WHEREAS, The Honorable Judge Marjorie Rendell has been an active figure in the City of Philadelphia since she began a career at Duane Morris & Heckscher in 1974 that lasted for 20 years; and
WHEREAS, The Honorable Judge Rendell founded and chaired the Avenue of the Arts, Inc. in 1993 to help the City of Philadelphia revitalize Broad Street; and
WHEREAS, The Honorable Judge Rendell has taken an active role in encouraging civic education among school students since she established the Penn Coalition of Representative Democracy, or PennCORD, in 2004, while still First Lady of Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, Since the Honorable Judge Rendell’s establishment of PennCORD in 2004 and the subsequent creation of the Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement in 2014, Judge Rendell has been working to reinvigorate civic education and civic engagement among the youth of Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, The Honorable Judge Rendell’s Center for Civics and Civic Engagement fosters active civic learning among the youth of Pennsylvania through the incorporation of civic knowledge, public action and democratic deliberation; and
WHEREAS, The Rendell Center is now even more effective in partnership with the Annenberg Public Policy Center, which has partnered with middle and high school students, in encouraging civic engagement in students K-12 in the Philadelphia School District; and
WHEREAS, The Honorable Judge Rendell has moved to “senior status” in the Third District Court of Appeals, where she has held a seat since 1997, in order to spend more time focused on the Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement; and
WHEREAS, The Rendell Center coordinates such civic engagement events as a the Citizenship Challenge where fourth and fifth grade students are asked to respond to a constitutional question and receive the opportunity to participate in a mayoral forum in May and October where the students were able to pose questions to the mayoral candidates about everything from police brutality to education; and
WHEREAS, The Honorable Judge Rendell’s dedication to civics education and civic engagement has made a major impact on the youth of Philadelphia and continues to do so; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby honors and congratulates Marjorie Rendell for her contributions to the City of Philadelphia as a Judge, a First Lady, and an advocate for civics education.
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