Our neighborhoods compete for people. One of my main priorities in Congress is putting America’s Middle Neighborhoods back on top. Middle Neighborhoods are communities on the edge of growth and decline. Middle neighborhoods are areas that are doing just well enough. We are not focusing as much resources or attention on these neighborhoods because we have yet to see an increased need to invest in these areas. However, if we aren’t careful these neighborhoods will teeter towards decline overnight.

Middle Neighborhoods have four main characteristics: neighborhoods where homeowners can purchase real estate for an affordable rate, neighborhoods where crime rates are low, neighborhoods where school performance is sufficient, and neighborhoods where employment rates are adequate. Essentially, homebuyers in middle neighborhoods are willing to test the odds with the hopes that their neighborhood will improve rather than decline.

In Philadelphia, over 40 percent of the population lives in middle neighborhoods. When talking about middle neighborhoods in Pennsylvania’s Second Congressional District we are referring to: Mt. Airy, Germantown, West Oak Lane, Roxborough, and Wynnefield.

I know firsthand what is at stake for America’s Middle Neighborhoods. I grew up in North Philly and today I live in West Oak Lane just blocks away from Germantown High School, my alma mater. As your Representative in Congress I will continue to support policies that make our neighborhoods stronger, block by block.