About Us

We are grateful you are here and interested in supporting our work. Thank you. The mission of the Down North Foundation (DNF) is to reconstruct relationships, culture, and places to create resilient communities. DNF and its mission grew from the success of Down North Pizza, a for-profit, mission driven enterprise focused on promoting equity in the workforce, and in the food and beverage industry. Down North Pizza hires and supports the well-being of individuals and community members directly impacted by the criminal legal system.

What Your Donation Supports

The Down North Treehouse is one of five Foundation initiatives. The Treehouse aims to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline, providing a free, educational experiences to underserved and marginalized Philadelphia youth. Located in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood of North Philadelphia, the Treehouse will focus on engaging, educating, and supporting local youth through the democratization of space and technology. Our facility will be equipped to help youth imagine and build the next generation of tech and social entrepreneurship. The Treehouse will host interactive spaces focusing on instruction in a variety of tech fields, including a coding camp, graphic design, gaming, video production and cyber security.

The future home of the Treehouse will be a former Free Library of Philadelphia building that has been generously donated by the City of Philadelphia. Funds raised from this campaign will be used to rehabilitate and renovate this space, making it an functional and accessible community resource once again.

The Future Home of the Treehouse

Down North Treehouse

A Place to Disrupt the Preschool-to-Prison Pipeline