By John Ungar, Executive Director

Inter-Community Development Corporation

One year has passed since the Inter-Community Development Corporation (ICDC) re-opened with an office on Wadsworth Avenue, so it seemed like a good time to look back on all that has happened in the past year. 

First of all, we want to say that we have really enjoyed meeting so many of the neighbors and businesses in the community.  By working together, we have been able to accomplish many things in the past year.  People outside of the neighborhood have noticed the improvements in the area. Many have wondered what is going on, and wondered how they can make the same things happen in their neighborhood.  While we are pleased that people have noticed the positive changes, we are just getting started.  Some of the accomplishments of the past year are:

• We started a regular cleaning program on Wadsworth Avenue.  Thanks to assistance from both Philadelphia KidZone and the Philadelphia Activities Fund, ICDC has hired four young men since the summer to regularly clean Wadsworth Avenue.  They have done a wonderful job, and many people have commented about how much cleaner the Avenue looks.

• With help from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and the support of many of our commercial property owners, over 33 street trees were planted in late fall 2006.  PHS planted a variety of honey locusts, brandywine maples, and maackias (which will bloom with white flowers in the spring).

• The Wadsworth Avenue Business Association (WABA) was re-activated in the spring of 2006.  Since then, active membership has grown to over 20 businesses on the Avenue.  WABA works to ensure that Wadsworth Avenue is a strong, vibrant business district providing quality services to the community.  WABA is led by Donald Purefoey (President), Tom Pell (Vice President), Angell Keene (Treasurer), John Ungar (Secretary), and Carolyn Beaman (Assistant Treasurer). 

• A group of concerned neighbors – the Friends of Wadsworth Avenue – began meeting on a regular basis at ICDC’s office.  The Friends have been focusing their efforts on keeping the community safe and clean, and are exploring other ways to have a positive impact on the community.  The Friends group was founded by Rick White, and has been led by Donald Stafford.

• The Friends of Wadsworth Avenue and WABA joined together with ICDC on several occasions throughout the past year to hold cleanup events on Wadsworth Avenue.

• We continued ICDC’s long tradition of providing home repairs by launching our latest home repair program.  By the end of the summer, we will have helped 30 homeowners make repairs in their home.

• We distributed prescription discount cards to neighbors without prescription medical coverage.

• We partnered with Wachovia Bank to offer a budgeting workshop to several neighbors.

• We partnered with Market Knowledge and the Wadsworth Avenue Business Association to present business seminars.

• We assisted McCloskey Elementary School in two of their cleanup days in fall 2006.

• We became a referral agency for the Philadelphia Corporation for the Aging (PCA) – referring several of the neighborhood seniors to PCA for a variety of emergency assistance grants.

• We worked with several property owners on Wadsworth Avenue to improve their storefronts.  Last fall, all of the stores on the Avenue between Provident and Bayard received new signage.  Many thanks to Mr. Kim, the property owner, for making this investment in the community.  Although Mr. Kim received a grant from the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition to pay for some of the improvements, he paid directly out of pocket for most of the work.

• We provided free design assistance to businesses looking to improve their storefronts.

• We held meetings with several neighbors to help plan continued improvements for the neighborhood.

We are very excited by all that has happened in the neighborhood over the past year, and wanted to give you a preview of what to expect in the next year:

• Later this spring, we will work on a landscaping and beautification project on the grounds of the Dorothy Emmanuel Recreation Center and McCloskey Elementary School.  This is a partnership between ICDC, the Recreation Center, the McCloskey Elementary School, the neighbors and Arcadia University.  This project is possible thanks to support from Neighborhoods Now and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

• We will continue to distribute prescription discount cards to neighbors that need this service.

• We will offer another home repair program.

• Thanks to support from the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation (OARC), we will host an outdoor jazz concert at Dorothy Emmanuel Recreation Center later this spring.  More details will be available later.

• Thanks to our continuing partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, more trees will be planted on Wadsworth Avenue, Stenton Avenue, and Cheltenham Avenue.  We will also plant up to 40 trees around the neighborhood on residential streets in the fall.

• We will continue to provide regular cleaning of Wadsworth Avenue.

• We will work with the Wadsworth Avenue Business Association to recruit quality businesses to the neighborhood.

• We will work with neighbors on several blocks to beautify the neighborhood and protect your investments in your homes.

• We will offer more free educational workshops such as budgeting, financial planning, special education rights, and more.

Once again, thanks to everyone for a wonderful year.  This is a wonderful community – let’s make sure it stays that way.  We look forward to even more exciting projects next year.

 

Submitted:  March 2007