2013 E Pluribus Unum WINNER

Neighborhood Development Center

Media Contact:
Michelle Mittelstadt
(202) 266-1910
mmittelstadt@migrationpolicy.org
Click here for Press Release

Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) is a Minnesota-based nonprofit that seeks to revitalize low-income neighborhoods in the Twin Cities. NDC, which has earned a place at the leading edge of practice in both the community development and immigrant integration fields, has worked in 25 diverse low-income neighborhoods in St. Paul and Minneapolis since 1993, providing training to more than 4,250 entrepreneurs, including nearly 1,500 immigrants; $10 million in small business financing, nearly half to new and existing immigrant-owned businesses; and 40,000 hours of consulting to small businesses.

More than 450 NDC-assisted businesses are currently in operation, including a tortilla factory, a taxi company, barbershops, and an Ethiopian restaurant. NDC also owns and manages six business incubators housing 120 small enterprises, the great majority operated by immigrants.

Independent research estimates that every dollar NDC spends results in $28 returned to the community in the form of taxes, purchases, and payroll.

Created originally to support economic revitalization initiatives in core areas of poverty in St. Paul and Minneapolis, NDC has earned the trust of a wide range of community stakeholders and expanded its work to include small business financing, ongoing business coaching, and real estate services. Demand for services has been so strong that NDC has more than doubled its culturally diverse staff and has greatly increased its services to further engage a wide range of native and foreign-born residents, including Hmong, Somali, Oromo, and Spanish-speaking small business entrepreneurs.

As part of its provision of culturally competent services, NDC offers a profit-based (Reba-free) financing program that allows Muslim entrepreneurs to receive asset-based financing and adhere to Islamic principles which prohibit paying interest on debt. For its Reba-free program, NDC received an Innovation Award in Program Design in 2003 from the Association for Enterprise Opportunity.

FOCUS ON EXCELLENCE: Empowering Immigrants to Transform Neighborhood Economies from Within

NDC’s overarching philosophy is that residents, small businesses, and civic groups in all communities have the talent and ability to work together to transform their neighborhood economies from within. NDC’s model seeks to concentrate the power of micro-enterprise development within hubs of community revitalization, forging partnerships with African American, Latino, African, Asian, and other ethnic groups to build solidarity for and scale up economic development efforts.

NDC has long been recognized as a pillar of community-led economic development in the Twin Cities, and has served as a model for others working to revitalize their cities. Its work connecting the energy and interests of native-born and immigrant groups and individuals has promoted the economic success of immigrant businesses while stimulating broader community development. NDC’s approach has helped join the voices of immigrant business leaders to African American, Native American, and other leaders to create an approach to economic development that benefits both those communities and the Twin Cities as a whole.

NDC offers a reminder of the innovative integration work that is taking place in demographically-changing communities across the nation, whether by nonprofits, schools, government agencies, faith-based organizations, employers, and others.

Program Leadership

Mihailo (Mike) Temali
President and Founder

Mihailo Temali is the Founder and President of the Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) and Western Initiatives for Neighborhood Development (WIND), both in St. Paul and Minneapolis. WIND has worked with over 60 inner-city neighborhood-based economic development organizations and city governments since 1990 as a consultant, providing assistance on capacity building, small business lending, business training, commercial corridor revitalization, and real estate development.

Mr. Temali formed NDC in 1993, blending approaches of international microenterprise and domestic community development.

From 1984 to 1990, Mr. Temali was the founding Executive Director of North End Area Revitalization, a community development corporation focused on commercial district revitalization in St. Paul's North End. He was on the staff of the Humphrey Institute from 1981-84, co-authoring the City Venture Case Study and the first national survey of business incubators.

Mr. Temali has a MPA from the Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota. He was a VISTA Volunteer in San Bernardino, California in 1978, and graduated from Macalester College in 1976. He grew up on St. Paul’s East Side, and lives in St. Paul.

Mr. Temali served on the Governor’s Minority Small Business Task Force in 2001, has served on more than 20 nonprofit boards, and was founding President of the boards of NEON, NACDI, Urban Boatbuilders, and Midtown Global Market. He is the author of the Community Economic Development Handbook: Strategies and Tools to Revitalize Your Neighborhood, published by Wilder Publishing in 2002.