THE NEIGHBORHOOD TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE, CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, , unveiled in April 2001, calls itself "an unprecedented effort to counter the history of decline in the City of Philadelphia and revitalize its neighborhoods. NTI is a multifaceted program designed to renew and strengthen entire communities, to ensure quality housing, clean and secure streets and vibrant cultural and recreational outlets. This effort will enhance job creation, public safety and economic opportunity. NTI is changing Philadelphia from the ground up."
THE WEED & SEED STRATEGY is a pilot program of law enforcement agencies and criminal justice officials. Under the initiative, law enforcement "weeds out" violent offenders, and social services and economic revitalization are brought in to "seed" the area to bring about restoration. The strategy is being utilized in North and West Philadelphia, with other communities also applying for the designation and the federal funding that follows.
THE PHILADELPHIA COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION works to revitalize neighborhoods and to assist small businesses. According to its website, "We bring together business owners, business associations, developers, community residents, financial institutions, and the Philadelphia Government to create an attractive atmosphere for public and private investment in neighborhood commercial areas. In addition, we provide a range of important financial and managerial services, including direct loan to small businesses and minority contractors." Its staff works to strengthen Neighborhood Commercial Corridors in a variety of ways including making storefront/security improvements, coordinating a corridor's promotions/marketing campaigns, and arranging street festivals. It currently serves 44 such corridors and several Special Project Areas.
NABR (NEIGHBORS ALLIED FOR THE BEST RIVERFRONT) is one of the lead groups in a loose coalition of a grassroots groups opposing the casinos that are in the works for Philadelphia. According to its website, it aims to develop "positive alternatives to casino development in our neighborhoods." The goal is to repeal Act 71, "Fumo's Slots Law, which was passed in the middle of the night, July 4th weekend, 2004," and to "effectively engage residents in envisioning, planning and developing our riverfront and surrounding areas."
THE EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA ORGANIZING PROJECT (EPOP) is a multi-cultural alliance of faith institutions, schools, and neighborhood institutions with a long record of activism and community development in low-income parts of Philadelphia. Its priorities are community organizing and grassroots leadership development. Recent accomplishments include a partnership with the city, the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation and Mellon Bank bringing private dollars into South Philadelphia to develop affordable housing and education opportunities; and developing the "Right To Know Campaign" for public schools release status reports to parents, teachers, and the community.
THE PHILADELPHIA ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT is dedicated to advocacy, policy development and technical assistance for community development corporations and other organizations seeking to revitalize neighborhoods.
10,000 FRIENDS OF PENNSYLVANIA is "an alliance of organizations and individuals committed to enhancing the quality of life for all Pennsylvanians." It promotes policies and actions that will revitalize cities, boroughs, older suburbs and preserve farmland and rural resource lands. 10,000 Friends says it is working with community developers from across the state "to connect local revitalization efforts with the policies and tools necessary to competitively position communities for growth and investment."
THE OPPORTUNITY FINANCE NETWORK is a $4 billion national network formerly known as the National Community Capital Association. For 20 years, it has implemented "high-volume and high-impact financing strategies to align capital with social, economic, and political justice." It says it is "dedicated to closing the gap between promising opportunities and real accomplishments for American people, communities, and markets that are outside the economic mainstream today."
THE PHILADELPHIA HIGHER EDUCATION NETWORK FOR NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT is a consortium of 42 area colleges and universities that says it "seeks to revitalize local communities and schools and foster civic responsibility among the region's colleges and universities." Arguing that colleges can be "permanent anchors and partners for community improvement," the network helps to coordinate and combine efforts.
THE PHILADELPHIA COUNCIL FOR COMMUNITY ADVANCEMENT,
founded in 1962, has a mission is to "facilitate the revitalization of neighborhoods in the Philadelphia region through the application of comprehensive housing and economic development strategies in cooperation with the local residents. The belief that housing is basic human right and that community residents must play an active role in the revitalization of their neighborhoods is the driving force behind PCCA's mission."
NORTH CITY CONGRESS operates two senior citizen centers with congregate meals, legal services, community education, socialization/recreation services, and in-home management services for the frail and home-bound elderly in North Philadelphia. It provides fiscal management and technical assistance for community-based organizations.
THE PHILADELPHIA CHINATOWN DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION is an advocacy group on pressing issues facing Chinatown related to public safety, the affordable housing shortage, public health, and beautification campaign.
THE PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY is the producer of the Philadelphia Flower Show and home to Philadelphia Green, an extensive urban greening program. Philadelphia Green is the nation's most comprehensive urban greening program. Since 1974, it has supported the development and ongoing care of community gardens, neighborhood parks and high-profile public green spaces in Philadelphia. "Working in partnership with neighborhood residents, community organizations and city agencies, the program uses greening as a community building tool. It educates and empowers people to make the city a more attractive and livable place through horticulture."
THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF ECONOMICS is an advocacy group that promotes "Land Value Taxation" as a fair method of taxation, as opposed to the current system of taxing labor and capital. It assists governments in studying the effect of land-based property taxation. The center argues that taxation of labor and capital in urban areas "is one the driving forces to the contraction and decay of our cities."
THE GREATER PHILADELPHIA URBAN AFFAIRS COALITION says its programs serves "communities in greatest need throughout the Metropolitan Philadelphia region. As an agent for change, we build partnerships and launch initiatives that bring about reform." Areas include Economic Development, Education, Health, Neighborhood and Community Services, and Workforce Development.
THE WOMEN'S COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION PROJECT says it is "committed to social and economic justice for low-income women and their families. We develop housing and neighborhood facilities; provide supportive services; advocate for policy change; and honor leadership, dignity, and equity in our communities. WCRP has created a model that works for community development, putting that power to work for low-income women and their families."
THE UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT was established as a nonprofit in 1997 to improve the quality of life of a 2.2 square mile area of West Philadelphia. Its full-time administrative staff manages programs and services that enhance public space, increase public safety, assist homeowners and commercial and rental property owners, and promote University City attractions. UCD is managed by a 25-member Board of Directors representing University City's prominent institutions in education, health care, and scientific and medical research as well as representatives of University City's diverse business and residential communities.
THE AVENUE OF THE ARTS INC. is an independent nonprofit organization created in 1993 to coordinate and oversee cultural and related development along North and South Broad Street. Over the past ten years, AAI has worked to develop this segment of Broad Street into Philadelphia's premier arts and entertainment district. AAI works closely with the state, the city, corporations and foundations.
THE VILLAGE OF THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES is a community-based nonprofit dedicated to neighborhood revitalization through the arts. Begun in 1986 as a park-building project in inner city North Philadelphia, the Village "has blossomed into a mature arts and cultural organization carrying out a broad range of community development programs."
THE MURAL ARTS PROGRAM, begun in 1984, has created over 2,600 murals and works of public art, earning Philadelphia international recognition as the "City of Murals." MAP's free art education programs serve nearly 3,000 at-risk youth at sites throughout the city, and offers special educational outreach programs in local prisons and rehabilitation centers. MAP is a public/private venture of the City of Philadelphia Managing Director's Office and Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates, a nonprofit that raises funds for the program.
THE CENTER CITY DISTRICT is a business improvement, or special services district, supported by mandatory assessments on real property and governed by a private-sector board. The CCD was founded in 1990 when over 2,000 property owners, commercial tenants and employers, along with the City of Philadelphia, agreed to establish a private-sector business improvement district committed to keeping the downtown clean, safe and attractive. Under the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Municipality Authorities Act, the CCD was authorized to provide security, cleaning and promotion services.
CENTRO NUEVA CREACION is a nonprofit in the Fairhill and West Kensington sections of Philadelphia, a crime-ridden area called "The Badlands" by the media but that it calls "The Goodlands." It programs include Community arts (photography, murals, and cultural celebrations) and Environmental projects(community greening, park restoration).
COMMUNITY VENTURES is a nonprofit developer of low- and moderate-income housing. It was incorporated in 1987 "with the mission of entering into joint-venture redevelopment efforts with neighborhood organizations in Philadelphia, constructing each of its projects within the context of a long-term plan to improve and stabilize a deteriorated urban neighborhood. Community Ventures commits itself to each of the neighborhoods in which it works for a period of five years or more, attempting to build a ?critical mass' of redeveloped housing that can contribute meaningfully to the neighborhoods' revitalization."
EAST PARK REVITALIZATION ALLIANCE works to revitalize its area through community greening, public art and education. Neighborhood residents formed EPRA in 2003 as a way to address blight in the neighborhood running along East Fairmount Park in the Strawberry Mansion and Brewerytown neighborhoods of North Philadelphia.
RFKCDC CLEAN AND GREEN CORPS aims to address the problems of litter and graffiti in the Richmond, Fishtown, and Kensington neighborhoods. The program says it sweeps litter from sidewalks, removes and paints over graffiti, presents anti-litter/anti-graffiti workshops to children and teenagers, and recruits volunteers to clean and green trash-strewn vacant lots and sidewalks. The personnel include 25 AmeriCorps members, three supervisors, a program coordinator, and a program assistant. Expected benefits, it says, include "a cleaner neighborhood; increased business; increased residential occupancy; increased community pride and civic spirit; increased civic engagement; reduced housing abandonment; increased property values; local, state, and national recognition; and, a track record that can be used to leverage other resources to improve the neighborhood. Overall, the program will be the first step in a comprehensive, long-range strategy to remake Richmond, Fishtown, and Kensington into a thriving community full of residents, businesses, and jobs."
SOUTHWEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, funded by the city, businesses and various philanthropies, provides community and economic development and other resources to help its working-class section of Philadelphia. Programs include housing counseling, community organizing, a neighborhood advisory committee, a neighborhood beautification program, an economic conference, a Southwest Economic Development Strategy and the Woodland Avenue Revitalization Project. It also has a New Start Family Resource Center that offers after-school care, a camp and family counseling.
THE FOOD TRUST is an innovative nonprofit that works to increase access to affordable and nutritious foods; improve the health of children and adults, and support local farms. It operates weekly farmers' markets, which features food demonstrations, nutrition education, and health screenings. It convenes the Philadelphia Nutrition Education Network, a collaboration of agencies, as well as the comprehensive School Nutrition Policy Task Force, a group working to improve the food and nutrition education in Philadelphia schools. In addition, it advocates for public policies that sustain small family farmers.
THE WHARTON SCHOOL AT PENN says its faculty and programs promote "an understanding of and commitment to social entrepreneurship, economic community development, corporate responsibility, non-profit management, business ethics, and environmental sustainability within and outside of the Wharton community."
UC GREEN INC. develops "volunteer greening" projects in University City, in partnership with community and religious organizations, residents, students, businesses, and others Projects include creating "greenways" and "gateways" to improve social and economic conditions in blighted blocks.
