This month, we're excited to speak with Cynthia Estremera, the Community Engagement Liaison for Best for PHL. Best for PHL, an initiative of Impact PHL, seeks to improve our region by educating the business community on how they can make a social impact. Best for PHL assists these businesses as they identify how they may be able to help address regional, social, and/or environmental problems. Hear how their organization is committing to making Philadelphia a better place!

What makes Best for PHL unique in Philadelphia’s business community?
We’re a new and exciting program seeking to increase the amount of businesses in the Philadelphia region who are thinking about their impact. Our goal is to create an awareness and empower businesses of any size and sector to measure their practices and mark a goal to improve through our FREE online assessment that you can access at www.bestforphl.com or at a workshop! I facilitate all of the workshops and continue to engage with businesses who want to become a part of the greater Best for PHL community. We love for anyone to join our communities by following us on Twitter and Facebook @BestforPHL.

Who currently uses your services- and who should start?
We currently have over 150 businesses in the region who have taken the Best for PHL Challenge and 90 Community Members who have committed to an impact improvement goal for 2017. We’re looking to keep growing that number and are offering a series of workshops over the next two months to get any interested business engaged. BRIC is hosting a workshop on November 9 from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., so please sign up for this event or any others in our line up on www.bestforphl.com/events!  Best for PHL is a way for companies to consider their business practices within the wider scheme. The Challenge is a free evaluation that takes you through a series of questions to see what is needed to build a better business. After taking the evaluation, you’ll see how your company is doing overall, and how your business compares with similar organizations in your industry. In our workshops, we build community by sharing dialogue about our successes, challenges, and next steps.

What is your favorite local event of the year?
Our favorite local event of the year is Sustainable Business Network’s Sustainaball! An opportunity for businesses who do good to come together and celebrate each other.  Next year, we will be recognizing all of our 2017 Community Members at this event in the spring. The Sustainable Business Network is one of our lead partners in this effort.

What is something awesome that people may not know about your organization?
We have an online resource library of 22 guides that can help any business (including those who haven’t taken the Challenge) to make changes. These include tips and steps on increasing your use of local suppliers, energy usage and conservation, financial practices/transparency, increasing the underrepresented ownership or board of your company, or even something as simple as creating a mission statement.

Any fond library memories?
Yes! Going to McPherson Library as a child and feeling like a spoiled kid in a giant candy store whenever I was able to take out more than one book. The smell of library books 😊

 ... and finally, what are you currently reading?
Geographies of Home by Loida Maritza Perez

Learn more about Best for PHL by visiting their website, and stay tuned for our upcoming Best for PHL Challenge program on November 9!