Understanding City Council
As the legislative branch of local government, Philadelphia City Council consists of 10 members who represent individual districts and seven at-large members who represent the entire city.
What Council Does
City Council has the power to make laws that impact everything from healthcare access and housing to street maintenance and public safety. This includes the responsibility to review and approve the city’s more than $5 billion budget.
How It Impacts Philadelphians
Council districts matter for Philadelphians in determining who has voice in the political process and their ability to press Council members to address local issues. Communities that are split across districts may have their representation and power diluted.
Understanding Redistricting
With the release of U.S. Census data on August 12, 2021, Philadelphia City Council had six months to redraw the boundaries for its 10 district seats. According to the Census, the population of Philadelphia was a little over 1.6 million, meaning that there should be roughly 160,000 residents per district. But population equality isn’t the only important factor. Many communities are well served by being kept whole within a district, having one elected official to represent them and attend to local issues.
Especially because redistricting has been rife with political abuse in the past, leading to crooked boundaries that fracture communities, it was essential that residents across the city can engage directly with the map-making process and City Council members to ensure public and community factors are prioritized in the next Council map.
Seventy and its partners were successful in minimizing the number of potential communities needlessly split by boundaries and convinced City Council to count prisoners in their home districts for the purposes of redistricting, the first time this practice has ever been followed.
You Should Know
The final map with revised figures counting some prisoners in their home districts was approved on February 10, 2023. This map was used for the 2023 Council elections and went into full effect when new Council members took office in January 2024.
The Current Council Map
City Council enacted the most recent mapping bill (Bill No. 220003) on February 10, 2022, that will be used for elections in 2023, 2027 and 2031. Use this online version of the proposed map to see how it may affect your area or part of the city. There are several overarching concerns with this map:
- A closed, rushed process: After nearly 90 organizations endorsed a Redistricting Roadmap of suggested steps to involve the public, this map was negotiated entirely behind closed doors and rushed to the finish line under the direction of Council President Darrell Clarke.
- Split communities: The proposed map isn’t dramatically different from the previous map, but numerous community splits identified in this Preliminary Report on Public Input and Priorities haven’t been addressed while several new ones were created. Communities split by multiple districts may have more difficulty being heard by elected officials.
- Prison gerrymandering: The proposed map continues the practice of counting Philadelphians in city and state-prisons at the location of the prison instead of counting them at their home or last-known address. In the city, this shifts voting power from these people’s home communities to the areas where the correctional facilities are located.
Community Engagement and Findings
A public outreach and engagement campaign from September to December 2021 culiminated in a Preliminary Report on Public Input and Priorities that included summary findings from 12 redistricting workshops, 12 community input meetings, and 150+ submissions to an online survey. Find resources from this campaign and anonymized survey responses in this folder. Recordings from the community meetings are below.
Seventy and its partners also distributed this resource toolkit to empower residents and communities across the city to engage in the process and influence the shape of the districts in which they’ll be represented in City Hall.
| General Area and Boundaries | Dates, Times and Registration |
|---|---|
| Logan, Olney (Districts 8, 9) | Mon, November 8 at 6 PM – See Video |
| West Philly (Districts 3, 4) | Mon, November 22 at 6 PM – See Video |
| Allegheny West, Hunting Park, Nicetown, Tioga (Districts 4, 5, 7, 8) | Wed, December 1 at 6 PM – See Video |
| Kensington, Port Richmond (Districts 1, 6, 7) | Tue, December 7 at 6 PM – See Video |
| Near Northeast (Districts 6, 7, 9) | Thur, December 9 at 6 PM – See Video |
| Southwest (Districts 2, 3) | Sat, December 11 at 11:30 AM – See Video |
| Fishtown, Northern Liberties (Districts 1, 5) | Mon, December 13 at 6 PM – See Video |
| Eastern North (Districts 5, 7) | Wed, December 15 at 6 PM – See Video |
| Northwest (Districts 4, 8, 9) | Thur, December 16 at 6 PM – See Video |
| South Philly (Districts 1, 2) | Sat, December 18 at 11:30 AM – See Video |
| Center City (Districts 1, 2, 5) | Mon, December 20 at 6 PM – See Video |
| Far Northeast (Districts 6, 10) | Tue, December 21 at 6 PM – See Video |
| Language | Redistricting Resource |
|---|---|
| English | Presentation | Handout | Survey |
| Spanish | Video | Presentation | Handout | Survey |
| Chinese | Presentation | Handout | Survey |