So much to say.

We’re closing in on the end of Year 1 of 3 in our Literacy Rich Neighborhood project (LRN) funded by William Penn Foundation.

After being selected alongside three other amazing organizations around the city over a year ago for this opportunity, Mt. Airy CDC and the Indochinese American Association, Puentes de Salud, and Village of Arts and Humanities have spent this past year preparing for a summer of community engagement in order to inform the design and implementation phases in Years 2 and 3.

Our specific charge? To locate at least 3 outdoor sites (and associated community-informed concepts) for the eventual design and creation of Playful Learning installations throughout our respective neighborhoods, as well as site locations for one (1) billboard and one (1) public art project (most likely a MURAL) with the help of Mural Arts.

Our broader goal? To affect positive change in the lives and outcomes of families and children in these 4-neighborhoods through the lens of Playful Learning, community engagement, and art—to create scalable models and systems that can be replicated and shared across the city of Philadelphia and beyond.

Mt. Airy CDC’s LRN project actually focuses on a small, historic 1/3 mile section of adjacent Germantown, in and around Historic Johnson House (one of our partners, along with others like Historic Germantown, all the families, children, and caregivers in the area, as well as the Pomona Cherokee Civic Council).

Mt. Airy CDC created this Literacy Rich Northwest online property and brand as a sign of our aspiration to make our Literacy Rich Neighborhood project in Germantown, ultimately, a sustainable, long-term project not just in our neighborhood, but everywhere.

This website is a living document and shared community resource: for learning, engagement, and long-term discourse; and to help our neediest families and kids access the broad tapestry of skills around reading and early childhood.

There’ll be more blog posts to write, more pictures and video to share documenting this process.

Year 1: Literacy Rich Neighborhood | Literacy Rich Northwest
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