Philanthropy Fights Gentrification Around D.C.'s Planned Bridge Park

JPMorgan Chase will donate $10 million to preserve affordable housing in Washington, D.C., reports Jonathan O'Connell. The announcement of J.P. Morgan's donation is the most recent philanthropic attention devoted to the project and its surrounding neighborhoods.

"The proposed 11th Street Bridge Park that would cross the Anacostia River continues to inspire big-name philanthropists to write big checks to revitalize some of the District’s poorest neighborhoods and help low-income residents prepare should an economic turnaround arrive," writes O'Connell.

The Building Bridges Across the River nonprofit worked to secre the funding from JPMorgan Chase, as a response to the threat of gentrification and displacement in the wake of the project. "Organizers are already concerned that the park project will drive up rents and property values to the degree that low- and moderate-income residents of the area will be forced out once the park opens, similar to what has happened when new development arrived in other parts of the city in recent years," writes O'Connell. The article includes more details on the previous donations to the cause of preventing the worst effects of gentrification.

About half of the project's funding has been raised, and construction could begin as soon as 2019.