This I Believe is a national media project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values and beliefs that guide their daily lives. NPR airs these three-minute essays on All Things Considered and Weekend Edition Sunday.

In connection with the national This I Believe project, LEADERSHIP Philadelphia has collected This I Believe essays from Fellows as part of LEADERSHIP's 50th Anniversary celebration.

We partnered with WHYY to produce audio versions of several of the essays. We also partnered with the Mural Arts Program to create the first city-wide mural, entitled “This We Believe.”

 

Pauline Abernathy
Vice President, TICAS

Chelsea Badeau
Managing Editor, Comcast Interactive Media, Comcast Cable Corporation

Joe Banner
President, Philadelphia Eagles

Harvey Bartle
Judge, US District Court

Wendy Beetlestone
Litigation Shareholder, Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin

John Binswanger
Vice Chairman, Binswanger Management Corporation

Lorene Cary
Executive Director, Art Sanctuary

Mary Seton Corboy
Executive Director, Greensgrow Philadelphia Project

Pat Coulter
President and CEO, Urban League of Philadelphia, Inc.

Bernie Dagenais
Editor, Philadelphia Business Journal

Liz Dow
President, LEADERSHIP Philadelphia

David Evans
Bishop, Bethany Baptist Church

Varsovia Fernandez
Executive Director & CEO, Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Abbe Fletman
Shareholder Head, Intellectual Property Litigation, Flaster/Greenberg P.C.

Joe Frick
President and CEO, Independence Blue Cross

Lou Gambaccini
Former CEO/President, SEPTA

Val Gay
Director of Development & Alumni Affairs, Temple University

Nancy Gilboy
President & CEO, International Visitors Council

Jane Golden
Executive Director, Philadelphia Mural Arts Program

Nancy Goldenberg
Vice President of Planning, Center City District

W. Wilson Goode, Sr.
Councilmember-at-Large, City Council of Philadelphia

James Harris
President, Widener University

Patty Hasson
President, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Delaware Valley

Julie Hawkins
Director of Policy & Government Relations, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Eileen Heisman
President, National Philanthropic Trust

Ernest Jones
President & CEO, Philadelphia Workforce Development

Nancy Kolb
Former President, Please Touch Museum

Charisse Lillie
Vice President, Community Investment, Comcast Cable Corporation

Brett Mandel
Executive Director, National Education Technology Funding Corp.

Frederica Massiah-Jackson
President Judge, First Judicial Distict

Leslie Anne Miller
Principal, Leslie Anne Miller, LLC

Michael Nutter
Mayor, City of Philadelphia

Constantine Papadakis
Former President, Drexel University

Marsha Perelman
President, Woodforde Energy

Penny Reed
Producing Artistic Director, Hedgerow Theatre

Brad Sandler
Partner, Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP

Ellen Savitz
Former Senior Vice President for Development, School District of Philadelphia

Allyson Schwartz
Congresswoman, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Jan Shaeffer
Executive Director, St. Christopher's Foundation for Children

David St. Clair
Rembrandt's

Ed Tettemer
Consultant, The Shunpiker's Guide

David Thornburgh
Executive Director, Fels Institute of Government

Nick Torres
President, Congreso de Latinos Unidos

Andy Toy
Director, Retail Resource Network, The Enterprise Center

Sozi Tulante
Shareholder, Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin

Marty Tuzman
President/Owner, Jenkintown Building Services

Mailee Walker
Executive Director, Claneil Foundation

Wendy Warren
Editor, Vice President, Phillynews.com

Melissa Weiler-Gerber
Executive Director, WOMEN'S WAY

Judy Wicks
President, White Dog Community Enterprises

Lynn Yeakel
Director, Drexel University College of Medicine, Institute for Women’s Health & Leadership

 

This I Believe is based on a 1950’s radio program of the same name, hosted by acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow. In creating This I Believe, Murrow said the program sought "to point to the common meeting grounds of beliefs, which is the essence of brotherhood and the floor of our civilization."

Each day, millions of Americans gathered by their radios to hear compelling essays from the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Helen Keller, and Harry Truman as well as corporate leaders, cab drivers, scientists, and secretaries — anyone able to distill into a few minutes the guiding principles by which they lived. Their words brought comfort and inspiration to a country worried about the Cold War, McCarthyism, and racial division.

In reviving This I Believe, NPR producers say their goal is not to persuade Americans to agree on the same beliefs. Rather, they hope to encourage people to begin the much more difficult task of developing respect for beliefs different from their own.