The City of Philadelphia is planning to celebrate 8-year-old Jayanna Powell, who was tragically killed in a 2016 hit-and-run by renaming the street where she was killed in her honor. 

On Saturday, local officials will gather with the family of Powell for the renaming ceremony, which is when Lansdowne Avenue will also become known as "Jayanna Powell Way".

"It's going to feel like I gave birth to her again," Ayeshia Poole, Jayanna's mother, said. "That's how I'm going to feel because now she's here and she's not going anywhere."

On Nov. 18, 2016, Powell was killed in a hit-and-run in West Philadelphia at the intersection of 63rd Street and Lansdowne Avenue while she and her brother were walking home from school.

Since then, Poole has made it her mission to keep her daughter's memory alive by holding gatherings at that spot in Overbrook each year on Powell's birthday.

"It means the world," Poole said about the street renaming. 

Poole also hopes the tragedy can inspire change in Harrisburg.

"Jay Alerts"

Poole has been working with lawmakers to get legislation passed in honor of her daughter that looks to help police during hit-and-run investigations.

It will be known as "Jay Alerts," which is an Amber Alert-type system that would send information to the public on a car wanted in a hit-and-run. It will also send an alert to auto body shops to be on the lookout for the car. 

Pennsylvania State Rep, Morgan Cephas said those body shops will have to register in a database with PennDot to ensure authorities have the correct contact information. 

Cephas said this key part of the bill would have led to a faster capture of the driver Paul Woodlyn, who was arrested and later convicted in connection to the hit-and-run that killed Powell. Police said Woodlyn attempted to fix his car at an autobody shop outside of Philadelphia.

"Her legacy is not lost and the incident is not lost," Cephas said. "How do we prevent the next Jayanna Powell because individuals know that this system is created and that they will be tracked and will be found. So that is the ultimate question that we need to answer is: how much do we want to save individuals lives by changing behavior?"

And for Poole, saving lives is why she continues to advocate for the passage of Jay Alerts, making it her life's work to ensure no parent experiences the pain she's felt for past nine years.

"I stand and I fight for all hit-and-run victims until the day I'm gone," Poole said.

The street renaming ceremony for Powell is on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at 63rd Street and Lansdowne Avenue.