Stories of Philanthropic Leadership in Advancing Regional and ...

II. A. REACHING BEYONDHOUSING TO IMPLEMENTA BROADER COMMUNITYVISION: ALLEGHENY WESTFOUNDATIONFunders Highlighted:William Penn FoundationPhiladelphia Neighborhood DevelopmentCollaborativeWachovia Regional Foundation“Allegheny West Foundation shines because it hasan improved understanding of itself and its futurestrategy.”— Kelly Woodland, William PennFoundationPhiladelphia’s Allegheny West neighborhood iscontinuing to resist decline and striving to rechargeits local economy by retaining and revitalizing itsbusinesses and residents. This profile highlightsfunder support to assist in the evolution of anorganization from a housing rehabilitation project toa comprehensive community developmentcorporation with a mission to address social andeconomic community revitalization as well as youthdevelopment.Project ProfileThe Allegheny West neighborhood, located in northPhiladelphia, was once bustling with manufacturingcompanies. During the 1960s, shifts in businessstrategies and subsequent riots destroyed theconfidence of businesses, which later uprooted toother neighborhoods. At that time, the CEO of theTasty Baking Company felt the company’s 45-yearhistory in Allegheny West gave it a sense ofresponsibility to stay and rebuild the community,according to the company’s corporate treasurer,Eugene P. Malinowski.As jobs grew scarce and houses became vacant, TastyBaking founded Allegheny West Foundation (AWF)to find ways to revitalize the community. 28 TastyBaking took on the role of nurturing AWF’sdevelopment by providing financial and in-kindsupport that exceeded any formal partnership. Infact, the relationship is one of the earliest models ofthe private/public sector working together toward acommunity development goal.Allegheny West Foundation, with Tasty Baking,has “fostered rehabilitation of more than 400homes,” states Malinowski. Many of Tasty BakingCompany’s employees come from the AlleghenyWest neighborhood and live in AWF homes.Over time, AWF realized that rehabilitatinghousing was not enough to revitalize the localeconomy so it became a comprehensive communitydevelopment corporation with a focus on housingrehabilitation, social and economic communitybuilding, education, employment, and youthdevelopment.A map of the Allegheny West neighborhood in north Philadelphia. (Source:Allegheny West Foundation).Funder InterestThe support of three funders, PhiladelphiaNeighborhood Development Collaborative,Wachovia Regional Foundation, and WilliamPenn Foundation is based on a similar assessmentthat Allegheny West Foundation’s strength is itsability to consider community development on abroader scale.Thirty-six years of steady growth in Allegheny WestFoundation’s service offerings and a stabilizing28Publisher’s Note: The Allegheny West Foundation is a nonprofitcommunity development corporation actively engaged in therevitalization of north Philadelphia’s Allegheny West neighborhood. Forover 35 years it has worked to rehabilitate housing and commercial realestate, attract new residents, improve quality of life, and restore pride inthe neighborhood. The Allegheny West Foundation is not a grantmaker.For more information, visit www.awest.org.LIVABLE NEIGHBORHOODS/STRONG REGIONSPart III: Section 2: Making All Neighborhoods Stable, Healthy, and Livable as Building Blocks for a Strong Region 66