J. Blaine Bonham Jr.

J. Blaine Bonham Jr. serves as executive vice president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and founded its urban greening program, Philadelphia Green, in 1974.

Under Blaine Bonham’s aegis, Philadelphia Green moved from a small, grassroots initiative to the forefront of urban greening in the nation and now serves as a model for programs in other cities. In addition, Bonham oversees PHS’s education, publications, membership, and development departments.

In 2003, Bonham helped Philadelphia Green create the Green City Strategy, which was adopted by the Mayor of Philadelphia as part of his Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. Through this initiative, Philadelphia Green developed and implemented a vacant land management program that has since converted millions of square feet of once derelict land to green space.

Most recently, Bonham collaborated with the producers of the acclaimed PBS documentary Edens Lost & Found, which prominently features PHS’s greening work in the Philadelphia episode, aired in May, 2006. This series chronicled the public- and private-sector efforts of four cities—Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Philadelphia—to reclaim and create sustainable urban environments. It was produced by the Academy Award-winning company Wiland-Bell of Los Angeles.

BOARDS & COMMITTEES
Bonham is a founding member of the Neighborhood Gardens Association/A Philadelphia Land Trust, an organization that assists communities in making gardens a permanent part of the neighborhood fabric. He currently chairs the board of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s Greenspace Alliance, a regional effort to preserve open space and natural resources, and serves on the boards of the Norris Square Neighborhood Project and the Environmental Leadership Program.

In 1997, he served on an international team of planning and design professionals through the Countryside Institute, which advises local leaders in rural England on development and preservation issues. In 2000, Bonham co-chaired Philadelphia Mayor John Street’s transition team subcommittee on blight elimination in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods.

In 2005, Bonham also led a Philadelphia team that presented PHS’s vacant land management model to an audience of government officials and non-profit leaders at The White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation in St. Louis, Missouri.

PUBLISHED WORK
Bonham is the co-author of the book Old Cities/Green Cities: Communities Transform Unmanaged Land, published in 2002 by the American Planning Association. He is also the author of several articles and in 1995 produced Urban Vacant Land: Issues and Recommendations. Five years later, Bonham led the effort to undertake PHS’s Vacant Land Management Study, which provided recommendations to city government on a comprehensive, proactive approach to Philadelphia’s vacant land problem.

EDUCATION                  
Bonham holds a bachelor of science degree in political science from Pennsylvania State University and an associate of science degree in horticulture from Temple University. He completed a Loeb Fellowship in advanced environmental studies at Harvard University in 1991. Prior to his career in horticulture and human services, Bonham worked as a portfolio analyst for the Philadelphia National Bank.

FOR PRESS INFORMATION, CONTACT:
ALAN JAFFE, email or call 215-988-8833
LAURA BEITMAN, email or call 215-988-8836