A multi-year, creative communities strategy to support parks, art, talent, connectivity, and innovation

The William Penn Foundation asked Mark Keener to assist the board and staff with a multi-year, creative communities strategy to support parks, art, talent, connectivity, and innovation. RESULT:  an award winning, values-driven ACTION PLAN calibrated to Foundation goals, principles, and vision.  

The "Civic Framework” strategy for prioritizing public space improvements throughout Philadelphia and the region enabled consideration of dozens of potential projects for community impact, city -wide impact, sustainability, cost, feasibility and readiness. A data-driven audit weighted these criteria and ranked each project for alignment with Foundation goals and vision.  An implementation evaluation tool tracks the progress of each project to refine analysis and inform public discussion.

Keener led number of other engagements for Willam Penn as well:

• Mark was WPF’s lead consultant and advisor for the new 10-year Strategic Plan creating the Foundation’s new $13 million/year Great Public Spaces grant making strategy.

• Mark led a consultant team in crafting a public art strategy for the Foundation enabling consideration of projects of varying place, duration and form.

• Mark led a technical evaluation of historic preservation and its role in community development and creative placemaking; research that was instrumental in guiding the Foundation’s decision to take a more targeted and project/practice-focused approach, leading the current effort to establish a historic preservation revolving loan for the City of Philadelphia.

Project Team

Project Leader: Mark Keener | Project Team: Michael Tweed, Linda Weber, Jonas Maciunas, Ayako Okutani | With Saygrid, Lisa Kersavage, and Susan Davis.

Audit

A data-driven audit weighted these criteria and ranked each project for alignment with Foundation goals and vision.  An implementation evaluation tool tracks the progress of each project to refine analysis and inform public discussion.

Unlock great places to be

The approach enabled the Foundation, it’s implementing partners, and collaborators to communicate clearly about project priorities and expected outcomes. See for example: Bartram’s Mile and opening announcement.