By Chris Barber
Contributing Writer

On May 14, the local non-profit organizations Kennett Collaborative and Square Roots Collective invited the public to take part in a project aimed at increasing the charm, vibrancy and attractiveness of the borough. They want ideas on how to improve the community and when the most popular one is selected, it will be funded to the tune of $100,000.

At an evening meeting in the Kennett Library, Square Roots Collective chief of staff Luke Zubrod led the meeting and outlined the rules of procedure to an audience of about 50 people in the library’s auditorium. He told them that everyone is invited to submit an idea on how to improve the community with a deadline for submissions of July 18.

In September, the ideas will be unveiled to the public for votes, and the winner will be announced at the end of 2025.

Funding will be provided by SRC and Chatham Financial, with each organization donating
$50,000 to support a project that will enhance the community.

He said the borough and partner organizations seek project ideas from the public, and anyone who lives or works in Kennett Square will have the opportunity to vote on which ideas to fund and execute.
According to a press release issued by Square Roots Collective, the process is the following:

“To ensure the best use of the funds, project ideas must meet certain guidelines. For example, the cost of the project must be less than or equal to the available funds of $100,000. Nonprofit capital projects are not eligible for consideration.

“Interested individuals can go online to kennettdecides.com,” the press release stated.

To clarify in the minds of the potential donors how significant their contributions might be,

Zubrod introduced Joseph Iacona, director of Philadelphia Mural Arts Institute, and Netanel Portier, senior director of Learning and Practice Mural Arts in Philadelphia, who oversees work on the Mural Arts Program.

They described the urban program of which they are a part.

The Mural Arts Program was started in 1984 by executive director Jane Golden and grew, ironically, out of the city’s Anti-Graffiti network. The two speakers described the city’s Mural Arts Program.

The speakers showed slides of some impressive works done in the manner of graffiti, which is mostly on buildings, but sometimes on vehicles like buses.

According to the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mural Arts Program “is considered the largest and most influential public arts program in the world” and over the course of its 41-year history, Mural Arts has created over 4,000 murals in Philadelphia while also using art as a means to heal, empower, and transform.

When asked how Golden recruited these individuals who ordinarily do not have access to museums and galleries, Iacona said Golden went as far as tracking down talented taggers, knocking on their doors and asking them to participate.

He said the process of inviting artists who ordinarily operated outside the law to be part of the greater city project involved soliciting ideas and compromises from both sides.

At the end of the presentations by Iacona and Portier, the audience members were directed to gather in groups and come up with some ideas on the spot and present them to those present to help them understand the process.

The kennettdecides.com website lists some of the ideas already submitted and used across the nation. These ideas include artistic bike racks, urban orchards, bike land extensions, accessible sidewalks for strollers and transforming public streets into “pop-up” pedestrian malls on the weekends.