Whittier Alliance Records

The Whittier Alliance was founded in 1978 by a coalition of residents and business owners of the Whittier Neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Bounded by Franklin Avenue to the North, I-35W to the East, Lake Street to the South, and Lyndale Avenue to the West, Whittier was officially designated as a neighborhood by the city of Minneapolis in 1960. In 1991, Whittier was the first neighborhood in Minneapolis to participate in the city’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP). Through the years, the Whittier Alliance maintained a focus on engaging Whittier residents and business owners in block clubs, committees, task forces and events addressing a wide variety of issues, including housing, neighborhood livability, economic development, health and safety, crime prevention, education, and youth opportunity. Housing development has been a major focus for the organization. Another major achievement was opening the neighborhood’s first elementary school, the Whittier Community School for the Arts, now known as the Whittier International School.

In the late 1960s, the Whittier Community Organization was founded in response to increasing neighborhood poverty and housing stock decline. The Whittier Action Council and the Whittier Development Corporation, other Whittier Alliance predecessors, were founded with similar goals shortly thereafter. In 1975, the Dayton Hudson Foundation took an interest in the emerging field of “neighborhood revitalization” and selected Whittier as the pilot neighborhood to support with a one-million-dollar grant. This funding supported research and planning for the Whittier Alliance’s first Whittier Neighborhood Plan in 1977.

In 1978, the Whittier Alliance was officially incorporated as a non-profit community development corporation. The Alliance was originally organized as a true alliance of ten Whittier neighborhood groups, with each group being invited to name two people to its board of directors. This board structure was short lived, however, and was soon replaced by a hybrid form of appointments and persons elected at large.

Early on, Whittier Alliance focused on housing shortages. Between 1978 and 1992, the Alliance developed 330 units of low-income housing through a combination of small home ownership assistance and multi-family rental rehabilitation. By 1992, home and business owners who were disgruntled with the Whittier Alliance’s focus on low-income housing took control of the board and halted the Alliance’s housing initiatives.

By 1993, affordable housing cooperatives owned by the Whittier Alliance had fallen into disrepair. To rehab and stabilize the finances of these properties, the organization requested $1.3 million from the NRP. The NRP agreed to the request on the condition that a separate organization, the Whittier Housing Corporation (WHC), would be formed and take over management of the properties. An acrimonious relationship between Whittier Alliance and WHC followed, as well as years of struggle to shore up the finances of these affordable housing projects. By 2000, Whittier Housing Corporation dissolved and ownership of the co-ops transferred to various development companies.

In 1996, discord between board and staff again came to a head, this time due to disputes about how staff was managing the NRP “3-10” loan program as well as a grant from Public/Private Ventures for a program called Community Change for Youth Development. Facing these challenges and a cash shortfall, the Whittier Alliance board laid off all staff, transitioning to a volunteer, board-run organization. The organization slowly rebuilt its staff, but another operating funds shortfall in 2003 related to the reduction of NRP funding resulted in an additional round of internal restructuring and layoffs.