Event Series: City Sessions–Making Philadelphia Family Friendly, University as Community + Gentrification, Integration and Equity

Next City is partnering with 900AM-WURD and AL DÍA News, with the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, to host a series of discussions about ideas that will shape Philadelphia’s future.

The first in the series, Making Philadelphia Family Friendly, will be held October 29 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Moore College of Art & Design Auditorium. Local and national leaders, including Dennis Campa, Associate Director of State Policy Reform and Advocacy at the Annie E. Casey Foundation; Helen Gym, Co-founder of Parents United for Public Education; Michael DiBerardinis, Deputy Mayor for Environmental and Community Resources for the City of Philadelphia; and Otis Hackney, Principal of South Philadelphia High School, will discuss what is needed to make the city more family friendly.

Philadelphia owes much of its population growth to Millennials who have stayed or moved here–but as they get older and form families, many of them will leave for the suburbs or other, more family-friendly cities. This panel discussion will look at what Philadelphia is doing right, inspire ideas of how it can improve, and generate a conversation with the audience about what it will take to make the city friendly to all citizens.

RSVP for Making Philadelphia Family Friendly on EventBrite.

Session two in the series, The University as Community, held on November 19 (also at Moore College) will focus around collaborations that universities currently have with the communities around them as well as what they must do better for their communities. The final event in the series, Gentrification, Integration and Equity on December 3 (held at the Free Library) will explore how Philadelphia can become a more economically integrated, accessible and livable city for all of it’s residents. Discussion will be focused around how Philadelphia and other cities are addressing this important question through transit, housing and other infrastructure projects.

Information about speakers for City Sessions Two and Three has yet to be announced.

Learn more about the series here.