Harrison Haas has joined the Community Design Collaborative staff as our new Philly Fellow. Philly Fellows is a year-long post-graduate fellowship program which offers top graduates of Philadelphia-area colleges and universities opportunities to engage in the city’s vibrant neighborhoods and diverse non-profit agencies.

Harrison hails from Ojai, CA about twenty miles south of Santa Barbara. He came to Philly Fellows by way of Haverford College, where he majored in History with a minor in East Asian Studies.

Harrison will serve as the Collaborative’s Communications Associate. You’ll be seeing his byline on many of our blog posts over the coming year and we expect him to put his stamp on our electronic and print communications too.

Harrison has already done plenty of communicating and troubleshooting as Co-President of the Students’ Council and as Lead Help Desk Assistant while at Haverford College. He also manned the phones as an intern with the Office of Representative Allyson Schwartz during the development of the new health care bill. We’ve already come to rely on his unflappable approach to solving problems!

As an LGBT advocate, Harrison served as Co-Head of Sexuality and Gender Alliance, Haverford College’s largest affinity group. He has also volunteered with Equal Advocates Pennsylvania, researching LGBT legislation in other states around the issue of bullying and working with the University of Pennsylvania’s LGBT Center to bring Safe-Zone Training to the campus.

Have you recently seen a storefront turn from eyesore to eye-catching? The Community Design Collaborative and the City of Philadelphia Commerce Department are looking for your nominations to the Citywide Storefront Challenge. The Challenge is a competition to identify those businesses that have recently (January 2008 – September 2010) redesigned their storefronts and now exemplify the principle that: “Good Design is Good Business.” The Awards range from “Most Unique Sign” to the “Nightlife Award” (the improvements that bring a building ‘to life’ at night). You can even suggest your own category.

If you admire a business that has demonstrated care and uniqueness in how it presents itself to its customers and the public, then this could be your opportunity to increase exposure for that business, a design or construction firm, or your own business. The nominated projects will be reviewed by a jury composed of economic development and design professionals. The winning projects will then be on display as part of DesignPhiladelphia, the citywide event that showcases the role design has played in Philadelphia. Submissions are being accepted through September 15, 2010. To get a copy of the application form, click here.

Although it may be too late to redesign a storefront in time for the contest, the Philadelphia Department of Commerce’s Storefront Improvement Program will still reimburse you for up to 50% of the cost of beautifying an eligible storefront. The City wants to encourage storefront improvements to make Philadelphia better for business owners, residents, shoppers and visitors.

For more information about the SIP program or the Storefront Challenge, contact Karen Fegely at 214-683-2025 or .

Logo design by Anna Ishii

In 2011, the Community Design Collaborative will turn 20! And we’ll have something to celebrate: the nearly 600 projects completed on behalf of local nonprofits and 100,000 volunteer hours contributed by our volunteers. As part of getting ready to celebrate, we asked you to send us your ideas for a special 20th anniversary logo.

We were thrilled to receive sixteen entries. They were all so good that we had trouble picking a winner. So we chose two!

Logo Design by Jennifer Martel

Congratulations to graphic designer Anna Ishii and landscape architect Jennifer Martell. Both Anna and Jennifer will receive $100 in Reading Terminal Market Money for use at any merchant store in the Market.

Both of the winning designs had a special focus on people, very apropos given the amazing volunteers and clients at the heart of the Collaborative’s work. These logos will pop up over the coming year in all kinds of places.

Thanks to all the creative people who submitted designs. We’re pleased to share all the entries. Stay tuned to our blog for more news on the Collaborative’s 20th anniversary celebration in 2011!

The lighter side of being a Philly Fellow: Erik Kojola at the Collaborative's Bowling Ball

Last month, the Community Design Collaborative bid farewell to Erik Kojola and Haley Loram. Both Erik and Haley came to the Collaborative courtesy of Philly Fellows, a year-long post-graduate fellowship program which offers top graduates of Philadelphia-area colleges and universities opportunities to engage in the city’s vibrant neighborhoods and diverse nonprofit agencies.

During his last week with the Collaborative, I sat down with Erik to reflect on his time with the Collaborative.

Erik quickly made himself indispensable as the Collaborative’s Communications Associate—writing regular blog and facebook posts, creating audio and video clips at events, and helping to coordinate last year’s successful Retooling Industrial Sites exhibition. In exchange, Erik got some firsthand exposure to community development—and the first actions of a city committed to becoming a national leader in urban sustainability.

Looking back, Erik particularly enjoyed meeting Collaborative clients and seeing their neighborhoods and projects. At the beginning of his Philly Fellow year, Erik accompanied the Collaborative’s previous Philly Fellow, Haley Loram, on a visit Mt. Tabor Cyber Village Senior Housing. He said “meeting the women who made the project happen helped me understand the role of the Collaborative as a catalyst for people in the city. I was proud to walk through the Cyber Village.”

Another memorable experience for Erik was watching volunteers in action during a day of on-site design consultations with Frankford Avenue store owners. He was impressed by “how the architects interacted with different groups of people… how engaged they were in getting input and sketching up solutions… It was also interesting seeing and being in the place we were actually working in.”

Through his work with the Collaborative, Erik said that he learned “how organizations work and how they work with each other” and got to witness the real challenges of community development. He gained insight on “the nitty gritty of how change happens… and how it doesn’t happen” and how projects progressed through the stages of the design and construction process on the way to getting built.

Erik also developed a heartfelt appreciation of Philly during his time here, “It’s an amazing, dynamic city… I love the mix of people, all the things that are happening, even the combination of cool architecture and derelict places… the city has lots of interesting juxtapositions that create intriguing moments.” Erik embraced South Philadelphia’s burgeoning food scene and joined Haley in priming the rest of the Collaborative staff on budget-friendly Vietnamese, Mexican, and BYOB restaurants.

One of the first things you learn about Erik is his commitment to social justice—particularly in the arena of labor history, policy, and organization. He even has the tattoo to prove it—a school of “organized fish” inspired by a 1970’s labor union poster. So it was gratifying to see Erik’s experience at the Collaborative lead to his new job as a blogger for the Transport Workers Union, a national labor organization working to win better wages, better health care, a secure retirement, and safer workplaces for workers in the transit, rail, airline, and gaming sectors.

Good luck, Erik! We’ll stay tuned to the TWU blog—and we’re expecting some advice on great, cheap eats in Washington, D.C.

PECO presented $10,000 to The Enterprise Center CDC to support the development of the Walnut Hill Community Farm. The grant was awarded yesterday through PECO’s Green Region Open Space Program. Green Region grants, administered by PECO in partnership with the Natural Lands Trust, help municipalities in Southeastern Pennsylvania plan for, protect, and improve open land.

The Community Design Collaborative is working with The Enterprise Center CDC to create a conceptual master plan for the farm, a quarter-acre lot in the shadow of the Market Street El. The conceptual plan, done in collaboration with a community task force, will carve out space for a shady park for the neighborhood; plots for community gardeners; and fields, a hoop house, and composting area for the Philly Rooted Growers Co-Op. One of my favorite features is the “living fence” of raspberry and blueberry shrubs that will surround the garden areas.

Gregory Heller, Enterprise CDC’s Managing Director, thanked the Collaborative for its great support and leadership—adding that the Enterprise Center CDC is committed to making Walnut Hill Community Farm completely sustainable. The farm will be harvesting rainwater from the roof of the neighboring SEPTA station, maintaining chemical-free gardens, and even taking its produce to the Clark Park Farmer’s Market on bike carts.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell reminded everyone that, as recently as last March, this farm and future park was still the muddy staging area for the Market-Frankford Line reconstruction project. Noting the ripple effect of the project and the resourcefulness of The Enterprise Center CDC, she assured PECO, “What you give them will go tenfold.”

Here's looking at you! Haley Loram on the white roof of ECA's Training Center

Last week, the Community Design Collaborative bid farewell to Haley Loram and Erik Kojola. Both Haley and Erik came to the Collaborative through Philly Fellows, a year-long post-graduate fellowship program which offers top graduates of Philadelphia-area colleges and universities opportunities to engage in the city’s vibrant neighborhoods and diverse nonprofit agencies.

Over the past two years, I’ve watched Haley and Erik sail into work on their bicycles in all kinds of weather, eat bottomless bowls of veggies for lunch, take advantage of all that Philly has to offer, and grow professionally.

Last week, I sat down with Haley to reflect on her time with the Collaborative, city living, and first jobs.

Haley joined the Collaborative in 2008 as our first Communications Associate. She wrote profiles about scores of Collaborative volunteers and projects; photographed events, volunteers, and clients; and helped establish our blog. Thanks to an AmeriCorpsVISTA post, Haley was able to continue working with the Collaborative another year, taking on the big task of developing our new database. Haley also introduced the Collaborative to a wider audience through articles in the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal and Bridging the Gap, an anthology by Structures for Inclusion to be published in 2011.

One of Haley’s favorite experiences at the Collaborative was meeting Collaborative clients Reverend Martha Lang and Reverend Mary Moore, the determined community leaders behind Mt. Tabor Cyber Village. “It was a lot of fun meeting with them because they were so connected to their project,” recalls Haley, “They ended up with a building that really had the character and warmth they were searching for. It was a treat to see how we’d supported them.”

In Haley’s second year with us, “the Collaborative exposed me to learning through data.” Along with developing the database, Haley created tools to track and evaluate our work and initiated discussions with Azevea, an award-winning geospatial analysis software development company, about demonstrating the impact of the Collaborative’s projects. Haley concludes, “In one way or another, I have been trying to tell the story of the Collaborative—via stories, articles, and data”

Living in the city is a big part of the Philly Fellow and Americorps*VISTA experience. Haley says, “As a student at Swarthmore, I lived twenty minutes away but had never stayed in the city for a full 24 hours. Over the past two years, I’ve had the chance to live on several very close-knit, very different blocks… My block was my second-strongest support system after my friends. On my first block, a neighbor invited me in for gelato and gave me a place to sleep when I forgot my keys and my housemates were out of town. On another block, a three-year-old boy would meet my roommate every night after work and walk her to our house.”

Next up for Haley is six weeks at the Tuck Business Bridge Program, an intensive, career-focused program that teaches juniors, seniors, and recent graduates of arts and sciences colleges the basics of accounting, marketing, finance, and leadership. When she returns to Philly, Haley will join the staff of the Women’s Medical Fund.

Rendering of the conceptual design for new driveway and expanded facilities.

Libertae, Inc. wants to enhance the services it offers to mothers who are recovering from substance abuse and mental health issues, but the Bucks County-based organization needs to expand its facilities to make room for new programs and more clients.

A multi-disciplinary Community Design Collaborative volunteer team worked with Libertae, a nonprofit that seeks to empower women and their families to maintain sobriety though comprehensive treatment, to develop a conceptual design for expanding and updating their Learning Center in Bensalem to keep up with the growing organization.  Libertae’s site on Bensalem Boulevard consists of two buildings that house women and their children in different stages of rehabilitation, the Halfway House and the Family House. Libertae wanted to transform a conference room in the Family House into a multi-purpose space as well as increase parking on the property and reduce energy consumption.

The first goal is to expand the conference room to accommodate more events, programs and a night-time daycare.  Architects Emmanual Gee and Darrel Kratzer, AIA, from Buell Kratzer Powell determined that the room would have to be expanded beyond the existing building and created a layout that would allow for easy access and a secondary entrance for after-hours access.  The addition would increase accessibility by following Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines.

The second goal is to create additional parking for the growing staff on the three-acre suburban site without detracting from the beauty of the surroundings or eliminating outdoor recreation space.  Landscape architects Jonathan Alderson and Jesse Forester from Jonathan Alderson Landscape Architects and Altje Hoekstra from Meliora Environmental Design developed several schemes that would add additional parking and allow for vehicular circulation without sacrificing valuable lawn space.  To address stormwater runoff, the plans are recommending pervious paving materials with underground storage space and implementing other strategies, like rain gardens.

Finally, mechanical engineer Joe Matje of Bruce E. Brooks & Associates conducted an energy audit of the building and recommended potential strategies for conserving energy. This analysis will help Libertae make their building more environmentally sustainable. The audit can also be used to apply for funding for energy efficiency projects.

Libertae is now going to use the conceptual designs and cost estimate by Anthony Armento and Brian Ford of Torcon, Inc. to raise money for the renovations, which will help the organization better serve their clients and continue to grow.

Volunteer architects with the Community Design Collaborative provided some of the initial design concepts for two of the participating corridors through the Collaborative’s rStore program. In 2007 Collaborative volunteers provided design consultations to Nickens Agency Inc., The Eye Institute, and Karate Academy in Mt. Airy and with Cambria Pharmacy on North 5th Street.  The business owners then worked with Mt. Airy USA and HACE to secure funding for the improvements through the Targeted Blocks program.

Check out these before, after and preliminary design images of some of the featured storefronts.

Few volunteers have been as involved with the Collaborative as Joe Matje, Project Engineer at Bruce E. Brooks & Associates.  He has volunteered on eleven projects and now serves on the Board of Directors.

Through the Collaborative, Joe has been able to help nonprofits with the nuts and bolts of sustainability. He utilizes his expertise in construction engineering, building systems, and energy use to help nonprofits renovate and construct new buildings that are energy efficient and have well-functioning mechanical systems, like heating and air-flow. “I try to not get too complicated but make simple and basic recommendations for the clients that will have big impacts for their dollars,” says Joe.When Joe first moved to Philadelphia, he got involved with the Collaborative as a way to meet other professionals who were working in the city. As Joe became more established in Philadelphia and his career, he continued volunteering out of a desire to help community groups. “I volunteer because of the opportunity to donate my time and to listen to people’s stories. I really like meeting the clients who always have unique and interesting stories.  I also get to see new neighborhoods.”

Joe has especially enjoyed conducting energy audits for Legal Aid of Southeastern PA and Libertae.  According to Joe, the client learns about energy efficiency, while he gets to try new things and gain experience with an emerging engineering service.  The clients are particularly interested in learning about the economics of energy efficiency and use the energy audits to apply for tax credits and government grants. “I am good at talking to people without sounding like an engineer,” remarks Joe.

Conceptual floor plan for Libertae's expanded learning center created by the Collaborative volunteer team.

Joe was elected to the Collabortive’s Board of Directors earlier this year and is now getting to learn another side of nonprofit operations.  “The Collaborative is very successful and doing what we do well. I just want to find a way to help all those who want help,” says Joe.

In addition to his pro bono work with the Collaborative, Joe volunteers to teach 7th and 8th graders through Future City, which seeks to encourage students to enroll in engineering courses when they are in college. He also works with the ACE Program at the Community College of Philadelphia which prepares high school students for college courses and careers with a focus on architecture, construction and engineering.

Growing up Joe excelled at math and science and learned about the construction business from his family members.  He majored in mechanical engineering at Villanova University. His career has allowed him to combine his theoretical knowledge of engineering with his construction experience.

When Joe isn’t working or volunteering, he likes traveling with his wife and two daughters, age 2 and 6, and enjoying his South Philadelphia neighborhood.

The Collaborative staff had a great time at the Phillies game on a hot Tuesday night complete with popcorn and peanuts.  Unfortunately the Phillies narrowly lost in extra innings. Thanks to all the friends, board members, and volunteers who came out.