On Valentine's Day last week, Mayor Michael Nutter appeared at
Esperanza College in North Philadelphia to introduce the recipients of the 2011
Neighborhood Economic Development grants. The purpose of the long-running and hugely popular program, which receives $1 million in funding from the federal
Community Development Block Grant program, is to "support the completion of neighborhood economic predevelopment, planning, and development projects," according to a Philadelphia Department of Commerce press release distributed at Esperanza.
Mayor Nutter, however, described the program in significantly more passionate and straightforward terms: "When we talk about this program, it's not just about affordable housing," he offered. "It's not just about shelter for the homeless. It's not just about investing. It's also about jobs, which is all we really want to talk about. You ask me what time it is?" he continued. "It's time to help people get a job. You ask me what the weather's like? It's nice enough to go out and look for a job. Anything you ask me, we're going to talk about jobs."
And although some might argue that the Neighborhood Economic Development grants are about much more than simple job creation--at their core, they're about helping community groups foster serious economic growth--the reality is that a total of 368 permanent jobs will eventually be created as a result of the grant monies being awarded to this year's recipients.
Esperanza, in fact, was one of this year's nine grant recipients, as was the
Center for Culinary Enterprises, a food business incubator which plans to break ground on March 23. Other recipients include
Community Legal Services, which is constructing a four-story building;
Mt. Airy USA, which is building the Mt. Airy Transit Village; and
People for People (PFP), which will offer job training in a soon-to-be-renovated two-story building. Click
here to read about the remaining grant recipients and their plans for future development.
Source: Esperanza College
Writer: Dan Eldridge
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