Mt. Airy USA: City funding in sight
by MICHAEL J. MISHAK
In its ongoing fight for funding, Mt. Airy USA is close to securing a deal that would deliver as much as $100,000 in city funding to the embattled community development corporation, said Farah Jimenez, the group’s executive director.
The tentative deal comes after a public appeal by Mt. Airy USA to keep its revitalization programs alive and follows months of negotiation with the city Commerce Department, Jimenez said.
Last year, the Commerce Department cut the group’s annual subsidy from $75,000 to $50,000. Also, Mt. Airy USA lost a two-year commitment of another $50,000 from Philadelphia last fall when the city pulled its support of a street-cleaning program.
The expected windfall in city funding would help pay staffing and program delivery costs associated with the Avenue Project, the group’s umbrella initiative to revive the Germantown Avenue commercial corridor, Jimenez said.
“We’re optimistic that we’ll be able to meet the funding needs of Mt. Airy USA,” said Tom McNally, a spokesman for the Commerce Department. “We’ve had some productive conversations with representatives of the organization and we expect those conversations to continue.”
The boost comes at a critical time for a community development group that has scored remarkable successes with shrinking resources.
At a check presentation ceremony in Mt. Airy last week, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Phila.) called Mt. Airy USA “the most important [community development corporation] effort taking place throughout our city.”
Delivering federal funds for streetscape improvements, Fattah praised the group for its work, saying it “engages the whole breadth and width of the issues that are important at a neighborhood level.”
While Mt. Airy USA has seen recent boons in state and federal support, much of the group’s funding has been earmarked for specific programs and does not cover administrative costs.
In July, one of its hallmark efforts — a street-cleaning program named Avenue Ambassadors — folded for lack of resources. Last week, the group received $1.85 in federal funding for streetscape improvements along Germantown Avenue; none of those dollars cover staffing.
Mt. Airy USA is set to launch a fundraising campaign while also exploring the option of a business improvement district in Mt. Airy. The goal: dedicated, predictable funding. Business owners within the improvement district would share costs of common improvements like planting trees, paving parking lots and marketing the neighborhood to prospective merchants.
The move, undertaken by Chestnut Hill last year, requires City Council approval. Jimenez said community leaders are in the “infancy stages” of organizing the effort, but rallying support for the idea has not been difficult. “Since the demise of the Avenue Ambassadors program, people are aware more than ever of its value,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mt. Airy USA plans to break ground later this month on Winston Commons, the most recent in a series of commercial and residential developments. A mix of retail space and condominiums, Winston Commons is located on Germantown Avenue near Phebe Commons, a retail and office complex the group masterminded and developed in 2002. |
