NKCDC

NKCDC’s Housing Counselors are holding Homebuyer workshops both virtually and in-person across NKCDC’s service area! Take a look at upcoming workshops!

- Tuesday, October 6th , from 4PM-8PM (Virtual)

- Wednesday, October 14th, from 9:30AM-1:30PM at 2515 Frankford Avenue

- Saturday, October 24th from 9:30AM-1:30PM in the Orinoka Community Room (2771 Ruth Street, Suite 1)

Whether you're thinking about buying your first home or trying to remember all the steps from the last time, this is the class for you! The first-time homebuyer class is also approved to qualify you for most down payment assistance programs.

Sign up for one of the October Workshops here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/first-time-homebuyer-workshop-english-tickets-1078159426869?aff=ebdsoporgprofile and be sure to make note of the location when signing up!

NKCDC’s Housing team also offers a variety of services such as housing counseling, rental assistance within a targeted area of Kensington, energy efficiency and weatherization services, mortgage default advice, income and tax rebates, and financial coaching. Find more information and request an appointment here: https://nkcdc.org/housing-services/

NKCDC rehabilitates, builds, and manages housing, mixed-use properties, and commercial spaces across Kensington, Fishtown, and Port Richmond. We’re seeking tenants for three apartments across our service area. Could this be you?!

- 2513 Frankford Avenue (Unit 2) : A newly renovated 2 bed/1 bath apartment, 598 Sq Ft. for $1,600/month. Includes Air Conditioning, heat and dishwasher.

- 2513 Frankford Avenue (Unit 4): A newly renovated 2bed/2bath, 881 sq ft, listed at $1,700/month. Includes in-unit Washer/Dryer, dishwasher, air conditioning and heat,

- 3115 Kensington Avenue (Unit 3): A newly renovated 1 bed/1bath in Kensington, 500 sq ft, listed at $900/month. Includes an oven, air conditioning, and heat.

Interested in checking out one of our apartments? Email [email protected] or give us a call at 215-427-0350 to set up a tour!

To find more information on or to apply to our current rental properties, head to: https://nkcdc.org/housing-services/apartments-for-rent/

NKCDC's Food Systems programming works to advance food access and health equity through hands-on nutrition education and cooking classes, food tastings, meal kits, garden education, or families and people of all ages.

This summer, we’ve been connecting with youth by partnering with other organizations in Kensington and throughout the city to provide youth programming, including with Klean Kensington at their weekly guided gardening where teens learned about growing food and sustainable gardening practices, through a summer camp with CADE kids at Tusculum Gateway Garden, programming with By Faith, Health, and Healing at the Jasper Street Greenspace, and our regular monthly youth cooking classes at the Kensington and McPherson Libraries!

By increasing access to gardens, food, and nutritional education for youth, we’re helping build healthy eating and cooking habits at a young age. Youth programming in NKCDC and partner greenspaces and kitchens allows young people to plug into the food loop at every level, from the planting and harvesting of produce to the preparation of nutritious meals! They also provide a safe place for young people to socialize, get connected to local greenspaces, and learn valuable life skills!

We're grateful to our partners and young people who came out for the opportunity to provide nutritional education and programming to people of all ages in a trusted and accessible community setting.

Interested in getting involved in NKCDC's Food Systems programming like this? Text NKCDCNourish to 833-901-2072 for garden and cooking event reminders!

Do you love getting your hands in the dirt? Looking for a good way to spend your Saturday mornings this fall? We're starting a weekly gardening club and would love for you to join us!

Whether you’re picking up a trowel for the first time or have years of gardening experience, we want you to be part of our garden community! Come out to volunteer, connect, and meet fellow gardeners!

NKCDC regularly seeks community feedback so that our work continues to reflect the priorities of neighbors throughout our service area. In a yearly resident survey about economic development we conducted this summer, we learned from 115 neighbors what their priorities are for neighborhood economic development and safety on the commercial corridors!

As a part of our process, we asked for feedback on what kinds of businesses residents would like to see in the neighborhood, what they’d like to see to improve the safety of the commercial corridor, and how NKCDC should focus our work on the commercial corridors.

In response, we learned from 115 neighbors that:

When asked what type of businesses residents would prefer to see in their neighborhood, the top 5 answers were grocery stores/produce stands, restaurants, cafes/bakeries, healthcare offices, and specialty food stores.

We asked what measures the city of Philadelphia should take to increase safety along the commercial corridors that included strategies beyond increasing and decreasing police presence, with the top answers being better traffic calming measures, improved street cleaning, and increased community outreach and social services.

When asked what NKCDC should do to best serve our service area, respondents outlined Beautifying public spaces, filling vacant commercial spaces, increasing access to grants and city programs, advocating to local government, and workforce development.

This feedback is essential to shaping a community-informed vision for the neighborhood's commercial corridors. The input you provided will help NKCDC's efforts to support long-standing businesses and empower the continuing economic development of the neighborhood.

Are you a Kensington business owner who wants to help shape the economic development in the neighborhood? Join us for our monthly Kensington Business Coalition Meeting at the Kensington Engagement Center on the second Tuesday of every month!

For more information on NKCDC’s Economic Development work, head to our website at https://nkcdc.org/business-arts/ or read our annual report (pages 19-26): https://nkcdc.org/who-we-are/annual-report/

Join us on Wednesday 9/30 from 5:30PM to 7:30PM at the Kensington Engagement Center for a documentary screening and discussion about affordability, third spaces, and the climate crisis.

Teens keep telling us and showing us that they want places where they can hang out, learn new skills, and explore their passions, and they have also been clear about how expensive it has become to move into adulthood. During this workshop, we'll talk about why third spaces matter, and about how affordability and the climate crises are shaping what is possible for young people in Philadelphia.

This is part of a series of events and workshops called A People's Exposition that is taking a critical and honest look at key issues shaping Philadelphia today, envisioning a more just and equitable future for our city, and acting on co-created solutions that address our greatest challenges.

Let us know you are coming by registering here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/sbzu71sxtk! Learn more at nkcdc.org/a-peoples-exposition

Do you care about bringing more trees and greenspaces to your community? Join NKCDC and Rewilding Philadelphia as we prepare to plant a pocket forest on October 24th!

Located at the Jasper Street Greenspace along the Conrail tracks that NKCDC and community organizations have kept active, this pocket forest will be an opportunity for ecological restoration in Kensington.

While conducting soil remediation tests and bringing in a landscape architect to create design concepts for the space, we’ve also been engaging neighbors to share their input on the future of the space and to imagine what the Jasper Street greenspace could look like with a new pocket forest. Swipe through to see site designs we’ve been imagining together! We’re excited to take these designs and along with environmental and site limitations, create a final design for the pocket forest!

Do you want to support planting this brand-new pocket forest in Kensington? There are still opportunities to get involved with restoring and healing this greenspace in Kensington!

- On October 21st, we’ll be hosting a community volunteer day! Help us rake and shovel the site to prep it for planting day!

- On October 23rd, there will be an opportunity for kids to volunteer at the space as we finalize the prep for planting day!

- Join us for a planting day on October 24th!

Stay tuned to our social media for updates on further ways to get involved!

Want to stay up to date on upcoming events and greenspace volunteering opportunities? Text NKCDCNourish to 833-901-2072 for more garden and greening opportunities and reminders in Kensington!

Join NKCDC and Fab Youth Philly on Friday 9/25 from 6PM to 8PM at the Kensington Engagement Center for a documentary screening of We Could Be King and a discussion on school closures in Philadelphia.

In 2012, Germantown High School and Martin Luther King High School were merged as a part of a wave of school closings across the city. During this workshop, we'll watch the film together and talk about what we can learn from the young people who experienced the merging, and from the adults who supported them, as we face 17 more closures fourteen years later.

In response to those closures, and to the tensions and safety concerns those they can bring to our neighborhoods, we hosted a School Closure Summit in June that brought together violence intervention groups, youth serving organizations, young people, and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel to build a shared understanding of the challenges ahead and to begin developing an ongoing strategy for meeting them. This upcoming workshop on the 25th is intended to directly hear from young people and how these closures will affect them.

This event is part of a series of events and workshops called A People's Exposition that is taking a critical and honest look at key issues shaping Philadelphia today, envisioning a more just and equitable future for our city, and acting on co-created solutions that address our greatest challenges.

Let us know you are coming by registering here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/sbzu71sxtk! Learn more at nkcdc.org/a-peoples-exposition

Kensington’s future depends on living systems and the people who shape and care for them. Over the last 9 months, NKCDC has been facilitating Co-Creating a GreenPrint for Kensington, a green planning process funded by the William Penn Foundation, which is in direct response to the priorities that residents have identified over the last few years through the Co-Creating Kensington Process.

By engaging residents in a process to envision a greener future, by tending to local greenspaces and gardens, and investing in the strategies that sustain them, we can co-create opportunities for community transformation and healing. Over the last 9 months, we’ve facilitated more than 100 opportunities to engage in Co-Creating a GreenPrint for Kensington, collecting community feedback through in-depth conversations, hands-on workshops, Q&As, surveys, and voting, all of which has encouraged inclusive engagement so that anyone from our targeted planning area can help shape an actionable green plan for Kensington. To date, we’ve engaged with more than 800 community members about their concerns, priorities, and dreams as it relates to greening!

As a part of a greater planning and implementation process in Kensington (kensingtonplan.org), Co-Creating a GreenPrint for Kensington allows us to further uplift neighbor voices and visions specifically as it relates to the role and power of green spaces in revitalizing the Kensington neighborhood.

This fall, a planning team made up of residents and greening experts will help consolidate this feedback and turn it into an actionable green plan that we’ll share next spring. Stay tuned for more updates as they unfold!

Want to stay up to date with garden events, workshops and other ways to engage with our Food Systems program? Text NKCDCNourish to 833-901-2072!

NKCDC is back on Frankford Avenue at our original offices providing satellite services!

Every Monday and Thursday from 8:30AM to 4PM, our Energy and Housing Counselor, Ivette, will be at our Frankford Avenue Hub (2515 Frankford Avenue) to assist residents with energy and weatherization bills and to connect them to other housing resources. Once a month, NKCDC’s housing counselors hold a homebuyer workshop for first-time homebuyers at 2515 Frankford Avenue. You can sign up at the link in our bio!

You can also stop by on the 2nd Friday of every month for constituent services with Senator Saval’s office! Their office is supporting with property tax/rent rebate applications, SEPTA senior passes, utility assistance, unemployment compensation, CHIP and SNAP benefits, PennDOT, Birth and Death certificates, state agencies, and more!

We're thrilled to be back in a space where NKCDC established itself 40 years ago. While our move from these offices to our Ruth Street office north of Lehigh Avenue marked an important moment of adapting to the changing needs of the communities we serve, we're thrilled to once again be back on Frankford Avenue satelliting services!

If you're near Frankford Avenue, stop by and talk to our housing team! Stay tuned for additional information about upcoming services available at our Frankford Avenue Hub.