Managing Community Assets at Scale
Client: Mantua Powelton Alliance
Scope: Administrative Services
Location: Philadelphia
The Mantua Powelton Alliance (MPA) is a charitable collaboration of five community stakeholder groups representing the Mantua and Powelton Village neighborhoods of West Philadelphia. Formed to mitigate the negative impacts of large-scale development, MPA works to ensure that long-term neighborhood residents share in the benefits of growth rather than bear its burdens.
MPA serves as steward of Philadelphia’s largest Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) – a legally binding agreement between a developer and a community coalition – executed with Brandywine Realty Trust in connection with the Schuylkill Yards development. Through this agreement, $9.1 million in cooperative financial investment will be directed into Mantua and Powelton Village over a 15-year period, an extension from the original five-year term. These funds support strategic charitable grants, partnerships, and initiatives designed to stabilize residents and strengthen neighborhood infrastructure.
For five years, Tabb Management served as the administrative and operational backbone of MPA, supporting the implementation of the CBA’s objectives. MPA’s core goals include expanding affordable housing, reducing resident displacement, addressing home safety and habitability, cultivating local leadership and civic participation, and supporting neighborhood schools and educators.
As both organizational administrator and thought partner, we helped build and manage the systems required to translate a complex, multi-party agreement into actionable community impact. Our work included developing new funding mechanisms; managing the creation of MPA’s public-facing website; leading competitive RFP processes; overseeing stakeholder communications; convening and facilitating advisory groups; and administering each community grant and investment program. During our tenure, we distributed over $1.4 Million in assets across the following community initiatives:
- Education Grants
- Community Projects Fund
- Healthy Housing Initiative (with Habitat for Humanity)
- Affordable Housing Initiative (with LISC)
- Capacity Building Grants
- Housing Loss Prevention Fund
- Neighborhood Beautification Fund
- Family Home Project (with Community Legal Services)
This engagement exemplifies Tabb Management’s expertise in stewarding multi-organizational collaborations, aligning institutional partners with community priorities, and managing long-term initiatives where accountability, trust, and systems design are critical to sustained neighborhood impact.
Press:
- https://billypenn.com/2023/10/25/schuylkill-yards-philadelphia-drexel-brandywine-realty-trust-development/
- https://www.witf.org/2018/07/13/as_drexel_transforms_university_city_communities_nearby_prepare_for_gentrification/
- https://www.phillymag.com/business/2017/06/27/schuylkill-yards-project-to-include-major-community-engagement-component/
- https://whyy.org/articles/planning-commission-hears-community-concerns-supports-rezoning-for-first-phase-of-schuylkill-yards/