Power and Probity in a DC Cooperative: The Life and Death of Sursum Corda

by John C. Hirsh

This book recounts in detail the negotiations, internal and external struggles, and the outcome of an attempt by HUD, the City of Washington, and several developers to acquire a Washington, D.C. apartment complex known as Sursum Corda. The book begins with an account of a particularly horrific murder that took place in Sursum Corda in 2004, and shows how it was used, in the press and elsewhere, to attack the Community as a whole, and to use it as a reason that the Community should be disbanded, and the land on which it stood be dedicated to other purposes. It proceeds as a journal, kept intermittently between 2005 and 2017, by Professor John C. Hirsh of Georgetown University, who during that period directed an undergraduate tutorial program there in which Georgetown undergraduates travelled twice a week to instruct the K-6 children who live at Sursum Corda in the Language Arts, primarily in reading and writing. Because of his long association with the community he was appointed a non-voting (because non-resident) member of the Board that directs the Community affairs, as was his former student and friend Shiv Newaldass, a Georgetown graduate, whose family has long lived there. Such take-overs as the one described here have become common across the country in recent years, and part of the interest of the book lies not only the story of what happened to Sursum Corda, but also in the implications it exposes as to how such negotiations are actually carried on, and the relative power of those who are involved.

320 pages, Paperback

Published January 2, 2018

Reviews

[Alex Anacki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I live a few blocks from what used to be Sursum Corda, and every time I walked past the remaining fragments of the old neighborhood, I wondered what was removed in favor of the no-man's-land that sits there now. I got this book from the Northwest One Library, the neighborhood's library, and am glad I did.

In this book, Georgetown professor John Hirsh shares his journal entries from his time leading a tutoring program in Sursum Corda. As the land becomes attractive to developers and the powers that be (HUD, DC) swoop in to attempt to displace Sursum Corda's residents, Hirsh shares his insights from years of community meetings and conversations with developers and board members. The result is an honest reckoning with the ups and downs of financing new housing, protecting residents' rights, and transforming neighborhoods into what Mayor Anthony Williams dubbed "New Communities".

While Hirsh's insights don't share a whole lot about the residents of Sursum Corda outside of its board of directors, he squares his Jesuit vision of doing good in the community with outside forces' vice on the neighborhood's future. How much power can you have an outsider when financial forces are at play? And what will become of the students? Despite hundreds of pages of negotiations and discussions that Hirsh details, today's Northwest One neighborhood is a far cry from what the Williams administration and countless developers promised the community, and is another example of DC's failed promise of "one for one" housing where displaced tenants are rehoused in their "new" neighborhood.

I really recommend it for anyone who wants to know their neighborhood better (if you're in NoMa or adjacent areas) and is curious about the circuitious process of development in a big city. I was sad to find out upon finishing this book that Hirsh passed away--I would have loved to discuss his work with him.