The Crafting Community Project (CCP) is a collaborative, neighborhood-level initiative that provides interfaith and intergroup art and educational programs in communities experiencing interreligious and intercultural tensions. This three-year demonstration project was launched with key funding from the William Penn Foundation in July 2019 and is currently offered in South Philadelphia, Kensington/Northern Liberties, and West Philadelphia.
Click below to learn more about what we’re doing within each neighborhood!
Through the CCP, Interfaith Philadelphia collaborates with local partners and community members to provide opportunities for neighbors to: engage across lines of difference; learn about the religious and cultural diversity of their neighborhood; and stand in solidarity with those different from themselves.
We do this by offering the following:
-
Community Meetings/Listening Sessions: Inter-generational and cross-sector discussions where community members surface assets, needs, and concerns in the community, and help identify the art and educational programs they’d like Interfaith Philadelphia and partners to offer in the neighborhood. Throughout these meetings and community programs we also put out a call for folks to join the neighborhood’s CCP Community Advisory Group, which guides the project and ensures the CCP remains community-rooted and neighborhood-led.
-
Art and Educational Programming: Interfaith Philadelphia works with community members and partners to offer free programming that meets the community’s concerns/needs. Programs may include: trainings focused on allyship, civil dialogue, facilitation skills development, and dismantling bias/stereotypes; along with art workshops on storytelling, identity, and other themes.
-
Community Art Project: Each year Interfaith Philadelphia and art partners work collaboratively in one of the three neighborhoods to identify and create a community-driven art project that explores and celebrates the rich and varied cultures and faiths of the neighborhood.
The Core Values guiding this work are:
-
Community Process
-
Asset/Strength-Based Organizing
-
Collaboration
-
Relationship and Understanding
The CCP formally launched in South Philadelphia in August 2019, with the community identifying the South Philadelphia Community Cookbook as the art project that best represents the religious and cultural diversity of the neighborhood.
As we continue offering ongoing art and educational programs in South Philadelphia, we launched the Crafting Community Project in the greater Kensington area in summer 2020. After tallying the community votes, the Kensington community art project has been identified as...
Kensington Cooks, Grows, and Serves is a series of online and (select) in-person events exploring food systems and growing cross-cultural and interfaith connections in the neighborhood. Click here to learn more about the initiative, and register for the Kensington Cooks, Grows, and Serves events!
We continue to deepen our new and existing partnerships in all CCP neighborhoods, so if you or your organization/faith community are interested in participating or collaborating, please contact Chelsea Jackson (cj@interfaithphiladelphia.org).
Want to support the Crafting Community Project and increase understanding and solidarity in Philadelphia neighborhoods? Click here.
Lead support is provided by the William Penn Foundation.
