The Good Neighbor Initiative continues to help build connections in both the Temple and North Philadelphia communities.

Charlotte Savage carries a bucket to a large sidewalk planter bursting with beautiful roses on her North Philadelphia block, generously watering the flowers. Planted several years ago, the roses continue to brighten the neighborhood.

“They take a lot of care, a lot of nurturing, but look at them. They’re happy,” Savage said.

In many ways, Savage cares for her neighbors, including many Temple students, the same way.

“I make it a point to welcome them in a motherly way and introduce myself right away,” Savage said. “I’ll ask, ‘Is there something I can do to help you?’ And you know what? That’s my foot in the door.”

For more than 35 years, she has lived on the 1500 block of N. Page Street, just off campus. Over the years, she has developed a close relationship with Temple students who live nearby, welcoming them when they move in, answering questions and encouraging them to take pride in the neighborhood they now call home.

“We want everyone, whether they’re a longtime resident or a student new to the neighborhood, to enjoy a clean, welcoming community that we can all take pride in,” she said. 

“I love it, because I just think it makes the neighborhood so much nicer,” said Gabriella Batista, CST '27, who has gotten to know Savage, her neighbor, over the last year.  
“Miss Charlotte really cares about the block and about us,” Batista said.  "And it is a mutual feeling.”

Fifteen years of knocking on doors

The friendly connections on Page Street are exactly the kind that Temple’s Good Neighbor Initiative has been working to foster for 15 years, said Leah Paulson Dunmire, associate director of Student Advocacy in the Division of Student Affairs.

“The most important part of the Good Neighbor Initiative is building positive relationships,” she said. “We can talk about policies and expectations, and those are important. But having friendly, neighborly conversations are just as impactful.”

Nu’Rodney Prad, the senior director of student engagement in the office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership and a founding member of the Good Neighbor Initiative, said as it celebrates its 15th anniversary, it has evolved since it originally began in 2011.  

“It started out as a few people,” he said. Today, there are representatives from about a dozen university offices that are working together.”

Prad also said the initiative started as a project to work on fixing individual problems. Now, the foundation of it is about building connections.  

“There have been major improvements involving the relationships between the university, our students and our longtime neighbors. How we treat one another and connect with each other makes a real difference,” he said.

Much of that work happens on foot and face to face.  

Prad joined Paulson Dunmire and a group of others in a recent door-knocking event as part of the Good Neighbor Initiative. They handed out safety resources and good neighbor tips to students and spoke with neighbors to build bonds.  

“When we knock on doors, we open lines of communication and show neighbors and students that we care about their well-being,” Prad said.

Incoming students complete a pre-orientation module, and parents and families receive their own materials. The initiative also supports TU Move, a program that has collected more than 700 tons of trash since it launched in 2023.

“Being a good neighbor sometimes means keeping the noise down or getting the recycling out on the right day,” Paulson Dunmire said. “Sometimes it just means saying hello to the person next door.” 

Connections at Temple

Jodi Bailey Accavallo, Vice President of the Division of Student Affairs, said the Good Neighbor Initiative is about making sure students feel supported and understand their role as neighbors in our shared North Philadelphia community.

“Part of that means creating an environment where students don’t view themselves as temporary visitors, but as active, invested members of the community,” she said.

For example, when a neighbor recently noticed that one of the large sidewalk planters on Savage’s block had slipped off its base, they informed a Temple police officer who was walking the street on foot patrol. Officers contacted Temple Facilities, whose team stepped in to lift the heavy planter back into place.

“Our goal is to work together to improve the community,” she said. “We want to keep growing, listening, and finding new ways to engage with our North Philadelphia neighbors,” Bailey Accavallo said.  

Andrea Swan, Temple’s director of community engagement, credits Student Affairs with “leading the charge,” alongside students who regularly ask how they can support North Central Philadelphia.  

A regular event Swan enjoys participating in are the block cleanups, where students and neighbors work shoulder to shoulder. 

“Statistics show that if a neighborhood is cleaner, it is safer,” she said.  

A memorable moment for Swan was when a longtime resident of 1800 Bouvier Street made sandwiches for the student volunteers as a thank-you.

"Our neighbors want to get to know us and want to know how to reach out to us, whether for support or to address a problem or to just say, ‘thanks,’” she said.  

Public safety as a key component  

Denise Wilhelm, Temple’s chief of police and vice president for public safety, said it’s important Temple police officers continue to patrol in the community and to learn neighbors by name.  

“Temple Police is more than law enforcers. We’re community builders,” she said.  

Temple Police Captain Enoch McCoy, a longtime member of The Good Neighbor Initiative, recently took part in a townhall with neighbors to address concerns.

“We care about our neighbors and their safety. When it comes to protecting North Philadelphia, we make no distinction between students and neighbors. We’re here for everyone,” McCoy said. 

McCoy invites anyone from the Temple community to join the initiative.  

“There’s a lot of laughs, a lot of camaraderie,” he said.  

Looking ahead

Back on her block, Savage knows the roses don’t look after themselves, and neither does a neighborhood.  

“It’s by effort,” she said.  

Her idea of being a good neighbor means saying good morning, making sure the block is clean and introducing herself to someone new.

“A block only stays healthy when everyone pitches in,” she said.