Prior to participating in the Pilot Program of CPI, Verna was already heavily involved in her community. Verna applied to be part of CPI because she was interested in learning how to implement the plans and studies that had already been done for her community. Verna hoped that participating in the CPI process would enlighten her in regards to the City’s view of planning so she could have both perspectives (community and city) in mind as she helped the community move forward in rebuilding.
Since graduating from CPI Verna has been able to apply what she learned about planning and has created an action plan for her organization. Verna has also trained others on the information she learned so that the agency could move forward with all of their visions. Verna is President of Tioga United, and serves on various outreach boards in South Philadelphia and Tioga.
Since graduation Verna has also participated in several more trainings with NeighborWorks. Verna and her agency have also engaged their neighbors in a planning session to implement their strategic plan over a 5-year timeframe and they are now working on determining the action steps to take in order to begin the implementation stage of their plan.
Verna also helped the agency apply and be accepted as a Registered Community Organization (RCO) which will allow the agency to be more engaged with the future development of their neighborhood. They have also applied and are waiting for approval for two grants, one from the Commerce Department and another from the Women’s Community Revitalization Project. The agency has also completed the renovations of their second house which shall be sold very soon and they are looking forward to beginning the work on their other four houses.