Mantua Square Ribbon Cutting!!!!

PHA believes that its award-winning Mantua Square development will serve as a model for the rest of the nation. PHA is commemorating the opening of this site in conjunction with the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) during its “Housing America Month” celebration. It’s aimed at educating decision makers and the public at large about the essential role affordable housing and community development programs play in serving our nation’s most vulnerable population.

Check out what happened at the 7th Annual Family Day Festival

Learn More about Drexel University’s Night on the Row & Drexel’s 5k Run/1K Fun Walk

Background

Mantua Community Improvement Committee was formed in 2000 as a vehicle to keep the streets of Mantua clean and safe. Since its inception, it has cleaned away literally thousands of pounds of trash and weeds from vacant lots, and off the streets. MCIC is also committed to improving the overall quality of life in the community and to employing as many Mantua residents as possible. Founded by Rick Young on a philosophy of self-help and self–determination MCIC is looking forward to many more years of growth and expansion as it fulfills its mission of helping to maintain a healthy, safe, and clean community for the residents of Mantua.

The Mantua community is in the unique position of being on the front row of major changes in the area involving and housing and population. With Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania bordering it to the North, the Philadelphia Zoo to the immediate south, and Center City and The Art Museum within a stone’s through to the East, it has become a highly desirable place to live, but is still beset with challenges of employment and other urban ills.

MCIC works diligently to facilitate those changes in a way that benefits everyone, which means employing people from the community, economic development through entrepreneurship, and pride-in-ownership of homes through maintenance and daily street leanings. Though MCIC is well known in the community for the latter, the organization is also very involved in educational projects through the McMichael Elementary School, community planning, mentoring, and job development.

Rick Young, Founder and President
“I’ve lived in Mantua all of my life. I’ve watched it go from a place where families looked out for one another to one in which the plague of drugs almost destroyed the very heart of the community. Now, the area has been “discovered” by a many that have ignored it for decades. Life is about to become dramatically different for Mantua residents. I advise my friends and neighbors to meet those changes with caution, an open mind, and an eye to the future“.