How to make Philadelphia even better, one idea at a time
EDITOR'S note: The Daily News and Philly.com are launching One Great Idea, a 45-week project to inspire Philadelphians to suggest great ideas for their city and region.
EDITOR'S note: The
Daily News
and Philly.com are launching One Great Idea, a 45-week project to inspire Philadelphians to suggest great ideas for their city and region.
We're asking the people of our region - well-known and less-known - to tell us their single great idea to change Philadelphia. These video interviews will run on Philly.com each Tuesday and Wednesdays in our editorial pages. They started yesterday (fitting, since it was 1/11/11) and will run until Nov. 11 (11/11/11).
We want to know what you think. Comment online (and vote on this idea) at www.philly.com/OneGreatIdea, or by e-mailing us at views@phillynews.com.
Do you have your own great idea for
Philadelphia? Let us know by e-mailing OneGreatIdea@philly.com.
MAYOR MICHAEL NUTTER
His One Great Idea: Become a graduation coach.
"Philly's kind of a tough, hardworking town. We love our Rocky reputation. But the fact of the matter is, in 21st century Philadelphia, there are fewer and fewer jobs for Rocky. And so rather than worrying about hitting the punching bag, what our kids really need to be doing is hitting the books, and getting on with their college educations.
"So how do we make sure that young people go through school, graduate from high school, go on to college, and have a coach in their life to help them along?
"My one great idea is that people participate in our graduation-coach campaign. This is a campaign to help young people stay focused on their studies, stay actively engaged in their work and make sure they graduate from high school and go on to college.
"I think the person, the coach, what they get - they see the benefit of their work right in front of them. It lights up the eyes of that young person. They watch them from middle school into high school and on to college.
"Can you imagine what the feeling is like when you go to that high-school graduation and then four years later see them graduating from college?
That feeling, you can't replicate it. If we invest in education, and, more importantly, invest in our young people, it solves a whole host of problems - and makes Philadelphia the great city we want it to be."
NEXT WEEK: What to do with an unemployed lawyer.