Civic Leaders Reflect on the Past, Present, and Future of Philadelphia and Other U.S. Cities
Following the release of Pew’s ‘State of the City’ report on Philadelphia, panelists explore reasons for optimism—as well as ongoing challenges
In Philadelphia and other major cities across the United States, falling violent crime rates, investments in infrastructure, and the expansion of social programs are among the promising trends that have taken hold in recent years—but vulnerabilities remain if urban centers are unable to maintain that progress.
Those themes emerged at a gathering of 150 civic leaders hosted by The Pew Charitable Trusts at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on April 28. The event—a conversation about cities’ gains, as well as their ongoing challenges—featured two panels, one focused on Philadelphia and the other on urban America more broadly. Pew’s annual “State of the City” report on Philadelphia, which was released a week earlier, provided a frame for the discussion.
Susan K. Urahn, Pew’s president and chief executive officer, noted the encouraging findings contained in the report: Philadelphia’s poverty rate has fallen below 20% for the first time since 1979; the city’s 2025 homicide total was the lowest in six decades; and median household incomes have been rising. However, unemployment was growing, and unintentional drug overdoses, although down markedly from their 2022 peak, remained at historically high levels.
Economic mobility has been a particular area of focus for civic leaders in Philadelphia during recent years. In a panel discussion led by journalist Claudia Vargas, speakers explored strategies and proven techniques for creating jobs that offer paths to family-sustaining wages and benefits.
Nina Coffey, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union Local 668, called for expanding workforce development programs to give prospective employees “the skills for the jobs that are out there”; addressing lack of childcare, limited transit options, and other barriers to employment; and raising the state minimum wage.
Omar Tate, co-founder of Honeysuckle Restaurant and Honeysuckle Projects, a network of community spaces in Philadelphia centered on Black culture, called on employers to create roles for employees that position them for success and take full advantage of their talents.
Jane Golden, founder and executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia, spoke about the vital role that arts and culture play in providing opportunity. She added, however, that like other sectors of the local economy, the Philadelphia arts scene offers artists a good place to begin careers but has not yet developed the conditions necessary to sustain them.
The dramatic rise in homicides that Philadelphia and other major U.S. cities experienced at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—and the even steeper decline observed in the years since—both figured prominently in the local and national panel discussions.
Patrick Sharkey, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, said that Philadelphia represents “the most extreme version” of those fluctuations, with its number of homicides peaking at 562 in 2021 and falling to 222 in 2025. That drop, he said, gives Philadelphia the chance to become known as a major city that is “extraordinarily safe.” In recent years, Philadelphia has experienced the greatest percentage decline in homicides recorded in the 20 U.S. cities with the highest homicide rates.
Sharkey attributed the decline in homicides across major U.S. cities, in part, to the strengthening of city finances during the post-pandemic years, fueled by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Funds allocated by the act allowed cities to expand policing, social programs, and community violence intervention initiatives. If cities struggle financially in the future, he cautioned, homicides could rise again.
Golden made a related point, arguing that the drop in violence in Philadelphia is not a reason to cut back on programs that helped achieve that improvement. “You don’t stop watering the plant because the plant is growing,” she said.
Multiple panelists raised concerns about federal policies and their impact on cities. Rip Rapson—president and chief executive officer of The Kresge Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in the Detroit area—observed that funding sources and policies on which cities have relied for years have changed in significant ways. “We’re going to have to build and rebuild some of the most essential components of how we do community life,” he said.
At the conclusion of the event, the four participants of the national panel were invited to propose long-range policies that they thought might improve conditions in cities over the next two decades.
Nina Idemudia, chief executive officer of the Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago, called for long-term investment in Black and other minority leaders.
Mallory Baches, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Congress for the New Urbanism, urged an emphasis on action at the neighborhood level.
Sharkey spoke of the need to increase access to affordable housing and the importance of gun regulation. And Rapson expressed the hope that more mayors will find ways to collaborate across the public, private, community, civic, and philanthropic sectors to “problem smash” rather than expecting a single source of solutions for municipal challenges.
“We can look to the future knowing that we have reasons to be optimistic,” Donna Frisby-Greenwood, Pew’s senior vice president for Philadelphia and scientific advancement, said in closing. “But we must continue the work that lets our optimism come to fruition.”
Larry Eichel is a senior adviser for The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Philadelphia research and policy initiative.
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