The Germantown area of Philadelphia is one of Philadelphia's oldest settlements. It was originally settled by Mennonite and Quaker German-speaking immigrants from Holland, Germany and Switzerland attracted to Philadelphia by William Penn' promises of religious tolerance.  Germantown is a community of neighborhoods, well known for its community involvement.  According to the U.S. Census 2000, Germantown's population is 50, 614.  The majority of Germantown rests within the 19144 zip code.  A diverse and progressive community, it is just six miles northwest of Center City Philadelphia.

Germantown like many communities contains smaller neighborhood segments, and historically, community groups have formed to serve local needs.  Areas of focus for each local neighborhood group may include public safety, housing, education, jobs and training, urban agriculture, conservation, history, preservation, open spaces, arts and culture, youth or the elderly within their neighborhood boundaries.  This, however, is unlike neighboring communities which are served by one or two large, geopgraphically comprehensive community organizations to garner more collaboration, coordination,power, and resources to work together to address issues affecting their community.

According to recent research, comprehensive community coalitions have significant impact on quality of life and community change.  They provide opportunity to work with whole communities increasing community engagement and empowerment, promoting diversity, community building and sustainability, and influencing public policy.  In Germantown, we are working to build a comprehensive community based organization to increase communications among neighborhood civic groups through connection and collaboration with an organization of organizations approachand, a perspective that there is great promise and success for larger community organizations as powerful interventions for change.  Germantown is working to organize the community into one large group to address issues that affect the entire community and to attract resources for public and private investment.

Germantown Community Connection (GCC) is a new community based 501 (c) (3) organization representing households, community organizations and institutions.  GCC connects organizations as a bridge and seeks to be a voice that speaks the collective will of Germantown's people as expressed through their neighborhood civic and community development groups to the "powers that be." 

Communities working together - planning, educating and participating - are a powerful intervention for change and improving the quality of life. Germantown, operating through technology, print and one-to-one contact is coordinating and planning together to bring expertise and caring to addressing common ground issues affecting our community and promote the wealth of amenities in Germantown.

For more information on Germantown Community Connection and, local civic associations and community development groups -  Click here