Benjamin Banneker Development Corporation is involved in numerous projects and initiatives throughout the Greater Washington Metropolitan area. While blazing new trails and plowing new ground to create jobs and better lives for those most in need, the creation of decent, safe, sanitary and affordable housing will remain a centerpiece of what the BBDC does. To that end, we continue to seek new projects and partners as a way to slow the widening divide between those who can and cannot afford to live in the DMV, while building wealth to help close the income gap. When one has a roof over one’s head, he or she can make it. The BBDC remains dedicated to helping people make it.
Below is a list of some of the initiatives and beneficiaries of our philanthropic endeavors.
Richard Tucker Memorial Education Fund
Through the
Richard Tucker Memorial Education Fund, BBDC has pledged to award $10,000 in annual scholarships to students at four different D.C. public schools for the next ten years. The fund is named in honor of Richard Tucker, past President of the BBDC and a lifelong champion of affordable housing and community development. With cuts to financial aid and tuition on the rise, the education fund helps ensure that the city’s brightest students have the money and resources they need to pay for tuition and books.
D.C. Jobs with Justice
D.C. Jobs with Justice provides internship opportunities for D.C. public school students or recent graduates. This innovative program introduces young people to community organizing—an area that helped to pave the road to the White House for President Barack Obama—and provides training and career advice. DC Jobs with Justice also helps youth develop invaluable leadership skills and college graduates prepared for rewarding careers in public service.
Banneker Summer Institute
The
Banneker Summer Institute, is an annual five-week program for incoming ninth graders and new tenth-grade students at the Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, one of the District’s most progressive and academically rigorous high schools. This bridge program helps ensure that participants are equipped with the necessary skills to meet the institution’s high standards and maintain a strong grade point average that will enable them to successfully compete for placement in the nation’s best colleges and universities.
The Duke Ellington School of the Arts Shepherding Program Summer Retreat
The Duke Ellington School of the Arts Shepherding Program Summer Retreat is a one-week program that addresses student success at Ellington and cultivates students’ academic, artistic and character development throughout the four years they attend the school.
Phelps Electrical Vehicle (PEV) Racers
Phelps Electrical Vehicle (PEV) Racers is a group of students from the Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High
School, who have for several years been formidable competitors in the Washington D.C. Electric
Vehicle Grand Prix, leading the way in the use of clean energy. BBDC is a proud sponsor of the Phelps Racers and takes pride in helping the program engage African-American and other young students of color in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Barry Homes Associates
Barry Homes Associates is a subsidiary of Benjamin Banneker Development Corporation. Since 1982, BBDC has built, owned and managed affordable rental housing in the District of Columbia in partnership with other nonprofits and private development corporations. In the summer of 2015, Barry Homes converted one of its buildings in the historic Columbia Heights neighborhood into market rate condominiums.
