Grants Portal

News and Perspectives

The latest news, perspectives, and updates from around the Foundation.

Filter News

Stick to the people’s preferences for the Delaware Waterfront

September 3, 2020

To finally achieve the people-centered Civic Vision articulated over a decade ago, we need to honor the wisdom of the community.

Racial Justice is Long Overdue

To our grantees and partners: We are deeply saddened by the death of George Floyd. But we can't claim to be surprised. My generation came of age during the late 1960s, a time of civil rights and war protests. We knew that a lot needed to change. When...

William Penn Foundation

Migrated automatically.

A Conversation about the Benefits and Costs of Urban Public Spaces

As one of the country’s largest funders of urban public space, we are eager to understand the extent to which existing research and evidence supports or refutes the assumptions guiding the Foundation’s public space grantmaking, and to build knowledge for...

Migrated automatically.

No Time to Back Down

January 28, 2020

Even in this era of constant federal rollbacks to our most deeply held environmental protections, a headline like the New York Times’ “ E.P.A. Is Letting Cities Dump More Raw Sewage into Rivers for Years to Come” from last Friday hits hard. The article...

Migrated automatically.

Make it Count: Support the 2020 Census

November 18, 2019

This is an important civic moment for our city and state. Just five months from now, Pennsylvanians will have a once-in-a-decade opportunity to be included in the 2020 Census. An accurate census count signals the importance of each person. Population as...

Janet Haas, M.D., Chair of the Board of Directors

25,000 Miles of Safe Swimming and Great Fishing

October 17, 2018

The Delaware River watershed encompasses an amazing network of 25,000 miles of flowing rivers and streams. Last weekend I had the privilege of paddling some 35 of those miles with a group of the region’s experts in outdoor education, environmental policy...

WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES HILARY RHODES AS NEW DIRECTOR OF EVALUATION AND LEARNING

January 29, 2018

PHILADELPHIA (January 29, 2018) – The William Penn Foundation announced today the appointment of Hilary Rhodes as the organization’s new director of evaluation and learning. Rhodes is responsible for developing and implementing a new internal evaluation...

William Penn Foundation

Clean streets, clean water

A recent article in The Philadelphia Inquirer covered the impact of plastics pollution – when physical trash ends up in our waterways and washes ashore – in the Delaware River. The article pointed to the fact that the source of the pollution is likely...