Month: October 2020

coronavirus

Philly mulls extending renter protections as COVID rates spike

October 23, 2020

The legislative body is mulling an extension of a raft of COVID-era tenant assistance bills from Councilmembers Helen Gym, Jamie Gauthier and Kendra Brooks known as the Emergency Housing Protection Act. Citing resurgent viral case counts, the new legislation would extend elements of these bills that contained sunset provisions while also reinstating a now-expired local eviction moratorium through the end of the year. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)

Community and Family

Neighborhood Bike Works gave out 77 free bikes to essential workers and others in need

October 23, 2020

In April, Neighborhood Bike Works started a program called Bikes for Neighbors to help, giving away free bikes to essential workers and people who needed them.

Eight months into the initiative and with over 500 requests for bikes, 77 bikes have been given out.

Jessi West, Executive Director of Neighborhood Bike Works, said that the program was a solution to multiple problems created by the pandemic. | From: Green Philly (Read more.)

coronavirus

COVID wrecking your mental health? New initiative will award $100k to pilot solutions for Philly millennials

October 23, 2020

A large number of millennials in Philly are people of color living on low incomes. What help is available to this generation, defined as people born between 1981 and 1996?

For folks who come up with ideas to answer that question, a new initiative will give out $50k in prizes and another $50k seed funding. Called the Well City Challenge, the social impact project is a sequel to 2018’s Full City Challenge — but instead of focusing on food and hunger, this focuses on health and wellness. | From: Billy Penn (Read more.)

Community and Family

Using cash during the coronavirus pandemic is OK. In fact, for many, it’s important.

October 23, 2020

Many people have stopped using cold, hard — and dirty — cash in favor of debit, credit, or contactless forms of payment. Transferred from one person to the next, money is susceptible to picking up a whole host of germs. And naturally, when the coronavirus hit, this left people questioning if cash was safe. But do we really need to be concerned about getting coronavirus from cash? Probably not. | From: The Inquirer (Read more.)

Housing

The historic Philly encampment deal for affordable housing

October 20, 2020

It was a movement born out of the George Floyd protests for racial justice: Hundreds of people who had experienced homelessness camped out on the Ben Franklin Parkway, on Ridge Avenue and squatted in empty houses across Philadelphia to demand affordable housing. WHYY’s Susan Phillips says explains how this historic deal was struck, and whether it could make a dent in Philadelphia’s affordable housing problem. | From: WHHY (Read more.)