The Northside Collaboratory seeks to radically improve the quality of life within the Northside of Syracuse by assembling diverse groups of stakeholders to engage in common tasks for the benefit of the community. Partners include neighborhood residents, small businesses, organizations and institutions, all of whom combine their areas of expertise and individual assets to inform and enhance the group's undertakings. We work to build upon the assets that currently exist within our community and organize stakeholders around initiatives that lead to tangible results.
 

The Collaboratory is founded upon the belief that the community must invest in the neighborhood in order to transform it. We realize, however, that investments can come in many shapes and sizes. We therefore ask partners within the Collaboratory to invest resources proportional to their size and relevant to their assets.
 
While we remain responsive to a broad range of community interests, the Northside Collaboratory has established four main focus areas as vital components to community and economic development:
 
    * Local Business Development
    * Neighborhood Workforce Development
    * The Arts (including public art, public space, and the performing arts)
    * Youth Programming
 
 Our Northside Community Gallery 
 Once a vacant storefront, Our Northside Community Gallery aims to be a focal point for arts and culture within the North Salina Street commercial corridor. We aim to celebrate the diversity and heritage of Syracuse’s Northside by exhibiting works of art that capture the essence of the neighborhood. The gallery also serves as a creative learning and work space where local residents of all ages can produce their own art. Ultimately, Our Northside Community Gallery is a convening place for art enthusiasts, curious passers-by, and the many people, of all ages and races, working in their own ways to restore vitality to the Northside of Syracuse.
 
Arts at Assisi 
 Arts at Assisi is a summer youth program that engages neighborhood adolescents in an array of artistic endeavors. Students experience photography, filmmaking, creative writing, design, printmaking, sculpture, music, drama, and dance. Arts at Assisi also offers a culinary arts component, in which small teams of youth make healthy meals from scratch for their fellow students each day. In addition to refining their cooking skills, the culinary arts curriculum teaches students about nutrition, as well as the benefits of eating foods that are natural and locally produced. Each summer, Arts at Assisi concludes with a gallery opening and reception showcasing the students’ best work. Parents and other community members get to mingle, enjoy the artwork, and taste fine foods prepared by the students.
 
Festival of Many Nations 
 Held in the late summer, the Festival of Many Nations is an annual event that brings together diverse members of our community to celebrate the myriad of cultures that have made the Northside their home over the past 150 years.  Highlights include ethnic foods and musical and dance performances from around the globe. Kids enjoy a variety of games and face painting. Through the festival, the community celebrates its diversity, has fun as a neighborhood, and shows all of Syracuse what a great and ethnically diverse place the Northside is to visit and live.  
 
Freedom Garden
For the past two years Franciscan Collaborative Ministries (FCM) has been working to develop a park at the intersection of Pond and Lodi Street.  The park is the former site of two abandoned buildings that were demolished in partnership with Home Headquarters and the City of Syracuse.  While the property is owned by FCM, it will serve as a public park for the Northside community.  It will simultaneously beautify the area and be a safe place for community members to gather and enjoy.
 

Setting the Standard for Green Business
The Small Business Development Center is now offering “Green” business counseling to assist start-up and existing businesses.  Green Business Advisor, Frank Raymond Cetera, is available at the offices of the Northside Collaboratory at 800 North Salina St in Syracuse.  Office hours are generally between 9 am – 5 pm, but it is best to call ahead or even make an appointment.
Click here for more information about Green Business Aware.

Northside Green Train
The Northside Green Train is a local workforce development program seeking to train Northside residents in fields related to green construction and sustainable urban development.  The Green Train will serve as a transitional job, “learn as you work” program, providing essential personal support and job development services to participants while creating a positive work history.  This job training program will have a special focus on creating "pathways out of poverty" by recruiting individuals with traditional barriers to employment and providing the training, personal development and support services to allow them to find a viable, rewarding career.  The program will act as a workforce incubator and pipeline, preparing workers to enter into a variety of internships, apprenticeships and living wage employment opportunities with our partner institutions and local companies.