Need in Deed

Students in Need In Deed classrooms around the city are making the curriculum come alive this year as they apply their learning to identify existing community assets, address real-world challenges and contribute to building the kinds of care-filled communities we all deserve. Adults take note! ♥️🏋🏿‍♀️✊🏽

Our January teacher reflection award went out ot Anna Taylor at E.M. Stanton Elementary School. Congratulations to her two classes!

We are so grateful for our ongoing partnership with Swarthmore College and the shared commitment to strengthening the craft of teaching.

This beautiful article highlights how collaboration between higher education and community-based organizations like Need in Deed helps educators grow, connect, and bring meaningful, real-world learning into classrooms. Together, we are supporting teachers in engaging students in inquiry, civic action, and deep academic learning rooted in their communities.

At Need in Deed, we believe students learn best when their voices and lived experiences shape the curriculum — and partnerships like this make that work even stronger.

Check out the story below and celebrate the power of partnership! Janet Chance Lisa Smulyan

A Shared Mission to Develop the Craft of Teaching It begins with a simple walk around the neighborhood. Each fall, school kids across Philadelphia venture out into their communities, looking critically at what they like and what they don’t.

✨ Calling all Philly teachers (and friends of teachers)!

Need in Deed is now recruiting 3rd–8th grade public school educators who want to deepen student learning, spark curiosity, and build strong classroom communities through civic engagement.

Tag a teacher who would be amazing in this program — or apply today using our interest form! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1koymnaXPMHUNriXf2sjq9eEirLqgX9QZ9qhQNYXERpM/viewform?edit_requested=true

SAVE THE DATE 🎉📣

Shout Out 2026 is coming!

Join us on May 12 & May 13 as we celebrate the incredible civic learning and action happening in Philadelphia public school classrooms.

At Shout Out, students take the mic to share the issues they researched, the solutions they explored, and the impact they’ve made in their communities. It’s joyful. It’s powerful. It’s youth voice in action.

If you’ve never experienced Shout Out before, this is your invitation.
If you’ve come before, you already know — you don’t want to miss it.

More details coming soon. For now… mark your calendars.

Educational Equity Forum panelist MeKia (Kia) Elizabeth is a community organizer, educator, and placemaker in southwest Germantown.

Kia's Background:

-Kia is the founding steward of Harmony Hill, a resident-planned park eco-village in Germantown.

-Her work centers around a pay-what-you-wish cafe where neighbors gather together.

-She is a co-chair for the Friends of Fernhill Park.

Kia sees neighborhoods as our most powerful educational institutions where we learn living in right relationship with ourselves, one another, and the land.

Learn more about Kia's work at our Educational Equity Forum on Monday, February 9.

REGISTER HERE: https://www.greenvelope.com/event/need-in-deeds-educational-equity-forum-embracing-community-wisdom

🎤 Educational Equity Forum Moderator

Councilmember-At-Large Kendra Brooks brings deep community roots and a justice-centered lens to her leadership.

Kendra's Background:
*Raised in Nicetown, North Philadelphia
*Worked with children with disabilities at Easter Seals for 17 years
*Advocate with Parents United for Public Education
Elected Councilmember-At-Large

“I’ve fought tirelessly for a more just Philadelphia that leaves no one behind...”

Join us at our Educational Equity Forum on Monday, February 9th.

REGISTER HERE: https://www.greenvelope.com/event/need-in-deeds-educational-equity-forum-embracing-community-wisdom