Not in Philly

Philly has a litter problem. It is an issue that effects not only our environment and waterways, but instills hopelessness in its people. As our city is slow to help, it is up to us. In return for a 6-month commitment to going out once a week to pick up litter in your neighborhood, Not in Philly provides tools needed to quickly clean a block as well as small incentives.

The resources are bags and grabbers and the incentives are through members taking a picture of their cleaned block, then #notinphilly on Instagram. We then raffle off gift cards from an area business, HubBub coffee being the first, from those who post.

Right now, all organizations that combat litter in our city do so as large, one day, community-based activities. These are important, but they do little to hold back the tide of litter as it accumulates between mass cleanings. Not in Philly will provide opportunities for citizens to clean their blocks between these organized cleanups, empowering a network of neighbors across Philadelphia.

NotinPhilly.org, is what we believe to be the first map enabled adopt-a-block site in the country. No other site or city has their blocks segmented and selectable. We are hoping to prove the concept so that other cities can copy what we have done.

Next City, which shares best practices between cities, covered us last month at: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/philadelphia-clean-up-litter-website

Funded by Philadelphia, PA (March 2017)