Remember the HGTV Change the World, Start at Home contest we told you about last month? Anacostia was one of ten needy neighborhoods in the United States identified by the cable channel that was eligible to win a “neighborhood revitalization” package if it received enough votes online — and Anacostia has won!

Anacostia will be the beneficiary of three specific revitalization projects:

• Homes on S Street: HGTV, Rebuilding Together and the National Trust for Historic Preservation will attempt to repair ten homes of low-income elderly senior citizens living on S Street SE.
• The Bethel Christian Fellowship Child Development Center: The sponsors plan to build a safe playground and a vastly improved learning environment for the Center, which teaches sign language, basic etiquette, morals and life skills to at-risk, low-income children from the neighborhood.
• Anacostia Park HGTV and its partners will clean up Anacostia Park, with a special concentration on the Aquatic Education Center’s “Urban Tree House,” which serves as an environmental educational resource for children.

Four other neighborhoods will also receive revitalization packages: the Pen Lucy neighborhood in Baltimore, the East Side neighborhood in Minneapolis/St. Paul, the Broadmoor neighborhood in New Orleans, and the Curtis Park district of Denver.

HGTV, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Rebuilding Together, and the Natural Resources Defense Council are looking for volunteers for the three D.C. projects. Follow these links to find out more about these volunteer opportunities.