SWBID Partnership is a nonprofit devoted to serving and nurturing people.
We support that devotion by working to create an ever-more prosperous, healthy, equitable, and sustainable Southwest for all.
We center and amplify neighborhood voices — creating connections, support, programs, and activations designed to meet and adapt to the community’s evolving needs and goals.
From beautifying and tending Peace Gardens and public spaces to providing meals, connecting people to resources, and piloting innovative initiatives, SWBID Partnership seeks to empower the people that make this neighborhood thrive.
The result is an energy that reverberates and invites everyone — entrepreneurs and engineers, landscapers and policy makers, dog walkers and dentists, shop owners and chefs — to reimagine and create what community can be.
The Need
Southwest DC is more than a neighborhood; it’s a microcosm of our country’s massive economic and social disparity, born from generations of systematic harm, oppression, and exclusion.
In Southwest, one of the poorest census groups in the District is wedged between two neighborhoods that contain the most significant rate of development within the District.
In crossing from the north side of
M Street SW to the south side…
Life expectancy
drops by 14 years
In crossing from the east side of South
Capital Street to the west side…
The median income
falls by nearly $78,000
Similar divides exist in several critical indicators, from educational attainment and unemployment to disability status and expected lifetime earnings.
While Southwest DC is currently served by more two dozen District agencies and nonprofit service organizations, these unjust outcomes are perpetuated by siloed operations and inefficient ecosystems.
We must take a holistic approach to solve this crisis, and we must do it now.
Turning the tide in Southwest requires empowered residents, focused resources, and intentionally coordinated community partners with a shared commitment to co-create the ideas, systems, and tools that inspire, expand, and instill in each of us our own agency — and ultimately, co-create a healthier, more equitable, and prosperous SW for all.