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Authorizing the City Council Committee on Parks, Recreation, & Cultural Affairs and the City Council Committee on Education to hold joint hearings regarding the Fund for Children that was created through the City’s negotiations to authorize the construction of Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park.
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WHEREAS, The recently built Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park required substantial public financial support from the City and from the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, A group composed of youth advocates, City Council and the Mayor worked diligently to ensure that as a result of this strong public investment, that in addition to new sports facilities there would be something tangible for the youth of Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Phillies and the Philadelphia Eagles understood the needs of today’s young people and agreed to dedicate $1 million each for the next thirty years for youth programming; and
WHEREAS, Those monies generated by the sports teams are now housed under the auspices of the Philadelphia Foundation and the “Fund for Children”; and
WHEREAS, There has been some questions regarding the lack of public awareness of the RFP process; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Foundation has made the decision to allocate $1 million of the $2 million allocated annually into an endowment; and
WHEREAS, While endowments are a wise financial tool for ensuring the longevity of a fund, not using fifty percent (50%) of the annual distribution is a high figure given the needs of Philadelphia’s youth which now exist and given that the fund is already funded for the long term; and
WHEREAS, There is without doubt a great need for more arts programming, more athletic programming, more educational programming, and more leadership development programming for our young people today; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby strongly encourage the Philadelphia Foundation to revisit the decision to dedicate fifty percent (50%) of the annual allocation to the Fund for Children into an endowment and further recommend that the endowment be reduced or eliminated entirely; and
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City Council Committee on Parks, Recreation, & Cultural Affairs and the City Council Committee on Education are authorized to hold joint hearings regarding the Fund for Children that was created through the City’s negotiations to authorize the construction of Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park.
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