For many of us, January 2017 was an unexpected new beginning. Here at Serve Philadelphia, we had to adjust to new and increasing demands from community members.

Teaching civic engagement skillsets
Serve Philadelphia has been providing community education programming since 2010, when we launched our Civic Engagement Academy (CEA). This is a free, eight-week course about City government taught by City employees. Each week, a different department talks about the tools they offer to help residents make their neighborhoods stronger. Our CEA graduates have gone on to form neighborhood groups, plan beautification projects, and become some of our most committed volunteers.

But in 2017, we experienced a big jump in demand for information and training. Requests poured into our office from Philadelphians who wanted to give back to their communities but didn’t know how. Since the beginning of the year, more than 150 organizations have asked us to help them plan days of service. First-time volunteers have reached out to learn about opportunities to get involved. Deeply-engaged residents have asked about trainings for leadership and advanced engagement skills.

Meeting demand for training from audiences both old and new

Our first effort involved changing the format of the CEA to make it more accessible to new audiences. We launched our first “CEA In A Day” in March 2017, condensing eight department presentations into a single-day event. In August, we narrowed the City presentations down to a customized selection for a Mini CEA. In September we will pilot a Youth CEA that highlights ways for teens to get involved in their communities.

We have also been working with experts to develop trainings and skill-building opportunities. Keep Philadelphia Beautiful, a nonprofit that organizes collective action around beautification, worked with us to create and present a Goal Setting Workshop in June. In collaboration with the Committee of 70, a non-partisan political education organization, we produced what has become one of our most requested presentations: Government 101, a crash course on federal, state, and local government systems.

To offer something completely new for those who are already deeply involved in their communities, this October we will offer a symposium on community leadership and civic engagement. This program was designed to be a continuation of the CEA and will walk participants through the steps of building a civic engagement plan. Our goal for this CEA 2.0 is to give Philadelphians the tools they need to become leaders, activists, and organizers.

Get involved

We have always made it our mission to be responsive to the needs of the people we serve, and now more than ever we are seeing an enormous desire to get involved. If you are interested in any of the programs mentioned above, you can sign up on our website. We can’t wait to help you achieve your personal, professional, and civic goals.