Long-abandoned properties in West Center City have just landed in new hands.
Wilmington City Council approved a measure Thursday granting seven city parcels to graduates of a new developer training program taking shape in the city: Jumpstart Wilmington.
“It was a no-brainer,” said Councilwoman Bregetta Fields, sponsor of the ordinance, ahead of the vote. “We have these properties sitting here. They’re not being utilized. Day and day go by, and nothing’s being done to them. Why not give these developers an opportunity to really show other people, the community — be a poster child for the Jumpstart program?”
Jumpstart Wilmington — sharing its name with the original Jumpstart Germantown program in Philadelphia — officially took root in Delaware by fall 2020, aiming to train local, amateur or aspiring developers to revitalize communities in their own city. It offers training sessions, mentorships and funding options across multiple cohorts each year. About 70 people have graduated so far.
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“The program was brought here because of a need, plain and simple,” Dionna Sargent told USA TODAY Network earlier this summer. “Just recognizing the landscape here in Wilmington, I was intrigued by that idea: Getting people from the community involved in developing their own community.”
Classes began in October 2020. Four sessions, 14 hours in all. The first application round alone attracted over 100 applicants, filling the first four cohorts and leaving Sargent to manage a waiting list. The 2022 cohorts are already full.
Passing unanimously, Thursday’s ordinance marked the first portion of a property acquisition pilot program. The seven West Center City parcels, on West 4th through West 8th streets, will join five others heading to Jumpstart Wilmington, according to Sargent, vice president of community development with Cinnaire. Each property is slated to offer affordable housing after development.
Sargent said graduates are already lined up to acquire the dozen parcels.
“I promise you, not everybody can do it,” said Chris Pitt, developer with Pitt Pass who audited Jumpstart Wilmington in 2021. “When you’ve got good people trying to do this work, you should really want to support them.”
Earlier in the week, Bob Weir, director of Real Estate and Housing in Wilmington, told city council’s Finance & Economic Development Committee he hopes the framework offered in the ordinance will only expand to other neighborhoods. Fields is optimistic it can help inject new life into her district.
“They’re going to be able to produce those developed properties for the Black and brown community because they’re pouring back into the communities that they grew up in, or that they used to live in,” the councilwoman said.
“I’m just really happy that they started here.”
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