The 800 block of Upshur Street in Petworth remains an active retail and restaurant area.

There’s been a push to create a Main Street for the Petworth area to help small businesses along the Georgia Avenue corridor. This effort requires both community support and DC Council support.

The DC Main Streets program was created in 2004 with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and run by DC’s Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) to help existing businesses flourish and encourage new businesses to establish in unused properties. They bring funds and expertise to help long-standing businesses apply for city grants, run local events and encourage consumers to shop local.

Around the Petworth area, Lower Avenue Georgia Avenue Main Street (Park View and below) and Uptown Main Street (14th Street and Kennedy Street) have been working to help our local businesses. Georgia Avenue just north of Park View and through Petworth have no outside support, and miss out on city programs and that expertise.

Residents and local businesses have been trying to get the DC Council to support creating a Main Street for Petworth for a few years, only to lose that support. With the impact of Covid, the time is right to look for new ways to help our local businesses.

Now, members of ANC 4C, Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George and others are pushing for Petworth to get its own Main Street designation. According to the group, a Petworth Main Street would provide critical capacity building and direct support for local businesses, and help ensure an equitable economic recovery. Petworth, including Georgia Avenue from Kansas to Missouri and on Upshur Street, is currently the only commercial corridor in Ward 4 without a Main Street.

"I strongly support establishing a Petworth Main Street to support our small businesses on the Upshur Street corridor and part of Georgia Avenue,” said Councilmember Lewis George. “Many of these businesses are Black-owned, women-owned, and immigrant-owed establishments with deep community ties. They provide important services to our residents and serve as hubs for community life."

The 200 block of Upshur has struggled to hold onto businesses and existing businesses could use technical and financial support.

“A Main Street Association would provide invaluable technical assistance and broad support that can help sustain these businesses and deliver positive results for all residents," said Councilmember Lewis George.

District Bridges, an organization that runs five Main Street programs in DC, including the Lower Georgia Avenue Main Street, knows the value of these programs. They have helped their supported businesses apply for PPE loans, navigate the Streatery permit process, adapt their businesses to operate online, and provided support to businesses who speak English as a second language.

“Main Street programs are an incredible tool to support holistic community development,” said Brianne Dornbush, Executive Director of District Bridges. “This has never been more important than today as we begin to recover from the cascading impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. In an environment where rapid gentrification often pushes small businesses out, Main Streets exist to help preserve those businesses that contribute to the cultural fabric of our communities.”

You can sign a petition for Mayor Bowser and the DC Council to support Petworth with a Main Street and help local businesses.

You can also testify in front of the DC Council in support of a Petworth Main Street on Thursday, June 3rd from 1 - 3 pm via a virtual platform. Send an email with your name, contact number, and that you want to testify about DSLBD to BusinessEconomicDevelopment@dccouncil.us, no later than Wednesday, June 2nd at 5 pm.