A Community of Opportunity: From Homelessness to Small Business Ownership in the Nation's Capital

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2009

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Washington, D.C. has one of the highest levels of chronic homelessness in the country and this population is on the rise. The broad infrastructure of homeless aid programs frequently fails to reintegrate formerly homeless individuals back into the workforce due to their unstable and often criminal backgrounds. By combining microenterprise support, retail space, and mixed-income housing, this project seeks to educate and empower formerly homeless individuals by providing entrepreneurial opportunity, a positive social network of people with similar circumstances and goals, and integration into a broad community of mixed incomes and backgrounds. By nurturing individuals, families, and small businesses, this facility will become an asset to its surrounding Southwest D.C. community and to many of the city's homeless.

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