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10/27/2019 12:00:00 AM
Nowak Metro Finance Lab Director Bruce Katz released Towards a New System of Community Wealth on Sunday in advance of his appearance at CityLab 2019 in DC this week. Co-authored with Ross Baird and Daniel Palmer of BluePrint Local and Jihae Lee, a Harvard Kennedy School student and Lindy summer intern, the report examines the paradigm shift from siloed community development toward emerging, innovative multidisciplinary organizational models of building community wealth. The report advocates for combating the parasitic economy by adopting local strategies to help community members build equity while challenging institutions and investors to adopt holistic investment portfolios supportive of community wealth creation. The report was produced through a collaboration with BluePrint Local and Accelerator for America and was funded in part by the Blank Foundation, Kauffman Foundation and Mastercard.
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10/18/2019 12:00:00 AM
Inaugural Philadelphia Fellow Richard Florida released his report, Philadelphia’s Next Challenge: From Urban Revitalization to Inclusive Prosperity (pdf), at an appearance at Venture Cafe on October 17th. In an interview with Inquirer reporter Juliana Feliciano Reyes, Florida shared his findings, arguing that Philadelphia must address issues relating to inequality and inclusion if it is to continue its growth trajectory. Florida cautioned that, while its gentrification and affordability issues are not yet as challenging as most leading cities, Philadelphia's lagging median income, education attainment and poverty markers contribute to the city being among the nation’s worst in inequality and segregation metrics. Among the findings which signal a need for decisive, collaborative action:
- Downward millennial trend: “The metro’s rate of millennial population growth cratered to just 2.6 percent per year from 2010 to 2015, dropping from number one to number 80 of the nation’s 350 or so metro areas.”
- Middle-class departure: “Philadelphia’s middle-class numbers are even lower today, having shrunk to just over 200,000 (217,833) residents. This is just 36 percent of the city’s population, the sixth smallest share of the nation’s fifty biggest cities. And the city’s rate of middle-class growth between 2012 and 2017 of negative 3.3 percent is the fifth worst of those fifty largest cities”
- Lack of jobs/quality schools accelerating departures: “A recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts examining who is leaving Philadelphia found that education plays a major role. The people moving out are those who can: Movers are disproportionately young, white and educated. Half of all movers were between the ages of 18 and 34, a group that comprised just 30 percent of the city’s population.”
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10/16/2019 12:00:00 AM
Congratulations to our own Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman for being selected as one of the BBC's 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2019!
Katrina is a project manager at the Lindy Institute and an urban anthropologist, working to make cities better places to live. The BBC recognized her because "She co-founded The Women Led Cities Initiative, which aims to bring women's voices to the forefront of urban planning and design." She presented at the BBC's London event and this honor was covered in The Philadelphia Citizen, Technical.ly and Generocity.
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10/7/2019 12:00:00 AM
The inaugural Philadelphia Fellowship culminates on October 17th at Venture Cafe, where Richard Florida will present his findings and recommendations in releasing his report, Philadelphia's Next Challenge: From Urban Revitalization to Inclusive Prosperity. Florida has been working over the last year to analyze Philadelphia according to his New Urban Crisis Index and identify strategies for how the city can make its growth more inclusive. The Philadelphia Fellowship was created as a collaboration of Drexel University, Thomas Jefferson University and the University City Science Center to bring scholars to the city for year-long research engagements focused on pressing urban issues, and Florida was selected as the first recipient because of his groundbreaking research on urban demographic changes and his books, The Rise of the Creative Class and The New Urban Crisis.
We hope you will join us!
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10/3/2019 10:09:00 AM
Following the release of Catalyzing Community Capacity: How Philadelphia Can Create Equitable Right-of-Way Stewardship , we were pleased to see incisive coverage of the work, including community reaction to the report. Stories included:
- When it comes to adapting street space for pedestrians, Philly needs a better road map, Philadelphia Inquirer, September 18, 2019.
- A Blueprint for Equitable Parklets, Next City, September 19, 2019
- Why plazas, parklets and people belong on Philly’s streets (opinion), PlanPhilly, September 25, 2019
If you ave thoughts on the report, drop us a line to share them, and sign up to receive updates on future reports.
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