The Northside Planning Council (NPC) is a citizen-led coalition of over 25 neighborhood associations and community organizations with over 35 representatives based on the Northside of Madison, Wisconsin. NPC's mission is to improve the quality of life for all residents of the Northside community by building community and by increasing citizen participation and voice in the issues that affect them. The Northside began as developments surrounding the Oscar Mayer meatpacking plant, which brought with it a high concentration of affordable housing and eventually an influx of minority residents. It was one of the first Madison neighborhood areas to show the strain of rapid urban growth and changing demographics when crime, violence, and drug traffic soared and living conditions in large apartment complexes deteriorated in the late 80's and early 90's.

Northside residents and Madison public officials recognized the need for new ways to help residents and neighborhoods respond to the changing face of their community. The Northside Planning Council was organized in 1993 as an independent nonprofit coalition of community organizations, now consisting of neighborhood associations, the business association, the senior coalition, churches, schools, and community centers. We work to assess the needs of the Northside community, develop local assets and power through leadership training and relationship-building, and lead advocacy efforts to meet our community's goals.

NPC has transformed this relatively unorganized, socially fragmented, and politically ignored community into Madison's best organized community with a strong identity, and low crime, violence, and drug activity.