The following letter was sent by the PHL Neighborhood Growth Project to neighborhood, business, and civic leaders.
Friend,
It’s hard to deny our city is growing. The population is slowly growing, income is increasing, and more people are employed, but still too many people are being left behind.
We cannot deny that there remain neighborhoods across the city that continue to struggle with poverty, joblessness, and crime.
Poverty in Philadelphia, particularly deep poverty, is the highest of any other large city in the nation. And addressing this deep poverty won’t be done through a single program or a new policy. It will take all of us – community leaders, the business community, and elected officials – coming together to find the right solutions and resources for each neighborhood.
As City Council resumes this week, we are excited to introduce our Council Connectors.
We have more than 100 Council Connectors who are neighborhood leaders and business owners focused on creating the solutions neighborhoods actually need. We want to collaborate with City Council on legislative initiatives that encourage the creation of neighborhood jobs, improve public education, and keep our neighborhoods safe.
Philadelphia doesn’t need a top-down plan. We need a neighborhoods-up plan that takes input from all neighborhoods and communities to address our cities biggest problems.
Thank you,
Darrell Davis
Darrell is the Manager, Local Government & Civic Affairs at the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. If you are interested in becoming a Council Connector, please contact Darrell at ddavis@chamberphl.com.
