Settling in?

Things to do in your first few months

Pink cherry blossoms on a tree with a house in the background.

Get a free tree

How to get a free street tree:

  • Apply for a Tree through PHS here. There are two plantings each year -- one in April and one in November. Applications are also due twice a year around the tree planting dates. Applications submitted in the spring will be planted in the fall and vice versa. Everything is free, including getting a cut-out on your sidewalk, the tree, and the planting.

How to get a free yard tree:

  • Tree Philly offers yard tree giveaways throughout the year. Check out their website for more details.

A wooden planter box filled with various flowering plants and garden decorations, surrounded by large green leafy plants, set against a house with blue siding.

Help manage stormwater

Get a FREE rain barrel or a subsidized downspout planter. 

The Philadelphia Water Department teamed up with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to manage the city’s stormwater.

Residents can sign up for a FREE rain barrel—a handy partner for watering plants and cleaning pavements—and subsidized downspout planters that add beauty and utility to the exterior of your home and prevent the city’s sewer system from overflowing.

It’s all part of the Rain Check program.

Start the process by signing up for an upcoming Rain Check workshop.

Stop circulars

You may notice soon after you move in that you receive a fair amount of circulars, coupons, and takeout menus from local businesses, and they can sometimes end up as litter on your sidewalk. 

If you’d like to stop receiving them, fill out this form and mail it to the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Once you receive the sticker in the mail, place the circular-free sticker in a prominent location (such as a mailbox or door) at about eye-level from the street.

A small backyard garden with potted plants and a stone border, featuring a blue rain barrel connected to a hose on a paved patio.

Compost

Composting helps keep waste out of landfills. We encourage backyard composting or using a composting collection service (just like getting your weekly trash pick-up) through Bennett Compost.

A compost bin filled with decomposing fruit and vegetable scraps, including banana peels, apple cores, and assorted vegetable pieces.

Get involved

There are so many ways that you can get involved alongside your neighbors:

  • Become an EMAN volunteer, helping to increase our impact in the community

  • Join an EMAN committee

  • Attend our monthly Zoning and Board meetings, which are open to the public

  • Find your Block Captain here

  • Contact EMAN, your civic association

For a list of community events, click here.

Crowd of people at a street fair with food trucks and trees in the background, under a banner for Derby Day.