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events CALENDAR Free Home Repair & Financial Workshops June 11th
summer 2014
NKCDC, the Office of Housing and Community De-
velopment, and NeighborWorks America would like
you to take advantage of expert home repair and
financial workshops, make a property tax or rent
rebate appointment, and stock up on free home
resources for weatherization and home repair.
Bring your repair to-do lists, financial questions, and
the whole family to the Housing Fair Wednesday,
June 11th from 3-6pm as a part of Neighbor-
Works Week 2014.
Located indoors (rain or shine) at Rock Ministries,
2755 Kensington Ave.
Lots of family activities & chances to win several
raffle gift baskets.
Contact Tess at [email protected] or
215-427-0350 x 139 for more info.
This Neighborhood Advisory Committee Service
Area Briefing is brought to you by the Philadelphia
Office of Housing & Community Development in
partnership with Rock Ministries, Citizens Bank,
Wells Fargo Regional Foundation, All State
Insurance, PCA, Community Legal Services, Energy
Coordinating Agency, PGW, PECO, and
Susquehanna Bank.
Applicants Chosen for Sustainable Homes in Fishtown
June
11 NAC Service Briefing &
NeighborWorks
Week Housing Fair
3-6pm
2755 Kensington Ave
215-427-0350 x 139
13 Electronic Recycling Day
12-4pm
Shissler Parking Lot
22 DIY Rainbarrels
11am
Frankford & Berks
July
7 Somerset Neighbors for
Better Living (SNBL)
Monthly Meeting
6:30pm
Frankford and Somerset
12 Homebuyers Education
(HBE) Course
215-427-0350
13 DIY Rainbarrels
11am
Frankford & Berks
August
2 Homebuyers Education
(HBE) Course
215-427-0350
NKCDC held the
lottery at Fishtown
Recreation Center
on April 30th to
choose qualifying
applicants for the
A w e s o m e t o w n
homes, which is a
partnership with
Postgreen Homes
to provide mixed-
income housing to first-time homebuyers and
redevelop a former industrial site on the 400 block
of Moyer St. into a unique mixed-income residential
development comprised of fourteen sustainable
townhomes seeking highest LEED certification.
Four homes are subsidized with private financing
and the sale of the ten market-rate units through a
public/private partnership—a unique model for
making sure that all working families can achieve
the dream of owning their own home in the City of
Philadelphia.
Fifty-six applicants applied after the March 19th
launch and outreach regarding the affordable units.
Application announcements were made on NKCDC
and Postgreen websites, blogs, social media
platforms in addition to weekly eNewsletter
announcements and flyer distribution to nearby
residents. The lottery was open to the public, and
there were twenty six members of applicant
households present along with Judy Berkman,
Managing Attorney from Regional Housing Legal
Services.
All applicants have been notified of their position in
the lottery via email in the event the first four
chosen applicants decide to drop out, do not
complete housing counseling and homebuyer
education, or are deemed ineligible to move on to
the next round of income verification. NKCDC
housing counselors were on hand to make
appointments with applicants and answer questions.
Courtney Ludeman, Co-owner of Postgreen Homes—
also helped answer any questions that arose.
Please contact [email protected] with any
questions pertaining to the lottery. For more info on
the ten market-rate houses for sale, go to
awesometownphilly.com
Inside NKCDC www.nkcdc.org
William has worked for 30 years helping keep a
good roof over other people’s heads. In 2013,
NKCDC was happy to work with this veteran
roofer to keep his own roof over his head.
William has always called himself “hard-headed.”
In 2011, William’s wife passed and he sustained
an injury shortly after to his neck, which kept
him out of work. Falling behind on mortgage
payments, William was sure he’d lose his home
and started looking for rentals. Thankfully, his
sister-in-law—who had previously worked with
NKCDC counselors on her own home—prevailed
upon him to let her make an appointment with
Joe Filipski, NKCDC Foreclosure Prevention
Specialist. Although initially convinced nothing
could be done to save his house, “hard-headed”
William now just repeats,
“Thank god for Joe.”
Joe has been working with William for over a
year to modify his mortgage through the Making
Home Affordable program among others. He’s
applied and represented William at foreclosure
court to reduce his monthly mortgage payments
from $1173 to $481 with a 2% interest rate for
the rest of the life of the loan. William will also
qualify to have his principal balance reduced by
$17,253 every year over the next three years as
long as he remains current with his mortgage
payments.
Joe has worked with hundreds of similar clients
for over 20 years and describes William’s story,
“One life event happens and with people living
paycheck to paycheck it’s easy to fall behind,
and this happens frequently.” A MetLife Study
found that 52% of employees are living
paycheck to paycheck and nearly 42% of all
American households do not have enough in
liquid financial assets to support themselves for
at least three months if they fall behind.
William and his wife both worked to make
mortgage payments on their home in Torresdale
in Northeastern Philadelphia
for sixteen years. He said, “I
always paid my bills the best
I could until my wife started
getting sick.” Before his
three decades in Roofers
Union Local 30, William was
in the Navy, and his wife
worked as a nurse’s aid. Even
with his Navy pension and
Roofers Union Local 30
covering most of his medical
bills, it would have been
impossible for William to
make payments their two
incomes previously covered.
Sitting at Joe’s desk, he pulls
out bills carefully tucked back into each of their
original envelopes. He repeats to Joe that he’ll
make sure all his forms and payments are
on-time, showing him his delivery receipts from
the Post Office. In addition to working with his
lender and the City, NKCDC helped William apply
for utility assistance programs he also qualified
for.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association,
every three months, 250,000 new families enter
into foreclosure.
If you only think there’s a small chance of falling
behind on your mortgage or utility bills, call
NKCDC at 215-427-0350 and visit
www.nkcdc.org/housing.
We know that you’ve been working hard to keep
your home, but many of us like William need
support. Make an appointment today.
staff
NEWS NKCDC is happy to
w e l c o m e A n d r e w
Goodman, the new
Director of Community
Engagement. Andrew has
made Philadelphia his
home for the past twelve
years. Andrew comes to
NKCDC from PennPraxis
where he managed large-
scale community-based visions and planning
projects, including the Civic Vision for the
Central Delaware Waterfront and Green2015.
While his work had previously focused on
engaging communities in planning, he’s
excited to be on the implementation side,
creating meaningful partnerships to bring
residents the improvements and services that
they seek.
NKCDC is happy to
welcome Michaela
Allwine as our new
B l o c k P r o g r a m s
Coordinator. She will be
the point of contact for
Sustainable 19125 &
19134, zoning, and
property based issues
including vacant lots.
Prior to NKCDC, she was the Program
Coordinator for the Urban Apps + Maps Studio
at Temple University, working with local youth
in community development projects.
Michaela has a passion for community driven
design and programming. She loves camping,
Philadelphia, and is starting to keep bees on a
local vacant lot. She received her Masters
Degree in Geography and Urban Studies from
Temple University and Bachelor of Architecture
from Drexel University.
NKCDC is happy to
welcome Ed McColly
as our Real Estate
D e v e l o p m e n t
Associate.
Ed managed a vacant
p r o p e r t y r e h a b
program as well as an
owner occupied repair program for a local
community development corporation in
Youngstown, Ohio. Ed received a Master of
Public Administration degree from the
University of Pittsburgh in 2009 and worked
with the Borough of Wilkinsburg outside of
Pittsburgh to assess vacant properties and
develop a plan for targeting redevelopment.
He is looking forward to working on the
Orinoka Civic House development in the
Neighborhood North of Lehigh Ave.
William’s Story: Hardworking Roofer Protects
His Own Home from Foreclosure
Volunteer to Beautify Kensington north of Lehigh Avenue with the Somerset
Neighbors for Better Living
2515 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125 215.427.0350
Inside NKCDC - Summer 2014
Editor: Diana Jih
Contributors: Andrew Goodman, Michaela Allwine, Ed McColly
Photos Courtesy of: Diana Montgomery, Ed Snyder
Printing by Health Partners Plans
THANKS to 15,000 of You for Making Your
Derby a Muddy Mess to Remember
Want to lend a hand in beautifying your
neighborhood on a sunny summer day?
Join your neighbors this August for a
much needed volunteer day. Meet the
Somerset Neighbors for Better Living
(SNBL), who convene monthly to discuss
this and other projects in the
Neighborhood North of Lehigh.
For more information on cleanups and
SNBL meetings, contact Tess Donie:
[email protected] or 215-427-0350 x139.
SNBL meetings are held the first Monday of every month at
Community Women’s Education Project (CWEP) on Frankford and
Somerset at 6:30pm.
Latest news also found at www.facebook.com/SNBLPhilly.
Although less recognizable than Mr. Softee blaring down your
streets, NKCDC’s Vacant Land Management crew have also become
a summertime neighborhood staple in Fishtown, Kensington, Olde
Richmond, and the Neighborhood North of Lehigh.
Feel free to shout
out “hey” or
“great job” to
them as the
three person
crew somehow
mows, weeds,
and cleans 720
lots this year—
adding fourteen
more lots than
last year!
Just don’t ask
them for a water
ice...
Vacant Land Management Crew Adds 14 Lots for Total of 720 to Maintain in 2014
15,000 fans, participants, donors, and dinosaurs made this year’s Ken-
sington Kinetic Sculpture Derby one for the record books. One more
muddy round of applause for the 1st ever neighborhood school team,
H.A. Brown Elementary, proud winners of “Best 1st Time Entry” and all
the other award winners:
“People's Choice Award” Game of Cones
“Best Breakdown” Jules E. Mastbaum Area Vocational Technical School
“Best Art” Kim Traub's Shackamaxon
“Best Engineering” Philadelphia Brewing Co.
“Best Costume” Don't Drag me Back to Earth
“Best (Worst) Pun” Miss Bee Hive Inn
“Best Pack” Dinosaurs (Crazy Bike Clan)
“Best 1-2 person entry” Naomi Littell's "something"
“Best Overall Theme” Neighborhood Bike Works
“Judges Choice” Bandits House of Cards
Accolades galore to IndieGoGo Donors who helped to raise funds this
year and the Mud Pit Master-level sponsors: Philadelphia Brewing
Company, O3, and Philly in Focus. For a full list of our amazing
sponsors, check out kinetickensington.org. See you all next year!
2515 Frankford Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19125
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Contributions to NKCDC are tax-deductible and can be made online at www.nkcdc.org or via United Way to Donor Choice #6066. Thank you!
Printing by Health Partners Plans
