A Year in Review
A Participatory Philadelphia
Inspiration from the civic commons in 2023
Be inspired in the new year with reflections from cities across the country using their civic assets to build trust, connect people of all backgrounds and deliver more resilient communities. Today, the third in our series of photo essays reflecting on the past year of progress features the civic commons work in Philadelphia.
We Walk PHL launches at Bartram’s Garden
Launched in 2017, We Walk PHL is a collaborative program led by Fairmount Park Conservancy, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health that brings together people of all ages and backgrounds into Philadelphia’s major parks for exercise and social connection. The program now runs at 18 sites and counting, with Bartram’s Garden added as a site due to the connections made through our work together on Civic Commons.
Keeping Parkside clean & green and a new space for community
The Clean & Green Team is a long-running program of the Centennial Parkside CDC that employs local residents to clean up the commercial corridors in Parkside as well as the edges of West Fairmount Park, including the Parkside Edge project supported by the original Civic Commons pilot. In 2023, the CDC worked with Tiny WPA to spruce up their new headquarters on Girard, which includes a storage garage (pictured) and an office space for the team. Colorful and encouraging signage, new trash cans, and a anti-litter campaign that culminated in the wrap of a bus shelter on Parkside Avenue (just out of view on the other side of the grassy lot) have brought increased attention, resources, and partnerships to the CDC.
Located on 40th Street at the edge of West Fairmount Park, the new Black Urban Theater was opened by the Centennial Parkside CDC in summer 2023 as a critical “third space” that now serves as a community resource and a local arts space led by Parkside residents. Most recently it hosted the third annual Black Man’s Conference in September. A work in process, the CDC is programming the space as they continue to make repairs and upgrades to the space as time and funding allow.
Engaging residents: Centennial Gateway project in West Fairmount Park
Building on the Conservancy’s Parkside Edge project, funded by Civic Commons, the Conservancy is working to continue the connections from the Parkside neighborhood to West Fairmount Park and the Please Touch Museum (a popular children’s museum, pictured in the background). This was the first of two community engagement events hosted by the Conservancy this fall that were designed to draw residents and visitors into conversation about the upcoming Centennial Gateway project in West Fairmount Park, share our plans for the site and learn about residents’ interests and priorities for use of the space.
An inclusive summer and fall at Bartram’s Garden
Bartram’s continued to run inclusive, recurring programming to welcome neighbors near and far into the garden, offering robust summer camp programming in partnership with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation that introduced kids to fishing, farming, and more, bike programs with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, and mindfulness/meditation workshops, among others, while their major community events — such as Honeyfest, Springfest, Harvest Fest, and Juneteenth and Indigenous People’s Day celebrations — have brought people from all walks of life together in the shared space.
Through Philadelphia Parks & Recreation’s pilot Community Service Area model, youth from recreation centers in Southwest Philadelpha traveled to Bartram’s this summer for summer camp experiences and events at the garden. Students visited the Open Bike Hub, a collaborative event with free walk-up bike rentals, simple repairs, and bike safety information that is open to all community members. Participants are also invited to ride the Bartram’s Mile trail.
Enhancing corridors and green space in Strawberry Mansion
In Strawberry Mansion, the Strawberry Mansion CDC hosted the Conservancy, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Neighborhood Gardens Trust, the Philadelphia Eagles, and Braskem for two days of volunteer work at the neighborhood’s Resource Garden Center in May and October to level the garden, create new garden beds, install benches, and remove trash from the site.
In Strawberry Mansion, the CDC has been working with Amber Art & Design, a local public art and community engagement collective, and community members to paint the crosswalks on the main corridors leading from the neighborhood into East Fairmount Park. In April, the CDC hosted four idea-sharing and design charrettes at intersections leading to the park’s Mander Recreation Center and Boxers’ Trail, and after working through the approval process with the City’s Art Commission and Streets Department, the CDC and Amber Art will organize community paint days in spring 2024.
Reimagining the Civic Commons is a collaboration of The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and local partners.
