Citywide Conference

A Sense of Place: Preserving Philadelphia Neighborhoods

Philadelphia is a city of great neighborhoods and preserving their sense of place and distinctive character is key to sustaining a healthy community or achieving successful neighborhood revitalization.

In order to expand our educational and advocacy efforts about preserving and celebrating Philadelphia's neighborhoods to an ever-broadening scope of community leaders, the Preservation Alliance presented A Sense of Place: Preserving Philadelphia Neighborhoods, our first ever citywide neighborhood preservation conference on Friday, May 15 at Temple University Center City Campus from 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM.

Nearly 150 people from throughout the city, representing a great mix of neighborhood organizations, civic associations, community development corporations, historical societies, business associations, architects, planners and a variety of city agencies convened  to learn about the many resources available to strengthen and build on community success by incorporating historic preservation into their tool kits.

The highlights of the conference included Educational Sessions and a luncheon featuring keynote speaker, Patsy Fletcher , community outreach coordinator for the Historic Preservation Office, Washington D.C. (View Full Schedule) In addition, four organizations were awarded seed grants to support neighborhood preservation projects as a part of a Neighborhood Preservation Project Competition. (Visit a photo gallery of the conference.)

If you missed the conference, visit this website on a regular basis. Plans are already underway to hold another conference in 2010.

Special Thank to Conference Sponsors
The William Penn Foundation
Heritage Philadelphia Program of the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage
Diamond and Associates

The Conference was presented in Collaboration with:
City of Philadelphia, Office of Housing and Community Development
Community Design Collaborative
Institute for the Study of Civic Values
Local Initiatives Support Corporation 
Neighborhoods Now
Partners for Sacred Places
Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations
Philadelphia City Planning Commission
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Temple University Law Center for Community Non-Profit Organizations
Temple University Center City Campus