 PACDC Blue Ribbon Award Win
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Called to Serve CDC Jasmine Childress [email protected] 856-472-1097 Called to Serve CDC Wins PACDC Blue Ribbon Award for the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan Community Impact Center Recognition highlights the organization’s transformational work to advance health, wealth, and community wellbeing in Nicetown-Tioga PHILADELPHIA, PA, June 02, 2026 Called to Serve CDC has been named a winner of the PACDC Blue Ribbon Award for the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan Community Impact Center, a landmark community development project that will transform the historic Zion Baptist Church Annex into a hub for health, education, workforce development, arts, culture, and community services in North Philadelphia. The PACDC Blue Ribbon Awards recognize outstanding achievement by community development corporations advancing an equitable Philadelphia where every resident can live, work, and thrive in a neighborhood that offers an excellent quality of life. Winners are recognized for excellence in innovation, impact, leadership, and advancing equity. Located at Broad and Venango Streets in the heart of Nicetown-Tioga, the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan Community Impact Center will renovate the 100 plus year old Zion Baptist Church Annex and extend the legacy of Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, the civil rights leader, pastor, and economic justice advocate whose work helped shape pathways for community empowerment in Philadelphia and beyond. “This recognition is deeply meaningful because it affirms what our community has known from the beginning: the Sullivan Community Impact Center is more than a building. It is a commitment to honoring Rev. Sullivan’s legacy by creating real access to health, opportunity, culture, and community care in Nicetown-Tioga,” said Rev. Mike Major, Executive Director of Called to Serve CDC. “We are grateful to PACDC for recognizing the vision behind this project and the many partners helping bring it to life.” The Sullivan Community Impact Center is designed as a holistic, resident driven hub that brings together programs focused on health, wealth, and community wellbeing. Planned programming includes community health services through a partnership with Temple Health, a game development workforce and incubation ecosystem through the PHL Gaming Program, and arts, cultural, café, bookstore, performance, and gathering spaces for public use. The project is currently under construction and represents an $20 million capital investment in Nicetown-Tioga. Called to Serve CDC’s broader work includes revitalization of the Broad, Germantown, and Erie commercial corridor, support for small businesses, the PHL Taking Care of Business Clean Corridors Program, and youth development initiatives, including literacy programming that has contributed to a 42% increase in reading proficiency for K through 2 students at Kenderton Elementary. The project also reflects an innovative approach to reactivating sacred spaces for civic and community use. It builds on earlier work through Sacred Places/Civic Spaces, an initiative of the Community Design Collaborative and Partners for Sacred Places, which explored how historic religious properties can support civic engagement, social cohesion, and neighborhood equity. The Sullivan Community Impact Center advances equity by addressing systemic disparities in a predominantly low to moderate income Black community. The Center will expand access to primary care, create pathways into high wage digital and creative technology careers, support local and minority owned businesses, and offer community centered spaces for arts, healing, gathering, and connection. The project team includes Mosaic Development Partners JV, a Philadelphia headquartered real estate development firm, as development consultant and project management firm; Camfred Construction, a Philadelphia based Certified Minority Business Enterprise, as general contractor; and Wulff Architects as architect. “This award is not the finish line. It is momentum,” said Rev. Mike Major, Pastor of Zion Baptist Church. “We invite funders, partners, and community supporters to help us complete this work and ensure the Sullivan Community Impact Center becomes a lasting resource for generations to come.” For more information about Called to Serve CDC or to support the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan Community Impact Center, visit https://www.calledtoservecdc.org/. About Called to Serve CDCCalled to Serve CDC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving as an anchor for community renewal and supporting endeavors that break intergenerational poverty, primarily in the Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded on the vision to replicate the community impact of the late civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Leon H. Sullivan, Called to Serve CDC works to strengthen and sustain the community through commercial corridor revitalization, small business support, youth development, literacy initiatives, workforce pathways, and community centered development.
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