Washington, District of Columbia

During FY 2012, EDA collaborated with the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development to provide input and assistance with the City’s Five-Year Economic Development Strategy for the District of Columbia.  Published in November 2012, this plan is the District’s first strategic roadmap for sustained, sector-driven economic development with the goals of creating 100,000 new jobs and generating $1 billion in new tax revenue in the next five years.

In December 2012, the District of Columbia Office of Planning also released its DC Innovation Strategy for Saint Elizabeth’s Final Report.  Funded by an EDA grant in FY 2010, this report articulates how the City can leverage the decision of the Federal government to consolidate the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the site of the former Saint Elizabeth’s hospital to transform the surrounding neighborhood into an Innovation Hub for the defense, intelligence and security industries. By converting the St. Elizabeth’s campus into an integrated center of research, education, training, entrepreneurship, technology transfer, and private sector commercial activities, the City seeks to transform Ward 8, one of the City’s most economically distressed areas, into the epicenter of a thriving regional innovation economy.