THE PROGRESS MOVEMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: THE ZION NON-PROFIT CHARITABLE TRUST

Abstract

One of America's greatest leaders arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1950 to begin what would become one of the nation's most successful community development initiatives, the Movement. Born in Charleston, West Virginia, on 16 October 1922, the young Rev. Leon Howard Sullivan spent time as assistant pastor at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City, under the leadership of Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and in East Orange, New Jersey, as pastor of the First Baptist Church before coming to Philadelphia. When the 28-year-old minister accepted the position as pastor of Zion Baptist Church, the first hint of his audacity and forward thinking was when he asked the church's board of deacons to pay on his behalf a $100 membership fee for the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. One deacon who was on the board at the time recalled how stunned the board members were at this request. When asked about it, Sullivan responded, Chamber of Commerce has advance knowledge of major economic trends, and membership would allow me to take immediate action on actions potentially beneficial to the congregation and our people. Thus from the beginning Rev. Sullivan was considered an unusual preacher. Indeed, several years ago one preacher confided to this writer that initially he did not respect Sullivan's approach because hardly heard him preach about Jesus in his sermons, it was always about money and economics. Today, that preacher is a convert and has incorporated Sullivan's economic approach in his ministry. One might ask: Why did Rev. Leon Sullivan concentrate on economics as the basis for African Americans realizing full citizenship, along with civil and political rights? Sullivan himself traced this particular concern to the sermon he delivered to his congregation on 15 June 1962. One day I preached a sermon at Zion Baptist about Jesus feeding the five thousand with a few loaves and a few fishes. Everybody put in their little bit and you had enough to feed everybody with some left over. So I said, that is what I am going to do with the church and the community. I said, am going to ask 50 people to put $10 down for 36 months of loaves and fishes and see if we could accumulate resources enough to build something that we would own ourselves. (1) The response was overwhelming and over 200 families joined the plan that Sunday morning and that was the beginning of the that formed the basis of his far-reaching community economic development programs. The funds contributed to the 10-36 Plan accumulated rapidly and Sullivan launched Zion Investment Associates (ZIA), which after 1977 was renamed the Investment Associates, a for-profit corporation that would undertake income-generating projects. At the end of thirty-six months, subscribers would receive shares of the common stock and would be entitled to participate in yearly shareholders' meetings. Given the lack of access to adequate housing in Philadelphia's racially divided neighborhoods, in 1964 ZIA's first investment was in an apartment complex. This was the beginning of the Progress Movement in Philadelphia. It was followed by the building of Zion Gardens, a middle income apartment complex in North Philadelphia. Financed by ZIA with assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and a loan from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), this $1 million project was completed in 1966. The next project funded by ZIA through funds generated from the investors in the 10-36 Plan was the building of a shopping center in North Philadelphia, Progress Plaza. Working with the Philadelphia Council for Community Development (PCCD), a private group focused on economic development, and the Philadelphia Recovery Authority, a municipal department, Sullivan was able to obtain prime land on Broad Street, near Temple University. To get the project started, the ZIA went to the local branch of First Pennsylvania Bank to seek out a construction loan. …