We were lucky to catch up with Michael Frank recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michael , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The Philadelphia City Repair Project believe in creating and supporting environments that foster community, art, and ecology that are made by the people who live in them.

Why is this meaningful to us? The United States has the fewest number of outdoor gathering spaces in all first world nations and the highest rate of violence. Here in Philadelphia, like many cities in the US, we deal with a lack of community gathering spaces in our neighborhoods and communities. Too often Philadelphia is designed and shaped by developers who don’t keep community in mind as they invest here.

We believe the people who live in our city know what their neighborhoods and blocks need the most. Which is why we work with grassroots initiatives reclaiming public space through the lens of placemaking:
a multi-layered process where citizens foster active, engaged relationships with their neighborhoods and work together to make changes.

Philadelphia has 40,000 vacant lots across the city and many stewards of these spaces invest their own time and dollars to beautify abandoned, neglected properties. Our organization is able to support community groups and community leaders by providing resources, volunteer days, programming, and funding to help bring their visions to life or help maintain their visions.

Currently we support a network of 16 gardens across North, West, and SW Philly which are neighborhoods that have been historically marginalized in Philadelphia and under invested by the city. We believe all neighborhoods deserve access to public gathering spaces which often come in the form of green spaces (community gardens / neighborhood gardens). When neighborhoods have access to green spaces it creates safer and healthier communities. Neighborhoods that don’t have access to these suffer from isolation from their neighbors and our goal is to repair that sense of isolation by encouraging people to reclaim the land around them.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Our team is made up of two Co-Directors, Michael Frank (31 years old) and Mikhi Woods (29 years old) who are both Philadelphia natives. While interning with the original and still functioning City Repair Project during a college summer internship in Portland, Oregon back in 2015, I was incredibly inspired by the work I did and thought Philadelphia could truly benefit from something similar.

In December 2016 I founded and started an independent branch, the Philly City Repair Project after creating a school garden in West Philadelphia. Soon after I was able to fundraise money through live music fundraisers that led to our first urban placemaking festival, the Philly Village Building Convergence where we supported three different community beautification efforts. We made sure to take a listening first approach when it came to all beautification projects, where we put the community’s needs at the forefront rather then coming in with our own suggestions on what they should do. Beyond the projects we also had two days of celebrations at night with live music, speakers, workshops, and more!

Each year we quickly added more sites to our network of spaces we were supporting. Our 2nd festival featured six different projects, 3rd year ten projects, increasing the number of sites each year. This past May we had our 7th annual Philly Village Building Convergence where we invested over $9000 towards 14 different project sites.

In 2020 our organization officially became a 501(c)3 that enabled us to go after larger grant funding opportunities. Since our inception we have fundraised over $125,000 towards supporting public gathering spaces in Philadelphia. Over the years our projects have included building stages, pergolas, raised beds, pollinator gardens, signs, and so much more! We have a incredibly supportive Board of Directors that is made up of 10 millennials who give so much time and dedication towards our organization.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Michael met Mikhi while at a Philly City Repair Fundraiser Show in West Philly in fall of 2019. While there Mikhi was eager to learn more about what our organization does and how it functions. Around a year later, Mikhi came on staff as our Creative Director where he then transitioned to a Co-Director role with Michael in 2023.

Once Mikhi officially come onto the team at Philly City Repair Project it became a new phase for the organization. Mikhi’s strong project management skills and creative thinking helped bolster the organization and brought new energy into our work. Mikhi and Michael have been volunteering for the organization up until 2025 where they were able to first start paying themselves on a part-time basis. Both of us have full-time jobs as well and we run Philly City Repair Project in our free time.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Michael met Ockimey aka Ock the Wizard in 2017 through the Philly arts scene. The two quickly connected and collaborated to transform a vacant lot in West Philly into a community gathering space as a part of the 1st annual Philly Village Building Convergence.

Ock stayed connected with Michael over the years and the two continued to collaborate on programming and marketing support. When Philly City Repair Project became a 501(c)3 Ock joined the Board of Directors. He then became Vice-President of the Board a few years later. Ock the Wizard’s consistent support, creative marketing, and project management has truly elevated the Philly City Repair Project.

After recently receiving a $25,000 grant to improve tree health in Philadelphia, Ockimey joined our staff part-time along Michael and Mikhi.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://phillycityrepair.wordpress.com/
• Instagram: @phillycityrepairproject
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhillyCityRepair/

Image Credits

Rawbutmeaningful