Community-supported vision

After assessing and documenting the community’s needs and concerns, the planning team led residents through a visioning process where the following vision and guiding principles emerged.

Wilmington’s Northeast is a close-knit and welcoming community where we nurture our youth, where our families prosper, and our businesses thrive. Together, we are making change happen by investing in:

Quality housing attractive to all income levels.

A vibrant local economy where community members can spend their dollars in their own neighborhood on quality goods and services.

Residents feel healthy, safe and cared for by friendly neighbors that are always willing to lend a helping hand.

Services and resources are available to support the health and well-being of all.

Early childhood, great schools and job training to access living wage jobs.

Beautiful high-quality park system connected to the Brandywine River by quiet and safe tree-lined streets.

Reliable public transportation and safe, well-lit streets.

Celebrating the neighborhood’s history, culture, and beauty.

GUIDING PRINCIPLE #1

SAFE, ATTRACTIVE NEIGHBORHOODS AND VIBRANT COMMERCIAL DISTRICTS

Goal 1. Focus redevelopment efforts to foster new mixed-use community destinations and gathering places along key nodes.

Goal 2. Reduce blight in problem areas of vacancy and hot spots for crime.

Goal 3. Support and grow local businesses and entrepreneurs.

Goal 4. Build community pride by making the neighborhood commercial corridors clean, safe, and attractive.

Goal 5. Deepen organizational capacity to support neighborhood wide and corridor improvements and maximize locational assets to bring value and market the neighborhood as a place to invest start a business or raise a family.

GUIDING PRINCIPLE #2

Vibrant Parks And Resilient Community Spaces

Goal 1. Activate parks and open spaces with welcoming recreation and programming with something for all residents.

Goal 2. Create a publicly accessible greenway along the northeast side of the Brandywine Creek that provides recreation and protection from flooding.

Goal 3. Enhance stormwater management through street tree planting and maintenance and investments in green stormwater infrastructure in areas susceptible to flooding.

Goal 4. Designate the Kingswood Community Center as a “Resilience Hub” with capacity to assist residents in a natural disaster (e.g., major flooding event, power outage, environmental disaster).

GUIDING PRINCIPLE #3

Convenient Transportation And Improved Mobility

Goal 1. Create a network of streets, amenities, and public open spaces that improve safety and community connections.

Goal 2. Invest in multi-modal transit improvements with increased transit access and new, welcoming amenities.

Goal 3. Implement the reimagined 12th Street Connector project, to alleviate congestion and provide multi-modal commuting and recreation opportunities for residents.