Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association
An interconnected strategy for a grassroots, resident-based nonprofit operating in a historic neighborhood undergoing rapid redevelopment, gentrification, and displacement of the original residents.
Strategies Employed:
Community Engagement and Coalition Building
Communication and Marketing in the Digital Age
Organizational Effectiveness and Strategic Planning
Fostering Awareness
This project focused on assisting the Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association (THJCA) in its strategic operations, capacity-building, story-telling, community-building, and overall communications.
THJCA has been operating in the historic Tampa Heights neighborhood for over 26 years. As the only youth civic organization, the nonprofit worked to expose youth in the area to opportunities for academic excellence, civic engagement, entrepreneurship, and healthy living. As a resident-based and led organization, THJCA has also responded to many community needs, connecting families to resources, advocating for policy interventions to preserve their historic character, and co-creating the thriving community garden, the Tampa Heights Community Garden.
The Tampa Heights neighborhood is in the process of rapid redevelopment, leading to a booming real estate market and the loss of affordable housing options. This has made it so that the original residents of Tampa Heights (estimated 88.2% renter population), can no longer afford to live where their families have stayed for generations. As an organization that was historically neighborhood based in offering its services, THJCA has had to adapt to provide programs and services in the schools that families have had to move to (going to Riverview, Seffner, Town n Country, University Area, and Ruskin). However, as a grassroots organization, THJCA does not have the capacity to continue offering these services to achieve its mission.
CCC began working with THJCA in January 2022. CCC has assisted THJCA so far in connecting to resources, volunteers, grants, and partners that could assist THJCA in offering their youth enrichment programs. Working together with leaders in the organization, CCC has co-created robust curriculums and programs that would connect this robust network of supporters to assist in delivering some of these programs.
Click on the photobooks below that were created to showcase the latest summer enrichment programs from 2023:
CCC also assisted THJCA to update their strategic plan in the fall of 2023. This process allowed THJCA staff and board members to take the time to celebrate their successes over the years, highlight their strengths and opportunities, and create solutions to address some of the new challenges facing the organization and the community. Out of this process, THJCA was able to obtain a detailed communications strategy, updated website, and new programs/initiatives/procedures that would help the organization achieve their measurable goals outlined by the strategic plan.
CCC continues to work with THJCA to cultivate a community-based collaborative that would partner with other nonprofits, service providers, schools, government entities, businesses, and philanthropists to establish a connected ecosystem that would build collective capacity to address the interconnected issues that many families face in Hillsborough County.
Check out the video below to see more: