Philadelphia is a historic city responding to many challenges, including suburban development that threatened to decimate the core city. Faced with severe budget limitations (a universal reality), it created a vast network of community-based volunteer organizations who have brought about rebirth through volunteerism and community outreach. Some of those organizaations include:
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which had reached a crossroads. Would it change with the times or become marginalized? Led by Ernesta Ballard and others, it chose to create Philadelphia Green and devote the profits of the acclaimed Philadelphia Flower Show to the betterment of the community.
The New Kensington Community Development Corporation is a vibrant work in progress. Directors Sandy Salzman and Paul Malvey provide a tour of the neighborhood in the Edens broadcast. A sense of optimism and renewal is self-evident. An overlay map of the neighborhood shows a marked increase in real estate prices, resulting from greening and community outreach. Wooden fences have become a symbol of nurturing protection. The care and greening of New Kensington has become a tool of economic development. In the process, people have found their voice.
The Philadelphia Water Department is supporting the renewal efforts as well. It began with the desire to make productive use of 100 acres of Water Department land. Would farming be viable and sustainable? The Somerton Tanks Farm facility became a demonstration project that is still proving urban farming isn't as far-fetched as it may sound.
Iris Brown told Edens a story about Norris Square Park and what it was like 14 years ago when banks and supermarkets abandoned the neighborhood and moved out of town. Today, their community center is in use throughout the day as a childcare center, a meeting hall for mothers, and a skills center for the neighborhood. It has been visited by many dignitaries and certainly qualifies as a "best practices model."
City government hasn't been sitting still, either. Mayor John F. Street created the Neighborhood Transition Initiative (NTI) program as part of a coordinated plan to save the city from the impact of "moving up and moving out." 
NTI was assigned to come up with practicable and affordable solutions to remove blight, promote quality restoration, stimulate investment in new housing, and improve how the city delivers services to its businesses and residents. The challenge is to make neighborhoods more attractive so families will stay and become stakeholders.
There is great natural beauty within Philadelphia. The Fairmount Park System provides citizens with majestic riverfront views and commanding park settings, while protecting the city's drinking water, enhancing its liveability and sustainability.
Philadelphia has many tales to tell about how it is dealing with challenges being felt around the planet: creation of a sustainable society, economy, and ecosystem in a thriving urban environment.
