Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation

The Free Library of Philadelphia and its partners will build on its current collective impact project, the Paschalville Partnership, by hiring local residents to conduct extensive community outreach among their neighbors, allowing the Partnership to better understand local needs and priorities and shape the evolution of this successful program. This initiative will enable the Free Library to achieve more authentic community engagement and evaluate its role as an effective community organization in catalyzing social change, and serve as a model for the library field. While local participation in job seeker programs and services has increased over the course of the Partnership, it has not increased at rates commensurate with community need. To address this disconnect, the Library will reassess its methodology and recast its work through an equity lens. Through Catalyzing a Community-Led Future initiative, the Partnership will spearhead a participatory, community-driven needs assessment of residents and small business owners in Southwest Philadelphia. The Partnership will hire local residents to help design the needs assessment process, guide the selection of research tools that they believe will work best in their community, and conduct extensive community outreach among their neighbors. This community outreach process will allow the Partnership to plan its future work around the needs, interests, and priorities identified by those that live and work in the area surrounding the Paschalville Library.