About ARCH

Founding Purpose:

High unemployment rate for youth and adults in community.
Low educational level of residents.
No existing vocational training programs.
Lack of affordable housing for low-income residents.
Lack of support for local businesses.

Constituency:

ARCH's target areas have approximate population of 6,700 youth between the ages of 14-21. Theses areas exhibit distressing levels of economic and social underdevelopment, 86% of children under the ages of 18 living in a single parent home, have a higher incidence of violence and illiteracy, and nearly double the amount of youth who are unemployed compared to other areas of the city. The median household income is 33% below the District's overall average with an extremely high rate of families dependent on public assistance.

History:

ARCH was established in 1986 as Action to Rehabilitate Community Housing, a training oriented development organization located in historic Anacostia. ARCH operated in order to encourage and train DC's ‘At Risk' residents in academic and carpentry skills while rehabilitating residential property in Anacostia. During ARCH's inaugural years we developed and sold (under market rate to community members) 112 residential units and taught thousands of adults in academics and skills.

As ARCH reaches our 22nd year in Anacostia, we have evolved our programs to serve the current community concerns. The mission of ARCH to maintain a structured environment where at-risk individuals receive access to the tools, education, and resources needed to ensure independence and security by providing assessment, job training, career development, up-to- date technology, and personal counseling. This mission is focused primarily in Ward 8, east of the Anacostia River, ensuring individuals and families access to quality education, livable wage jobs, cultural activities, affordable housing, neighborhood businesses, effective health and social services; while supporting the successful transition to a life-long journey of education, self-sufficiency, and community awareness.

In 2003, ARCH finished a five-year development project on our new home in the historic Woolworth building; the new facility is a state of the art school with 16,000 square feet of usable space. The new training center's top floor offers academic classrooms, computer classrooms and computer labs with high-speed Internet access. On the lower level, the training center has locker areas, large lunchrooms, the skills lab, our version of a lecture room and offices for our teachers, counselors and caseworkers. Next door to the school is ARCH's Career Services Department and Executive offices, along with a small computer lab for students working with our Job Developers – for a total of 20,000 square feet utilized for academics, training, counseling and career development.

ARCH remains dedicated to ensuring that youth, adults and families have the tools they need to live independently. Traditionally, this has been accomplished through programs aimed at providing educational enhancement and skills training that result in livable wage jobs. ARCH's record of offering multiple projects and complex programs is outstanding; our success rate is sustained by maintaining high standards of our team, inclusive programs, state of the art facility, and trained and dedicated on-site, full-time caseworkers, educators, skills trainers, administrative and executive staff.