In January 2021, a selection committee made up of Council staff along with professionals and community members from across Philadelphia selected the top seven projects to award mini-grants ranging from $500 to $2000. The grants were awarded earlier this year and the projects have been recently completed.
Some of the highlights include:
Chew and Chelten CDC completed a mural painting on a long time newsstand that had shut down. The work was performed by a local artist (Sarafina Harris), who did an excellent job depicting local residents, and community members had input into the design.
The Cobbs Creek Ambassadors used funding to purchase supplies and start up kits to complete regular clean-ups along the Cobbs Creek Trail. Collectively, the ambassadors collected over 1.9 tons of garbage throughout the year, and have been leaders in neighborhood stewardship of the Trail.
The Enterprise Center CDC will be creating mini-libraries outside the Blackwell Library to facilitate a more friendly pedestrian environment that will promote more engagement with the library and other resources they provide.
Centennial East Parkside CDC hosted a Black Men’s Conference during the weekend of Juneteenth, where they used the opportunity to survey neighbors about their walkability experience within the community. They collected data that will be helpful in addressing walkability and other issues in the neighborhood.
Kensington Neighborhood Association is completing a major reconstruction of a severely damaged sidewalk along their neighborhood garden. This project will improve accessibility to the garden as well as general pedestrian travel within the area.
The Council is excited to announce that Feet First Philly is partnering with the Department of Public Health again in 2021 to provide funding for mini-grants to create and improve public spaces, particularly in underserved communities. Mini-grants between $500 and $2000 will be awarded to address the financial and technical barriers that organizations face when creating or improving safe public spaces. Grant money can be used to support public space projects, including construction materials, educational materials, event costs, insurance, stipends, staff time, or other needs.
Check out the page here to learn more about the mini-grant program, download the RFP, and view a recent webinar from Council staff on the program. Applications are due November 8th, and interested applicants are encouraged to contact feetfirstphilly@cleanair.org or Titania Markland, Transportation Outreach Coordinator, at tmarkland@cleanair.org to discuss their projects.
July, 5, 2021 – Communities identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as Environmental Justice communities are more likely to experience issues that negatively impact pedestrian safety and result in higher rates of pedestrian fatalities from traffic crashes. According to PennDot, fatal or serious injuries from crashes are three times more likely to occur in low income communities and 30% more likely to occur in communities of color. These communities face real challenges to pedestrian safety including poor sidewalk conditions, lack of access to green space, and under funding for maintenance and safety enhancements.
Sidewalks are the foundation for walkability, and sidewalk condition is a major factor in deciding how people travel. Philadelphia has hundreds of miles of sidewalks in poor condition, with no concrete plan to fix them. The Council and its volunteer pedestrian advocacy group Feet First Philly work to improve the pedestrian environment in every neighborhood, protect the rights of pedestrians, and encourage walking as a mode of transportation, exercise, and recreation through public education, outreach, advocacy, and technical assistance to communities.
In 2020, Feet First Philly launched a sidewalk campaign to fund sidewalks like streets. Currently, homeowners are responsible for costly sidewalk repairs, which forms a barrier and liability for many residents who cannot afford to fix damaged sidewalks. Feet First Philly’s sidewalks campaign asks the city to set aside $500,000 to hire a full time sidewalks coordinator, conduct a sidewalk master plan, and create sidewalk repair funding strategy, as recommended by a 2018 Sidewalk Policy Transportation Community Development Initiative (TCDI) to the Office of Transportation & Infrastructure Systems.
Feet First Philly and the Council advocated for the sidewalk campaign through an op-ed in the Inquirer calling for the city to take action, by meeting with Councilmembers in preparation for budget season, and sending an action alert urging Mayor Kenney and City Council to fund sidewalks in the next budget. This spring, the Council and Feet First Philly joined 24 organizations advocating for Livable Communities budget requests, including dedicated funding for Vision Zero, transit, and sidewalks.
In addition to this budget campaign, the Feet First Philly Pedestrian Advocacy Guide connects people to city agencies and helps them navigate services to address safety concerns. Feet First Philly also developed two walk audit tools to engage residents, neighborhood leaders, students, and stakeholders to identify risks to pedestrians and connect residents to resources that can address these concerns.
Highway design that prioritizes vehicle speed over pedestrian safety is a legacy issue that disproportionately affects communities of color in Philadelphia. Pedestrians accounted for just 7% of people involved in crashes from 2014 to 2018, but made up 40% of people killed in crashes during this period. Highly trafficked roads like Cobbs Creek Parkway make up the High Injury Network, the 12% of all Philadelphia roads that claim 50% of all traffic deaths and severe injuries.
For the past two years, the Council has connected residents, stakeholders, elected officials, and city agencies to work together to address the largest hurdle to accessing Cobbs Creek Park and Trail, which is the dangerous Cobbs Creek Parkway. The Parkway is a physical and mental hurdle for residents trying to access the park and connected trails and dangerous speeds, reckless driving, and lack of safe crossings are barriers that make the park and trail difficult and dangerous to visit. Tragically, the lives of three people were taken along the Parkway in the past year.
The Council partnered with Cobbs Creek residents to address their concerns and demand change. This resulted in the installation of speed hump and delineator posts. The Council continues to advocate for safety upgrades, and the City recently applied for funding to install new state of the art pedestrian crossings along Cobbs Creek Parkway. These would fill crossing gaps that stretch more than a mile and a half long and increase accessibility to this important trail and greenspace in one of the most dense areas of the city.
For more information contact Will Fraser, Transportation Project Manager, wfraser@cleanair.org
