Parks

Philadelphia Green: Expanding Its Role in the Community

Philadelphia, PA

Building on almost two decades of successfully engaging neighborhoods in renewing their streetscapes, the nation's largest community greening group has grown into a new type of organization with a broader role. Philadelphia Green, a program of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, no longer limits its activities to tree plantings and community gardens, but works with other agencies to promote economic development and safer environments throughout the city. Its latest effort focuses on working with communities to manage neighborhood parks in low income areas, with assistance from the Parks Department.

Project Background

Decades of population loss has left Philadelphia riddled with vacant lots that compromise the security and cohesiveness of urban neighborhoods. In 1974, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) experimented with a pilot community garden program to put vacant land to better use. Inspired by the level of community participation and feedback, PHS launched Philadelphia Green four years later, providing plants, construction materials, technical assistance, and workshops for citizens' groups who expressed an interest in transforming their streets and lots. Since then, Philadelphia Green (PG) has grown to a staff of 40 and offers a broad range of programs. Working with over 1,100 neighborhood groups, government organizations, and corporations, PG has been involved in nearly 2,000 greening projects in Philadelphia.

Within the last decade, community participation has begun to occur as part of a comprehensive strategy to promote neighborhood-wide revitalization. "Greening becomes a tool for change, transforming people and their neighborhoods," ays Mamie Nichols, a local community leader. PG's "Greene Countrie Towne" program was devised to help neighborhoods revive their sense of pride and potential, not only through volunteer greening efforts, but by developing an image that the neighborhood can market to outsiders through pamphlets, networking, and other outreach.

Business and industry leaders have also participated in brightening Philadelphia's image, embracing PG's effort to re-landscape the entire route from the airport to the city center, a strip of industrial sites that sent ominous signals to visitors. PG has worked with government groups as well, such as the City Department of Licenses and Inspections, which cleaned up 36 vacant lots to allow volunteers to plant community gardens. Philadelphia Green has also developed partnerships with the Penn State Urban Gardening Program, the Fairmount Park Commission, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network, and the Department of Recreation.

New Park Programs: Based on PG's reputation as a strong community organizer, the Department of Recreation has turned over certain aspects of the management of neighborhood parks to Philadelphia Green. Budget cuts within the Department of Recreation have left few resources for maintaining smaller open spaces; as a result, parks are increasingly visited by problems such as poor maintenance, drug dealing and vandalism. PG's new effort is to work with residents to reverse this decline by making connections between neighborhood groups, increasing awareness about the parks, and encouraging volunteer involvement in maintaining them.

In Wharton Square, for example, PG worked with a committed group of residents to re-develop the park and initiate clean-up efforts. Drug activity decreased when volunteers cleared truckloads of debris and removed 42 of the park’s 62 benches that had become home to gang members. Today there is a dramatic drop in crime in the park and increased use by children and the elderly.

One neighborhood advisory council director said that PG's projects form "bridges between people throughout the community, helping to unify energies, bringing residents, youth and business together. The gardening has really been a stepping stone toward our community development objectives."

Funding: Philadelphia Green began its community greening efforts in 1978 with a Block Grant from the City's Office of Housing and Community Development. Today over 50% of Philadelphia Green's programming is funded by foundations such as the William Penn Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust. Another 20% is funded by proceeds from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's annual Philadelphia Flower Show. For neighborhood park revitalization, PG won a 3-year grant from the Penn Foundation and matching donations from the Department of Recreation.

Impacts: Philadelphia Green sees community greening as a critical component of urban revitalization. The organization has demonstrated its ability to bring residents together: thousands have volunteered time to make their neighborhoods more livable. PG's community-based approach is also conceived to promote long-term stewardship of green spaces.

According to David Cohen, Philadelphia Mayor's chief of staff, "this creative use of volunteers is absolutely the wave of the future."

Contacts:

Maitreyi Roy and Mike Groman, Pennsylvania Horticulture Society, 215-988-8800.

(March 1996)