Pepco announced Wednesday that it will invest nearly $1 million to support economic and community developments in neighborhoods surrounding the company’s Benning Service Center in Northeast Washington.
The investment includes the Pepco Energizing Small Business Grant Program that will be managed in partnership with Hello Alice, a woman- and minority-owned platform that helps businesses launch and grow.
According to a D.C. Hunger Solutions 2024 Racial Equity Report, neighborhoods around the Benning facility continue to experience high levels of disparity in access to stores that provide fresh food and fresh food-related services. The program will provide eight grants, totaling nearly $600,000, to small businesses that will provide access to fresh produce and food-related products in the following neighborhoods: Parkside/Mayfair, Marshall Heights, Carver-Langston, River Terrace, Kingman Park, Eastland/Kenilworth and Deanwood.
Interested businesses can apply through Oct. 11 to helloalice.com/grants/pepco/. Selected businesses will each receive more than $74,000 and grant recipients will be announced in October.
“This investment seeks to address fundamental needs that our customers and neighbors located around our Benning Service Center have shared, with limited access to grocery stores and fresh, nutritious food consistently being top of mind,” said Valencia McClure, Pepco region president. “It will help small businesses provide that valuable service, while also supporting strong community development so that all individuals, families and communities in the District thrive.”
Pepco will also expand its charitable contributions to schools and nonprofits that operate in those same neighborhoods. The following organizations will receive $20,000 grants for the next three years, totaling $300,000: Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, Cesar Chavez High School, Nevel Thomas Elementary School, Educare of Washington, D.C. and the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization.
Pepco focuses its corporate giving in four areas: building the future energy workforce, energy empowerment, enrichment through local vitality, and equal access to arts and culture.
This investment enhances the company’s efforts to positively impact the communities surrounding its Benning Road Service Center, which is the company’s core operations hub in the District. This includes efforts to bring equitable access to clean energy to residents and help the District achieve its leading solar and climate goals by hosting a community solar facility at the Benning center.
The solar facility provides clean energy and financial benefits to more than 300 income-qualified homes through the D.C. Department of Energy and the Environment’s Solar for All program.