Image via Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation (PARC) Over the past decade, the East Passyunk Avenue commercial corridor between Broad and Dickinson streets in South Philadelphia has become one of the trendiest places in the city to shop and dine. The Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation (PARC), which aided in this improvement by redeveloping vacant properties, is […]

Andy Dalzell, programs coordinator at the South of South Neighborhood Association, standing with Ready, Willing, and Able employees at corner of Washington Avenue and Broad Street. It was a sea of blue last Thursday at the Old Pine Church in Society Hill as 32 Ready, Willing, and Able employees, suited in their token uniforms, graduated […]

Screenshot of DVRPC’s Smart Growth Project Database Transit ridership continues to rise in Greater Philadelphia, and planners and developers are increasingly placing developments nearby public transit. The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), the metropolitan planning organization for Greater Philadelphia and South Jersey, is attempting to track these developments through its Smart Growth Project Database. The Smart […]

Not far from the boundary of Southwest Philadelphia, the Delaware County suburb of Lansdowne has some problems in common with its urban neighbor, including improving access to green space. Hoffman Park, located in Lansdowne on flood-prone Darby Creek, is getting a makeover through the efforts of the Lansdowne Borough and the pro bono design work […]

With municipal services such as street cleaning still in short supply, even Philadelphia’s most prosperous neighborhoods are looking for new ways to improve themselves. The Washington Square West Civic Association (WSWCA), which covers the area between Seventh and Broad and Chestnut and South streets, is getting ready to gather public input on a Neighborhood Improvement District […]

Pictured here: The East Girard commercial corridor.  Talk to almost anyone working to improve commercial corridors and they will mention two programs from the city’s Commerce Department: the Storefront Improvement Program and the InStore Forgivable Loan Program. Both designed to make physical improvements to the businesses and storefronts that are the building blocks of commercial […]

A recently convened session brought together thought leaders, stakeholders, community leaders, people with lived experiences, and funders together. Nonprofits based in Greater Philadelphia are looking at the idea of “collective impact” as a means of achieving their goals. The Foundation Strategy Group (FSG), an international nonprofit consulting firm, which has embraced the idea, defines collective […]

Kensington’s popular Greensgrow Farms expanded to West Philadelphia in early April with the opening of the Greensgrow West garden center on the 4900-block of Baltimore Avenue. The garden center includes a weekly farmer’s market and CSA, and it aims to be a focal point for community interaction through classes, workshops, and other gatherings designed around […]

Sweet Glitter Gallery and interactive community fence on East Girard commercial corridor.  Philadelphia LISC and the city Commerce Department have taken an interest in Fishtown’s up-and-coming East Girard Avenue corridor and West Philadelphia’s struggling 52nd Street corridor. This interest was spurred by a $98,000 grant and technical assistance donations from the PNC Bank Foundation for […]