meetings held in adjacent areas. 
• Working with local stakeholders to remove the underpass barriers on M and L Streets NE. 
• Increasing BID staff awareness and internal coordination on issues of resident concern, including public safety. 
• Planning and executing new, unique placemaking activations to enliven streets-level spaces with positive activity and promote safety throughout the neighborhood.