A Momentous Year for Pew's Philadelphia Work

Looking back at 2023 successes—and ahead at plans for the future

It’s hard to believe I’ve already been at The Pew Charitable Trusts for over a year. And I’m equally, if not more, amazed by how much our Philadelphia research, policy, and grantmaking teams – and our grantees and partners – accomplished in that short amount of time. I’ve met with hundreds of civic stakeholders and listened carefully to your feedback.

As part of my promise to make Pew’s Philadelphia work more transparent, I want to share some of those accomplishments.

2023 was a year of many firsts for us, as we endeavored to enhance our support for a more equitable Philadelphia where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. Fittingly, we watched as voters elected the city’s first-ever female mayor, Cherelle Parker.

A Year of Firsts

First, Pew launched two new initiatives to support Philadelphia’s elected and emerging leaders.

The Emerging Leaders Corps engages rising leaders from a range of sectors and communities to help them tackle some of the city’s biggest challenges. And a series of “Accelerator” workshops, which began in November, helps the Mayor-elect’s transition team, key staff, and City Council members to learn from local and national experts about important finance and public policy issues facing the city, including opportunities for innovation.

We partnered with Technical.ly and the William Penn Foundation to share the lived experiences of Philadelphians through Thriving, a year-long storytelling project that aimed to generate insights about economic opportunities and obstacles to financial security in our city.

And, for the first time, we leveraged our polling expertise to help another local organization, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, increase policymakers’ understanding of how Philadelphians feel about their city, during a year in which we might not otherwise have collected that data.

Historic Giving

There were many other successes last year as well.

We helped the city, state, and others break ground on the Park at Penn’s Landing, which will cap I-95 and connect Center City to the Delaware Waterfront, after many years of planning and anticipation.

We supported the Free Library of Philadelphia in its comprehensive planning and community engagement process to improve operations, services, and impact, and helped Drexel University expand access to the Atwater Kent Collection, by bringing artifacts and archival materials directly to communities and providing much of the collection online.

We published the 15th edition of our annual State of the City report, which contained nearly 100 maps, charts, and other graphics showing the city’s progress on everything from jobs and the economy to immigration and public safety.

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage awarded 40 new grants and fellowships to 28 organizations and 12 individual artists to examine issues related to the pandemic, explore cultural identities, and tell unique stories that reflect the diversity of our region.

And we collaborated with other local funders to establish a multi-million dollar fund that will help Philadelphians commemorate America’s 250th anniversary in ways that are meaningful to them.

Last, but certainly not least, we ramped up our support for the region’s health and human services organizations, awarding more than $11 million in growth and venture grants—an historic amount for us—to help 13 nonprofits assist more of our neighbors facing mental and behavioral health challenges, community violence, and other complex health, social, and economic issues rooted in poverty.

Grantees also received technical assistance through our Evaluation Capacity Building Initiative (ECBI), to help them better harness data to strengthen their services and make them more equitable.

Excitement for the Year Ahead

With all of this in mind, and with the history-making inauguration of Philadelphia’s 100th mayor on January 2, I feel a renewed sense of hope as I look to the year ahead.

I truly believe that we – Pew, its partners, the city’s businesses and institutions, philanthropy, government, and residents – will be able to seize new opportunities and find innovative ways to help our communities thrive.

I look forward to sharing more news in the months ahead, including many success stories from our grantees, who are making an incredible difference in our lives – and those of our neighbors – every day.

My hope is that 2024 brings about a more equitable Philadelphia, ripe with economic opportunity for all residents, as well as access to critical health and social supports and cultural activities that reflect the diversity of our city and region.

Happy New Year to all.