WARD 8
COMMUNITY
INVESTMENT
FUND
W8CIF SNAPSHOT
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$2.1MM in Funding Deployed to Date
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Up to $40,000 per Business
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80+ Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs Funded
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Diverse Range of Enterprise Sizes and Types Supported
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Over 50 Exploration Grants up to $2,000 for Ages 14-21 Deployed
INSPIRATION
Despite a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and amazing community legacy, traditional capital channels have failed Ward 8 businesses and
entrepreneurs. Ward S's small businesses face a stark disparity in access to capital.
During the spring of 2022, the pace of the world's daily grind was halted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. American's witnessed the largest racial justice protests in the United States since the Civil
Rights Movement. A call for economic justice was among top concerns. Multitudes of African Americans raised their voices to attack systemic problems and propose solutions. DCCDC's directors, associates and focus groups envisioned a future Ward 8 entrepreneurs could rise with the tide of the city's ongoing economic development projects. DCCDC proposed policy that could pilot
change if adopted by the DC City Council.
Arguably, one of the most prolific solutions proposed, and actually implemented, was an answer to the local and national call for
socioeconomic balance in America. It was the Ward 8 Community Investment Fund (W8CIF).
We believed we could make an impact through innovative funding models that demonstrate how banks and foundations can play specific, pivotal roles in building a sustainable support ecosystem for Black businesses that have been historically shut out of funding.
W8CIF was designed to make swift, and substantial impact by meeting the target demographic where they stand. Many Ward 8
entrepreneurs are standing on an island without home equity, credit, or any collateral to leverage traditional financing. The financial backing from friends and family that has been instrumental in closing funding gaps for successful start ups, is absent when your friends and family are stranded on the same island.
At the start of FY 2023, DCCDC launched a pilot that effectively closed the aforementioned funding gaps. By Q2 of the same fiscal year, 85% of those businesses repaid their loans. The loans received could not be denied because W8CIF used publicly funded grants as cash collateral. The collateral grant was then delivered to the business
upon repayment of the loan.
WSCIF not only demonstrates that those left behind deserve a fair chance, but it proves we can't get new results doing the same old things. Reconsideration, recalculation, and innovation are required. This report provides a birds eye view of how a small seed has blossomed to aid to these forgotten entrepreneurs. See - "Building an Ecosystem for Ward 8 Entreprenuers: A Case for
Public-Private-Philanthropic Investment", NationaI Bankers Association Foundation - for a more detailed analysis.
NEEDS & USES
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The most recurrent theme in capital need was marketing and advertising
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The next most common need was equipment and technology upgrades
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Other working capital uses: covering rent and facility costs (about 20% mentioned needing funds for commercial rent, lease deposits, or storefront improvements) and paying for licenses, permits, or insurance
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Inventory and materials was another frequent use of funds
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Several owners intended to put money toward hiring or retaining staff
CHALLENGES & BARRIERS
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Lack of access to traditional credit and capital
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Over 80% of the entrepreneurs indicated difficulty obtaining business loans and lines of credit
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Ward 8 businesses in general receive only (2.3%) of the city's commercial capital from mainstream financial institutions
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The above Capital gap is a direct contributor to the racial wealth and opportunity disparities - the W8CIF program was explicitly designed to address this gap
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Nearly all participants were essentially shut out of the traditional credit market turning to the community fund as a crucial alternative
ENTREPRENUER PROFILE
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About 60% had been in operation for 0-3 years
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1 in 5 awardees were startups less than a year old
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38% had between 1 and 3 years in operation.
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17% had over 10 years of operating history
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Some entreprenuers had 15-20+ years in business
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Micro-enterprise sized in terms of employees.
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Majority were owner-operated,
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Some had grown to 5-8 employees
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Capital infusions (and complementary training) can be pivotal to their growth
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Owners wear many hats and might benefit from operational support in addition to funding
Pictured Above: Grounded Cafe, Anacostia, Washington DC
WELCOME TO THE WARD
Pictured Above: Inagural Ward 8 Community Fund Info Session
Located east of the Anacostia River in Washington D.C., Ward 8 was originally inhabited by the Nachotchtank, Nacostine, or Anacostine Natives -an indigenous fishing, farming, and hunting community living in longhouses and wigwams, like many other Algonquian-speaking tribes.
Post civil war, countless land covenants forbade the sell of land to African Americans. In 1867, The Bureau of Refugees Freedmen and Abandoned Lands purchased 375 acres from the Barry family and sold one-acre plots to Black families, allowing them to build homes and establish a self-sustaining community. The funds from the
purchased lots went to fund the start of Howard, Lincoln, and Wilberforce-Historically Black Colleges and Universities. They named the community Hillsdale, one of the first American communities where Black's could own land.
World renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass ironically purchased the home of John VanHook, a white developer who sought to keep Anacostia an all white neighborhood. Douglass and other notable figures were very active in Anacostia. Hillsdale became a vibrant neighborhood with schools, churches, and thriving businesses, and
played a significant role in the civil rights movement.
However, over time, the community faced challenges such as urban development and infrastructure projects that led to the displacementof many residents.
The construction of Suitland Parkway, and later the Anacostia Freeway (1-295), sliced through the Hillsdale/Barry Farm area. These projects physically divided the neighborhood and reduced the land value, making it harder for homeowners to retain and invest in their properties.
Beginning in the 1940s and 1950s, the federal government and the District launched urban renewal programs under the premise of
eliminating "blight." As a result, many of the original homes and lots were seized-often through eminent domain-and replaced with public housing, like the Barry Farm Dwellings built in the 1940s.
This led to the loss of private homeownership, displacement of many families who could not afford to move elsewhere, and a shift from a
homeowner-based community to a renter-based one. People suddenly ceased to benefit from real estate equity.
Predatory policies, rising property taxes, and pressure from developers or the city, continually stripped land and homes from African American citizens-mirroring patterns seen in other Black
communities across the U.S. What started as a beacon of Black land ownership during American Reconstruction, slowly fell victim to the practices that contributed to the existing racial wealth gap, where the average White family now has 81x the wealth as the average black family in the region.
BUILDING
ON
SUCCESS
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By continuing to build on this model, future programs can further empower Ward S's Black business owners - turning potential into sustained success, and ensuring these historically under-invested entrepreneurs are fully included in the region's economic growth story
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In conclusion, the 2024 Ward 8 Community Investment Fund data paints a picture of a vibrant but capital starved entrepreneurial community. The businesses share common needs - marketing, equipment, working capital - that relatively modest funding begins to fulfill
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W8CIF's approach of coupling grants with micro-loans and assistance has demonstrably
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Meet these entrepreneurs where they are, enabling them to invest in critical areas of their businesses
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W8CIF's approach of coupling grants with microloans and assistance has demonstrably met these entrepreneurs where they are, enabling them to invest in critical areas of their businesses