Latest reports

Education

Comcast must open Wi-Fi networks to get 20,000 Philadelphia students online

May 29, 2020

About 20,000 Philadelphia students without internet connections have been unable to attend school for months, and yet, when asked directly by Dr. Hite, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, to open their residential Wi-Fi networks so students could actually use the more than 80,000 laptops distributed by an already fiscally underwater school district, Comcast refused. | From: The Philadelphia Inquirer (Read more.)

coronavirus

Unlike COVID, there is a cure for homelessness: Housing

May 29, 2020

The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare the deep health, economic and racial disparities in our nation. Nowhere have these disparities been more apparent than with homelessness. It has never been clearer that housing is healthcare. Those who are homeless lack the most fundamental health protections a home provides. | From: The Philadelphia Inquirer (Read more.)

coronavirus

Dentists may soon charge patients a PPE fee

May 29, 2020

Dentists could charge a personal protective equipment fee directly to patients or raise prices to account for the additional expense after two months without any income. Patient advocates worry that rising dental costs will inevitably fall on families who are already struggling financially during the pandemic. | From” The Philadelphia Inquirer (Read more.)

coronavirus

City agrees to test Philly airport homeless for COVID-19 after advocates threaten suit

May 29, 2020

Capitulating to pressure from advocates for the homeless, the Kenney administration agreed Thursday to test people living in an encampment at Philadelphia International Airport for the coronavirus before placing them in shelters. City officials had planned to break up the group of 50 to 100 individuals on Friday morning without testing. But after advocates and those who provide housing and services for the homeless threatened a lawsuit, the city decided to hold off on dispersing the encampment until Tuesday, after what it described as “rapid testing” is completed. | From: The Philadelphia Inquirer (Read more.)

Community and Family

Grupos de derechos de los inmigrantes de Pennsylvania lanzan un fondo para los inmigrantes en medio de COVID-19

May 29, 2020

Las organizaciones sin fines de lucro de Pensilvania orientadas a los derechos de los inmigrantes están imitando a California con un fondo propio para inmigrantes. El Fondo de Ayuda al Inmigrante de PA comenzó con una donación de 500.000 dólares de la Fundación Douty de Filadelfia y ahora cuenta con más de 40 organizaciones de todo el estado que reúnen donaciones para el esfuerzo. | Para: AL DíA (Read more.)

coronavirus

Another COVID Victim: City Kills Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet & Director Position

May 29, 2020

The Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet has been instrumental in a 41% reduction in illegal dumping, creating a community composting network, planning Philly’s first urban composting facility at Rising Sun, and supporting the plastic bag ban passed last year. Additionally, the cabinet’s Litter Index quantified the city’s litter problem, which costs the city $48 million annually to clean up. Plus, litter adversely affects low-income communities. | From: Green Philly (Read more.)

coronavirus

COVID-19 testing opens in North Philly community clinic

May 28, 2020

Philadelphia has added more COVID-19 testing capacity, opening a new site at the Health Center 5 community clinic on North 20th Street in the city’s Stanton neighborhood. Health Commissioner Thomas Farley pointed to the disproportionate effects of the coronavirus on Black communities, as well as low-income communities, as reasons why the city had chosen North Philadelphia for testing availability. | From: WHYY (Read more.)