Philadelphia’s civic tech powers key community projects — but it’s overlooked and underfunded

Philadelphia’s neighborhoods are full of transformation stories: a vacant lot becomes a garden, a dumping ground becomes a pop-up market, a neglected parcel becomes affordable housing. 

Behind every visible success, however, lies a less visible but critical foundation: a network of tools, data, relationships and shared knowledge that makes these changes possible.

Clean and Green Philly is one of several organizations that provide this civic infrastructure. These are the platforms, data systems and collaborative networks that empower community groups, nonprofits and city agencies to act decisively, coordinate effectively, and achieve greater impact. Yet, like many such efforts, we face a persistent challenge: Our work is often misunderstood or undervalued, not because it lacks merit, but because its benefits are distributed and indirect.

This is the “multiplier” effect. When we invest in shared infrastructure — open data platforms, technical support, governance structures, and collaborative spaces — we enable dozens of projects to connect ideas, avoid duplication and build on each other’s progress. 

Neglecting these foundations leads to gradual but significant losses. Access to data declines, coordination weakens, institutional knowledge fades and momentum slows. 

Enabling infrastructure in action

Launched in 2023, Clean and Green Philly is a volunteer-powered civic data platform. 

We aggregate public data on Philadelphia’s approximately 600,000 property parcels — focusing especially on the more than 35,000 vacant properties — and layer in information on property ownership, gun violence, maintenance violations, LandCare status and more. We make this information accessible and actionable for anyone working to clean, green or place vacant properties back into productive use. 

But Clean and Green Philly isn’t the shiny end product. It’s an underlying infrastructure that helps other efforts succeed. When residents, civic groups and nonprofits have better data and foundational support, they move faster, advocate smarter and build stronger projects. 

For example, Habitat for Humanity is instrumental in acquiring vacant properties and converting them into permanently affordable housing for families in Philadelphia. The 57 Blocks Coalition brings together block captains, community leaders and local organizations to coordinate efforts such as cleaning and maintaining vacant lots, reducing illegal dumping and prioritizing interventions for the greatest community benefit. 

This distinction matters. While direct projects deliver visible change, enabling infrastructure provides the shared data, tools and coordination that make those changes possible and sustainable for everyone. For community leaders, organizers and advocates, investing in and leveraging this infrastructure means every project can have a greater, more lasting impact, no matter its size or resources.

Why ecosystem support matters

Philadelphia’s civic landscape is rich with multipliers. 

OpenDataPhily, the city’s central open data platform, provides critical datasets for technologists, journalists and advocates. 

Code for Philly, a volunteer-driven civic tech community, develops open-source tools that benefit a wide range of local initiatives, including Clean and Green Philly. 

Jumpstart Philadelphia uses tech to connect aspiring local real estate developers to training and capital, to revitalize neighborhoods. 

Circular Philadelphia is developing policy and tools to support a regional circular economy, connecting businesses and nonprofits to reduce waste and build community resilience. 

These organizations, among others, are not always in the spotlight, but their work accelerates and amplifies the impact of countless direct-service projects citywide.

Despite their essential role, civic infrastructure projects often struggle for funding. Most grants and investments prioritize short-term, visible deliverables, like a garden planted, a building renovated, or a program launched. These are vital, but when we fund the end results, we neglect the systems that make these results possible.

To truly unlock Philadelphia’s full potential, we need to evolve from project funding to ecosystem funding. That means investing in the full network of people, tools and processes that enable communities to solve complex challenges over time. 

It also means embracing shared infrastructure. For example, Clean and Green Philly isn’t owned by a single group or issue. Its value lies in its accessibility. Funders often ask, who gets the credit. With civic infrastructure, the answer is: everyone does. And that’s the point.

Over the past two years, we’ve coordinated 200+ volunteers, stewarded partnerships, sustained institutional knowledge and managed an evolving and increasingly complex platform. That work requires more than passion. It requires professional leadership, robust systems and steady investment.

For a recent Technical.ly article on open data efforts in Philly, volunteers put it plainly: Volunteers can only take civic tech so far. If we want these enabling systems to last, we need to fund the infrastructure, not just the outputs it supports.

What effective investment looks like

Here’s what it takes to build and sustain civic infrastructure that multiplies impact:

• Prioritize long-term support. Infrastructure takes time to mature. Multi-year funding allows platforms to grow, iterate and deepen their ecosystem role.
  
• Invest in leadership and capacity. Volunteers need direction. Platforms need people who can manage transitions, coordinate efforts, and turn momentum into impact.

• Fund maintenance, not just launch. Civic tech isn’t “set it and forget it.” Data changes. APIs break. User needs evolve. Ongoing support keeps platforms useful and responsive.
  
• Recognize shared infrastructure as a deliverable. Don’t just count project outcomes; measure how a project’s ways of working strengthen civic capacity across the board.
  
• Promote collaboration, not competition. Infrastructure should connect efforts, not gatekeep or duplicate them. Funders can prioritize open-source tools and shared outcomes.

Whether you’re working on a neighborhood cleanup, a community coalition, or a new tech tool — don’t overlook the multipliers in your ecosystem. 

Supporting and leveraging shared infrastructure isn’t just about funding a platform or a dataset. It’s about laying the groundwork for a stronger, more equitable, more resilient city.

That’s the kind of investment Philadelphia deserves.