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Background & General Information

In 1976, the District of Columbia established a unique outlet for citizen participation in government -- the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.

The ANCs are advisory boards composed of residents elected from the District's neighborhoods. The Commissions are independent bodies that advise the District government on policy issues affecting their particular neighborhoods. There are 37 ANCs in the District, each subdivided into smaller components called Single Member Districts (SMDs). Each SMD has about 2,000 residents.In all there are 286 SMDs citywide.The Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission has 9 Single Member Districts.

The ANCs' Role In Government

The ANCs consider a wide range of policies and programs affecting their neighborhoods. These include traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation and trash collection, liquor licenses, and the District's annual budget.

In each of these areas, ANCs ensure input from an advisory board that is made up of the residents of the neighborhoods that are directly affected by government policies. In this sense, the ANCs are the government bodies with the closest official ties to the people in a neighborhood.

The ANCs present their advisory views to District government agencies in the Executive Branch as well as to the DC Council. They also present testimony to independent agencies, boards and commissions, usually under rules of procedure specific to those entities. By law, the ANCs may also present their views to federal government agencies.

Though the ANCs are advisory in nature, the ANCs differ from neighborhood associations and other groups in that the law requires that the ANCs be given prior notice before a proposed government action that affects the neighborhood is implemented. The view of the ANCs also must be given "great weight" when the final government decisions are made. ANC Commissioners also are formally elected to their positions in elections conducted by the DC Board of Elections and Ethics.

ANC Operations

ANCs are different from other community groups because their operations are funded by DC tax revenues. The total annual budget for the 37 ANCs is $773,000 in FY 2004. Each ANC is allocated funds based on the number of residents represented by the ANC, so an ANC with 12 Commissioners has a larger annual allocation than does an ANC with 2 Commissioners.

Commissioners are not paid for their work. Each ANC, however, is at liberty to hire staff and rent office space to facilitate the work of the Commission. ANCs are permitted to operate programs of their own to a limited extent, as a way of enhancing their neighborhoods. These programs must not duplicate already available programs or services of the DC Government, however.

ANC Boundaries

The boundaries of the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, as well as the subsidiary Single Member Districts (SMDs) within them, are established by law. After the 1980 federal census, the DC Council enacted legislation that established a procedure for redrawing the ANC and SMD boundaries based on population shifts that had occurred since the previous federal census.

This legislation involved establishment of Ward Task Forces, appointed by the Council, to recommend plans for the adjustment of boundaries every 10 years.

Advisory Neighborhood Commission boundaries do not always match the voting precinct boundaries. Maintenance of the "neighborhood boundaries" recognized by residents is key to the establishment of both Single Member Districts and the Commissions.