A new Park Ambassador program from Philadelphia Parks & Recreation is focused on keeping park spaces clean while building stronger connections with the people who use them.
Funded by the William Penn Foundation, the two-year pilot places ambassadors at Mifflin Square, Tacony Creek, Cobbs Creek and Fairmount parks with the goal of reducing illegal dumping in and around the sites by 50%.
At Mifflin Square Park in South Philadelphia, ambassador Malcolm Bundy spends much of his time talking with residents. He informs them of how to properly dispose of commonly dumped items.
“I have flyers for resources about how to properly dispose of appliances, household hazardous waste, tires and compost,” Bundy says. “If people have questions or need information, they can come up to me. It takes a village, and talking with your neighbors is the first step.”
Bundy has found that many residents don’t know they can call 311 to report illegal dumping or schedule bulk trash pickup.
To better understand where dumping is happening, Parks & Recreation is working with the Data Driven Discovery Initiative. Illegal dumping coordinators like Nathan McWilliams understand that progress is not always linear. “So success could be 1% success, it could be 2%, but every six months we just evaluate that off the goal. It’s not to decrease 50% within six months,” McWilliams says.
For now, the work is steady and local, shaped by small conversations and the slow process of building trust.
