Martha, a restaurant in Kensington, instituted a service fee. Instead of a line for a tip on your check, each bill will automatically include a 20 percent service fee. The change allows for the expansion of healthcare coverage for employees, as well as a more equal distribution of pay between front and back of house employees. | From: Philadelphia Magazine (Read more.)
As summer nears and the risk of contracting COVID-19 remains in Philadelphia, the city has not yet determined if it will open cooling centers in case of a heat health emergency, a decision that could affect the most vulnerable populations. | From: NBC10/Telemundo62 (Read more.)
Since 2008, Philadelphia’s annual spring cleanup has helped people all over The City of Brotherly Love make it even more green. The neighborhood of Kensington, a northeastern community near the Delaware River, is no different. | From: Next City (Read more.)
While black people have accounted for more than half of the coronavirus deaths in Philadelphia, the black community was left to rely on grassroots efforts to bring them testing while the city waited on federal funding. | From: Philadelphia Magazine (Read more.)
Philadelphia’s first grant to expand testing for the coronavirus is going to the Black Doctors Consortium, an established network of black doctors, who have been working in the communities most vulnerable to the disease. There are dozens of city sites to get a test, but few had the reach in some neighborhoods like the volunteer group. | From: NBC10/Telemundo62 (Read more.)
On June 5, Philadelphia City Council’s Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development and Homelessness passed five of six bills part of the Emergency Housing Protections Act. | From: AL DÍA (Read more.)
The “New Normal Budget Act” would amend existing budget bills to shift $25 million towards job training, rental subsidies, food access, home repair and other programs that address poverty. It also includes police reform language billed as “a first step” in addressing “civil unrest roiling the city.” | From: Plan Philly (Read more.)
YEAH’s goal is to provide a space for teens that feels like their own and, in the process, helps them feel included and supported within the larger community, something that, in the cofounders’ minds, isn’t well achieved through existing youth programs. | From: Plan Philly (Read more.)
On Monday, June 8, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced a new slate of funding going towards small businesses across the state affected by both COVID-19 and its subsequent shutdown worth $225 million. The funds, which come from the state’s $2.6 billion allocation from the federal CARES Act, will be for eligible businesses to cover operating costs during the shutdown, to help them as they reopen and for other guidance and training services for business owners. | From: AL DÍA (Read more.)
Evictions in Pennsylvania may be off limits until July 10, but that date is quickly approaching. For the members of City Council behind the Emergency Housing Protection Act (EHPA), it represents the beginning of yet another crisis. | From: AL DÍA (Read more.)
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