Hilltop Area Neighborhood Clean-Up
Friday, May 10, 2002

Press Release

City Of Wilmington And Employees And Management Of Deloitte Consulting Team Up For Hilltop Area Clean Up

Friday’s Neighborhood Clean Up Also Marks the Start of a High Technology Partnership Between Deloitte Consulting and a Neighborhood School

Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker today welcomed employees of the Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania office of Deloitte (da-loyt) Consulting to Wilmington and thanked them for volunteering their time for a neighborhood clean up in the Hilltop area of the City.  Deloitte Consulting’s John Mercante, whose son David was an unpaid intern in the Mayor’s Office last summer, approached the City several months ago about assisting with a needed community project, as part of the firm’s Global IMPACT Day program.  The Hilltop community project was chosen based on the Baker Administration’s emphasis on improving neighborhoods.

The Baker Administration and Wilmington City Council teamed up about a year ago to create the Hilltop Working Group, a combined community and City government effort aimed at reducing crime and violations of the City code and to promote neighborhood involvement in projects such as neighborhood clean ups.  The group meets on a monthly basis to monitor progress being made on these issues and others.

Today’s clean up of trash, litter and debris from sidewalks, streets and alleyways involves about 75 Deloitte employees joining with the City’s Departments of Licenses and Inspections, Parks and Recreation, Public Works and the Mayor’s Office in a multi-block effort from 9:30am until 2:30pm.  The area being cleaned is bounded by 4th Street, south to Lancaster Avenue, and Broom Street, east to Jackson Street.

In addition to the Hilltop clean up, Mercante said Deloitte Consulting is beginning a working relationship with St. Paul Elementary School at 3rd and Van Buren Streets which is in the Hilltop area.  Mercante said Deloitte would be assisting the school with its computer education program.

IMPACT Day programs are planned by Deloitte Consulting in 35 cities on Friday throughout North and South America, 28 cities in Europe, and 17 cities throughout Africa, Asia and Australia.  The aim of these activities is to combine the firm’s management know-how and human capital with the latest technology to stimulate learning, skill development and self-sufficiency in communities where Deloitte Consulting professionals live and work.

Deloitte’s Philadelphia Practice employees, join more than 15,000 of their colleagues in 80 cities around the world who are participating in projects ranging from building houses in Johannesburg, teaching students in Toronto about the latest computer applications and helping re-open an elementary school in Atlanta.