Current Movements, Empower DC, SW Action and advocates present “Gentrification as Public Policy: BIDS, Development, and Displacement in Washington D.C." Organized by neighborhood, this event series aims to lift the veil on Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), and their critical role in facilitating development at the expense of working Black and immigrant communities in DC.

Join community advocates and researchers for this second event looking at the impact of BIDs, specifically, the North of Massachusetts Avenue (NOMA) BID and its impact on gentrification, displacement, and people experiencing homelessness in the area. As BIDs continue to present themselves as neighborly and placemaking entities, through projects like Lightweave, a $2 million light display underneath an underpass in the area, we will explore how and why BIDs came to be, how BID-centered policy drives systemic racism and displacement, from the people working on the ground every day. The ultimate goal of this series is bring about some policy changes, and we will be looking to those in attendance for ideas and suggestions.

Speakers include:
Reginald Black People for Fairness Coalition
Aaron Howe, American University, Anthropology PhD candidate
Maurice Cook, Serve Your City
Susanna Schaller, CCUNY, Author of "Business Improvement Districts and the Contradictions of Placemaking: BID Urbanism in Washington DC"