Our neighborhood
Our
center is located at 733 Euclid St. NW, directly across from Banneker High
School and a half block from Howard University. The neighborhood is “Pleasant
Plains”, a culturally rich and diverse community which is now seeing the
benefit of new development and community interest. The neighborhood boundaries
are from Florida Ave. on the south, Spring Rd. on the north, 6th and Warder
St. on the east and 14th St. on the west. It’s main attraction is the stretch
of Georgia Ave from Florida Ave. to Spring Rd. This once segregated African-American
community over time has been a focal point for the best and the brightest
in education, industry and small businesses. Many of its businesses and
institutions have been around since the 30s and are still going strong.
You can read the Washington
Post article on Pleasant Plains featuring
ECAC on October
17, 2009.
The boundaries of Pleasant Plains overlap with Columbia Heights and Parkview,
due in part to its unique history. It was originally a huge estate owned
by the Holmead family since the 1700s that stretched from 16th St. to the
reservoir. In the 1860s, the area north of Florida Ave, then outside the
boundary of the city, was settled by freed African Americans coming north
during the Civil War. The founding of Howard University, The National Association
for the Relief of Destitute Women and Children, Freedmans Hospital and
other historic sites grew out of this settlement. Also during this time,
parts of the original Pleasant Plains estate were sold off to become Columbia
Heights and Parkview. Pleasant Plains remained; its Civic Association was
a founding member of the D.C. Federation of Civic Associations which formed
in 1921. Pleasant Plains was a segregated neighborhood until the 1950s.
In 2007, ECAC initiated the Georgia Avenue/Pleasant Plains Heritage Trail,
working in partnership with Cultural Tourism DC. The trail will preserve
the history of the Pleasant Plains neighborhood, focusing on Georgia Ave.
from Florida Ave. to Spring Rd. Over 50 sites of historical interest were
identified by a community working group that met monthly at ECAC. Neighborhood
Investment Funding was obtained to videotape interviews of elder residents
and business owners by volunteers in the community. The trail will be implemented
in Spring 2010, however much of the research we gathered can be viewed
at www.ecacollective.org/trail.
As part of our continuing involvement in the community,
The Pleasant Plains Civic Association, The Emergence Community Arts Collective
and Mentoring Works 2 have created the Pleasant Plains Neighborhood Network
(PPNN) as a vehicle for keeping the neighborhood informed about the community.
The PPNN is a way of connecting residents of Pleasant Plains to the social,
civic and volunteer opportunities in the community for the purpose of:
Increasing
their awareness of issues that affect their community- Encouraging their participation in decisions affecting their community
- Encouraging them to volunteer in the community
- Increasing social engagement in the community
- Voicing their issues and concerns about the community
- Getting residents the assistance they need to enhance their quality of life