CitizenCast

A Better City, One Solution at a Time

At The Citizen’s Solutions Open Mic Happy Hour, we heard from residents like you about their ideas for fixing what ails Philly. It gave us reason to hope

CitizenCast

A Better City, One Solution at a Time

At The Citizen’s Solutions Open Mic Happy Hour, we heard from residents like you about their ideas for fixing what ails Philly. It gave us reason to hope

BY Roxanne Patel Shepelavy and J.P. Romney

Apr. 25, 2018

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Problem: Litter. Solution: A volunteer army of litter lifters.

Problem: Lack of funds in many Philadelphia schools. Solution: Voluntary donation of tax abatement.

Problem: Hunger. Solution: A delivery system for donated food waste.

The problem-solvers: Residents like you and me.

At The Citizen’s first Solutions Open Mic Happy Hour on Tuesday night, we made a modest proposal to the crowd: In three minutes, tell us a problem Philly faces; your solution to fixing it; and what you need help with. Then we gave the floor to six Philadelphians to make their pitch.

What we got was a myriad of creative, brilliant, deceptively simple and meaningful ideas to make Philadelphia better for everyone who lives here. It was an exercise in optimism, and a lesson it’s always great to relearn: Philadelphians have what it takes to make this city great(er). Let’s help them do it.

Listen below for a recap of the ideas—and reach out to us for more information about how to get involved.

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