10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania
Building healthy, vibrant and resilient communities
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our Vision 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania envisions a Commonwealth in which its citizens have a great variety of high quality places in which to live and work; where natural resources are respected and used wisely; where the infrastructure is strong, safe and supports sensible development; where the built environment is planned for maximum convenience, attractiveness, sustainability and economic competitiveness; where governments work together to allocate and share resources and deliver public services effectively, equitably and efficiently; where residents value their communities, find opportunity, and share the benefits of Pennsylvania's commitment to competitiveness through strategic investment and sustainable growth.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Healthy Communities
Walkable communities, in addition to being economic engines, promote health and encourage healthy lifestyles. Our work focuses on the role of quality community design in promoting both community health and economic opportunity for all.
The Challenge: Many Communities Have the Necessary Assets to Promote Walkability but Lack Capacity, Technical & Financial Resources
Many of Pennsylvania’s older downtown areas and traditional neighborhoods have access to quality building stock, anchor institutions, and public transit service. The challenge that these areas often have is their lack of access to technical capacity and financial resources to leverage these assets in a coordinated and thoughtful way.
Our Approach: Link a Multi-Disciplinary Team with Local Leadership to Plan & Execute Strategic Projects
The Community Action Team brings together a team of experts — both technical assistance providers and practitioners — to work with local leadership on strategic projects. The Team’s work focuses on the entire process, from community engagement to measuring the results of completed projects. The Team’s composition will depend on the particular needs of each community and the projects the community prioritizes, with relevant technical assistance provided throughout a period of sustained and intensive community engagement.
Community Engagement
· Convene, educate, and facilitate dialogue among community stakeholders on the impact of community design on residents’ health and economic growth.
· Facilitate a community visioning process to develop a vision and strategy to make neighborhoods more walkable. Assist community in prioritizing projects.
Assessment
· Conduct a community assessment identifying key physical assets and needs.
· Utilize various tools to benchmark existing conditions including a Walkability Inventory and Asset Inventory Matrix.
Planning
· Develop a plan to strategically execute the priority projects identified; each plan will include at least one community transportation or strategic public infrastructure project.
· Conduct initial research, feasibility studies, and preliminary cost estimation.
· Evaluate potential sites for redevelopment and create project phasing strategy.
· Identify opportunities to access public-sector grants, loans and tax credits.
Implementation and Development
· Assist community in managing and executing the development process.
· Assist with site control and site preparation tasks.
· Prepare budgets, pro formas and structure financing for projects.
· Assist with the solicitation, evaluation, and selection of private real estate developers, and the structure of resultant public-private partnerships.
· Assist with public program applications as appropriate.
Impact Measurement
Complete post project data-driven assessment; evaluate data to determine program effectiveness and incorporate lessons learned.
Commonwealth Awards
The Commonwealth Awards is 10,000 Friends’ signature event celebrating transformational development projects across Pennsylvania that create healthy, vibrant, and resilient communities. The Awards recognize projects and initiatives that promote community resilience, find new uses for vacant and underutilized land, increase opportunities for communities on the rise, and breathe new life into old neighborhoods. Recent Commonwealth Awards events have focused on the transformational revitalization in cities across Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, and Bethlehem.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our Mission
10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania is the leading statewide advocate for responsible and efficient land use and partner for great places to live and work. We work with citizens, organizations, and public officials to create land use, infrastructure, development, and governance policies and projects that strengthen our economy, protect our resources, save money, and build healthy and walkable communities for all.
Our Goals
10,000 Friends is a results-driven organization, pursuing four major goals:
A more prosperous, competitive and sustainable economy
A state government that adopts policies that support sound planning, strategic investment, resource conservation and sensible growth
Local governments that embrace sound planning, balanced development and efficient and effective service delivery
Making Pennsylvania the place of choice to live and work
Our Values
We are a balanced and bipartisan, pro-growth and pro-environment organization pledged to collaboration among Pennsylvania’s leaders. Our work is fact-based, positive and constructive for a better Pennsylvania.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
In order to accomplish our goals, 10,000 Friends uses the tools of advocacy, organizing, facilitation and research to:
Seek adoption of policies, including legislation that provide consistent, sustainable, long-term growth strategies to address land use planning, incentives for investment in existing communities, and property tax reform;
Educate, assist and build consensus among state and local leadership; and
Build a strong statewide constituency of local and regional leaders to provide support for policy initiatives
We also provide technical assistance to local and regional leaders and stakeholders to help them build and implement their priority projects. With so many municipalities and entities in Pennsylvania, we have found that providing implementation assistance can often be invaluable to local communities in helping them to build out their plans and visions.
We have begun to develop region-based coalitions of business, civic and government leaders to focus on our overall goal to renew Pennsylvania by specific programming initiatives on:
Land Use;
Infrastructure;
Intergovernmental Cooperation & Governance Reform; and
Revitalization & Smart Growth Development.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
10,000 Friends employs a strong team of experienced staff, consultants, and volunteers with expertise in public policy and advocacy, community and economic development, planning and placemaking, project management, neighborhood revitalization and urban redevelopment and greenspace.
Throughout Pennsylvania and beyond, more than 240 organizations (and more than 310,000 individuals) have joined together to support our efforts. 10,000 Friends collaborates with statewide and local organizations and agencies to build programmatic partnerships for local impact and coalitions to address policy issues and create systems change in land use and transportation policy on state, regional, and local levels.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since its inception, 10,000 Friends has built a record of success in strengthening Pennsylvania’s urban, suburban, and rural communities; encouraging efficient housing, transportation, infrastructure investments; and conserving our state’s rural, heritage, and natural resources.
As advocates, we created changes to modernize Pennsylvania’s land use planning law. These changes have led to the most significant advancement of municipal collaboration in the Commonwealth’s history. Our advocacy for Acts 67 and 68 to amend the Municipality Planning Code (MPC) laid the groundwork for Multi-Municipal collaboration around the state. As of 2008, 30 percent of the municipalities in the state have since engaged in a multi-municipal land use planning process. While implementation of formal agreements and full compliance with the plans produced eludes many of these communities, without passage of Acts 67 and 68 many of these partnerships would never have been formed. 10,000 Friends advocacy in the early 2000’s resulted in the passage of Growing Greener II environmental reclamation bond issue, voter approval of the Water and Sewer Bond Funding, and passage of the Uniform Construction Code (Rehab Code) that has reduced cost and red tape associated with reinvesting in older and historic buildings.
As educators, we collaborated with the internationally recognized Brookings Institute to produce and disseminate the publication Back to Prosperity (2003-2007). The document is the most comprehensive assessment to date of the connection between state and local investment decisions, land use and land consumption patterns, and their impact on Commonwealth’s economic well- being. 10,000 Friends also published “The Cost of Sprawl” (2000) which established an economic context for poor land use decisions and “Planning Beyond Boundaries” (2002), which laid the ground work for the discussions related to land use, intelligent investment, and the negative impacts of bad decision making. Other significant research includes: “Plan Regionally, Implement Locally” (2008), “Water and Growth” (2007), and “Sewage Facilities and Land Development” (2007). More recently, we’ve collaborated with George Washington University and the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis to study the economic impact and potential of walkable urban places in Pennsylvania’s top ten metros.
We played a leading role, working with the Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition, in successfully advocating for enactment of Act 89, a $2.3 billion state transportation investment bill. The Act established a new multimodal fund to support investments in non-highway modes of transportation, from transit projects to bike and pedestrian improvements. The fund supports projects that integrate local land use with transportation assets to enhance existing communities; make streetscape, lighting, sidewalks and pedestrian safety improvements; and spur transit-oriented development.
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania
Board of directorsas of 04/22/2022
Mr. L. Bert Cossaboon
McCormick Taylor
Term: 2019 - 2022
Charles Courtney
McNees, Wallace & Nurick LLC
Tim McNulty
Carnegie Mellon University
David Thun
Groundswell
L. Bert Cossaboon, AICP, NJPP
McCormick Taylor Inc., Philadelphia
Edward LeClear, AICP
Borough of State College
Hon. John Callahan
Peron Development
Hon. Richard Gray
Jacqui Good
Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities
Charlotte Katzenmoyer
Capital Region Water
Abe Amoros
Pennsylvania Municipal League
Laurie Crawford
Penn State REACH
Larry Newman
Diamond City Partnership
LaMarcus Thurman
Northwest Bank
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data