This local nonprofit rebuilt over a dozen homes in a weekend

One hundred volunteers came together on a mid-October weekend to spruce up 13 aging homes in a Philadelphia neighborhood where recent surges in home values have placed economic diversity at risk.

Rallied by the local chapter of national nonprofit Rebuilding Together, vocational high school students, corporate volunteers and community members freshened up homes from Yorktown to Kensington by repainting interiors, replacing flooring and drywall and installing grab bars for elderly homeowners in the community. A handful of those volunteers are enrolled in Project WOW, Jewish Employment and Vocational Services’ (JEVS) vocational GED program for 18- to 24-year-olds.

Rebuilding Together Philadelphia executive director Stefanie Seldin said the 13-home build is actually lower than the norm because the chapter is going through a staff transition. She said the nonprofit usually hits about 20 to 25 homes per build.

As an organization, Rebuilding Together Philadelphia typically aims to rebuild 70 to 80 homes per year, and Seldin said upcoming builds in Mantua and West Oak Lane next year will both shoot for 20 to 25 homes. Even so, the number of refurbished homes doesn’t touch the ever-growing, 4,000-home-strong waiting list for the city’s home repair programs.

“The need is extraordinary,” Seldin said. “The cost of maintaining an aging home is more than many, many families can manage.”

Rebuilding Together Philadelphia’s top two financial supporters are local nonprofits Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation ($131,719) and Local Initiatives Support Corporation ($80,000), with the national entity responsible for $57,200 of the local chapter’s funds.

How does Rebuilding Together Philadelphia decide which aging homes get selected for a rebuild? Simply put, they don’t – rather, the neighborhood groups they partner with do.

“Groups essentially reach out to us and they say, ‘We have this block or group of blocks and we think they could really benefit from the work that you do,'” Seldin said. “We want these community groups being the people doing the door knocks and having the credibility within their neighborhoods that we don’t have.”

But Rebuilding Together Philadelphia did pick the 19122 zip code, encompassing the North Philadelphia’s Yorktown, Ludlow, Kensington and East Kensington neighborhoods.

“In that zip code, home values have doubled between just 2010 and 2014, and that increase is more than any other Philadelphia area zip code,” Seldin said. “Our work in that neighborhood ensures that this neighborhood stays economically diverse.”