The community service and expertise provided by our volunteer design teams can lead to hundreds of thousands in funding for further design and construction. Many of the Collaborative's past design grants reached development milestones in 2014. Here are a few highlights from this year that demonstrate the impact of our design grants.
Lea Elementary School in West Philadelphia cut the ribbon on the first phase of stormwater management improvements to be funded through a $242,000 grant from the Philadelphia Water Department. More play equipment and a bouncy, colorful, and permeable play surface were installed on the south side of the schoolyard next to Lea's first community project, a planting bed of native trees and shrubs.
Puentes de Salud gave the green light for renovations to create its new, expanded health clinic in a vacant office space on South Street to support the needs of South Philadelphia's Latino immigrant community. Proceeds from a Delaware Investments golf outing raised the final $200,000 that Puentes needed to move forward with construction.
Columbus Square Park received $300,000 in funding from the City of Philadelphia to further develop the proposed design for the park. The Collaborative's conceptual design reduced existing athletic fields by 25% to make room for amenities like a new entrance and pathways, an expanded dog park, and a communal "lawn" and "patio." In August, Friends of the Columbus Square Park held a successful rooftop fundraiser to seed improvements.
Our Safe Streets, Healthy Neighborhoods conceptual plan for adding bike-friendly infrastructure to South Philly streets helped Bicycle Coalition receive a $250,000 grant from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. The Coalition will develop sharrows and signage on South 13th and 15th Streets and establish the South Philadelphia Neighborhood Bikeway.
East Parkside's Viola Street Residents Association used our master plan for block improvements as a springboard to partner with Habitat for Humanity to restore historic house facades. This year, Viola Street also re-purposed vacant land to expand an existing community garden.
