WEST END NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE INC

West End's goal is for its customers to achieve ultimate self-sufficiency.

Strategies for helping customers reach self-sufficiency include training and support in the following areas:

Educational support to prepare students for the GED exam

Academic tutoring and other support to youth in grades K-12 so that they stay in school and ultimately graduate

Prevention-based after school and summer extracurricular activities to keep youth safe from harm and negative community influences, teach positive peer interaction and build social networks

Job search, placement, internship opportunities and employment preparation support to help customers find and maintain employment

Entrepreneurship training to educate aspiring local business owners on the basics of creating their own company

Housing, life skills, and case management assistance to former foster care youth to prepare them for adulthood

Financial coaching in budgeting, credit establishment/improvement, debt reduction and saving

Low interest loans for security deposits and as an alternative to payday lenders to help customers establish credit

Physical Capacity: West End owns 10 houses on Dupont and 8th Streets in Wilmington, as well as its 25,000 + square foot main facility located at 710 N. Lincoln St., which provides office space for 62 staff members and classroom space for after school and educational activities. The agency also owns a Presbyterian Church building on West 8 St. (a block away from its main facility), as well as two 15-passenger vans, two eight-passenger mini-vans, a mini school bus and a Ford Fusion sedan. West End also has three computer labs with over 30 computers.

Experience Managing State & Federal Funds: West End has significant experience managing state and federal contracts. Sources of support include: the U.S. Depts. Of Housing & Urban Dev., Labor (previously the U.S. Office of Adolescent Health), Delaware's Departments of Labor, Education & Children, Youth and Their Families, Delaware State Housing Authority, as well as the Offices of Public Health and Childcare Licensing. All of these agreements involve rigorous monitoring, data collection, reporting and analysis.

West End Neighborhood House is currently managing more than 10 state and federal contracts with a combined total annual value of over $2.5 million. These contracts serve West End's customers in a variety of areas including: violence and suicide prevention; after-school educational activities; housing assistance and relocation; adult basic education; and workforce development. West End's compliance with work plans, schedules, terms and conditions of federal and state contracts has been exemplary. In fact, West End was recognized for outstanding implementation of the federally funded Positive Pathways (P3) Mentoring Program by the Mid-Atlantic Network of Youth & Family Services (MANY).

Financial Capacity: With an annual operating budget of nearly $4,000,000, West End has succeeded in capping its management costs at below 15% for over 15 years - a hallmark of effective administration. The agency enjoys a diversified funding stream that includes federal, state and local grants; program and management fees, interest payments and individual contributions; corporate and private support; as well as grants from foundations. West End also has a generous line of credit and a small endowment fund that helps provide a very modest sum to supplement annual operating costs.

In addition to the foregoing, in the last 15 years, West End has helped generate nearly 60 million dollars in capital funds that were used for renovations and newly constructed homes targeting low to moderate income families. This infusion of capital has generated private investment and resulted in the revitalization of three neighborhoods in the City of Wilmington. In that same period, more than 390 units of housing have been developed for very low to moderate income families.

In the early 1990s, West End, in collaboration with St. Francis Hospital, created a model prenatal clinic (Tiny Steps) to address infant mortality in low income families. St. Francis made the program permanent, and the Federal Government adopted and replicated the program nationwide.

In 1993, to encourage community home ownership, West End created a security deposit loan program that to date has provided more than $2 million in financing to low income clients.

Since the late 1990s, West End helped raise nearly $60 million in capital to renovate, construct and sell nearly 400 new homes to low and moderate income families to address vacant property blight and encourage home ownership: in sixteen years, only two owners have defaulted on their mortgages.

Since 2001, WENH has led the state and impacted the nation in creating transitional and permanent housing, employment training and mentoring for youth who have been emancipated from foster care at age 18. Today, approx. 25% of Delaware's foster care youth participate in West End's programs designed to help them become self-sufficient.

In 2005, to combat predatory payday loans that trap low-income customers in debt, West End created an innovative short term loan program (Loans Plus) that allows customers to borrow up to $500 for payback over three months. The program has been so successful that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) adopted it in 25 states.

In 2011, West End led the creation of West Side Grows Together, a 10-year $35 million Revitalization Plan to transform housing, employment, the physical landscape and social condition of Wilmington's West Side. The Plan's target area covers one square mile, a population of over 13,000, and includes one of the city's most economically, ethnically and socially diverse communities.

In 2014, in collaboration with Sir Speedy Print and Marketing Services of Wilmington, West End launched Popdot, a sign creation and installation business that employs foster care and other disadvantaged youth, at least 75% of whom are low-income.

Also in 2014, West End expanded its Cool Spring Farmer's Market into an urban agricultural program which now delivers locally grown produce to several locations in and around Wilmington, including low and mixed-income communities.

In 2016, West End created an entrepreneurship program focused on educating aspiring entrepreneurs on the fundamentals of starting their own businesses and helping existing businesses expand. The program is based on four primary components: (1) business training, including classroom instruction and one-on-one mentoring focused on the basic elements of starting a business; (2) business support, such as topic-specific workshops taught by local experts; (3) loans/access to credit, provided by a local Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI); (4) business incubators – shared office and workspace to reduce costs and facilitate collaboration.