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ADDITIONAL RESEARCH & BACKGROUND INFORMATION Impact Summary Sheets
The Mayor's proposals Refocus on core activities; reduce expenditures for non-core City services. When the strong economy provided the City’s budget with significant surpluses, expenditures in non-basic municipal services grew significantly. While scrutinizing all of the City’s expenditure areas in order to find opportunities to reduce the budget, core City services were made a priority. The Administration is well aware that these cuts will impact groups that provide important services, but the alternatives required cuts to core City services that would have a severe impact on the general public. The following reductions will save the City $6.25 million annually:
MAKING THE CASE – COMMUNICATION TIPS
Remember, your own impact data and the personal stories of people you serve are often the most gripping and the easiest to convey. OTHER POINTS TO ARGUE We need to show that regular people need the services that arts and culture provide. When funding is cut from city service providers, arts and culture organizations quite often fill the gap for residents with education tools, after school programming and child care options, housing assistance, neighborhood beautification/transformation, and more. “We will, however, work to avoid layoffs. Nothing is worse than losing one’s employment in difficult economic times.” Greater Philadelphia’s nonprofit cultural sector’s economic impact: Every dollar invested in the arts supports two dollars in total regional spending; every $25,000 in spending supports one job in the region. “This budget maintains our commitment to public education. Our students and families are beginning to see the new materials, better-prepared teachers and support for struggling students that has been too long coming. However, notwithstanding recent progress, too many Philadelphia public schools are far from the models of educational excellence appropriate to a world class 21st Century City.” While many public schools are no longer able to provide students with arts and cultural education and opportunities, a total of 229 nonprofit cultural organizations offer programs and services to the city’s children. Among low-income neighborhoods, those with high levels of cultural participation were five times more likely to have very low levels of delinquency and three times more likely to have very low rates of truancy. “This budget should not be viewed as a barrier to progress and prosperity or a source of pessimism and frustration. It allows us to make some powerful economic investments that will help grow our population, create new economic opportunities, and build the new Philadelphia.” During the 1980’s, neighborhoods with an active arts scene were nearly three times more likely to see their poverty rates decline and their populations increase. This trend continued in the 1990’s and into 2000. “Our future will be distinguished by the presence of corporate leaders like Comcast, GlaxoSmithKline, CIGNA, ACE, INA, Sunoco and other businesses, large and small, who have decided over the last two years to remain in Philadelphia.” 57% of business leaders responding to a survey indicated that cultural institutions are “very important” to the vitality and attractiveness of the region. Only 3% felt they were “not important.” “…our 83 area colleges and universities…have an impressive annual enrollment in excess of 300,000 students, many of whom, we hope to keep in our region as residents.” 57% of young, college-graduates living or working in Center City saw Philadelphia’s arts and cultural events as a comparative strength versus other cities. The only thing that ranked higher was the city’s unique/historic architecture. Greater Philadelphia’s arts colleges produce 23% more arts graduates than the national average. “…the City should partner with the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce in its campaign to market the Philadelphia region as a business destination. I propose that the city contribute $250,000 in each of the next four years to support the Chamber’s Select Greater Philadelphia Campaign.” Fifty-seven percent of Philadelphia’s business leaders identify our cultural institutions as very important to the vitality of the region. Only three percent feel they are not important. “We must protect the core services our citizens have a right to expect, even in a tough budget year.” [C]ultural attractions rated as the second greatest strength of the Philadelphia region by respondents, behind institutions of higher learning. “We keep [as a priority in this budget] our commitment to diversity and inclusion.” “A lively cultural scene appears to contribute to neighborhood vitality in two important ways: It increases the inclination and ability of residents to make positive changes in their community, and it increases the connections between neighborhoods of different ethnic and economic compositions.” The presence of cultural organizations had a significant impact on the likelihood that a diverse neighborhood would remain diverse ten years later. |
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