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Neighborhood Innovation


Some of Greater Philadelphia's brightest minds are working on its biggest challenges, and many of those hurdles are getting smaller thanks to innovative approaches to community-building. Community development corporations are transforming neighborhoods like University City, Kensington, Strawberry Mansion, and Mt. Airy through aggressive outreach, dynamic programs, and impassioned, determined leadership. The city's largest colleges and universities, like Penn, Drexel, Temple and LaSalle, are also integral in uncovering, assessing, mapping and strengthening neighborhoods' assets and connecting them to form stronger, healthier and enduring communities.


Neighborhood Innovation Features

Football practice at Kingsessing Recreation Center

Kingsessing Recreation Center is Southwest Philly's living room

This multi-faceted organization provides a place for both kids and adults to connect and better themselves, whether that's through a computer lab, youth sports or volunteering. It's a true neighborhood gem in our #OnTheGround home.

Salsa Caliente

PHILLY 3 FOR ALL: Salsa dancing in NoLibs, Community Day in Frankford and fishing on the Wissahickon

Check out our picks for the week's top events.

Connecting local kids to food

On the Ground: The Farm at Bartram's Garden cultivates community

Every year, this four-acre plot produces 12,000 pounds of food, welcomes 10,000 school kids, employs 22 high school interns, hosts 45 families in a community garden, distributes 80,000 seedlings, supplies 50 farmstands and welcomes 1500 volunteers. And there's more.

Strawberry Mansion

On the Ground: Home repairs help keep people in their homes

In neighborhoods like Strawberry Mansion, a complex patchwork of challenges -- including tangled titles, aging homes and long waits for programs -- can make it hard for residents to maintain their historic properties. A CDC is working to change all that.

The view from Bartram's Garden

Bike, learn, grow, row or wed at Bartram's Garden in Southwest Philly

This historic site is reinventing itself for the 21st century, emphasizing both attracting new visitors -- with help from an ambitious trail project -- and connecting with the surrounding neighborhoods.
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