Social Services

Southwest Community Development Corporation

The Graves - MEE - Mercy Douglass Community Wellness Center is proposed as a multi-use, eco-friendly wellness center to serve the community of Southwest Philadelphia. The Collaborative worked with multiple client groups who formed a public-private partnership to pursue the creation of the Center. As this area faces pressures to change and develop, the partners set a goal towards “gentrification from within” meaning that this proposed development would support the existing community rather than displace them. The Collaborative’s design grant included a space programming study, preliminary code reviews, an economic feasibility study, and recommendations for funding and revenue strategies. The proposed design envisions educational spaces, performance and event space, coworking and maker spaces, a community kitchen, retail space, offices, and affordable housing with a green roof.