Community Design Collaborative Volunteers to Help Philadelphia Nonprofits Strengthen Neighborhoods

The Community Design Collaborative has awarded its first round of service grants for 2010 to The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation, Mantua Community Improvement Committee, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Friends of Weccacoe Playground/Queen Village Neighbors Association, The Friends of Hart Park/Kensington South Neighborhood Advisory Council, Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates and Roxborough Development Corporation.  In this round, many of the Collaborative’s clients are working to provide Philadelphia neighborhoods with access to healthy food, and vibrant parks and public spaces.

The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation is an organization dedicated to building strong neighborhoods in West Philadelphia and sought the Collaborative’s assistance in developing a conceptual design for a community based urban farm.

Mantua Community Improvement Committee provides Mantua residents with a range of services including job training and education. The organization wants to increase access to fresh food in the neighborhood and applied for a service grant from the Collaborative to create a conceptual design for a community supermarket.

Friends of Weccacoe Playground, in partnership with the Queen Village Neighbors Association, requested the Collaborative’s assistance in making the public playground at 4th and Catherine Street in South Philadelphia a more welcoming and user-friendly space.  The community groups will collaborate with volunteer landscape architects to develop a conceptual master plan for revitalizing Weccacoe.

Philadelphia Art Alliance applied for a Collaborative service grant to generate a conceptual master plan for making improvements to its building to fulfill its new mission to advance contemporary craft and inspire dynamic interaction between audiences and artists.

The Friends of Hart Park, along with the Kensington South Neighborhood Advisory Council, requested the Collaborative’s assistance in creating a conceptual master plan for revitalizing Hart Park located near North 4th Street and Thompson Street.

Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates will be working with the Collaborative to create conceptual designs that integrate their innovative public murals with commercial corridors.

Roxborough Development Corporation promotes social welfare by combating community deterioration and promoting community planning and development.  In order to strengthen the Ridge Avenue Commercial Corridor, the group has requested the Collaborative’s support in designing temporary improvements to establish a new public gathering space.