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The young, the involved, the Philadelphians

When Claire Robertson-Kraft first moved to Philadelphia 10 years ago to attend the University of Pennsylvania, she was no fan of Philly.

“I had low expectations of what Philadelphia had to offer because it didn’t have the best of reputations,” Robertson- Kraft said. “Now I’m a big advocate for people staying here after they graduate because I have seen a different side of the city.”

Robertson-Kraft is one of many young activists participating in Young Involved Philadelphia (YIP), a nonprofit organization formed in 2001 by a group of college graduates who sought to improve Philadelphia’s reputation Robertson-Kraft said.

YIP’s mission is to increase civic engagement and build relationships to connect and empower young Philadelphians. The organization sets out to achieve this mission by educating and engaging members on key issues, connecting citizens and civic groups to each other and representing the young demographic by creating communication channels between the youth, businesses and government, according to its website.

From May to June 2011, YIP began overlooking the Board Prep Program, along with program creators Philadelphia’s Young Non-profit Leaders, to train individuals to serve on boards for non-profits and help them find boards that serve their interests, says YIP’s newsletter.

As Board Chair of YIP, Robertson-Kraft heads the fulfillment of these objectives.

“My first event was in ’03 to save Love Park,” Robertson-Kraft said. “I talked to a city planner and a lot of young people about what [we] could do.”

In late September 2010 YIP hosted its first annual State of Young Philly (SOYP): Imagining Philly’s Future event, where organizational partners, city officials and citizens gathered to imagine the future of the city’s future, Robertson-Kraft said.

The four categories of focus during SOYP included community engagement and volunteerism, government and leadership, business and entrepreneurship, and arts and culture.

The event resulted in a summary plan that highlights five major priorities for Philadelphia which include improving government accessibility, cultivating organizational partnerships, leveraging assets and building from the City’s strengths, improving the city’s labor force and bringing together current and aspiring leadership, Robertson-Kraft said.

The first priority is improving government accessibility, Robertson- Kraft said: “We heard people wanted the government online, so we joined the Digital Philadelphia Taskforce, to work with a variety of groups on Open Data Philly and brainstormed what to make public and what platform it should have to make it user friendly.”

As part of this initiative, the City brought in Code for America, said Alain Joinville, public relations officer and board member of YIP.

“They were here most of February,” Joinville said. “They picked the brains of community members and government officials to create an applicable citizen engagement tool, whether that is apps, computer book programs or something else.”

Code for America’s completed application is not expected for another year, said Joinville.

Since SOYP, YIP has taken action on the priority to bolster Philly’s positive qualities through the WhyILove- Philly Twitter campaign launched Feb. 17, Joinville said. The campaign’s name can be used as a hashtag on tweets or as a tag on Flickr uploads, according to Robertson-Kraft.

“When we had our forums last fall, many folks were talking about negative things” Joinville said. “There are some things that need work, but there’s a lot that’s great and we want to show the world what we can celebrate.”

Over the past year, YIP has developed relationships with other organizations, viewable on the SOYP website, which include a variety of non-profit organizations that work in the sectors of community engagement, government and leadership, business and entrepreneurship, and arts and culture.

As an example of one of these partnerships YIP held an event with the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal (PSIJ), on April 7 dubbed “Future of Education: It Starts with a Conversation.” PSIJ is an online news outlet focusing on emerging leaders in a variety of sectors, according to the PSIJ website.

“Future of Education” revolves around the fourth priority, improving the labor force, as detailed in the YIP newsletter.

“An educated workforce is key to the viability of the city,” said Michelle Freeman, programming chair for YIP.

“Young people make decisions about whether or not to stay in the city based upon the quality of the school system.”

Following this event, YIP will join the Philadelphia Youth Commission to host “Get Out the Vote” on April 13, an event meant to impress upon young citizens the importance of voting and enable them to meet candidates running for city council, according to YIP’s newsletter.

The fifth priority, bringing together current and aspiring leadership is still a major focus for Robertson-Kraft. Through the Board Prep Program, YIP has attracted much interest and a great response, Robertson-Kraft said.

Despite the achievements of YIP so far, the group has many goals it still wishes to accomplish, Joinville said.

One possible goal outlined in the SOYP summary under the priority of bringing together current and aspiring leadership is to create a civilian watchdog group with the purpose of unifying communities and holding government officials accountable.

Another goal is to introduce topics such as sustainability to the second State Of Young Philly event, Robertson- Kraft said.

“YIP is a big part of the reason why I’m still in Philly,” she added. “There’s been so much progress [in Philly] in the last decade, and now it’s cool to be young here now.”

Contact Robert Tierney at communitarian@mail.dccc.edu

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