Delaware nonprofits revitalize Bridgeville

The Cornerstone Community Center saw more than 70 people attend a Family Fun Night in February at the Bridgeville Public Library.

2024, "Delaware nonprofits revitalize Bridgeville," 19 August, Accessed: https://spotlightdelaware.org/2024/08/19/sponsored-bridgeville-delaware-nonprofits/.

Today’s Bridgeville looks very different compared to two decades ago. What was once a deeply agricultural community with a population of about a thousand is now a town of several thousand, thanks to housing development, retiree growth and relocation trends accelerated by the COVID pandemic.

As similar changes happen across western Sussex County in towns like Laurel and Greenwood, it’s become all the more important for communities to revisit their visions of the future through an equitable lens.

That’s why this past year, with support from Healthy Communities Delaware (HCD), Bridgeville and partner organization Cornerstone Community Center surveyed residents for a revamped town plan, slated for completion later this year. Designed to capture preferences on utilities, services, and amenities, the surveys framed questions to get the community thinking about how to address Vital Conditions for Health & Well-Being.

The surveys garnered more than 1,070 responses, uncovering themes to improve humane housing, access to basic needs and safety, reliable transportation and community gathering spaces to build civic muscle. 

“Everything comes back to the same core of, ‘How can we provide better services?’ Or, ‘How can we revitalize? How can we get people invested and engaged in the success of a community?’” said Bethany DeBussy, who became town manager in 2020.

When Bridgeville last surveyed its community in 2017, it gathered about 170 responses. Most of those responses came from Heritage Shores, a retirement community within Bridgeville. (Bridgeville’s incorporated population is around 3,000 residents today, and the surrounding ZIP code is home to about 9,000.)

Bridgeville’s next chapter represents a shared challenge, even as various perspectives emerge regarding expansion, expressing a mix of concerns and hope for the future. There are a limited number of housing opportunities in Bridgeville, especially those available to low-income families or seniors. The town also lacks sufficient medical facilities, with residents often traveling to neighboring Seaford or Milford for services.

Unlike larger cities where such services are typically consolidated, Bridgeville residents rely on separate nonprofit entities, each with its own distinct mission and resources, for vital resources. For example, the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Company operates independently as a nonprofit organization, as does the Bridgeville Public Library. This decentralized structure necessitates strong relationships and strategic partnerships to build effective programming and services that adequately address the many needs within the town.

Partnering with local nonprofits proved invaluable in extending the 2023 town survey’s reach beyond traditional methods like mail, DeBussy said. Guided by input from HCD and drawing from the University of Delaware’s Complete Communities Toolbox, the town and Cornerstone Community Center devised strategies for engaging the community. This included introducing incentives like gift cards, adding an online survey component, going door-to-door, and tabling at events like drug take-back programs and the Bridgeville Apple-Scrapple Festival. 

Recognizing a need in Bridgeville, Latoya Harris founded Cornerstone Community Center in 2021. Providing meals or exercise for seniors, facilitating youth tobacco prevention programming, running a grief support group or collecting donations for the food pantry are all part of regular operations.

“When I say I’m always in the community, I’m always in the community, whether I’m facilitating a group or I’m checking on someone,” Harris said. Partnering with other organizations, like the library, helps advance shared missions, as well as stretch limited resources and budgets, Harris noted.

About nine years ago, Harris returned to Bridgeville to raise her family. It’s where her grandmother was raised, and Harris loves the safety she feels at home, where her kids can play openly in the yard. She also appreciates the history and sense of place found in Bridgeville’s long-time local businesses, like H.C. Layton and Son Hardware Store.

For Bridgeville to thrive in its next chapter, Harris said there is a need for improved communal space, in the form of a park or cafe, where residents could come together. Teens in particular don’t have a place to “just hang out,” aside from the library, Harris said, recalling input gathered from a visit to Woodbridge High School. Whether working in agriculture or nursing, the younger generation also shared concerns about finding work or having to move away.

Ultimately, though, Harris is optimistic about Bridgeville’s future, and providing for all the individuals who will live or raise their families there.

“Bridgeville is a growing community of residents, and we’re really open to improving the landscape and really making it an enjoyable place to live,” Harris said.