Our Story

Community Built. Community Driven.

District Bridges was born out of a collaborative grassroots effort, known as the Columbia Heights Initiative (CHI). CHI started as a group of neighbors who shared a vision of building inclusive relationships and having fun! In 2005, these founding members organized the first Columbia Heights Day Festival. After ten years, the CHI board built the foundation for an organization that would serve the community year-round. With this broader vision, we changed our name to District Bridges, and expanded to serve the neighborhoods of Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, Petworth, Park View and Pleasant Plains.

District Bridges Main Streets

We now manage five Main Streets including the Cleveland Park Main Street, Columbia Heights | Mount Pleasant Main Street, Logan Circle Main Street, Lower Georgia Avenue Main Street, and U Street Main Street programs funded in part by the DC Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD). Through these programs, we support community-based economic development across nine neighborhoods in Washington, DC.