Community Meeting Notes: Camden, New Jersey
As part of its strategic planning process, WPF held twelve facilitated meetings, involving nearly 150 civic leaders, practitioners, public officials, and subject-matter experts in areas related to our grantmaking.
The following are notes taken at a meeting held on September 28, 2011 to discuss how WPF should approach future grantmaking in the city of Camden, New Jersey.
Individuals participated with the understanding that they were speaking without attribution, so their names are intentionally omitted from these notes.
The WPF Environment & Communities program grantmaking in
Camden has been limited because of capacity and sustainability concerns related
to the weakness of the public sector and the fragility of the nonprofit sector
in the city. Over the last decade our
grantmaking has been aimed at laying the groundwork for the long-term
revitalization of Camden. Core elements
of this asset-based strategy include support to advance targeted redevelopment
and programming of public space, including riverfront parkland (in North
Camden, Cramer Hill, and Parkside), community gardens, and multi-use trails;
technical assistance to advance community development projects at
transportation hubs and near anchor institutions; and public policy reforms.
We invited representatives of the private, nonprofit, and
academic sectors in Camden to discuss the potential to align targeted
investments with anchor institutions and other stakeholders and to identify new
opportunities and approaches to advance the city's revitalization, posing the
following questions:
Can anchor institutions in Camden be used effectively as
focal points for community revitalization in ways that will benefit not only
individual institutions but their neighborhoods and the city more broadly?
What’s going on now? What are opportunities in the next 10 years? What is the
potential role for WPF? What can foundations do? How can we all help to find a
way to build a functioning city? What
investments can we develop in order to have impact?
Although it continues to face huge challenges, Camden has
shown some signs of recovery—particularly in terms of physical development on
its downtown waterfront and in the neighborhoods surrounding several anchor
institutions, including education and health care institutions.
This progress has been made within the context of approved
neighborhood plans for North Camden and Cramer Hill (including nine miles of
waterfront in these neighborhoods) and the neighborhoods around Cooper and Lady
of Lourdes Hospitals. All of these are
high-quality plans that have been developed with significant community
involvement.
Significant challenges remain, even in these neighborhoods,
including: high property taxes, which are a disincentive to redevelopment and
relocation; public safety; a largely dysfunctional public school system; vacant
properties; homelessness; a high poverty rate; a nearly complete absence of
middle class residents; a lack of access to goods and services necessary to
support vibrant neighborhoods; and lack of local government capacity to address
these issues.
Build from strength around anchor institutions. Focus
on housing and strong schools (St. Joe’s in East Camden as a model of what can
be done) and support improvements in public spaces and gateways (e.g.,
streetscapes and riverfronts, transportation center) to create a more
attractive physical image for Camden. Work with anchor institutions to mobilize private capital via
use of/changes in state tax and funding incentives.
Also, figure out how to work in core neighborhoods that do not have
anchor institutions.
Partner with the public sector. Public sector capacity
issues need to be tackled in two ways: 1) continue to support nonprofit
organizations to fill public sector gaps and 2) build capacity within city
government so that ultimately it own and carry out responsibilities.
- Use innovative methods to secure vacant property for re-use
(such as: pay for property transactions related to disposition of abandoned
properties that city is unable to carry out).
- Use the Foundation’s influence at the state (Governor) and
local level (regional leaders and Mayor) to bring attention and credibility to:
1) studies documenting actions needed to overcome obstacles in Camden, and 2)
replicable projects that demonstrate success.
- Play the role of an outside partner in objectively stating
the needs and actions necessary for addressing Camden’s documented needs.
- Foster conversation about what the public sector can/cannot
do and how it can leverage its resources.
Continue to support civic engagement. Take the long view
and invest with partners who have proven that they are in it for the
long-term. Work with community
organizations to help them to grow and expand what they do. Focus on reinvestments that address equity
issues—including jobs and job training for local residents.
Lessons learned from other funder investments in Camden. Support matching funding requirements to
signal collaboration. Encourage collaboration and political engagement; be
prepared for skepticism from residents, nonprofits, government. Hold partners,
agencies and organizations accountable for outcomes. WPF’s work must be sync
with city’s agenda and supportive over time.