Save the date on November 17 for the 6th annual Ideas We Should Steal® Festival! Since 2018, The Philadelphia Citizen has welcomed over 2,500 attendees to hear more than 110 national thought leaders share ideas that can move Philadelphia forward. Here are some civic solutions from the Festival that are now a making impact in Philadelphia.
Integrity Icon
At the 2018 Festival, Cheri-Leigh Erasmus of Washington, D.C.-based Accountability Lab introduced Integrity Idol, a contest in countries around the world to find and celebrate the civil servants with the highest integrity. In 2020, The Philadelphia Citizen partnered with Accountability Lab to launch the first American campaign, Integrity Icon. So far, Philadelphia has named and celebrated ten Integrity Icons, with five more set to be named in September 2023.
I AM because WE ARE
At the 2019 Festival, Taylor Paul of Richmond-based RVA League for Safer Streets shared the success of their basketball league for young men from high-crime communities, keeping them out of prison and reducing gun violence. In 2020, Philadelphia Youth Basketball partnered with RVA League to launch I AM because WE ARE, to bring on-court and off-court coaching to Philadelphia. The second cohort was completed in April 2022.
RIP Medical Debt
At the 2020 Festival, Jerry Ashton of NY-based nonprofit RIP Medical Debt shared their success in eliminating $2 billion in American medical debt. In 2021, through a Citizen-led campaign, over $80,000 was raised for RIP Medical Debt to focused relief efforts in Philadelphia. More than $6.1M in medical debt has been eradicated for 3,573 Philadelphians over the past two years.
Civic Coalition to Save Lives
Inspired by hearing from gun violence prevention expert David Muhammad at The Citizen’s 2019 Ideas We Should Steal Festival, the newly-formed Civic Coalition to Save Lives — made up of 70 local patriots — engaged Muhammad, executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, to help them develop a plan to reduce gun violence in Philadelphia. The program is launching in 2023.