The 43-year-old healthcare nonprofit will open a 118,000 square foot health facility to create better access and provide whole-person healthcare options for even greater numbers of DC residents.
Washington, DC – Today, Whitman-Walker along with Mayor Muriel Bowser, Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White, and the project development team comprised of Redbrick LMD and Gragg Cardona Partners, broke ground on the new Whitman-Walker coming to St. Elizabeths Campus East in Ward 8.
“This new health care home will reflect the vibrancy of the community and will give us an opportunity to expand care in ways we have been dreaming of for decades,” said Naseema Shafi, CEO of Whitman-Walker Health. “We are humbled to be working with Mayor Bowser and her team on this project.”
Whitman-Walker is a non-profit community health center in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with a special expertise in HIV/AIDS healthcare and LGBTQ healthcare that provides services and care to over 20,000 people annually. The new 118,000-square-foot center will provide primary, behavioral, dental, substance misuse treatment services, expanding on the services currently provided at Whitman-Walker’s Max Robinson Center located at 2301 Martin Luther King Jr Avenue, SE. The site will also be the headquarters to the Whitman-Walker Institute – the organization’s research, policy and advocacy arm.
“This project is the single biggest expression of Whitman-Walker’s commitment to racial and health equity for all Washingtonians,” said Don Blanchon, CEO of the Whitman-Walker Health System. “We celebrate today’s groundbreaking with excitement and humility knowing that there is much more to do to realize these ideals in community.”
The development will also include a ground-floor pharmacy, increased care for young people and supply administrative office space for over 100 Whitman-Walker staff. This expansion will allow Whitman-Walker to go from seeing 5,000 patients and clients at the Max Robinson Center per year, to seeing 15,000 annually at the new facility. It will also allow Whitman-Walker to diversify and expand its research portfolio.
“This groundbreaking represents the beginning of the realization of a bold vision shared by our partners at Whitman-Walker, Gragg Cardona Partners, District leadership and members of the community to build a new engine for economic vitality and quality healthcare,” said Louis Dubin, Managing Partner at Redbrick LMD.
Learn more about Whitman-Walker’s move to St. Elizabeths Campus East and its expansion of whole-person care in Ward 8 at whitmanwalkerimpact.org/stelizabeths.
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About Whitman-Walker
Whitman-Walker operates a community-centered enterprise that provides primary medical care, behavioral health care, dental care, and a range of health-related legal and support services, with specialties in LGBTQ+ and HIV care, to more than 20,000 individuals and families annually in the greater Washington, DC metropolitan region. Whitman-Walker empowers all persons to live healthy, love openly and achieve equality and inclusion through care, advocacy, research and education. Learn more about Whitman-Walker at www.whitmanwalkerimpact.org.
