Green Neighborhood Toolkit

Status: Completed July 2015

Professor Lynn Mandarano received a $25,000 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation to develop “Green Neighborhood Tool Kits” and train community-based organizations serving Philadelphia low-income neighborhoods to educate and empower residents to take actions that improve sustainability. She led a Community Development (CDEV) studio in a  partnership with the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC) and the New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) for the project.

Temple students modeled the Tool Kit on NKCDC’s “Sustainable 19125 & 19134” initiative and developed it for two other community development corporations: Asociacion Puertorriquenos en Marcha (APM) and People's Emergency Center (PEC). The Philadelphia Water Department donated rain barrels; PECO, provided CFL bulbs; and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society planted street trees to support the effort.  A $35,000 gift from the Wells Fargo Foundation enabled Professor Mandarano to extend the project by hiring two students as interns to work with the community partners to implement priorities identified in the Tool Kit and to establish two butterfly gardens as environmental education assets for two local schools.