This is a guest post by Michelle Feldman of the Frankford CDC. Michelle is the Corridor Manager and Special Events Coordinator.
First of all, thanks to Bob for allowing us to guest post on the Gazette, and for all of the support he has given us over the years.
We at the Frankford CDC want to take this opportunity to share what we do every day, and to invite suggestions and comments regarding what other special projects we should tackle, and what else we should fold in to our day to day work.
Right now we are focused on assisting the businesses along the Avenue, and trying to attract new entrepreneurs to start their enterprises here in Frankford. We try to help existing or prospective business owners navigate the various City agencies, as well as identify and apply for various sources of funding. We also work to cut the vacancy rate along the Avenue, and help to keep the Frankford Business and Professional Association running smoothly. In addition, we plan and execute special events that we hope will be enjoyable for Frankford residents, but also attract new people to the area in the hopes that they will see all of the wonderful things about Frankford that we see. We are in the midst of our first series of summer arts festivals (the next one is September 10th from 12n to 3p on the 4700 block of Frankford Avenue – please come out and join us!). And stay tuned for more information about our Haunted History tour coming up in October.
Currently, we are working on several special projects that we hope will be a part of kickstarting the revitalization of the Avenue. Most importantly, we are working to turn vacant properties in to temporary arts and community galleries. The goal is not just to create a meeting space and attract artists to Frankford, but also to market the too-numerous vacancies on the Avenue. We are also partnering with Startup Corps, a nonprofit organization that runs year long youth entrepreneurship programs in high schools throughout the City through which students start their own businesses, to try to bring the program to Frankford High. In addition, we are working to bring strategic types of businesses to Frankford; specifically, we are actively attempting to attract a coffeeshop / cafe to our area. Through this project, as well as through our relationship with Startup Corps, we have had the good fortune to meet a lot of great entrepreneurs, and have actually brought two new small businesses to Frankford.
Last, we are actively stepping up our online presence. We recently started a blog (www.frankfordcdc.blogspot.com), we have revamped our website (www.frankfordcdc.com), and we are avid facebook users (friend us at http://www.facebook.com/#!/FrankfordCDC)! We’ve partnered with Northeast Treatment Centers, with whom we are also working on a community garden project, to update the jobs section of our website, which will soon host searchable video interviews of job seekers. We have also restarted our monthly newsletter, which we post on our blog and facebook page. Let us know if you’d like to start receiving our newsletters!
This is just some of what we do. But we really want to hear from you, and we truly need your participation. Come out to our events. Come meet us and tell us how we can be better serving you. Give us a call any time at 215-743-6580 – or email Tracy at todrain.fcdc@gmail.com or Michelle at mfeldman.fcdc@gmail.com. We can’t do this with out you!
The New Frankford Y had been a hotly talked about property during the recent Northwood Civic Association meeting as it has fallen into disrepair after closing down last year. The property had been slated to go to sheriff sale last December but it is unclear at this time what the result was. The Y’s last executive director Terry Tobin passed away this January from an accidental fall, since then the facility’s financial situation has been murky.
