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Speakers and Panels

Buwa Binitie

Buwa Binitie

Founder and CEO

Dumas Collective

John Falcicchio

John Falcicchio

Deputy Mayor

D.C. Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development

Andrew Trueblood

Andrew Trueblood

Director

D.C. Office of Planning

Polly Donaldson

Polly Donaldson

Director

D.C. Department of Housing & Community Development

Buwa Binitie

Founder and CEO

Dumas Collective

As CEO of the Dumas Collective, Mr. Binitie directs vision and oversight of the acquisition,

development, property management, and financial activities of the conglomerate—from

Washington, DC to New York. Mr. Binitie has an extensive tax credit financing experience

(LIHTC, NMTC and HTC) and has closed on financing from nearly every public capital

source available. To date Dumas Collective closed over $1.9B in financing resulting in

over 5,800 workforce and affordable units. Mr. Binitie maintains a narrow focus on the

creation and preservation of affordable housing for people of modest means.

• Buwa has over fifteen years of experience in financing complex real estate transactions.

By narrowly focusing on efficiently financing community development transactions,

Buwa has been successful in adding value beyond the numbers.

• Buwa speaks regularly at industry focused events. Recent engagements include

sessions with The Minority Resource, African‐American Real Estate Professionals,

Bisnow, DC Building Industry Association, Georgetown University and University of

Maryland—Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development and REEX.

• Buwa serves as a teaching mentor for the Equitable Development Program and

Housing Equity Accelerator Fellowship in partnership with Capital Impact Partners and

Amazon, Baker Tilly’s Equitable Development Initiative Network, Real Estate Executive

Council (REEC), LISC and Howard University.

John Falcicchio

Deputy Mayor

D.C. Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development

John Falcicchio served as an advisor to the Bowser campaign and currently serves as the Mayor-elect’s transition director. Previously, Falcicchio was a Senior Vice President at DKC, a New York based public relations firm. In the 2012 election cycle, John was a Regional Political Director at the Democratic National Committee where he led political outreach on behalf of President Obama to elected officials, state parties and allied organizations in the Northeast and Florida.

Before joining the DNC, John was a longtime aide to Mayor Adrian Fenty, serving in various capacities including campaign manager and Senior Advisor to the Mayor. He also was the Mayor-elect's campaign manager on her first campaign. John worked in a number of campaign roles including manager of Bowser’s first Council campaign, as President Obama’s DC State Director (2008 primary), field organizer for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign and finance director/GOTV coordinator for Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson’s first mayoral run. Falcicchio is a graduate of the Catholic University of America.

Andrew Trueblood

Director

D.C. Office of Planning

Andrew has served as the Director of the DC Office of Planning since November 2018. Prior to that time, he was the Chief of Staff at DC’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) where he guided economic policy development, including legislative and budget proposals and oversaw the operations of the 80-person agency. He also oversaw policy coordination among across 11 District agencies, including planning, housing, transportation, regulatory, and creative agencies. This included work on Mayoral policy initiatives such as Opportunity Zones, the Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative, the Housing Preservation Strike Force, the Mayor’s affordable housing initiatives, and autonomous vehicles and mobility innovation. Prior to that role, Andrew served as Deputy Chief of Staff at DMPED, where he assisted the organization with improving its use of data and advised on economic development policy. Throughout his time at DMPED, he worked to improve the agency’s data and analysis capacity and to create open and accessible data and analysis, especially through the creation of the Economic Intelligence program.

Before joining the District Government, Andrew helped start up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He developed an analytics team to model consumer risk for financial institutions and helped create and run the Director’s Financial Analyst Program, which recruited undergraduates to join the Bureau for a two year rotational program. Andrew has also worked at Treasury's Community Development Financial Institution Fund setting up the Capital Magnet Fund for affordable housing and supporting the New Markets Tax Credit program. Prior to his federal government service, Andrew worked on redevelopment planning and finance for the DC Housing Authority. Andrew holds a Masters in City Planning from MIT and a B.A. from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Polly Donaldson

Director

D.C. Department of Housing & Community Development

Polly Donaldson has served as the Director of the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) since January 2, 2015. As Director, she oversees 180+ employees, 14 program areas and manages an operating budget of over $250 million to preserve and produce rental and homeownership opportunities for District residents while leading the charge of revitalizing underserved neighborhoods.

The Director is well-known in DC affordable housing circles and has had great influence throughout the city. Her nonprofit career spans over 27 years, with senior management experience in homelessness, affordable housing and international community development.

Prior to joining DHCD, Donaldson served as the Executive Director of the Transitional Housing Corporation (THC) for over 10 years and THC Affordable Housing, Inc., since its founding in June 2005. Under Donaldson’s leadership, THC was on the front lines addressing the city’s housing crunch, working with churches, charities and other nonprofit groups to produce and support affordable units for the formerly homeless.

Donaldson served on the DC Interagency Council on Homelessness in 2009 and was re-appointed in 2013. She is the former board president of the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, an umbrella group of affordable housing developers. In 2012, she also served on the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force assembled by former Mayor Gray. In 2014, Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser named Donaldson as the co-chair of the Transition Team’s Affordable Housing Committee. Donaldson served as the chair of Mayor Bowser’s Affordable Housing Preservation Strike Force.

Donaldson has lived in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood in Ward 1 for over 24 years. In the late 1990s, she was elected and served as the chair of the Mt. Pleasant Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1-E. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in social and behavioral science from The Johns Hopkins University.

Summary

  1. How have you balanced the city’s response to the public health crisis with its support for the local economy?

  2. How has the reopening effort been going so far? Do patio service and other phase-1 measures appear to be helping small businesses?

  3. The pandemic struck right as the Office of Planning was finalizing the comprehensive plan amendments, did you make any changes to the plan itself in response to the coronavirus?

  4. There has been discussion around closing some streets to cars to allow restaurants to expand their outdoor seating, is that something the Office of Planning has been involved with?

  5. Mayor Bowser’s proposed budget cut the housing production trust fund from $116M back to its original $100M, how significant of an impact will this have on the amount of housing DHCD can create?

Agenda

Time Activity
4:30 PM
5:30 PM
Reopening Washington D.C.

A Town Hall With John Falciccio, Andrew Trueblood, and Polly Dolandson

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