Organization Background and History
Neighborhood Initiatives Development Corporation (NIDC) is a nonprofit organization serving the residents, property owners and businesses of Community Board 11 in the northeast Bronx. We serve a racially diverse, low-to-moderate income community with a population of 114,300, including many recent immigrants.
NIDC was founded in 1982 by several long-standing, local institutions (Albert Einstein College of Medicine Yeshiva University , Bronx Jewish Community Council , Beth Abraham Health Services , Bronx House , Jewish Community Council of Pelham Parkway), to help stabilize and improve the quality of life in the area’s deteriorating residential and commercial sections. We have developed comprehensive programs and grass-roots initiatives to address pressing social and economic problems affecting our community. Our programs include housing preservation and stabilization efforts, crime prevention initiatives, commercial revitalization activities, educational, environmental, recreational, and leadership development projects for youth, job readiness and internships for teens and job training with employment assistance for adults.
Population and Income - Since NIDC was founded, our service area has undergone major demographic shifts, changing from a predominantly white community to one with a rich ethnic mix, including many recent immigrants. The 2000 census data indicates that the population is slightly over 114,000: 34% of residents are Hispanic, 37% are White, non-Hispanic, and 22% are African and Caribbean American.
A total of 16% of all households are living below poverty level, and 19% are senior citizens living on fixed incomes. 39.7% of adults over the age of 25 do not have a high school diploma, and the dropout rate at the local high school is 20%. Nearly 30% of all residents spend over 35% of their income on housing. We also have a large percentage of single female-headed households, many who must now work in order to receive welfare benefits.
