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Small-business and neighborhood witnesses urge retained funding for food access, lease incentives and corridor supports
Summary
Multiple neighborhood witnesses—including ANCs, Chinatown advocates and small-business representatives—urged the committee to protect or expand targeted grants (lease incentives, Great Streets, retail stabilization), retain the Food Policy Council, and resist cutting programs that support legacy businesses and grocery access in high-need areas.
Community witnesses from Columbia Heights, Chinatown, Anacostia and other neighborhoods told the committee that targeted grant programs and lease-incentive funds are lifelines for legacy businesses and neighborhood food access, and they urged the council not to cut or eliminate these tools.
Justin Zhang of the Save Chinatown Solidarity Network and other Chinatown advocates said the proposed reduction of the Chinatown Lease Incentive Grant and the mayor's changes to Chinatown programs risk further displacement of legacy businesses and seniors' access to culturally specific goods; they requested increasing the lease-incentive funding from $125,000 to $600,000 annually and adding Chinese-language outreach. Multiple witnesses and the DC Fiscal Policy Institute also expressed deep concern about the mayor's proposed elimination of the Food Policy Council and asked the council to restore funding and retain the city's coordinating capacity for food systems and resiliency grants.
Council members pressed for evidence on program outcomes and discussed the expiration of some federal funds that previously seeded food-access programs. DEMPd staff said they intend to maintain small-business stabilization support through Great Streets and a retail/restaurant stabilization allocation in FY27, and promised follow-up on program definitions, the Chinatown grant roll-out and whether a scaled NourishDC-style approach can be folded into existing grant lines.
