By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser opened the District’s second Safe Commercial Corridor Hub in the Anacostia neighborhood of Ward 8 on May 13. The first safe commercial hub was opened in Chinatown in February.
The hubs connect residents to an array of city services they may need, aiming to keep community corridors safe and unsullied.
“The idea is very simple: These are places where residents can walk in to get help from D.C. agencies,” said Bowser at a live-streamed press conference on May 13. “It is particularly aimed at improving public safety to make sure that people are getting the behavioral health services that they need.”
The new hub will be staffed by outreach teams from several community relations, human services, public safety and behavioral health agencies that can respond to community challenges in real time.
“We’re excited to have this resource in the community and we learned some lessons from the Chinatown hub. There we’ve seen a 15 percent drop in crime since we opened the hub, including a 78 percent drop in violent crime,” said Bowser. “We’ve also connected more than 200 people to DHS (Department of Human Services) and to the Department of Health through walk-ins.”
The Anacostia hub is located at 2300 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., S.E. It is open to residents Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Time and time again, we hear from residents and business owners and you speak about your desires to have more Metropolitan Police Department officers in your community,” said D.C. Chief of Police Pamela Smith. “This is certainly an opportunity for us today to be able to enhance and embark upon those things that you have constantly shared with us over and over again.
“Also, this hub will offer several benefits for us,” continued Smith. “It will give our officers more accessibility for police services through their police desk. It’ll give the officers the opportunity to be readily accessible, and we will cut down on response time when things are happening in this area. We will have officers here on bike patrol. We’ll have officers in this area on foot patrol.”
Tashi McQueen is a Report For America corps member.
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