Soul of the City Spotlight: Washington Highlands, Where Green Space and Community Power Meet

The Well at Oxon Run community farm and wellness space in Washington Highlands

WELCOME!

Welcome to the first installment of the Soul of the City Spotlight, a rotating series celebrating the people, places, businesses, and possibilities that make our three-neighborhood district strong.

We are beginning in Washington Highlands: a Ward 8 community where green space, neighborhood pride, and community power meet. Future spotlights will feature Bellevue and Congress Heights, ensuring that every neighborhood remains visible, valued, and included in the story of the Soul of the City BID.

Why is Washington Highlands the green heart of our shared future?

Because this community is more than a geographic place. It is a residential neighborhood shaped by generations of homeowners, longtime residents, families, organizers, young people, entrepreneurs, and neighbors who continue to build, advocate, and care for one another.

Washington Highlands is not a footnote. It is central to the identity and future of our district.

A Community Built on Higher Ground

Washington Highlands takes its name from the hills on which the community began developing in 1904. Located in Southeast Washington, D.C., in Ward 8, the neighborhood has grown through multiple eras of city life and change.

Its history includes the expansion of residential development during the World War II era, when housing needs transformed communities across the District. Highland Dwellings, built during that period, became part of the neighborhood’s long story of affordable housing, family life, and community connection.

Today, Washington Highlands remains a tight-knit residential community. Homeowners and longtime residents bring deep knowledge of the neighborhood’s history and a strong understanding of what it takes to create a thriving future. Their leadership reminds us that inclusive growth must honor the people and cultural assets already here.

The story of Washington Highlands is also part of the larger Ward 8 story: one shaped by resilience, Black history, public investment, community organizing, and a continuing demand for opportunity.

For more historical context, explore the District’s Ward 8 Heritage Guide.

Parks, Recreation, and Everyday Belonging

Washington Highlands shows us how public spaces can become essential community infrastructure.

At Ferebee-Hope Recreation Center, residents can access an indoor pool, gymnasium, outdoor courts, a baseball diamond, tennis courts, community gardens, a playground, and a shaded pavilion. These amenities create places for recreation, learning, wellness, and connection. Visit the DC Department of Parks and Recreation’s Ferebee-Hope page for current information.

Ferebee-Hope Recreation Center in Ward 8

Nearby, Oxon Run Parkway connects residents to trails, picnic areas, athletic facilities, and open green space. These places support movement, rest, play, and gathering. They also contribute to a broader vision of neighborhood safety and wellness: one that recognizes beautiful, accessible places as part of a healthy community.

The Well at Oxon Run: Growing Wellness and Possibility

At 300 Valley Avenue SE, The Well at Oxon Run offers a powerful example of community-led place-making. Operated by DC Greens, The Well is a community farm and wellness space that brings food access, environmental learning, culture, and healing together.

The Well is free and open to the public during its annual March–October season. Its programming includes:

The farm includes growing space, gathering areas, and an outdoor classroom. It gives residents opportunities to work in the soil, access fresh produce, learn from one another, and experience wellness in a welcoming green space.

Visit The Well at Oxon Run and DC Greens’ events calendar for current programming and seasonal updates.

Community farming and gathering at The Well at Oxon Run

Neighborhood Commerce Connects Us

Washington Highlands is also a place where people meet everyday needs, support local commerce, and move through the broader Soul of the City district.

Residents identify Aldi, Holiday Mart, Smiley Mart, and Wheeler Market among the neighborhood’s everyday shopping resources. These businesses and markets matter because they provide more than goods. They create familiarity, convenience, and routine: small but meaningful touchpoints that help a neighborhood feel like home.

Commercial corridors including Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE and Malcolm X Avenue SE connect Washington Highlands to Bellevue and Congress Heights. Along these corridors, Ward 8 contractors, retail shops, professional services, and other businesses contribute to a growing local economy.

Why are these corridors the connective tissue of the district?

Because they carry more than traffic. They carry opportunity. They link residents to services, businesses to customers, and communities to one another. They give us places to invest, build relationships, and tell a fuller story about Ward 8.

Our work as a community-based 501(c)(3) organization is rooted in that connectivity. The Congress Heights Partnership/Soul of the City BID serves as a catalyst for collaboration, a trusted clearinghouse of knowledge and analysis, and a platform to convene stakeholders and respond to community concerns.

Safety Progress Worth Honoring

Washington Highlands also reminds us that community safety grows through relationships, trust, and sustained organizing.

Residents and community partners have worked to create safer conditions through violence interruption, youth engagement, neighborhood presence, wellness programming, and collaboration among local stakeholders. That work has contributed to meaningful reductions in violence, including a period of more than a year without a fatal shooting: progress that deserves recognition.

We honor this achievement while understanding that safety remains an ongoing collective responsibility. We must continue supporting trusted messengers, youth opportunities, accessible services, quality public spaces, and pathways to jobs and economic stability.

Community safety is not separate from inclusive growth. When residents have access to beautiful places, meaningful opportunities, supportive institutions, and businesses that serve them, we strengthen the conditions for long-term prosperity.

The Power of Three

The Soul of the City identity was born out of community engagement and built around hometown pride, inclusive growth, Black entrepreneurship, culture, and possibility.

That identity belongs to Congress Heights, Bellevue, and Washington Highlands together.

The Soul of the City BID logo representing Congress Heights, Bellevue, and Washington Highlands

Washington Highlands brings essential strength to this shared identity. Its hills, homes, parks, corridors, gardens, recreation centers, and community networks all contribute to the district’s character.

Our broader network includes:

Together, we can continue to shape a future where longtime residents and new neighbors can attain quality housing, access jobs and opportunities, build wealth, and enjoy beautiful neighborhood amenities.

A Story Still Being Written

This first spotlight is an invitation to see Washington Highlands in its full dimension: historic and forward-looking, residential and entrepreneurial, green and connected, grounded and ambitious.

It is an invitation to recognize that community power already exists here. Our role is to listen to it, support it, amplify it, and help create the conditions for it to grow.

The Bellevue and Congress Heights spotlights are coming next as this series rotates across the district. No community is left out of the Soul of the City story.

What do you love about Washington Highlands? Is it a favorite park, business, recreation center, gathering place, family tradition, or neighbor? We invite you to share what makes your neighborhood special and help us continue telling a fuller story of Congress Heights, Bellevue, and Washington Highlands.

Together, we are building power, place, and possibility: now and for future generations.