PhillyRising Collaborative will host the 2014 PhillyRising Conference at Temple University’s Mitten Hall (1913 N Broad St) on October 18. The conference will give participants the chance to meet one-on-one with representatives from city agencies to address problems, ask questions, and submit service requests.

The PhillyRising Collaborative (part of the Managing Director’s Office of the City of Philadelphia) works to target neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia that are plagued by chronic crime and quality of life concerns, and establishes partnerships with community members  in 19 different neighborhoods (which include Brewerytown, Frankford, and North Central — see below for a complete list) to address these issues. PhillyRising coordinates the actions of various city agencies to help people in these neighborhoods make their community better.

Temple University’s campus was chosen for the event because it’s convenient not only for the neighborhood residents they work with but the rest of the city as well, since it’s right off the Broad Street Line.

“This year we wanted to make sure that the location was accessible for a lot of the residents that we work with,” said Amanda Finch, PhillyRising Special Projects Coordinator. “PhillyRising works in a lot of different neighborhoods in North Philly, so we wanted to make sure it was a centrally-located area for those residents as well as be accessible for the rest of the city.”

The conference is being held so that PhillyRising can not only reach residents in the 19 neighborhoods they serve but also meet with others as well.

“We wanted a way to reach other residents who might not get to work with us on a regular basis,” Finch said.

The following city departments will be be on site from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. (so that participants can arrive when they can and stay as long as needed) to take down residents’ service requests on the spot and put that information into the system:

• Streets Department
• Licenses & Inspections
• Philly311
• Town Watch Integrated Services
• Community Life Improvement Program
• Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee
• Police Department

In addition, Neighborhood Liaison Trainings and Workforce Development Information Sessions will take place throughout the day, and an awards ceremony will recognize recent graduates of PhillyRising’s Citizens Engagement Academy as well as a resident of the year. The ceremony will also include remarks from Mayor Michael Nutter, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Everett Gillison, and Managing Director Richard Negrin.

Further Information

Learn more about PhillyRising Collaborative at www.phila.gov/phillyrising/. You can register for the conference at prconference2014.tumblr.com/registration or by calling 215-686-8417.

The 19 PhillyRising neighborhoods serves include:

• Brewerytown
• Eastwick
• Elmwood
• Frankford
• Haddington
• Hartranft
• Hawthorne
• Germantown
• Kensington
• Kingsessing
• Lawncrest
• Market East
• North Central
• Penrose
• Point Breeze
• Southeast
• Strawberry Mansion
• Swampoodle
• St. Hugh’s

Image via PhillyRising Flickr