Ali has always been fascinated by the beauty of cities. As a fan of anime and sci-fi, Ali admired the big, vibrant cityscapes in films like Akira and Bladerunner. They allowed him to better understand the city as one single organism.
In the real world, 16-year-old Ali was exposed to city planning by a neighbor who led an RCO. Shortly after, he got involved in larger neighborhood orgs like the Germantown CDC where he helped with many canvasing and neighborhood events. At that point, his interest in planning was solidified.
His then Germantown CDC co-worker Emily Doley, who rose up to the Director of the same CDC, encouraged Ali to apply to the Citizen’s Planning Institute. Then he became the youngest person to be accepted into CPI. CPI left him with a strong impression of the leaders who actually do work for their communities and the passion they have for the work:
Growing up, a lot of what I heard about poor, blighted communities was that nobody really cares to take up these places and that they’re just bad… But being there [CPI], you see that there are tons of passionate people doing that work every day. They help with things like food access or youth programs. Or they just lead their community through their organization.
To Ali, CPI lets people connect with each other. They can get the ins and outs of a process that can seem daunting at first. He says the most important thing he learned from CPI was the value of community and communal love in building a city. He adds that shared spaces are also key for the community to gather.
How we define community is up to so many people and can mean a different thing to any other person that you asked. But allowing for those spaces to exist and for people to share that love with one another is transcendental. Human connection is what makes this city so great and necessary for human life. Ali Saribas
Post-CPI, Ali expresses his love for the community as an AmeriCorp Vista with SERVEPhilly and the Division of Housing and Community Development’s Eviction Diversion Program. Launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, the program is designed to mitigate evictions through rental assistance and landlord-tenant mediation. It has been pivotal in maintaining housing stability for many families at risk of eviction. Ali’s role is critical in liaising between all parties involved and in spreading word about the program to the community. It is through the Vista role that the program has the capacity to renew and expand.
Next year, Ali is off to the University of Pennsylvania to pursue his master’s degree in planning. He hopes to continue his work in housing by contributing to the academic research in the field.
Written by Savannah Winston, Spring – Summer 2024 CPI Intern