At NKCDC, we believe that community development can and should benefit all residents.
New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) provides free housing counseling—like help buying a home, or help paying rent, mortgage, or utilities—to anyone in Philadelphia. We offer many additional resources to residents and businesses in the Kensington, Fishtown, and Port Richmond neighborhoods, like:
- Developing affordable housing
- Connecting residents to resources for housing, food, health, safety, employment and other community needs
- Advancing neighborhood leaders and supporting neighborhood organizations
- Supporting small businesses, artists, and entrepreneurs
- Maintaining vacant lots and commercial corridors
Our Community Health Worker (CHW) workforce development program also improves health outcomes in Kensington. Our food and nutrition program, Nourish, delivers meal kits in Kensington, Fairhill and Juniata. And We CAN, a partnership funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, has brought community organizations and police together to address issues of community safety across Kensington and Fairhill.
We use a strategic combination of real estate development, community engagement, and people-centered direct services to ensure all of our neighbors can remain—and thrive—where they choose to live.
Whether we are building affordable housing or helping residents build their wealth, we pledge to promote equity, stability, and safety in all we do, with a sharp focus on those most at risk of being displaced.
Annual Report
In 2020, timely rental assistance kept 90 Kensington residents in their homes. NKCDC housing advisors helped 440 Philadelphians buy their first home. And a partnership with Rebuilding Together Philadelphia completed its 80th healthy home repair in Kensington.
Community Survey
Every three years NKCDC takes a survey of Kensington Philadelphia to learn how residents are thinking and feeling about their neighborhood.
NKCDC in the news
National and local news stories, blogs, audio and video mentioning NKCDC.
NKCDC is a NeighborWorks member organization. NeighborWorks America is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1978. NeighborWorks builds the skills, supplements the funding and amplifies the reach of organizations like NKCDC so we can leverage additional resources to achieve our mission.
OUR MISSION
NKCDC advances social equity & economic empowerment by nurturing and creating opportunities for residents to live in, and actively shape, their neighborhoods of choice.
Strategic Plan
We believe neighborhood development can and should benefit all our neighbors.
That was the vision that grabbed NKCDC’s Board of Directors in 2019, and it is the vision we carry into our next years of work under a new strategic plan.
Partners & Funders
We couldn’t do half our work without the support of a whole community of partners and funders.
Staff & Board
With more than 30 full-time and 15 part-time employees, NKCDC staff bring resources to local businesses and residents—and provide housing services across Philadelphia.
Our History
Fishtown was once Kensington, and Kensington was once “the workshop of the world.” NKCDC has worked in the community since 1985. We are a proud member of NeighborWorks America, a congressionally chartered national network.