Statements
Mission
The mission of ENP is to work for justice and equity with our neighbors in Nashville, Tennessee, through building relationships, community action, service, and empowerment. ENP's motto is "Neighbors doing what neighbors do." We help each other to strengthen our community. We seek innovative approaches to education, community co-ops, and affordable housing, in order to build a more vital community in which to live, work and play. To that end, ENP manages 3 programs: (1) The Spot, an after-school program for 7th - 12th-grade students, supporting them to become their best selves; (2) the FreeStore, a community cooperative, where neighbors share a meal and "shop" for household, personal and cleaning items not eligible for Food Stamps; (3) As the affordable housing subzone captain of the Nashville Promise Zone, ENP engages in community action by supporting resident tenants to self-advocate for affordable housing and addresses development, gentrification, transportation, and safety issues.
Three principles guide ENP: (1) As a neighbor, ENP seeks to address the concerns identified by community stakeholders: residents in public housing, in single-family homes, and the business community. (2) ENP partners with others already engaged in effective programs. Current partners include West End United Methodist Church, Belmont United Methodist Church, Open Table, the Nashville Food Project, Oasis Center, NOAH, Belmont University, and Vanderbilt University. (3) ENP is volunteer-driven: this is how we build relationships, understand needs and work to improve our community.
Background
The Edgehill community is one of the most impoverished areas of Davidson County. It is made up of people from generational poverty, ethnically and religiously diverse immigrants, children, teens, adults, and the elderly; and, like all economically poor neighborhoods, it must contend with unemployment, crime, addiction, and health problems. Due to recent gentrification, there is now widespread concern about the loss of affordable housing, encroaching development, the uncertain future of Edgehill's public housing, and the loss of Edgehill's unique historical culture. ENP seeks to build bridges among neighbors and other organizations, inclusive of all races, cultures, socio-economic classes, faiths, and other diversities within the Edgehill community. It seeks to support or develop programs that promote justice, diversity, and opportunity for Edgehill residents. Currently, it operates two direct service programs, serving ages from kindergarten to adults, as well as a community organizing effort, supporting tenant-led self-advocacy. It represents Edgehill & Wedgewood Houston as one of the captain agencies of MDHA's Nashville Promise Zone work.
Impact
Accomplishments:
20,000 items have circulated through the FreeStore
The FreeStore has served over 1,200 residents
Created a partnership with Feeding Nashville that now provides meals throughout the week at our headquarters
Hired 20 students as POWER Youth workers for our inaugural Arts Discovery program
Launched the Elite Training Academy preparing youth for college and professional careers in sports and served 60 students
Created the Eviction Resource Guide and Advocacy Toolkit for dissemination throughout the Nashville Promise Zone.
Needs
ENP seeks to alleviate systemic inequality that our neighbors face through collaborative partnerships that address affordable housing, education, and access to food and basic necessities through a coordinated approach.
CEO Statement
(1) ENP's uniqueness is embodied in the high caliber, professional expertise and commitment of its volunteers who continue to manage the day-to-day quality programs that are the envy of other organizations. For the past six years, ENP's programs have been led primarily by these volunteer teams. (2) Most of them come from middle to wealthy socio-economic classes, whereas most of our program participants come from generational poverty. One of the unique things we offer (and consider necessary) is ongoing training for our resource-rich volunteers to understand the life experience, culture and realities of people living in poverty. We also use this knowledge as criteria for designing our programs in order to effectively address the needs identified by our low-income neighbors. (3) The Edgehill community is flanked on one end with public housing and on the other with well-to-do professionals, as well as a growing commercial sector that is, for the most part, geared toward drawing high-income customers into the area, rather than serving the majority of residents, who are low-income. In addition, gentrification poses its own set of challenges, with rapid loss of affordable housing. One of ENP's goals and opportunities is to build bridges between the major players in the neighborhood: business owners, affluent residents, residents in subsidized or public housing, new and long-time residents, city planners, Metro government, and others.
Board Chair Statement
Empowering Neighborhood Partnerships (ENP) was created to form partnerships between the people of the Edgehill neighborhood and other neighborhood organizations to work for a more just and healthy community. ENP launched its FreeStore program in December 2011; the Spot program for teenage girls in August 2012; helped organize the Edgehill Coalition in 2015, and began focused community organizing with tenants in subsidized housing in 2016. In 2018, ENP will assume leadership in the Nashville Promise Zone project as the Edgehill-Wedgewood-Houston sub-zone area captain. As these programs and campaigns develop using grassroots community building, we are engaging other partners to join us in addressing the needs of this rapidly changing neighborhood. Successes: 1. Strengthened board membership based on strategic criteria, including diversity, fundraising skills, event planning, social media development, strategic planning, and organizing. 3. Our first fundraising event, ' A Night Out with Neighbors,' netted additional donations and expanded our reach to the broader community. 5. Recruited professional volunteers, students, and contract workers to lead programs and develop curriculum. 6. Contributed staff time supporting tenant-led efforts to form a tenant union. Challenges: 1. Paid staff: now in our 7th year of operation, the organization and each of its programs have grown substantially and can no longer rely solely on volunteers. In addressing this, the board is implementing a comprehensive fundraising plan to be able to employ additional staff: an Executive Director to lead the Nashville Promise Zone work, a Youth Coordinator for our after-school program, support staff for the FreeStore, and the Executive Director.2. Partnerships: we want to increase the number of partnerships with other neighborhood organizations (e.g. home-owner associations, non-profits, businesses, etc.). We continue to develop and deepen relationships with other community organizations, exploring ways to collaborate and support each other's work. 3. We need to increase our expertise in and use of social media for outreach purposes. 4. Future Neighborhood Changes: the Edgehill area is rapidly changing from a primarily low-income, black neighborhood to one with commercial retail, an influx of affluent professionals, gentrification, and the subsequent rise in market value and property taxes. ENP is trying to stay abreast of possible changes, development plans, and federal housing plans. Through active participation and leadership in the Edgehill Coalition, the Nashville Promise Zone, Envision Edgehill, and our community organizing efforts, we hope to enable all residents and key stakeholders to have a voice in any discussions, plans, and decision-making that will impact the area.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Human Services - Human Services |
| Secondary Category: | Community Improvement, Capacity Building - Community & Neighborhood Development |
| Tertiary Category: | Public & Societal Benefit - Citizen Participation |
Areas Served
We serve all of our South Nashville, primarily focusing on Edgehill, Wedgewood-Houston, Chestnut Hill, Woodbine, Cane Ridge, and Antioch.
| TN - Davidson |
