@GRASSROOTS.ORG/Neighborhood Development Project of West Philadelphia

Wednesday, Jul 23, 2008

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Neighborhood Development Project of West Philadelphia

Neighborhood Development Project of West Philadelphia
Iola Carter, Project Manager
Fouzia Musse, Neighborhood Visioning Coordinator
4212 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia, Pa. 19104
(215) 387-1700
(215) 387-7187 fax
E-Mail: lcfsndp@libertynet.org

The gritty West Philadelphia neighborhood just out from the city’s University district is one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the United States, local activists say; and it is no stranger to poverty. The Neighborhood Development Project seeks to address both of these issues, using economic-development and entrepreneurial training and an organizing effort called “neighborhood visioning” to bring disparate people together and reduce conflict by getting them to WORK together, knowing that respect and then friendship will follow.

This model program began as a demonstration project of the Lutheran Children & Family Services, which had been offering job training and English As A Second Language training in the neighborhood and, in 1993, received a grant from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement in 1993 to provide micro-enterprise training for Vietnamese and Russian refugees. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation joined the funding mix in 1995, and the Neighborhood Development Project was created with the fundamental premise, as outlined above, that the program would reduce the potential for inter-cultural conflict among neighbors by providing economic-development activities accessible to all.

The project is divided into two major areas:

The Micro-Enterprise Institute offers a free, eight-week course five times a year (three day courses with three-hour sessions three days per week and two evening courses with 3 1/2-hour sessions twice a week), covering all the essentials of starting or expanding a small business, ending the course with a full business plan in hand. A course typically includes perhaps a dozen students, with preference given to low-income immigrants, refugees and neighborhood residents (although no one is turned away), actively recruited for ethnic diversity. A current class, for instance, was multi-racial, including immigrants from three African countries, Bosnia and other countries. Students also get assistance from project staff in seeking small loans to start or expand their businesses.

The Neighborhood Visioning Institute works with the organization’s Community Advisory Board made up of representatives of many neighborhood ethnic and cultural groups, working to foster communications among groups, to facilitate ideas for community-improvement projects, and to find funding for such projects, particularly those involved with security, safety and beautification.

As with all grassroots initiatives, the real test of a program’s effectiveness is its success. Despite its relative youth, NDP has taken 126 potential entrepreneurs through the micro-enterprise program since 1995. A dozen of them are now in business for themselves, and another 31 have expanded existing businesses. Many more are still in the planning and startup process. Operating out of a small, neat suite of offices in a building on a rather dilapidated block, adjacent to an abandoned building and across the street from a vacant diner, NDP is making strides to turn its community around with a staff of only 12 (including contract instructors).

The keyword here is that it’s not just about business but business AND community, Iola Carter says in an excellent video prepared by one of the group’s instructors. “When you’re in business, it’s about GREEN, not black, white, red or yellow.”

All the feature stories on @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG's pages are reported and written by Robin Garr, a prize-winning journalist who has visited more than 500 innovative grassroots programs in all 50 states since 1990.
Browse his book, Reinvesting In America, at Amazon.com.
Send him E-mail.
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