Scott Kratz

Over the last ten years, Scott Kratz has been working with the East of the River based non-profit Building Bridges Across the River and the Washington DC city government to transform an old freeway bridge into a park above the Anacostia River. The old 11th Street Bridges that connect Capitol Hill with communities east of the river reached the end of their lifespan, Scott is working with the community to use the base of one of the bridges to create a one of a kind civic space supporting active recreation, environmental education and the arts. Scott leads the team that is designing, building and one day operating the park. Beyond the park’s physical construction, he has led the effort to ensure long term residents can stay and thrive in place through a nationally recognized equitable development plan that includes affordable housing, workforce training, preservation of Black owned small businesses and arts / culture strategies.

Scott lives a few blocks away from the Bridge Park site in Capitol Hill and has called Washington DC his home for the last 18+ years. He graduated with a history degree from Pomona College in Southern California and has worked in the education field for twenty+ years. He began his career teaching at Kidspace, a children’s museum in Pasadena, California and later as the Associate Director of the Institute for the Study of the American West at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles. While at the Autry, he supervised a staff that planned and implemented programs including film, music, festivals, family programs, lecture series, academic symposia and Native theater. He moved to Washington DC to become the Vice President for Education at the National Building Museum. Scott is honored to serve on the board of the Anacostia Coordinating Council and the Anacostia Business Improvement District.