The 3500 14th Street NW Tenant Association, organized in 2006, works in partnership and Somerset Development Company to educate, train, and to empower the low-income residents of Hubbard Place and its community. 3500 14th St N.W., Tenant Association collaborates with the resident services staff at Hubbard Place to improve the quality of life for residents, create a healthier and more sustainable community, empower residents, encourage successful tenancies, and create a platform of opportunity and stability in the community.

While renovating Hubbard Place Apartments, a historic 230-unit building in Columbia Heights, Somerset Development Company built new multi-purpose rooms, a computer lab, outdoor community spaces and a playground, and new offices to assist in resident services programming.  In an agreement with the tenant association, Somerset established a Tenant Service Fund and provides a stream of income from property cash flow dedicated to resident services to assure continuity.

Hubbard Place and Urban Village Apartments partner to provide after-school and summer programs for youth (ages 5-12) living on both properties.  The after-school program is offered Monday through Friday and offers homework assistance, academic enrichment, arts and crafts, computer literacy, community gardening, and financial literacy workshops.

Each summer twenty to twenty five youth participate in a six- week summer program at Hubbard Place featuring academic enrichment activities, arts and crafts, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, financial literacy, community gardening, nutrition education, swimming, and weekly field trips.  Field trips include visits U.S. Treasury, the Newseum, the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival, and a Washington National’s baseball game. The summer program aims to engage youth in fun and educational activities in order to prevent summer learning loss.

Somerset and the Dance Institute of Washington are partnering to offer scholarships for young people to participate in the Positive Directions through Dance program. The classes, which are conducted after school and during the summer, offer children the opportunity to learn ballet, modern, jazz, hip hop, and African dances. Children also learn about nutrition and healthy living practices. At the end of each session, the children participate in a performance to demonstrate their skills for their families, friends and the community.

Positive Directions Through Dance students participated in a performance in August, 2011

We seek to educate and empower the community through the following programs:

Hubbard Place | Galen Terrace | Urban Village | Faircliff Plaza West | Faircliff Plaza East | Fort View | Webster Garden