OVERVIEW

The Northeast Wilmington Community Plan is a roadmap for community priorities and areas of investment. Led by the WRK group (The Warehouse, REACH Riverside, and Kingswood Community Center), this plan provides a ten-year vision and action plan for the future of Northeast Wilmington. The planning process, which was funded through a grant provided from the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation, began in 2020 and builds on the Purpose Built Community model – a holistic community organization-led approach to revitalization through wellness, mixed-income housing, and cradle-tocollege education/work readiness.

The geographic focus area of the plan, Northeast Wilmington, covers an area of about one square mile and is home to 9,890 residents – 14% of the city’s total population. The northeast communities stretch from Brandywine Creek on the southwest to the city boundary on the north/northeast and from Market Street to the Amtrak / Septa Northeast Corridor. Notable parks and open spaces include Brown-Burton Winchester Park / Speakman Park and Riverview Cemetery. Northeast Boulevard is the major transportation corridor traversing the Northeast and Riverside community.

Northeast Wilmington has many assets - a rich history, ease of access to downtown and major highways, a network of existing parks and tree covered streets, proximity to the Brandywine Creek, and a deeply engaged network of organizations, including the WRK group partners who are committed to strengthening community opportunities.

CONTEXT Study area boundary Wilmington boundary Downtown Wilmington Roads

Still the community faces many challenges. Area residents tend to have lower household incomes, employment rates and educational attainment, and have seen crime and gun violence increase in their neighborhoods over the past two decades. Over the course of the planning process, the Northeast Wilmington community experienced increased gun violence and safety concerns, dealt with the dayto-day impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and experienced major flooding that occurred from Hurricane Ida in September 2021, damaging many homes, businesses, and streets.

Despite these challenges, there are positive signs of investment and progress towards the community’s vision. After years of planning, the redevelopment of the Wilmington’s Housing Authority’s (WHA) Riverside neighborhood is well under way, with 141 new mixedincome rental housing units under construction, and another 450 units planned, including 50-100 units for homeownership.

The Warehouse, the “For Teens, By Teens” community space opened in the spring of 2020, has been tremendously successful in a short period of time notwithstanding the challenges of COVID-19.

The construction of a new facility for the Kingswood Community Center is planned to begin in the next few years, and EastSide Charter School is currently implementing an expansion including adding a major community STEM center. Recently REACH Riverside launched the RESTORE (Real Estate Strategy to Obtain Racial Equity) and EMPOWER programs (Economic Mobility Places Ownership Within Everyone’s Reach) to support the physical development of the community, as well as the social and human capital through family support, economic stability, financial literacy, and health and wellness.

REACH is employing the nationally renowned Purpose Built Communities revitalization model, which creates high-quality mixed-income housing, a cradle to college/career education pipeline, and community wellness initiatives to create the conditions, at the neighborhood level, where residents have opportunity and can thrive. REACH joined the PBC network in 2018.