Presented by: Bill Green, School Reform Commission and Dilworth Paxson & Jennifer Zapf, UPENN Graduate School of Education
1st Place: Peter Grollman, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia/City of Philadelphia/Free Library South Philadelphia Community Health and Literacy Center. The new Community Health and Literacy Center, opened in 2016, is a first-of-its-kind hospital-city partnership. The project will include a CHOP pediatric clinic; a full-service community health center run by the city’s Department of Public Health; a branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia; and a modern recreation center with a playground and green space, run by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. This project represents the spirit of innovation by breaking down siloes that exist in the community healthcare delivery system by forging a public-private sector partnership that will yield a comprehensive wellness approach in a multigenerational, culturally diverse community.
Mr. Grollman expresses, “This award is a fitting and well-deserved tribute to all of the partners from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the City of Philadelphia and the Free Library of Philadelphia who helped make the South Philadelphia Community Health and Literacy Center come to life. Each person on this team worked tirelessly to realize a vision for improving community health through innovation and collaboration.”
2nd Place: Doug Barg. Mr. Barg engages at-risk teens through nutrition, cooking and food economics, and at the same time educating and building confidence. As an entrepreneur, Doug has self-funded this project to reach people and teens through the language of food, believing food has a unique language and a way of starting conversations.
Doug offers, “Kitchen Cred was born of epiphany. The Social Innovations Award affirms both our work with teens and the value of following the path passion dictates.”
3rd Place: Cheryl Feldman, District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund. Ms. Feldman has created successful healthcare career path models and helped thousands of workers and community members get good jobs or advance. She works endlessly to innovate and is a nationally recognized healthcare workforce leader who has significantly advanced economic opportunity for many community members.