The Bowser administration announced Monday that the Request for Proposals for a marketing campaign to promote Black homeownership in D.C. has been made public.
The thrust of the advertising campaign is to raise awareness of resources available for down payment assistance, home maintenance, and other needs of prospective and existing Black homeowners in order to increase African American homeownership in the city.
Last year, Mayor Muriel Bowser set a goal of 20,000 new Black homeowners by 2030 in the city supported by the conclusions and analysis of a Black Homeownership Strike Force.
“During Black History Month, Mayor Muriel Bowser has amplified the District’s work around the creation of affordable housing and homeownership,” said John Falcicchio, the deputy mayor for planning and economic development. “The Black Homeownership marketing campaign is focused on reaching Black residents in creative ways to ensure they know about the tools and resources available to help build generational wealth through homeownership and, by doing so, live out their ancestors’ wildest dreams.”
The selected firm will be responsible for setting up a marketing campaign that will allow Blacks to envision themselves as homeowners and urge them to start the process by visiting frontdoor.dc.gov, a District website providing an inventory of homeownership resources.
Additionally, the firm will facilitate a series of focus groups to hear from potential homebuyers, realtors and housing counselors to gather information on the effectiveness of the campaign.
The RFP solicitation will close on March 21. Interested firms are encouraged to apply at dmped.dc.gov and ocp.dc.gov.