Get involved in our Neighborhoods!

Philly (for better or worse) runs on volunteer work. There are lots of organizations in our area that need steady volunteers. No matter what you're into, there's a place for you to get involved! One of the most important things that we can do to protect ourselves is building strong local community connections to weather whatever storm is coming. These groups help make those networks stronger.

Fishtown Neighbors Association (FNA)

The FNA does a lot of different things, all organized through committees. A lot of what happens depends on what neighbors are passionate about, so FNA is a good catch-all if you want to get something going in Fishtown in collaboration with neighbors.

Here are some specific things you can plug into:

Deliver food to neighbors in need on Wednesday afternoons through our Mutual Aid Program (email Neil MacDonald at macdonaldn3@gmail.com)

Take care of the rose garden, maintain pollinator gardens throughout the neighborhood, run neighborhood cleanups, and participate in publi art projects with the Beautification committee (Beautification Committee, email Olivia at beautification@fishtown.org)

Get involved with Zoning (email Will at zoning@fishtown.org or attend a meeting)

Yelling at the city for safer streets and other safety concerns (safety committee, email safety@fishtown.org)

Help connect our neighbors with each other with fun events (email Ashlei at events@fishtown.org)

(Note: At time of writing, I'm the President of this org, so there's more detail here than most on this list, just because I'm most familiar with it)

EKNA runs events, is great at collaborating with other community groups, runs zoning for the area, and offers grants for neighbors to complete community-bettering projects.

Get involved here: https://www.ekna.org/get-involved

LSH does a lot of amazing things in the community and has been a support system in the area for decades. You can volunteer with the food pantry, help with events and more. Sign up to volunteer here: https://www.lutheransettlement.org/get-involved/volunteer-opportunities/

Palmer Doggie Depot maintains the dog park at 37 E Palmer St. Dog parks are critical infrastructure for dogs and help keep dog waste under control in the rest of the neighborhood, but they're all volunteer run! Help the doggie depot fundraise, run fun events for dogs and their people, and maintain this important space! Get involved at https://linktr.ee/palmer_doggie_depot

Friends of Pop's Park maintains Pops park and adjacent dog park! Help maintain a public green space in East Kensington.

To get involved, email friendsofpopspark@gmail.com

Avenues of Change is an after-school program providing educational programming for free to kids in East Kensington. You can run craft time with kids, or story time at the Kensington Library, or other educational programs! In summer, they run events from the Sergeant St Garden in East Kensington and in winter, usually from the Kensington Library. Get involved by emailing Matt Nocho at avenuesofchange215@gmail

Friends of Palmer Park maintains the park, and runs weekly cleanups on Saturday mornings starting around 9:30am. They also run movie nights in the summer. You can follow them at https://www.instagram.com/palmerparkfishtown/

Friends of Konrad Square maintain the garden in the center of the park, help run events and cleanups, and collaborate with other neighborhood groups for activities! Follow along with their work on instagram here https://www.instagram.com/konradsquare/

FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA: Your local Free Library branch may need volunteers! Tasks can range from clerical to helping out with our programs. Note: All volunteers 18 and over will need FBI and child abuse clearances (the library will cover costs).

The North Philadelphia Neighborhood Libraries cluster includes the McPherson Square (F & E Indiana), Fishtown (Girard & Montgomery Aves), Kensington (Front & Dauphin), Richmond (Almond and E Indiana), Lillian Marrero (6th and Lehigh), Rodriguez (6th and Girard), Cecil B. Moore (23rd and Cecil B. Moore), and Widener (28th and Lehigh) branches.

To get involved, contact Sara:

Sara Palmer, Library Manager

palmers@freelibrary.org

Phone 215-685-9996

Text  215-948-2719

Do you have a group you'd like to see added to this list? Text Sarah at (267) 614-2529