Over the last three years, we’ve recognized some 350 young Philadelphians for their contributions to the city in their respective fields. And we think they’ve got some pretty great New Year’s resolutions that go beyond hitting the gym more or kicking a bad habit.
Instead, Billy Penn — for the second year in a row — asked our Who’s Next honorees what their resolutions are for the city. Their answers ranged from getting serious about criminal justice reform to improving public education to just avoiding seeing yet another public official indicted on corruption charges. Here are 23 New Years resolutions from some of Philly’s top under-40 leaders:
1. Melissa Alam
Title: Founder, Femme & Fortune/ Fearless Conference
Who’s Next List: Startup leaders, 2015
Resolution: My goal for 2017 is to create more jobs, especially for women here in Philadelphia! I’m hoping to take my business to the next level and hire a small team starting in the spring.
2. Andrew Bull
Title: Law Clerk at Haines & Associates
Who’s Next List: Politics, 2016
Resolution: My New Year’s resolution is to focus on making the local public schools in Philadelphia a better and safer place for children to obtain an education. As a community, Philadelphia residents should seek to create an environment where families want their kids to attend the local community school. Instead of having to ride a bus for 30 minutes just to get a better education, students should be able to access the best possible opportunities within their own community. This starts with community involvement. Volunteers from all walks of life (regardless of their connection to the school) should come out and help in any way they can. Whether it’s showing up for a community clean-up day or volunteering to tutor younger children in the afternoon, any contribution not only helps create a better environment, it also strengthens the relationship between the school and local residents. As a city we must focus on making our education system better, and it starts with our schools.
3. Miriam Enriquez
Title: Director of Philadelphia Office of Immigrant Affairs
Who’s Next List: Law, 2016
Resolution: Continue to work to reaffirm Philadelphia’s commitment to being an inclusive and welcoming city to all. All our friends, neighbors, colleagues, and families, whether they are an immigrant or not, should feel safe and welcome when they need services or interact with the city in any other ways.
4. Kylie Flett
Title: Director of PR and Strategy at PUNCH Media
Who’s Next List: Communications
Resolution: As a PR/marketing professional and ambassador for many small businesses, my resolution for the city is to increase support and resources for start-ups and small business enterprises. Simultaneously, my hope is that we can create a culture where we both value and encourage the growth of Philadelphia-born businesses across a variety of sectors in 2017.
5. Stephen R. Flemming
Title: Fifth Grade English/ Language Arts Teacher
Who’s Next List: Education, 2015
Resolution: I resolve to bring increased awareness to the beautification and cleanliness of our public school buildings. Students, staff, parents, and our schools’ communities deserve clean, safe, and welcoming school buildings.
6. Michael Galvan
Title: Policy Director, Mayor’s Office of Education
Who’s Next List: Education, 2016
Resolution: I want this city to remain the place of love, acceptance, support, and inclusion that I have come to call home. After moving here from out of state two years ago, I am still in awe daily by the wonderful community members in every neighborhood in Philadelphia.
7. Jon Geeting
Title: Director of Engagement, Philadelphia 3.0
Who’s Next List: Politics, 2014
Resolution: I hope that in 2017, we’ll see City officials begin to take the epidemic of pedestrian injuries and fatalities seriously. In 2014, 1,548 people were injured by drivers in Philadelphia — about 500 more than were shot. Almost 400 of those injured pedestrians were children under 15 years old. We rightly pay a lot of attention to gun violence, but the impact of automobiles is every bit as grim. I hope that the Kenney administration and members of City Council will remain firmly committed to Vision Zero — Mayor Kenney’s initiative to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2020 — even when individual street design changes prove politically unpopular (as they inevitably will) or when hard conversations about culture change in the Police Department are required (fewer police vehicles parked in bike lanes, and more illegal parking enforcement.) It is time for the City to stop acting as if this routine and depressingly predictable form of violence on our neighborhood streets is just the cost of doing business and make the hard choices that will stop these tragedies.
8. Noah Goodman
Title: Associate, Ballard Spahr
Who’s Next List: Law, 2016
Resolution: The City should invest in innovative programs to help children develop personally and academically through sport and exercise. Students Run Philly Style and Philadelphia Youth Basketball are wonderful success stories. The City and its civic leaders should continue to use its resources to use sport as a tool for growth.
9. Kevin Harden, Jr.
Title: Trial attorney at Eckert Seamans
Who’s Next List: Law, 2015
Resolution: In 2017, Philadelphia should make serious traditional and non-traditional investments in its young people. Its status as a millennial hub, our public school’s crisis, the passage of the sweetened beverage tax, and numerous other factors suggest the City is in a great position to support the ideas, businesses, and needs of the city’s richly diverse younger generation. From loans for start-up companies to programs like the Maryland Mortgage Program that provides young people with student loan credits when they buy a home, Philly needs to take the lead on putting its money where its youth are.
10. Samar Jha
Title: Director of Government and Public Affairs, Greater Philadelphia Association of Realtors
Who’s Next List: Law, 2016
Resolution: As an avid biker, I would want Philadelphia’s Vision Zero plan to be implemented and thrive. In my work, I’d resolve to create more plans and policies for more affordable housing in Philadelphia.
11. Eli Klein
Title: Judicial Law Clerk, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Who’s Next List: Law, 2016
Resolution: Build on the City’s momentum from this past year to foster cross-disciplinary coalitions designed to stem the brain drain, address the development of community schools, and curb violence in the City.
12. Erin Lamb
Title: Associate, Rawle & Henderson LLP
Who’s Next List: Law, 2015
Resolution: My resolution is to keep pushing individual Philadelphians, especially those with special skills, like attorneys, to use those skills to help out other individual citizens — whether it be through becoming trained in performing expungements, guiding citizens through the mortgage foreclosure reconciliation program, or drafting wills for senior citizens. We get caught up in the big picture sometimes, and the big picture is important, but the little pixels that make up that picture start right here at home.
13. Jen Leary
Title: Founder, Red Paw Emergency Relief Team
Who’s Next List: Givers
Resolution: That no family in Philly loses their pets due to a fire or disaster in their home.
14. Marion Leary
Title: Director of Innovation Research for the Center for Resuscitation Science at the University of Pennsylvania
Who’s Next List: Givers
Resolution: I will not just stand up for equality and justice for all, but I will act when I see discrimination and hate taking place. I will not stand by and be just a social media activist — though I will be one too! I will protest, I will march, I will write, I will call, I will donate, and I will act! I will continue to fight for the rights of everyone in this country — and around the world — who are marginalized and discriminated against. I will continue to embrace the diversity and struggles that make us all individually human, and I will help others do the same.
15. Bryan Leib
Title: Leasing Specialist at Campus Apartments
Who’s Next List: Politics, 2015
Resolution: My resolution for 2017 is to support anything and anyone that gets Millennials engaged and involved in the political process. We need to increase voter turnout numbers if we are ever going to be in a position to elect our own fellow Millennials to local, state and federal office.
16. Nicodemus Madehdou
Title: CEO at Jumpbutton Studio
Who’s Next List: STEM, 2015
Resolution: While the election might have really thrown a lot of people off their game and hopes for the future, I intend to continue pushing forward with my team to develop solutions and provide services that can lead to creating an impact. Our focus on Education will be through our animated series Curiosity180 — Lets Talk About It on YouTube as well as a plan to take that to a completely new level. We hope to add a new tool to the life of patients and healthcare professionals to innovate how we remember our memories in life through an application called ME.mory. We hope to change the way individuals currently find parking and are able to park starting in Philadelphia through an application called ParkQ. We hope to change the way young adults, kids and teens are able to play sports around their neighborhood and lastly, we hope to educate and make known the seriousness of child abuse and neglect through our big game that is in development known as Keeper And The Soldier.
17. Jasmine Rivera
Title: Targeting and Data Manager at PA State Voices
Who’s Next List: Community leaders, 2016
Resolution: There’s so much I’d love to see happen, but right now my main focus is immigration. I would love to see Philadelphia update the ICE holds policy (that makes Philly a Sanctuary/4th Amendment city) to bar the physical presence of ICE agents from municipal buildings and cease database sharing with ICE by ending the Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS) program. The latter will be voted on by Mayor Kenney, District Attorney Williams and Judge Neifield this August, hopeful they’ll all vote no to renew the contract. I’d also love to see Columbus Day turned into National Indigenous People’s Day.
18. Jasmine E. Sessoms
Title: Founder, She Can Win
Who’s Next List: Community leaders, 2016
Resolution: To continue to identify, support and provide resources for all women who are interested in civic leadership. I am resolved to assist women WOMANUP!
19. Steven Silver
Title: Attorney at McBreen & Kopko
Who’s Next List: Law, 2015
Resolution: Let’s try to go one year without an elected official being indicted on criminal charges.
20. Ben Stango
Title: JD/MBA candidate at University of Pennsylvania
Who’s Next List: Politics, 2014
Resolution: My resolution would be the need for the city to create closer bonds between our communities and police, while also reforming our criminal justice system to protect our most vulnerable. In the face of the threats posed by the Trump Administration, we must do everything we can to make Philly safe for all of our residents.
21. Megan Storm
Title: Restaurant, Wine and Business Consultant
Who’s Next List: Food, 2015
Resolution: Philly is known as one of the best “food cities” in America. But as the critics are searching for the next great place to eat, I want to know what will continue to define us as a great food city in the years to come. This year, my resolution for Philly is to keep finding ways that food can help build sustainable, local economies and healthy communities. Multiple organizations (such as the Philadelphia Office of Sustainability, NKCDC, The Food Trust, SBN) and businesses (like The Common Market, Kensington Quarters, and KCFC) have made real progress towards narrowing the economic gap and ensuring food security. There is still a great deal that can be accomplished in all of our neighborhoods regardless of status. Reconnecting with our food and each other while growing from foodies to “food citizens” — as author Anthony Flaccavento puts it — will make Philadelphia an even greater food city in 2017.
22. Jennifer Totora
Title: Manager of STEM Education and On-Water Programs at Independence Seaport Museum
Who’s Next List: STEM, 2015
Resolution: Creating more opportunities for on-water programming for underserved communities. By bringing attention to our waterways through direct contact and fun experiences, we show the local citizens of Philadelphia that the Delaware River and its tributaries are healthy, usable, important, and worth protecting.
23. Brian Walker
Title: Musician and frontman, A Day Without Love
Who’s Next List: Music, 2015
Resolution: To greatly reduce the drug and alcohol epidemic affecting our communities.
