About Us
NeighborhoodsNow is a new nonprofit organization that develops market-driven programs to improve the health and competitiveness of Philadelphia's low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.The organization is new, but NeighborhoodsNow is the second stage of an earlier, successful community development program called Philadelphia Neighborhood Development Collaborative (PNDC). For more than 10 years, PNDC provided operating and capacity-building support to community development corporations (CDCs).
PNDC helped CDCs to develop 1,900 housing units, and more than 330,000 square feet of non-housing development estimated at $136 million. The PNDC funders helped to create a new, more proactive entity and to transition PNDC into a self-supporting nonprofit that now raises funds to support specific programs that strengthen Philadelphia neighborhoods.
PNDC's history and lessons learned has helped the board and leadership of NeighborhoodsNow develop a program that responds to local and national market trends and proactively develops programs that address specific issues in Philadelphia.
Mission
NeighborhoodsNow contributes to the economic vitality of the city and the region by leading and developing partnerships that strengthen neighborhoods through revitalization programs and policy reform.Goals
NeighborhoodsNow seeks to help improve the overall health and competitiveness of Philadelphia neighborhoods by developing and implementing market-driven and community-asset building programs.Two programs have been developed and launched by NeighborhoodsNow in its first year of operation—Healthy Neighborhoods and Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). NeighborhoodsNow is also working with the PA Department of Community and Economic Development to market the state's Neighborhood Partnership Program.
- Healthy Neighborhoods
NeighborhoodsNow is committed to helping moderate- and middle-income communities remain in places where it makes economic and emotional sense for people to invest their time, money and energy. The Healthy Neighborhoods program is also focused on helping residents manage neighborhood issues and change successfully.
The new program is aimed at helping residents, especially homeowners, preserve their equity and investments by improving neighborhoods that are experiencing stress, and in almost all cases, exhibiting early signs of disinvestment. Six programs are currently underway. - Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)
NeighborhoodsNow is currently developing a TOD program to help CDCs revitalize low-wealth neighborhoods by improving and exploiting existing transit assets and attracting new private market investments near them. NeighborhoodsNow is supporting four CDCs demonstration projects.
NeighoborhoodsNow has commissioned economic consultants Econsult Corporation to write a policy paper that examines the systemic barriers to neighborhood transit-oriented development (TOD) and suggests a series of reforms and action steps to establish TOD as a widely used revitalization tool in Philadelphia. The report will be released in Fall 2007. - Neighborhood Partnership Program
NeighborhoodsNow is helping to broker partnerships for one of the Department of Community and Economic Development's programs that encourages corporations to partner with community development programs throughout the state. The NPP offers a 70% tax credit to corporations that make contributions of up to $350,000 annually to a designated CBO. NeighborhoodsNow (and formerly as Philadelphia Neighborhood Development Corporation) helped to establish the new structure and guidelines and today helps to market the program in the greater Philadelphia region. Visit the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development website.