Our History

The Washington Post announces plans for a new ‘citizens’ committee, which would later be known as the Federal City Council. It was inspired by a series of articles published in 1952, at the behest of publisher Philip Graham, decrying the city’s state of affairs.

FC2 plays a major role in the passing of D.C.’s first housing code.

To breathe new life into the struggling downtown department store district, the FC2 launches the organization Downtown Progress.

FC2 rallies business peers to form the Joint Committee on Transportation for Metropolitan Washington. It funds a study laying the groundwork for a new public transit system, which would become today’s Metro.

FC2 helps formulate plans for a convention center, which would open in 1983.

Congress grants D.C. home rule and the FC2 establishes the D.C. Municipal Research Bureau the next year to provide the new city government with data and fiscal analysis.

Ken Sparks, the Executive Director of the FC2, receives an anonymous call alerting him to the dire state of Union Station. This catalyzed an FC2 initiative to restore Union Station to its former glory. It was completed in 1988.

The vision of FC2 members helps create the Baltimore Washington Common Market, which has allowed Washington’s private sector to leverage the entire region’s economic vitality.

FC2 receives a grant to study the transit needs of the region through the year 2000—the first time an entity independent of Metro was authorized by the federal government to conduct such a study.

The Economic Club is founded out of the FC2.

After decades of FC2 efforts to create a “permanent national industrial display,” Congress and the President sign-off on plans for the Ronald Reagan building. It opened for business ten years later.

FC2 issues a report castigating the government of the District of Columbia for allowing the city's roads to deteriorate. The report notes that the city spent just $5 million a year on road repair, which it used almost exclusively for temporary patches rather than permanent repair, upgrades and maintenance.

Ground is broken on the MCI center, now the Capital One Arena. The FC2 had setup the National Capital Development Corporation (NCDC) to marshal the people and financing to set the project in motion.

FC2 members create the D.C. Public Charter School Resource Center, which helps charter schools get off the ground.

Construction begins on the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, a project backed by the FC2.

FC2 launches the National Capital Police Fund to work with the Metropolitan Police Department to improve neighborhood safety across the city. This later results in the establishment of the Washington Police Foundation.

McKinsey & Co. carries out a study, funded by the FC2, on the D.C. school system's administration, staff training and curriculum. Based off of its findings, D.C. Public Schools adopts a five-year "Business Plan for Strategic Reform."

An FC2 initiative is launched to facilitate public-private partnerships. In the same year, the FC2 also successfully shepherds through a tax package that made the tax system more fair and competitive.

FC2 establishes the Anacostia Waterfront Trust to reduce river pollutants and improve the parks along the river.

The non-partisan, data-focused think tank DC Policy Center is incubated within the FC2.

FC2 unveils its Affordable Housing Initiative to address the shortage of affordable housing and the rise of concentrated poverty in the District.

FC2 convenes the MetroNow coalition to advocate for governance changes to improve the operations of the Metro system.

The Washington Housing Conservancy (WHC), a nonprofit organization that preserves affordable housing in DC's local communities, is incubated by the FC2.