Special Topic Classes

CPI offers three electives each semester to give participants the opportunity to explore topics they want to know more about. Participants select a minimum of two electives to meet course requirements. Let us know if you have ideas for topics or would like to present in class.

Advocacy & Engagement  

  • Advocating for Your Cause (2018) 
  • Community Engagement 101 (2016) 
  • Neighbors Helping Neighbors – A Citizen’s Toolkit (2016) 
  • Telling Your Neighborhood’s Story – How to Have a Voice in Local News (2019) 

Community Planning 

  • Coalitions: Working with Other Organizations (2019) 
  • Community Organizing & Asset Mapping (2017) 
  • Community Planning Tools & Techniques (2014) 
  • Filling the Fridge: Gardens, Supermarkets & Pantries (2016) 
  • Fixing Neighborhood Issues (2017) 
  • Identifying Community Assets (2019) 
  • Navigating City Government: Building Relationships and Leveraging City Resources (2020) 
  • Resources for Neighborhood Development (2017) 
  • Walkable Neighborhoods 

Data 

  • Accessing Free City Information (2018) 
  • Good Planning Begins with Good Data (2014) 

Economic Development

  • Broad, Germantown and Erie (2021) 
  • Commercial Corridor Development (2011) 
  • Complete Streets and Commercial Corridors (2012) 
  • Commercial Corridors Reality Check (2016) 
  • Equitable Development (2015) 
  • Supporting Businesses & Living Wage Jobs in Your Neighborhood (2020) 
  • Reinventing Commercial Corridors (2013) 
  • Riverfront Development & Citizen Advocacy (2014) 

Emergency Management 

  • Preparing Your Community (2018) 

Environment & Green Spaces

  • Clean and Green (2017) 
  • Climate Change Preparedness (2015) 
  • Community Leadership in Climate Resilience (2020) 
  • Greening Philadelphia & Greenworks on the Ground (2011)
  • Greening Philadelphia through Better Design (2012) 
  • Parkland Stewardship & Green Infrastructure (2014) 
  • Philly Parks and You (2018) 
  • Urban Green Spaces (2015) 

Health 

  • Healthy Communities & Environmental Justice (2011) 
  • Healthy Communities & Green Streets (2014) 
  • Reducing Risk in Philadelphia (2021) 

Housing

  • Affordable Housing (2018) 
  • Neighborhood Construction (2021) 

Investment 

  • Investing in Our Future – the Capital Program (2013) 
  • Leveraging City Funds (2013) 

Land Use

  • Accessing Vacant Land (2021) 
  • The Land Bank & Community Access (2015) 
  • Vacant Land & Community Land Access (2013) 
  • Vacant Land Policy and Interventions (2012) 

Litter

  • Let’s Talk Trash (2021) 
  • Reducing Litter (2019) 

Organization Management 

  • Diversifying your Organization (2017) 
  • Making Your Organization More Effective (2012) 
  • Strengthening Your Organization (2013) 

Preservation

  • Conserving Community Character (2014) 
  • Historic and Cultural Resources (2021) 
  • Preserving Historic Resources (2016) 
  • Preserving a Sense of Place in Neighborhoods (2011) 

Transportation

  • Safe Streets & Vision Zero (2018) 
  • TOD’s & the Role of Public Transit (2011) 

Urban Design

  • Community Safety through Design (2015) 
  • Creative Placemaking (2015) 
  • Designing Places for Everyone (2019) 
  • Public Spaces for People (2016) 
  • Urban Design Principles (2012) 

Zoning 

  • L&I and Zoning Committee Best Practices (2013) 
  • The New Zoning Code (2012) 
  • Zoning 2.0 (2019)