A new business improvement district (BID) in Washington, D.C.'s Ward 8 is demonstrating how place-based collaboration can drive community and economic development. "What it lacked was coordinated investment," says Monica Ray, a longtime community leader in Ward 8, describing the Congress Heights neighborhood she has served for more than three decades. In conversation with Faculty Director Uwe Brandes and instructor Richard Bradley of the Master’s in Urban & Regional Planning program at Georgetown University, Ray explains how the Soul of the City BID grew from years of community engagement and partnership. Bradley notes that the initiative is "hugely significant" because it brings a proven model to a historically disinvested community while positioning the neighborhood alongside other thriving districts across the nation's capital.