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AAMC & MVT CID Convene Homelessness Roundtable

Friday February 9, 2018

All of our neighbors deserve a clean, safe place to call home. That’s why on Tuesday, January 23, the MVT CID and Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) hosted a breakfast dialogue on the topic of homelessness within our community and across the District. The meeting provided a platform to discuss the MVT CID’s procedures for addressing homelessness, and how residents, retailers, the faith-based community, business leaders and other key community influencers can best engage on this very important issue.

Joining MVT CID President & CEO Kenyattah Robinson to lead the discussion was Linda Kaufman, Director of Homeless Services for the DowntownDC Business Improvement District, who explained some of the causes of homelessness and provided her perspective on solutions for preventing, reducing and eliminating this health and social issue; and Natalie Avery, Executive Director of the DC BID Council—an association of DC’s 10 business improvement districts (BID), which includes MVT CID—who shared an update on homelessness-reduction efforts currently underway within local government, the homeless services community, and across the District’s BIDs.

Here’s why this effort is important to both AAMC and the MVT CID:

  • AAMC is an important MVT CID owner- and tenant-stakeholder and nationally recognized medical leader that is committed to seeking meaningful ways to make a difference in the communities they serve. They have identified homelessness—and particularly the mental and psychological illness that often afflicts those who suffer from homelessness or otherwise unstable housing conditions—as a specific area of organizational emphasis.
     
  • Ensuring the safety and well-being of our neighbors while responsibly contributing to unmet societal needs is a core MVT CID value that is strategically imperative toward “raising the bottom” for what’s possible in a thoughtfully planned, carefully coordinated mixed-used community like Mount Vernon Triangle. This value extends to caring for our neighbors who are homeless or otherwise unstably housed.

January’s discussion complemented others currently underway within both AAMC and the MVT CID, and assisted in further determining the additional measures that could be implemented, the partnerships the could be forged, and the human and financial resources that could be leveraged to make episodes of homelessness within our community rare, brief and non-recurring.

The MVT CID will continue to work in close coordination with AAMC, our local government partners and BID colleagues, homeless services professionals, and the community to identify tangible actions that can be taken in follow-up to this meeting to improve systems, enhance outcomes, and provide clean, safe and affordable housing to more of our neighbors. All are invited to join our efforts by e-mailing info@mvtcid.org to express your interest in working with us to reduce and eliminate homelessness within the District of Columbia.

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