Leon and De’Wayne dive deep into Cynthia Barnes’ 30 plus years of community organizing in Nicetown-Tioga. Cynthia shares how she became an accidental organizer while her children were in preschool, what it’s like to do community engagement during COVID, and why she believes that anger is not met with understanding. Cynthia also gives a crash course on negotiating community benefits agreements and what she’s learned about collaboration in the process. Cynthia Barnes has been a resident leader in the Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood for more than thirty years. As Chair of the Nicetown-Tioga Improvement Team (NTIT), Cynthia has ensured that development projects are responsive to community needs. She also convenes monthly meetings essential to neighborhood planning and building social capital among residents, businesses, and community organizations. Cynthia represents NTIT on the Broad-Germantown-Erie Collaborative, a coalition of community groups in North Philadelphia that has negotiated community benefits agreements for several, large-scale developments in the area. Among other achievements, Cynthia helped transform a vacant half-block property into the 11th street playground and spearheaded partnerships to create vibrant green spaces in Nicetown-Tioga.  Cynthia works for the Mayor's Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service and received PACDC’s 2021 Community Leader Award. Episode Transcript Available Here: https://pacdc.org/2017/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Cynthia-A-Barnes_Iron-Sharpens-Iron_-Season-2_-Episode-1-Transcript.pdf Producer: Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, Sound Editor: Andrew Heppard, Cover Art: Jennifer Selpa, Music: Needed You by Will Ellsworth