By Philadelphians, for Philadelphians: FY23 budget proposal and five year plan

Over the past two years, the City, along with all of our partner organizations across the region, stepped up to provide unprecedented support for our people in a time of great need.

Philadelphia’s FY23 Budget and Five Year Plan build on all of these efforts so that Philadelphians in every neighborhood can benefit from a strong, inclusive recovery.

A budget by Philadelphians, for Philadelphians

As we prepared this year’s budget proposal, the City held the most comprehensive public engagement process ever regarding City spending.

We held over 20 community engagement sessions with more than 500 residents and City employees. Residents, business owners, non-profits, arts and culture organizations, and frontline City employees participated in our engagement sessions, offering insight into Philadelphia’s needs and vision for our city, which we used to create our FY23 budget.

Building off of that input, over the next five years, this budget plan will move Philadelphia forward by:

• Enhancing core services that people depend on.
• Accelerating inclusive economic growth across the city.
• Maintaining the City’s long-term fiscal health.
• Continuing to reduce racial disparities so that race is not a determinant of success and wellbeing for every single person that calls Philadelphia home.

An integral part of our Five Year Plan is the roughly $1.4 billion the City is receiving from the American Rescue Plan (ARP). This one-time federal relief helps ease the effects of projected revenue declines stemming from the pandemic.

Below are some highlights from the FY23 budget proposal and the Five Year Plan.

School District of Philadelphia

Mayor Kenney is building on the historic commitments to public education that he has made over his two terms by investing nearly $1.4 billion over the life of the FY23-27 Five Year Plan in the School District of Philadelphia, in addition to local tax revenues that support the District. FY23 includes $270 million in funding for the School District of Philadelphia. This funding is in addition to $1.3 billion the School District received from the American Rescue Plan, providing critical relief and fiscal stability.

Community College of Philadelphia and Catto Scholarship

We’ll also invest more than $50 million in the Community College of Philadelphia this year, with $10.8 million dedicated to the Octavius Catto Scholarship. This program enables first-time students to attend college tuition-free, and with the supports they need like food, books, and transportation stipends to successfully earn their degree. Today, over 500 students have enrolled through this opportunity.

Free quality pre-K and Community Schools

We’ll continue the expansion of the PHLpreK program and Community Schools, supported by revenue from the Philadelphia Beverage Tax. Since launching in 2017 PHLpreK has benefited more than 10,000 children and counting. We propose 300 new slots to be funded this year, for a total of 4,300 slots, providing free and high-quality early learning services that lay a critical foundation for children and families.

Three new Community Schools in FY23 will bring the total number to 20 schools that provide community-based wraparound supports that serve a wide range of needs for students, families, and communities.

Free Library

Libraries are essential community assets offering information, connection, and educational programs to all residents, and this plan adds $48 million over five years to our investment in the Free Library, bringing the total five-year investment to $285 million.

Digital equity

The City worked with a number of partners to launch PHLConnectED — a program that has provided over 21,000 free internet connections for student households. We’ll continue to build on the success of the PHLConnectED initiative. Earlier this year, we released a 5-year Digital Equity Plan, which lays out our core strategies to build on our successes and further improve access and affordability of broadband internet and devices.

Keeping residents safe

This Plan makes critical investments in the Roadmap to Safer Communities, the City’s violence prevention plan. With the full set of violence prevention investments — including long-term investments—we’re directing more than $184 million dollars to help make our communities safer and reduce violence, an 18.5 percent increase over FY22. Some of these investments include:

• $6 million to expand evidence-based programs that target those most at risk of being a victim or a perpetrator of gun violence and provide connections to services, treatment, and employment. This includes investments in the Group Violence Intervention program, the Community Crisis Intervention Program, new behavioral health supports, and the implementation of a local version of READI (Rapid Employment and Development Initiative) that will help decrease shootings among those at highest risk of gun violence.
• An additional $12 million for the Anti-Violence Community Partnership Grants (including Targeted Community Investment Grants and Community Expansion Grants), which directly funds and supports community-based organizations that are focused on reducing violence through trauma-informed healing and restorative practices in the neighborhoods most affected by violence. Our total investment in this program alone has been more than $32 million over the last two years.
• More than $3 million to enhance the Police Department’s ability to solve violent crime and modernize police tools with forensic upgrades and policy mobility, which will facilitate the use of enhanced forensic analysis in every homicide.
• $1.5 million to support community engagement, planning, and improved data analytics to ensure anti-violence programs are reaching those who need it most, and service connections are successful.
• $800,000 for violence prevention programs and supports focused on delinquent youth within the Juvenile Justice system including restorative justice programming and $1.5 million for two additional Community Evening Resource Centers for a total of four Centers operating from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. to support Philadelphia youth who are out after a curfew.

These are just a few of our violence prevention investments. Take a deeper look at our plans and investments to make Philadelphia safer and more just.