Musings of Penn Branch

I wrote previously about the transitioning nature of Ivy City. My immersive experience here, enabled me to make a meaningful contribution in the second round of my social entrepreneurship experience for City Lab II. Working with the Penn Branch Ave project allowed me to see how ongoing engagement with community stakeholders, can yield positive outcomes for the betterment of those currently in residence.

A bit of background, the CityLab project has been working with a neighborhood association in Penn Branch for a couple of years. Each CityLab cohort works with the community to define outputs at the end of 8 weeks. For us, we developed a website (with interviews of community members), designed to showcase the uniqueness of the neighborhood, in order to attract interest from investors. We also created a toolkit outlining ways of integrating arts to establish community cohesion. The toolkit also provided information on the creation of murals and how to integrate such projects within the community.

I couldn’t help but compare my Penn Branch experience, with my immersion/personal learning in Ivy City. The most striking difference between these two neighborhoods was, put simply, the types of residences. Large, grand homes, with generous front and back yards. In contrast, Ivy City was more of a hodgepodge of bungalows, apartment buildings, and homes. Penn Branch, while a larger area, had more public amenities than Ivy City. However, Ivy City offered more restaurants than Penn Branch. Both were without metro stops, charter schools, and walkability. However, Penn Branch had much more greenery than Ivy City.

Gentrification is a challenge for both. But, the challenges with Ivy City, at present, are more pronounced. The capital investment currently underway in Ivy City is so palpable that it is likely going to be a matter of five years before indigenous residents are unable to afford the area. Penn Branch is a little more complicated. There is a mix of decades-long middle class affluence, along with poverty and high-need residents. Because there aren’t any major capital projects at this time, gentrification will not happen for a while.

I’ve had the wonderful privilege of working with a great cohort of peers. Coming into this project midstream, the team was very welcoming, and very patient as they explained their vision, described the relationships they developed with the community, and approached each team output in earnest. I couldn’t be happier to have been, and continue to be, associated with such high caliber people.