Southwest Community Development Corporation is pleased to announce a new program designed to stimulate residential housing development and neighborhood revitalization and create wealth and employment opportunities for residents of Southwest Philadelphia. Called “Jumpstart”, the program was first implemented in Germantown by real estate developer Ken Weinstein. Due to its success, the program was recently expanded into 4 additional neighborhoods, Kensington, Hunting Park, Mantua/Belmont and now, Southwest Philadelphia.
Classes were held in May and July and 48 people completed the 9 hours of training.
What is Jumpstart?
Jumpstart is a new model for community development that provides training, mentoring,
networking, and financing options for aspiring local developers. Program participants (Mentees) will be Southwest community residents who are interested in, and committed to, learning about residential real estate development and using it to make a positive difference in their community. They might be interested in finding a house to rehab and move in themselves, or they may be interested in real estate development as a career. They could get started with a building they own or would like to acquire, or they could get matched to vacant city-owned houses. The Mentees receive up to 9 hours of classroom instruction on a variety of topics, and perhaps more importantly, they are paired with a Mentor, who will be available to them for questions, advice and support throughout the process. Mentors are real estate development professionals and can be realtors, contractors, lawyers, bankers, architects, developers, etc. They are experienced and willing to share their expertise to help Mentees complete their projects.
The overall objectives of Jumpstart are to:
Classes were held in May and July and 48 people completed the 9 hours of training.
What is Jumpstart?
Jumpstart is a new model for community development that provides training, mentoring,
networking, and financing options for aspiring local developers. Program participants (Mentees) will be Southwest community residents who are interested in, and committed to, learning about residential real estate development and using it to make a positive difference in their community. They might be interested in finding a house to rehab and move in themselves, or they may be interested in real estate development as a career. They could get started with a building they own or would like to acquire, or they could get matched to vacant city-owned houses. The Mentees receive up to 9 hours of classroom instruction on a variety of topics, and perhaps more importantly, they are paired with a Mentor, who will be available to them for questions, advice and support throughout the process. Mentors are real estate development professionals and can be realtors, contractors, lawyers, bankers, architects, developers, etc. They are experienced and willing to share their expertise to help Mentees complete their projects.
The overall objectives of Jumpstart are to:
- Create opportunities for local residents to invest in and develop neighborhood residential development projects.
- Build wealth locally.
- Support scattered-site rehabilitation (as opposed to urban renewal).
- Encourage a healthy mix of affordable and market-rate housing that lessens neighborhood gentrification.
- Improve neighborhood safety and raise property values through blight reduction.
- Help first-time investors become more attractive to traditional lenders.