Honoring and congratulating the 2020-2021 Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate, Cydney Brown, for her creativity, community work, and dedication to serving Philadelphia.

WHEREAS, As a Junior at Abington Friends School, Cydney has dedicated several years to developing her love and passion for spoken word and poetry; and

WHEREAS, In the wake of the racial injustice and emotional turmoil brought on this summer, Cydney spent this summer submitting essays, pieces, and applications to the Free Library in pursuit of becoming Philadelphia’s Youth Poet Laureate; and

WHEREAS, Upon receiving the title in September of 2020, Cydney went to work developing her community projects where she lead workshops, poetry readings, and engaged in discussions on youth engagement in social justice issues like Black Lives Matter; and

WHEREAS, In addition to the work she has completed as the Poet Laureate, she has continued to serve the community in other ways like through the youth mentoring program, Project G.O.O.D (Girls Overcome Obstacles Daily), providing tennis lessons to younger kids, and service through Girl Scouts as the recipient of the Girl Scout Gold Award recipient in Eastern PA; and

WHEREAS, Cydney has recently become an active member of the Arts & Culture Taskforce and will be serving on the Kids & Youth Committee that will focus on providing a centralized place for youth in the arts as well as providing young adults with business skills to develop their art into careers; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby congratulate and honor the 2020-2021 Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate, Cydney Brown,

for her accomplishments in representing and serving Philadelphia.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the Cydney Brown, further evidencing the sincere admiration and respect of this legislative body.

End