Philadelphia Association Of Community Development Corporations

Programs: Pacdc's key accomplishments of the fiscal year included: *equitable development policy platform: pacdc developed, released and advanced an equitable development policy platform, "beyond gentrification, toward equitable neighborhoods," in february 2015 providing tangible and long-lasting solutions to challenges facing to challenges facing philadelphia's lower-income families and the neighborhoods in which they live. We also produced a series of op-eds highlighting the five key planks in the platform, and using a purely non-partisan, issue-focused approach, met with mayoral and city council candidates to brief them on the platform, and organized a mayoral candidates forum on equitable development in april. (www. Pacdc. Org/equitabledevelopment) *neighborhood economic development: we successfully advocated for improved programs and flexible funding for neighborhood economic development and commercial corridor revitalization, including $535,000 in flexible general fund resources in the city's fy16 budget for the storefront improvement program, which helps small businesses on our neighborhood commercial corridors turn blighted, unsightly or vacant storefronts into attractive places to shop, dine and do business; the restoration of funding for the local cdc tax credit program from $85,000 to $100,000 per slot, per year for 10 years, for new or renewing slots, which boosts investment in neighborhood economic development for participating non-profits; and approval of legislation holding used goods donation bin owners and peoperty owners accountable for short dumping and graffiti around their bins. *community engagement: we also successfully advocated for a $264,000 increase in funding for the neighborhood advisory committee(nac) program, which is a form of constituent service in neighborhoods, connecting residents with help to save their home from foreclosure, getting energy assistance, accessing job training programs, and more. The nac's also serve as commumity engagement and organizing arms of cdc's, ensuring that neighborhood residents are involved in decisions about their communities. *housing preservation and development: pacdc laid the groundwork for a significant increase of resources for the philadelphia housing trust fund, as well as a long-term, strategic housing plan to chart a path to more fully meet the city's housing needs. While the philadelphia housing trust fund has raised $108 million and helped 25,000 families since its inception in 2005, dramatic cuts in federal and state funding has limited the ability to respond to growing affordable housing needs. Working with key members of city council, pacdc organized two council briefings, as well as two public hearings, where experts testified on the massive, unmet need for affordable home preservation, development, and homelessness prevention, as well as how philadelphia can generate new resources to meet those needs, and use existing resources more effectively. We also supported efforts to obtain dedicated funding for the state housing trust fund. *vacant property reuse: pacdc continued working to ensure that the philadelphia land bank becomes a tool to advance equitable development, as well as improve the systems for getting vacant properties back into productive re-use as quickly and efficiently as possible. We were deeply engaged in the development of the land bank's strategic plan, policies and procedures, and convened the philly land bank alliance to ensure stakeholders had a platform to provide input on the strategic plan and the land bank's progress. *philadelphia community development leadership institute: pacdc continued to strengthen and expand its community development leadership institute to better coordinate efforts to build capacity of local community development practitioners as they address critical issues in their communities and advance equitable neighborhood revitalization. Specifically, the cdli achieved the following during the year: (1)sponsored 12 trainings covering real estate development, community policing and design, commercial retail attraction and retention, and incorporating health outcomes into community development, among others, serving nearly 500 professionals from more than 60 organizations with programs that consistently ranked outstanding in evaluations; (2)hosted the second annual cdli symposium exploring challenges and opportunities for meaningful equitable development at the neighborhood level and in policy advancement. Angela glover blackwell, president and ceo of the national policy think tank, policylink, gave an electrifying keyote that also helped shape our 2015 edition of pacdc magazine featuring explorations on race, class, community development and equitable development. (3)launched a new, creative place making program entitled the third space initiative, featuring artists, designers, planners and community developers working collaboratively to develop and nurture both informal and formal hubs of community vibrancy. The program attracted a two-year grant from the national endowment of the arts, and will be piloted in two neighborhoods to produce art work and landscape design projects, as well as trainings, convenings, and a toolkit to assist other community developers and artists to continue this work in their own neighborhoods. *strengthening pacdc communications: pacdc continued to improve its on-line and print communications, and significantly increased use of social media to engage audiences. We produced electronic and printed formats of our equitable development platform, op-eds, educational materials, data, mapping and other images to easily and quickly communicate our message. The 2015 edition of the pacdc magazine, focused on race, class and community development, was broadly distributed, attracting positive attention and helped spur a needed dialog on this issue (pacdc. Org/pacdc-2015-magazine-race-class- and-community-development). *pacdc strategic plan update: all of this new and on-going work informed an update to our stategic plan, which will guide us through 2017.