We are a private non profit organization which serves the District of Columbia's multicultural communities of Adams Morgan and Mount Pleasant. I thank you for the opportunity to speak about the subject of economic renewal. This is a much talked about and more importantly acted upon phrase in our communities. LEDC has had laudable success with its conceived micro to macro methodology to individual, cluster and community development which have helped to bolster these two communities' revitalization efforts and transform their economic fate. LEDC works at a grassroots level of business development.
Entrepreneurial spirit is at the core of all commercial corridor revitalization activities.
We have caught a wave of small business devotion in our communities which has uplifted the merchants' commitment to the economy and their ability to make their own economic alternatives work. The merchants' and residents' concerns and complaints regarding primarily cleanliness and safety were not being addressed as quickly and as permanently as they desired. These urban, multi-ethnic, multiclass, and multicultural neighborhoods required a comprehensive work strategy and simultaneous points of actions to gain resolution. So much had been promised to these communities from government and non government entities alike. A new, self reliant community based approach was needed.