Riverfront North Partnership

Strategic Purpose 2020 to 2024
Riverfront North Partnership’s will focus on connecting people back to their river. Together, we will achieve a vision for a resilient and sustainable greenway, with safe and welcoming access to the Delaware River for our increasingly diverse community. Our vision relies on five overarching goals.

Mission: To complete and sustain the riverfront trail and network of parks along the Delaware River that connects residents of urban neighborhoods to nature, offering unparalleled recreational, community building, and environmental education activities.

Goal 1: COMPLETE AND CONNECT the greenway
Goal 2: STEWARD our riverfront to the highest standards
Goal 3: ENGAGE a growing community in nature-based activities
Goal 4: PROMOTE the greenway as a destination
Goal 5: STRENGTHEN our resources and capacity

STRATEGIES
Goal 1: COMPLETE AND CONNECT the greenway
• Create sustainable trail and park infrastructure with the City of Philadelphia.
• Connect adjacent neighborhoods to the greenway and river.
• Restore the health of our waterways, living shorelines, and coastal plain forests.

Goal 2: STEWARD our riverfront to the highest standards
• Advance healthy and functional landscapes through best practices in management.
• Welcome park users with well-maintained facilities and trails.
• Foster diverse habitats and ecology on the Delaware River shoreline.

Goal 3: ENGAGE a growing community in nature-based activities
• Cultivate partnerships that increase access to a welcoming and vibrant riverfront.
• Grow with our community to activate the greenway for recreation and natural discovery.
• Attract volunteers of all ages to learn about and care for their environment.

Goal 4: PROMOTE the greenway as a destination
• Increase our visibility through networks and partnerships.
• Raise awareness of our greenway as an environmental resource and economic asset
• Assess our impact in our neighborhoods and environment.


Goal 5: STRENGTHEN our resources and capacity
• Represent and include the diverse communities that access the greenway.
• Expand network of supporters, friends, and volunteers to sustain the greenway.
• Support organizational systems to align with increased stewardship and engagement.
• Ensure that we have diverse and robust financial resources to achieve our mission.

We understand that healthy outdoor recreation starts with a fun, customized experience. We tailor each outdoor program and volunteer event to our audience and partners. This approach has grown our constituent base exponentially in just several years, raising our visibility as a green resource in Northeast Philadelphia.

We can do this because we are a small, agile organization with a culture of collaboration. We know that activating 11 miles of trail with 8 parks requires more than our own efforts. It will take the dedication of a community of volunteers and partners. Because of this, RNP is building and activating these spaces with – and not just for – the people who will be using it. The greenway’s sustainability depends entirely on our ability to connect people with nature and each other in our shared spaces. And we are making great strides – in 2018 we logged over 5,000 volunteer hours from a dozen partner organizations.

To facilitate that connection, we include an environmental education component in every volunteer day and event. For example, we explain why the Delaware River watershed is an essential habitat to waterfowl as volunteers build goose enclosures along the shoreline. We point out the beaver lodge at Pennypack on the Delaware as volunteers clear our tidal wetlands of debris. We discuss how the invasive Japanese hops came to America and the importance of planting understory trees in reclaiming an industrial shoreline. These factors make us different to our partners and, consequently, we are developing the long-term relationships that we seek.

The stewardship program achieves our mission to complete and sustain the riverfront trail and network of parks along the Delaware River and connect residents of urban neighborhoods to nature. We are leading the effort in partnership with the City of Philadelphia to assure the completed greenway is an essential resource for healthy outdoor recreation and community connections. When completed, the trail will be a key connection in the East Coast Greenway, the trail that runs from Maine to Florida.

As we animate these spaces through events, volunteerism, and environmental learning, we are bringing our neighbors back to their river. We are creating a community that is not only using their greenway for recreation, but is also actively helping us to create and maintain these spaces for themselves and each other.

The stewardship program is also informing Riverfront North’s vision for a sustainable greenway. Our nonprofit peers, civic partners, volunteer groups, and school leaders have been working side-by-side with us as we undergo design for specific trail segments and park, and they have been directly involved in a new master site planning process launched in March 2018.

Our success in community engagement is increasing our visibility with public and private funders. The trail will be complete in five years, and we are diversifying our base of support as we transition to an organization that engages and stewards the greenway.