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Frankford Has the NAC

Kimberly Washington, Esq.

Frankford has a knack for many things.  The Knack for weaving, brewing, football are all in the past.  What we are talking about today is a NAC aka Neighborhood Advisory Committee.  Our NAC came into being several months ago.

OHCD’s Neighborhood Advisory Committee (NAC) Program offers community-based non-profit organizations the opportunity to lead and engage neighborhood residents in activities that support the City’s core objectives, including:

  • Promoting sustainability through recycling, cleaning, planting and alternative energy efforts.
  • Creating employment opportunities through job placement and training, retail revitalization, and educational assistance efforts.
  • Enhancing neighborhood safety through town watches, youth mentoring and community outreach programs.
  • Providing decent and affordable housing through new housing, preservation of existing housing and mortgage foreclosure prevention programs.

Several Frankford community groups applied to become the NAC provider agency; however Impact Services (1952 E. Allegheny Avenue) was the applicant chosen by the OHCD.

Charlene Lewis-Walker

The coordinator of our NAC is Kimberly Washington, esq. and she is assisted by Charlene (Char) Lewis-Walker.  Since Kim also coordinates the Northeast EPIC Stakeholders meetings, you can expect close cooperation between NAC and EPIC in the future.

The NAC office is located in the Carson Valley Frankford Neighborhood Center at 4451 Frankford Avenue.  The phone number is 215-535-1093.

What has the NAC done so far in Frankford?

  • Charlene has been offering residents assistance with the Homestead applications
  • Monthly door to door (since March) to connect homeowners in foreclosure with the City’s Foreclosure prevention program
  • Housing and Utility Resource Fair which will be hosted in September
  • Char has also been a good resource working with homeowners who are interested in purchasing vacant side lots in the community
  • The students at First Philadelphia Charter have taken on the initiative of creating and publishing our newsletter.  The students are supervised by a teacher at the school his name is Rick Crain and also by Jim Stanton.
  • Charlene has already taken charge of the teen gardening group and has been hard at work this Summer at the community garden at Wilmot and Tackawanna

What will the NAC do for Frankford on a continuing basis?

  •  Provide information on various OHDC-funded programs to residents including but not limited to BSRP, Weatherization Program, Adaptive Modifications Program, Philadelphia Home Improvement Loan Program, PHIL-Plus, Mini-PHIL and other anti-predatory loan programs
  • Home-ownership Rehabilitation Program, Home start Program, Donor-Taker Program, Rental Rehabilitation Programs, housing counseling services, Settlement Assistance Program and American Dream Down payment Initiative (ADDI).
  • Homeowner Foreclosure Outreach – If you are in a foreclosure situation, contact the NAC to get information on what alternatives are available to you.  Foreclosure may be avoiding in some cases
  • Act as a referral center for community residents for all City Departments and programs relating to special services for groups such as senior citizens, the disabled and income-eligible youth
  • Oversee and assists in promoting programs designed to address various issues including literacy, truancy, youth violence, job training, and teen pregnancy. This will be accomplished through the NAC’s partnership with EPIC
  • Oversee and assists in the disposition of vacant land which may be developed as side yards, community gardens, parking lots or other open space through a program of open space management
  • Develop a current list of all block clubs and block captains in the area.

The introduction of the NAC in Frankford adds one more opportunity to move Frankford forward.   Stop into any time to see Char at the Carson Valley Frankford Neighborhood Center at 4451 Frankford Avenue and find out what the NAC can do for you.