More Community Benefits Being Ironed Out With D.C. United

(Updated at 1:50 p.m.) The D.C. United Stadium deal approved by the D. C. Council last week included a package of benefits for people who live in the neighborhood, and more benefits are being finalized now.

D.C. United and the Near Southeast/Southwest Community Benefits Coordinating Council are ironing out additional concessions, CBCC Coordinator Felicia Couts said last night (Monday) at a community meeting.

The benefits will tentatively provide 24 summer jobs for youth, 25 day camp passes for youth, free community meeting space, match tickets for Jefferson Middle School students and more, Couts said.

“Due in large part to our advocacy, we were able to get community benefits for Southwest,” she said about CBCC, the nonprofit that started working on a deal with team owners this summer.

The benefits will be available for the next 30 years to people who live in the neighborhoods covered by ANC 6D as of its 2013 boundaries. These include Southwest, Navy Yard and Near Southeast.

The benefits deal will be legally binding and an enforcement committee will make sure it’s applied, Couts said. The committee will be made up of representatives from CBCC and D.C. United.

The deal should be finalized within days, D.C. United communications director Craig Stouffer said today.

The community benefits included in the stadium deal approved by the District Council were $4.9 million for the Convention Center-Southwest Waterfront Circulator route, $250,000 for renovation and programming at the Randall Recreation Center and $121,000 for a workforce intermediary program to help locals get jobs in construction, retail and hospitality.

Photo via D.C. United