The nonprofit “We Love Philly” is running a program called “Project Ownership” that allows 70 high school students identifying as either Latinx or African-American to transform a shipping container into a livable space. Students will be able to earn profits from renting out the space. | From: AL DÍA (Read more.)
Owusu and Afia Bonsu, Philadelphia-based merchants who sell eclectic items from Ghana and beyond, discuss the significant hurdles to local entrepreneurship in the COVID-19 pandemic. From | Fun Times (Read more.)
SEPTA buses and trains could be getting more crowded with masked people.
Starting Tuesday, June 1, SEPTA lifted COVID-19-related capacity limits on its trains, buses and trolleys. Mask-wearing — something suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on public transit even for vaccinated people — remains in place. (Read more.)
The Trust for Public Land released its 2021 ParkScore® rankings, announcing that Philly placed 19th. Why the decline? Blame a lack of equity and budget cuts. Philadelphia’s ParkScore fell due to declines in park investment and significant inequities in the Philly Park system.
Philly neighborhoods with residents identifying as Black, Hispanic and Latinx, Indigenous and Native American, or Asian American and Pacific Islander have access to 29 percent less park space per capita than predominately white neighborhoods, according to The Trust for Public Land. Low-income neighborhoods have access to 42 percent less park space than high-income Philly neighborhoods. (Read more.)
This six-week internship will launch June 1 with a cohort of seven students from local colleges and will provide one-on-one coaching and structured professional guidance, including a network of mentors they can go to for advice and future job hunting. | From: Technical.ly (Read more.)
Communities and city officials in Philadelphia are declaring gun violence a public health issue. People are scrambling to find the roots and possible solutions. It is clear that poverty, gun access, and drug activity intersect with firearm use— but what about the food on your plate? | From: Germantown Info Hub (Read more.)
Men Who Care began life as a neighborhood cleanup initiative in 2011. Now the group facilitates anti-violence programs, runs virtual learning pods for students during COVID, and holds a weekly food pantry, among many other initiatives. | From: Generocity (Read more.)
For Philadelphia’s upper middle class, the COVID-19 economic crisis barely hurt and has, the experts contend, essentially ended. | From: Generocity (Read more.)
Built to err on the side of caution for kids, the child welfare system often manifests as a punitive and intrusive force, particularly toward Black families, who are statistically more likely to be referred for investigations and more likely to have their kids taken into foster care when compared to white families. As a result, reformers and abolitionists are demanding that the system be reformed, even wholly reimagined. They frame this cause in the language of the Black Lives Matter movement — a cry to preserve Black families against a system built to separate them. | From: Next City (Read more.)
Two county agencies, in New York and Michigan, have tried new approaches to correct for the disproportionate presence of Black and Brown families in the system. The results show promise, even as they raise questions about what more can be done. | From: Next City (Read more.)
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