2021 Oramenta Newsome Community Development Fellowship

The 2021 Oramenta Newsome Community Development fellowship is underway and this year’s cohort features six nonprofits that exemplify LISC’s commitment to make the District and region a more inclusive, equitable and prosperous place for all.

The fellowship was developed in Oramenta Newsome’s honor, who served as Executive Director of LISC DC for nearly 25 years. She dedicated decades to making Washington, DC an inclusive, community-driven, and equitable city that benefited neighborhood residents. With this fellowship, we are creating a lasting legacy and honoring Oramenta’s commitment to community development. Below are the six nonprofit partners:

Central Kenilworth Avenue Revitalization CDCpromotes the social, environmental and economic development of Greater Riverdale in Maryland. They work to transform communities using placed based initiatives, which includes business empowerment programs, health outreach, promotion of green energy, and more.
Coalition for Nonprofit Housing & Economic Development (CNHED) advances community development solutions that address the inequity of under-resourced communities in DC by supporting and convening nonprofit housing and economic development organizations and providing a myriad of tools and resources.
District Bridges enriches neighborhood vitality by bridging community engagement and economic development opportunities so individuals, businesses, and organizations can thrive. Some of the initiatives include business health checks, business workshops, business preservation assistance to prevent displacement and direct community outreach.
Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) equips Latinos and other underserved communities with the skills and financial tools to create a better future for their families and communities. Through their programs, participants learn how to build their long-term financial security by buying and staying in their homes, taking control of decisions affecting their apartment buildings, and starting or expanding their small businesses.
Marshall Heights Community Development Organization (MHCDO) is a community-based organization engaged in economic and housing development, job placement, senior services, and health and human services in the District of Columbia's Ward 7. Their mission to promote and expand economic opportunities for citizens living east of the Anacostia River and to attract human and financial resources to the community.
Uptown Main Street supports the development of Upper 14th Street NW and Kennedy Street NW, empowering residents and businesses to create a strong, thriving inclusive commercial corridor. They do this by providing technical assistance to small businesses; they host local events to highlight the history and richness of corridor and business, and supports two clean teams that keep the street clean and safe for residents.

The LISC fellows bring a wide range of perspectives and diverse skill sets to their role. The fellows were chosen based on their passion for small business, community engagement, and commitment to equitable development. From May – July, each fellow will work full time for their respective nonprofit partner and support in a variety of small business related projects.

In addition, the fellows are working together on a group project. As a group, the cohort will compile and analyze the DC small business ecosystem and government resources, and offer policy recommendations to increase accessibility and small business participation, particularly for small businesses of color, as the District looks towards an equitable recovery from COVID-19.

Learn all about their fellowship in more detail here

Anvitha Prasad is excited to gain experience in community development and work with underinvested communities. Through this fellowship, she is interning at the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) to assist with technical trainings and facilitate seminars for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Anvitha is a rising senior at the George Washington University studying International Business and Marketing with a minor in Sustainability. She is passionate about social entrepreneurship and has experience working with startups with her own venture, Circle of Giving, and her work at the GW Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. When Anvitha is not working, she loves dancing and trying new restaurants in DC!

Daisy Chang is working with the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development (CNHED) to design a program within the DC Community Anchor Partnership (DCAP). DCAP is a collaborative of prominent institutions in DC committed to advancing equitable economic development by using their procurement power to support the growth of local minority-owned business enterprises (MBEs). Daisy is designing an internship program that will match local university business students with DC small businesses for skills and information exchange. She is currently attending Georgetown University with a major in Philosophy and a minor in French. Prior to joining LISC, Daisy was a legislative intern at the U.S. House of Representatives for Congressman Ed Case of Hawaii where she did policy research and data analysis, processed constituent mail, and wrote speeches. In her free time, Daisy enjoys practicing and teaching yoga.

Marcella Willis is supporting CNHED to develop a DC Small Business Lenders Guide to enable small businesses to identify appropriate financial products and connect to available lenders.  She brings 20 years of experience promoting access to finance for underserved customers and businesses in an international development setting. She has managed microfinance and inclusive finance programs and provided technical assistance to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and mobile money operators.  As a consultant living in Washington, D.C., she has worked with a range of development partners on various projects promoting digital financial services (DFS) in low-middle-income countries. She loves to travel and lived in Africa and South East Asia for fifteen years and worked in twenty countries. She holds an Executive International MBA from the IE Business School in Spain and an MS in International Development Management from the American University in Washington, D.C.

Maya Coleman is a southern Maryland native, with a background in community development and transportation planning. For this fellowship, she is working with Marshall Heights Community Development Organization (MHCDO) to assist with the development of Pennsylvania East Avenue Main Street. Maya obtained a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a political science and history degree from Hampton University. Maya is an authentic placemaking enthusiast, her interest and work focus on equitabe transportation planning, public space design, and the intersection of culture and community development. She has a special interest in the connection between city infrastructure and social determinants of health for black women.

Michelle Zayed is a dual degree Master's in Public Policy and MBA student at Georgetown University. At LISC, she is partnering with Uptown Main Street, where she helps support small businesses along the corridor of upper 14th Street NW and Kennedy Street. There she is helping businesses get financial support as they weather the COVID -19 crisis and begin reopening their doors in a safe manner. She is also helping map current and future residential and commercial projects in the Petworth area to better understand how the neighborhood is changing and the evolving needs of its residents and business owners. Michelle believes protecting small and particularly minority-owned businesses is the best way to create wealth for communities and preserve the history and essence of a city. In her free time, she likes to run, enjoy a good picnic and hang out with friends and family.

Shalene Miller-Whye is working with CKAR to assess, analyze, and support Kenilworth Avenue and Riverdale Road Businesses and connect them with technical assistance support. Shalene is a Master of Public Administration candidate with a concentration in social and urban policy at the George Washington University. At the George Washington University, she serves as a DEI committee chair member, as well as promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion through the Minority Leadership Program, as the membership chair. For the last 6 years, she has served the community of Wilmington in a variety of roles including as a student community leader with inner-city children and as a researcher for the Center for Neighborhood Revitalization where she studied the Wilmington community’s lack of trust in the criminal justice system. She has a great passion for development in urban communities and is dedicated to serving them through her current and past works. 

Winona Francis is working with District Bridges where her role is to support the research, implementation, and outreach for the pilot Business Preservation Assistance Program, focusing on strategies to support small businesses at risk of eviction or closure. Originally from Hartford, CT, Winona graduated from Drew University with a B.S. in Political Science with a concentration in American Public Policy and Minor in Economics, in 2014. In 2018, she received her MBA from George Washington University School of Business. In addition to this she has certificates in Business Analytics, Urban Real Estate and Finance. She is very passionate about urban real estate development, and access to quality food focusing on food deserts. She is the CEO of The District Connect a mobile grocery store whose mission is to eradicate food deserts across the country, starting in Washington, DC. 