Collaboration Strengthens Civic Life
Lessons from an unlikely partnership connecting public space and community development in Philadelphia
By: Jennifer Q. Mahar, Fairmount Park Conservancy and Chris Spahr, Centennial Parkside CDC
It’s one thing to physically revitalize a park, and quite another to ensure that people living near the park feel connected and included in the improved space. In Philadelphia, local groups are teaming up to rethink the way public spaces and communities can thrive together. For the past couple of years, the Centennial Parkside Community Development Corporation (CDC) and the non-profit, Fairmount Park Conservancy, have worked hand-in-hand to transform and reactivate West Fairmount Park with new play spaces and amenities for Philadelphia, and most importantly, the nearby Parkside neighborhood, a vibrant and diverse community that has historically lacked access to basic civic amenities.
Setting the Context
Fairmount Park forms the heart of Philadelphia’s 10,200-acre park system. Clocking in at over 2,000 acres, Fairmount Park directly borders 10 distinct neighborhoods, and in each, residents face unique challenges connecting to the park. In the East Parkside (see map), residents live just steps away from the park, yet only have access to one functional playground and one part-time public recreation center. East Parkside has no library, no public school, nor community hub.
East Parkside is predominantly an African American neighborhood, home to 3,800 residents. Fifty-two percent of residents live in poverty, and poverty is highest among families with children — 70 percent of the children in East Parkside live in poverty.
Several years ago, our organizations teamed up to do a better job bringing the community and park together, and over the years, learned many lessons. Here are our takeaways for how to build a unique partnership between a park non-profit, a community development organization, and most importantly, community residents.
Lesson 1: Don’t assume that civic assets are ‘blank slates’
Many non-profits and city agencies begin their work thinking they need to start with their own internal planning process. But through our collaborative partnership we’ve learned that before you plan, you should actively listen to what the community has already planned for itself and integrate that expertise and input into action. In fact, the best community engagement starts with deep listening.
Over the past 20 years, West Fairmount Park and the Parkside community witnessed over two dozen plans for their future — transit and traffic studies, historic preservation, commercial corridor recommendations. All encouraged the residents to dream big, yet none of the plans came close to delivering on what residents were asked to envision. While these various planning processes were underway, the East Parkside neighborhood actually became more isolated from the surrounding city, the result of construction on three bridges serving the neighborhood. These construction projects cut the neighborhood off from southern neighborhoods, and virtually eliminated the local commercial corridor. While West Fairmount Park was practically residents’ front yard, it remained a large swath of green space reached only by crossing a heavily trafficked avenue with no benches, no lighting, no civic life.
A non-profit dedicated to engaging and improving Philadelphia’s parks, Fairmount Park Conservancy started talking to East Parkside residents and reviewing previous plans in 2013. Taking key points from previous pedestrian and park planning, the Conservancy learned that East Parkside residents had deep ownership and connection to the park but considered it unsafe to get to and poorly maintained. The Conservancy responded, improving pedestrian crossings to the park with new lighting and sidewalks, and installing giant porch swings in the park to entice neighbors to enter. Called “Parkside Edge”, today this reinvigorated public space that serves East Parkside neighbors features lushly planted outdoor ‘rooms’ that are easily transformed into community programming spaces.
Lesson 2: Let your early neighborhood events inform future programming
In 2015, a newly formed, all volunteer nonprofit — Centennial Parkside CDC — was formed, driven by dedicated residents committed to serving the people and businesses of East Parkside. Centennial Park CDC began its work with a five-year strategic plan, led by founding Board members who each brought their unique skill sets and passions to the group, from housing preservation, to finance and accounting, to decades-long community activism.
As the new CDC started to build momentum, Fairmount Park Conservancy simultaneously partnered with Philadelphia Civic Commons partners and an East Parkside neighborhood block volunteer association on a pop-up activation of an alley one block from West Fairmount Park. The event empowered residents and partners to showcase the history of the neighborhood, participate in healthy cooking demonstrations, discuss the lack of access to healthy food and improve community garden beds on the block. This well-attended and successful experimental event ultimately served as a preview of the possibilities for the soon-to-be completed improvements to the park across from the neighborhood. As the Parkside Edge project approached completion, the Conservancy and the neighbors had a good template to inform programming for the space.
What was meant to be a one-time-only event turned into a multi-year program at Parkside Edge — a space that is a platform for food access and healthy eating, but also holiday caroling, free walking programs, movie nights, a youth job fair, and an annual arts fest attended by thousands. Leveraging the Civic Commons and access to new programmatic partners, the Centennial Parkside CDC and the Conservancy have been able to rethink engagement and programming as we experiment with the meanings of this new civic space.
Lesson 3: Think of community engagement as a relationship
It’s challenging for any new nonprofit organization to raise funds without fundraising history or experience. However, by teaming up, the Centennial Parkside CDC and Fairmount Park Conservancy, found creative ways to mutually benefit both organizations’ missions and leverage opportunities together. With the Conservancy’s partnership, the CDC was able to establish a new home in Letitia House, a historic property in West Fairmount Park. Having sat vacant for years, together, the CDC and Conservancy raised funds to restore and activate the property. Today, it doubles as the CDC’s home office and programmatic asset for East Parkside — home to healthy living workshops for women, jazz concerts, and a summer youth employment program.
Similarly, when faced with staffing challenges in programming Parkside Edge, the Conservancy and the CDC were able to collaborate in the hiring of a Program Manager, someone responsible for ensuring that the newly improved Parkside Edge would be a welcoming and lively home for community-led events and activities. The Program Manager engages residents on what types of programming they want to lead, what services they would like to see, and creatively finds partners and volunteers to make those ideas reality.
Civic Commons has pushed the Conservancy to negotiate what high-impact partnerships mean on a hyper-local level. It has challenged us to reconsider top-down engagement and programming and move towards a community-driven approach that reflects the culture and identity of individual neighborhoods.
For the Centennial Parkside CDC, Civic Commons has helped this relatively new organization accelerate its growth, draw inspiration from experts around the world, and learn how to do our work better through access to thought partners through national and local learning networks. The partnership powered by Civic Commons has created a strong foundation which allows both organizations to bring long-awaited investment to a community that needs and deserves them. Together, we are committed to activating and leveraging public space to build a revitalized and vibrant East Parkside community — today and in the years to come.
Jennifer Mahar is the Senior Director of Civic Initiatives at Fairmount Park Conservancy, a non-profit that brings Philly’s parks to life. She is a proud founding Advisory Board member of the Centennial Parkside CDC and has over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit world.
Chris Spahr is the Executive Director of the Centennial Parkside CDC, a non-profit with a mission to preserve, promote and revitalize East Parkside through partnerships with businesses and institutions, and programs that engage residents, increase opportunity, and grow a diverse, thriving community.
Reimagining the Civic Commons is a collaboration of The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and local partners.
