Feet First Philly and Clean Air Council, in partnership with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, have announced the recipients of the sixth round of Public Space Enhancement Mini-Grant awards. These 16 projects seek to improve walkability in neighborhoods across Philadelphia.

Over 70 applications were received for the Public Space Enhancement Program and came from community organizations, businesses, and individuals from all over the city. A selection committee made up of past recipients, pedestrian advocates, professionals in public space improvements, and city officials, planners, and designers from multiple departments selected the 16 highest-scoring projects.

All of the funded organizations and their projects are located in communities that have experienced lack of historical investment, or even active disinvestment in their public spaces. Mini-Grant recipients were selected because of their innovative and inspiring community-led proposals that address the challenges of increasing pedestrian access, reducing violence, and improving safety in their respective neighborhoods.

The Public Space Enhancement Mini-Grant program has expanded since its inception in 2020.  “These projects help to bring communities together to create safer and healthier spaces,” said Titania Markland, Clean Air Council Sustainable Transportation Program Manager. “Through the Mini-Grants, we can give Philadelphians the ability to build their communities in ways that benefit their neighbors.” 

“We are excited to invest in 16 community-led projects that support resident-identified solutions to activate our public spaces and help our communities thrive. These projects are rooted in neighborhoods across the city and show the diverse ways we can build and sustain greener, cleaner, and safer spaces for community,” said Dr. Kinnari Chandriani, Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Director at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

The projects selected for funding are:

  1. Drain Buddies! – This project seeks to match residents of Germantown neighborhoods with their “adopted” storm drains and sidewalks. Volunteers monitor storm drains and remove litter, debris, pollution, and safety hazards. These efforts connect residents to their local environment’s resilience by promoting stewardship of their own communities.
  2. Steps Toward Resilience: Safe and Walkable Paths for Mill Creek – A New Dawn Incorporated with Tiffany Fletcher Recreation Center and Aspen Farms will improve sidewalks and walkability in the Mill Creek-Parkside neighborhood of West Philadelphia. Improvement initiatives include neighborhood cleanups, crosswalk improvements, community engagement, and more.
  3. Poetry Garden Parklet – We3 Gardens will transform a corner lot in Haddington into a community green space and pocket park. Raised garden beds will be built by community members and pollinator gardens will be planted. The Parklet will also feature poems printed on benches and containers.
  4. Friends of Harrowgate Park – This project will install a “StoryWalk” in Harrowgate Park. Pages from children’s books are placed along a walking path, encouraging families to engage in reading together and to explore green spaces. Community volunteers will help select stories, design signage after the pages, and install them along the park path.
  5. Living Towers: Little Library Planter Boxes – The Korean Community Development Services Center in Olney will be building and installing community library boxes and planters. Anyone can take or leave books in the towers, and the planter libraries will offer further visibility to pedestrians along this corridor.
  6. Nicetown-Tioga Community Greening Project – This project will revitalize and improve a community garden and implement various workshops led by community members. Programming will include storytelling circles, art workshops, block cleanups, and live performances. The improvements made to this green space will serve as a community hub in the Nicetown-Tioga area.
  7. Hunting Park United Sidewalk Cleanup – The Park Friends group for Hunting Park will lead community revitalization efforts including street cleanups, tree planting, and maintenance for green spaces. 
  8. Fernhill Park Food Forest Education – Fernhill Park is home to a restored woodland, an established Peace Patch Garden, and a thriving Food Forest. This project seeks to engage the community in the continued support and improvement of the park and all that is home there. 
  9. Mantua Adopt a Planter, Mt. Vernon CDC – Expanding on the 34th Street and Mantua Ave. planter projects in West Philadelphia, this initiative connects community members, business owners, and residents with the already installed planter boxes, continuing their maintenance and engaging the community. This project continues to beautify the corridor and add extra protection for pedestrians.
  10. Neighborhood Land Power Project – This project will develop a community green space in a vacant lot in the Haddington neighborhood. Seating, planter boxes, lighting, fencing, and pathways will all be installed to cultivate this space and prevent illegal dumping.
  11. Traffic Calming around Immigrant Markets in FDR Park – The Friends of FDR park will install 60 flexible post barriers along bike lanes in FDR Park that are currently only protected with traffic cones individually placed by park employees each day. This would offer stronger protections for cyclists and pedestrians, as well as vendors at park events, specifically the Southeast Asian Market during busy seasons.
  12. Ploggin’ the Streets, Philly Track Jawn – Ploggin’ the Street events are community-led neighborhood cleanups, and this program seeks to engage the running communities in north, west, northeast, and southwest Philadelphia areas. Events will include planned runs that pick up litter and clean streets along routes.
  13. Northern Children’s Service – This project will create an accessible ramp entry to the food pantry located in the Merrick building. The ADA-compliant ramp will increase access to this pantry that offers assistance to underserved communities in north and west Philadelphia.
  14. NOMO Beautification & Community Resource Signage – This project will install trellises with flowers and plant other greenery, continuing to beautify public spaces in north Philadelphia, and prevent littering on this pedestrian corridor. 
  15. Original American Foundation – This farm expansion will improve a community garden by building a greenhouse, gazebo and picnic areas, planting fruit trees, and installing art. These improvements will facilitate workshops teaching gardening skills and other workshops to promote self-sustainability to residents in southwest Philadelphia.
  16. The Hunting Park Initiative – Working with Klean Kensington and other community groups, this project will engage community members in the designing, building, and installing of benches along handball courts in Hunting Park.

Quotes from funding recipients:

Shayleen Kennedy, Founder of NOMO stated, “This support allows NOMO to bring much-needed greenery and displays to neighborhoods that deserve beauty, safety, and visibility. These improvements may seem simple, but they create a real sense of calm, pride, and connection for our young people and the Philadelphians who walk past our doors. We’re grateful for the support, the smooth process, and the investment in grassroots, community-based work.”

“Mt. Vernon Manor is proud to bring local businesses, community organizations and caring residents together to continue supporting land stewardship for the Mantua Pollinator Corridor’s Bulbs Not Bullets effort and boost a new hyperlocal marketing platform in our Adopt-A-Planter initiative.” Said Paury Flowers, Deputy Director of the Mount Vernon CDC.

Mike Shipp, Founder and President of Philly Track Jawn said, “This grant gives us a chance to build on what is already working and bring that impact to more neighborhoods in Philadelphia. We want to show communities that their streets matter and that people should feel good moving through the places they call home. Everyone deserves to enjoy the community they live in. But it is hard to feel that joy when you are stepping over trash or dodging cars because the sidewalk is blocked. [After a community clean in West Philly] The energy shifted. That pride came right back.”

“The Healing Garden (est. 2007) and The Unity Garden (est. 2013) are the only public green spaces in our neighborhood—integral sites of walkability, wheelability, rest, respite, and renewal. They help keep residents of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds safe.” Stated GVGK Tang, Operations Manager for the Nicetown-Tioga Improvement Team. “This grant supports the long-term sustainability of these spaces through free, family-friendly programming and the continued growth of our resident-led Garden Corps.”

Sonja Bingham, President of Harrowgate Park said “we’ll use this support to increase foot traffic by beautifying the garden path near our Little Library, stocking it with children’s books, and helping to host a 250th anniversary celebration this summer, as we were one of the sites selected by the City of Philadelphia. We’re grateful for this partnership as we continue making Harrowgate Park a vibrant, welcoming space for all.”

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For more information on this years’ awardees and their projects, follow us on Instagram at Feet_First_Philly