New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) has spent the last few years hearing community residents’ needs from Lehigh to Allegheny avenues via meetings and door-to-door surveys, and letting that input shape its work.
Last month, the Kresge Foundation awarded NKCDC a two-year, $150,000 grant to take its community development work to the next level.
The funding is part of Advancing Health Equity through Housing, a new Kresge Health Program initiative that addresses harmful ways housing instability affects mental and physical health. NKCDC will use the money to incorporate trauma-informed care into its housing counseling, economic development and community engagement services with initiatives such as:
- Hiring Kensington-based community leaders who have been trained in trauma-informed care
- Creating new ways to increase access to the org’s housing services
- Incorporating trauma-informed care into those housing services
Trauma-informed care involves recognizing, acknowledging and responding to trauma and its effects; in Philadelphia, funders and city officials alike are incorporating the approach in their work. By adhering to trauma-informed principles, NKCDC staffers hope to better understand the issues Kensington residents face and the best ways to help
The Kresge grant will help NKCDC “apply those principles of healing to support people to stay in their homes and their ability to sign up for a variety of programs that exist for housing repair,” said Andrew Goodman, the nonprofit’s community engagement director. “[It’ll also] better connect them to our staff of housing advisors to help them on a variety of housing stability issues and programs.”
To read the full article by Laura Smythe, click here.
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