Norris Square Neighborhood Profile
My interest is having the kids in the neighborhood realize the value of the neighborhood and say, "Wow, I think I'll stay here". -Patricia De Carlo, former Executive Director Norris Square Community Alliance
Throughout this multistage, iterative process, a constant thread is to value the knowledge, skills, experience, and expertise that every person can bring to this project. The intent is to demonstrate the potential for this project to help strengthen and empower the Norris Square community, as well as to answer these questions and more:
- In what ways has the community of Norris Square changed over time?
- What community assets and challenges do adult community members in Norris Square value or recognize?
- How are these similar or different from those recognized by youth in the community?
- How can we work together to give the whole community something to look forward to as we move past the trauma of COVID?
Penn State Extension is fortunate to have a long and fruitful relationship with Norris Square residents and community organizations in Philadelphia. Our most recent steps towards relationship building and trust development were taken together with community partners who are engaging youth in improving the health and resiliency of Norris Square. These efforts are part of a dynamic effort called Well Connected Communities (WCC) and include emergency food distribution, mental health awareness training for community educators, collaborative proposal writing, youth workshops on gardening and the arts, and field trips to local organizations.
WCC is a unique community collaboration led by Penn State Extension and sponsored by both the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National 4-H Council. By working together with youth and community leaders, the program aims to lift up the voice of youth in this vibrant community and seeks to maintain the deep community roots in Latin America.
"I found out about the WCC initiative in Norris Square through the former gardener at NSNP, Jose Spellman-Lopez. I was excited for the opportunity to be more of a part of the neighborhood because of all the great gardens and art programs that the organization has, but since I've been here and met the other organizations involved in the neighborhood, I have started to see how this could almost be considered a model neighborhood. I want to help other people to see that too (especially the local government)." – Jesse Bilger, WCC Youth Coordinator
During the summer, the collaborative project continued with more community engagement, participation, and input. Ultimately, we expect that a community outline will emerge with three main sections
- summary of community conversations,
- quantitative indicators,
- discussion questions.
1. Community conversations
Thus far, structured community conversations (completed in the summer of 2020) have included eight community leaders, youth, and nonprofit board members. These interviews will remain at the core of the Norris Square framework as it emerges.
"I cannot express how grateful I am to the community leaders I was able to spend time with during this process. I am proud to have worked with the team as well as the progress that is being made." – Christine Dawson-Haines, Penn State Extension Community Engagement intern (2020)
Thus far, these conversations have highlighted many of the essential assets and challenges of the Norris Square neighborhood:
a. Assets: cultural and civic pride, availability of comprehensive human services, community empowerment.
I think there is a little bit of everything for everybody, depending on where you are at. You could be born here and have your last breath here, and there is somewhere to turn to. It is like you are never alone. There is always an organization or somebody that's got your back. I think that is great because it is not like that in many places, and it is all around the block, the Norris Square - Jose Spellman-Lopez
b. Challenges: hunger, housing displacement due to gentrification, lack of collaboration amongst community nonprofits.
We spent the last 40-50 years fixing the neighborhood, getting it, you know, having a park where kids could play, listen to music, have childcare, and all kinds of resources, and then just walking away from that stuff. So, gentrification is a struggle, but we'll see what happens. My interest is having (your generation from the) kids in the neighborhood realize the value of the neighborhood and say, "Wow, I think I'll stay here" - Patricia De Carlo
2. Quantitative indicators
In the summer of 2021, the team completed the first of two community member surveys, which asked community members which census tracts they would include in a geographic definition of the Norris Square neighborhood.
The survey will also help to identify which census data indicators are essential for this profile. Participants were asked to choose which census data indicators were important to describe Norris Square in quantitative terms, to best describe changes in Norris Square over time. At least 95% of those surveyed (42/44) said the indicators listed below would be very important to include in a neighborhood profile:
- Educational attainment of residents
- How neighborhood population has changed over time
- Languages spoken at home
- How many housing units are vacant and occupied?
- Housing affordability
- Disability status
- Occupations and industries of workers
The team actively engaged with community members to examine the purpose of the profile. As part of the survey, the team also asked participants how they might use the neighborhood profile. This question yielded 34 responses, with the most popular answers being understanding community needs, improving outreach to the community, and strengthening funding proposals.
3. Discussion
As a final question, we also asked participants to list their top three community needs for improving the "quality of life" in Norris Square. Forty-two responses to this open-ended question were recorded, with the most popular responses being more affordable housing, improved neighborhood trash cleanup, and more community events.
"I think it's imperative for institutions who've hard long histories together to continue collaborative work - linking the past, present and future" - Cesali Morales, Business Manager, Norris Square Neighborhood Project
Penn State Extension looks forward to continuing our collaborative work with Norris Square residents, community leaders, nonprofit staff members, and others as we build this profile together.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to staff, youth participants, and board members from Norris Square Neighborhood Project and Norris Square Community Alliances for taking part in our community conversations last summer: Cesali Morales, Eliezer Vila, Gregory Wright, Jose Spellman-Lopez, Patricia De Carlo, Samantha Ayala, Sophie Taylor-Havens, and Teresa Elliot.Â
Special thanks to our interviewer, Christine Dawson-Haines (Penn State Community Engagement Intern 2020), and the 2021 Penn State Community Engagement Internship team: Olivia Grace Chau, Skylar McCullough, and Rachel Zimmerman.
Ongoing support for this project is provided by the Penn State Extension Neighborhood Profile team: Jesse Bilger, John Byrnes, Cristy Schmidt, and Suzanne Weltman.
This project builds on the previous successes of the Penn State Center for Economic and Community Development, an applied research center dedicated to strengthening local and regional development in Pennsylvania and beyond. In 2019, the Center published 67 Pennsylvania County profiles. These reports have served as guideposts and reference points for our neighborhood profile of Norris Square.
