WIN : Accomplishments

2007 – Mayor Fenty Commits to People’s Agenda. Mayor Fenty states publicly that WIN’s agenda is the people’s agenda and commits to WIN’s VOTE Neighborhoods First agenda, including regular accountability reports (click here) on the status of achieving the people’s agenda. In March before 800 WIN leaders at Asbury United Methodist Church, Mayor Fenty submits his 100-day accountability report (click here), stating his commitment to $1 billion for neighborhoods, $350 million for investment in youth, and 14,000 units of affordable housing during his administration. In July before 600 leaders in Ward 8, Mayor Fenty outlines his plan to provide $117 million per year in new funding for 14,000 units of affordable housing. In November with 600 leaders in Ward 7, Mayor Fenty unveils $104 million in new funding in the 2008 budget to implement the VOTE Neighborhoods First Agenda (click here). Responding to the commitment to invest in youth, Mayor Fenty and Superintendent Janey invested $21.5 million to renovate six DCPS high school athletic facilities to start the 2007-8 school year.

2006 – VOTE Neighborhoods First. In May,looking to preserve its victories resulting in a commitment of $550 million for investment in Neighborhoods First, WIN leaders sought to convey a message in the most significant election in the city’s history since the first election since Washington, DC achieved limited home rule. With nearly half of the DC Council and the Mayor changing in the 2006 election, WIN sought to demonstrate its non-partisan power in the 2006 elections by sending a 400-leader army into 27 precincts near WIN institutions with the goal of increasing support at the ballot box for Neighborhoods First. Building on 1998 and 2002 successes, WIN leaders repeat the important question “Who is the city for?,” and add the demand: “$1 billion for Neighborhoods – VOTE Neighborhoods First!” The result of VOTE Neighborhoods First – In September 2006, WIN raised voter turnout by 15% in its 27 precincts in the poorest neighborhoods in the city while overall voter turnout increased by 5% across the city and secured Mayor and DC Council commitments to WIN’s Vote Neighborhoods First Campaign action agenda.

2004 – Baseball Community Benefits Fund. In December 2004, after two years of organizing, WIN forces Mayor Williams and the DC Council to include a $450 million Community Benefits Fund in a bill to fund the construction of a new baseball stadium on the Anacostia waterfront--keeping their commitment to WIN to make an equivalent investment in the neighborhoods. The commitment to Neighborhoods First included in the bill was the creation of a $450 million fund capitalized by revenues from a Tax Increment Financing District in the area surrounding the new stadium. Revenue will be dedicated to affordable housing, neighborhood retail, libraries, other public facilities, infrastructure repairs and upgrades in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

2004 – $1 Billion for Neighborhoods. In March 2004, 500 WIN leaders gathered with DC Council Chairman Cropp and Finance & Revenue Committee Chairman Evans to secure the next $100 million for neighborhoods through Tax Increment Financing and to announce WIN’s new goal, $1 billion for Neighborhoods First, which would be achieved by capturing $500 million in Tax Increment Financing revenue from the city’s projected $8 billion investment in the Anacostia Waterfront Development Initiative.

2004 – January – Neighborhood Investment Act. This was WIN’s first major Neighborhoods First victory, a law which created a $100 million fund secured by dedicating 15% of the revenue from the personal property tax on businesses for 9 target neighborhoods where WIN member institutions organized and three neighborhoods Bellevue, Congress Heights and H Street, added with DC Council amendments to the bill. After two years of hard work in the neighborhoods, this bill passed with a unanimous vote of the DC Council.

2002 – Neighborhoods First Campaign Beginning. In July 2002, 800 WIN leaders met with Mayor Williams and 9 of 13 council members seeking $200 million for the city’s poorest neighborhoods, demanding an investment equal to that for downtown. The question “Who is the city for?” was first presented with the demand “Neighborhoods First,” focusing WIN’s organizing on real, significant investment in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

2000 - Excellence in Education Campaign. Building on its 1999 success in securing $15 million to create an after-school education enrichment program, including WIN-directed programs at four elementary schools: Aiton in Ward 7 near Lincoln Heights, J O Wilson in Ward 5, Stuart Hobson in Ward 6 and Whittier in Ward 4, WIN launched its Excellence in Education Campaign. The results of the campaign – after-school programs with dedicated funding in schools across the entire city, completion of $12.5 million in priority maintenance projects in 25 schools across the city before the fall of 2002 and a commitment from Superintendent Vance to work with WIN leaders to improve teacher development and education outcomes for public school students.

2000 - First Nehemiah Homes. In November, WIN leaders gathered with Eleanor Holmes-Norton, Mayor Williams and religious leaders from key denominations in the city to break ground for 147 Nehemiah affordable homes at the old Fort Dupont Public Housing site, the first of 1,000 affordable homes pledges to be built by the Williams administration in partnership with WIN. Construction began in 2002, and leaders assembled in September 2003 for the ribbon-cutting at, Dupont Commons Nehemiah, A Neighborhood Reborn, a nationally recognized highly successful affordable housing development. At Dupont Commons Nehemiah, WIN secured 147 contracts for first time homeowners with incomes between $15,000 and $60,000 prior to opening its model home in November 2003, saw the first owners move in prior to Christmas 2003 and welcomed its last new owner in February 2005.

1998 - “Sign Up & Take Charge. In spring and early summer, WIN leaders collected signatures of 20,000 DC residents who support WIN’s agenda of community policing, homeownership, universal after-school programs, and living wage jobs for DC residents. In July and October 1998, WIN leaders conducted accountability meetings with all mayoral candidates seeking public commitments to WIN’s community action agenda. With information from all candidates, WIN leaders distributed 40,000 voter information cards during the summer and 60,000 in the fall informing citizens of the mayoral candidates’ responses to the agenda. Anthony Williams, the only candidate to publicly commit to WIN’s full agenda, was elected Mayor.

1996 - Founding Assembly. 2,000 WIN leaders from 50 member institutions from every ward in the city, along with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, and DC Mayor Marion Barry, gathered to celebrate WIN’s founding. WIN leaders pledged future initiatives to increase the availability of affordable housing, and to address concerns involving youth, education, crime and jobs.