When you don’t have a home, you likely don’t have access to a laundry room, or a basket and quarters to go to the laundromat. A mutual aid group has stepped in to provide for this need, which is not addressed through most charities or organizations. It began as a tent and table atop muddy
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Homeless encampments have been popping up around Center City like a game of whack-a-mole. From the Pennsylvania Convention Center, to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, now to Reading Terminal Market and the SEPTA Locust Street underground. Philadelphia’s unhoused continue to band together in small communities rather than relying on city services. As summer approaches and the
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Within the first three months of 2021, Philadelphia has recorded more than 100 homicides—a figure up 32% as of this same time last year. The city has also seen almost 400 shootings. The majority of people being shot are young, Black men—85% of Philly’s gun violence victims are Black and 60% are under the age
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On February 26, United Nations human rights experts released a statement calling for reform in American policing. Their primary example for the necessity of reform was the Philadelphia Police Department. The statement came from the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, which is a group of independent experts with mandates to report and advise
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In October 2020, Grid released an introduction to community fridges, a mutual aid concept where a refrigerator is placed in a public space and stocked by organizers and the community at large for the benefit of those in need. The food is free to all. At that time, there were only 11 fridges citywide, but
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On February 9 and 10, Philadelphia artists and creatives held the Digital Rally for Philly Arts, a livestream event spanning more than 24 hours designed to highlight the value of arts and culture in the city ahead of City Council’s budgeting decisions for the next fiscal year. The budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year closed
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On a bitterly cold Monday morning, dozens of teachers and many of Philadelphia’s most prominent elected officials gathered outside of Samuel Gompers Elementary School in solidarity with striking teachers. Philadelphia educators are on strike in response to the the School District of Philadelphia’s plan for pre-K through second grade teachers to report to school
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For decades heroin was the drug that evoked the most fear, but what was formerly known as the “heroin epidemic” has shifted into the “opioid epidemic,” as synthetic opioids and pharmaceutical drugs have become more prevalent. Fentanyl has emerged as one of the most harmful synthetic opiates and has become commonplace among Philadelphia’s drug market.
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WASHINGTON D.C. – On January 6, a mob of angry Americans marched on Washington and successfully stormed the United States Capitol Building. Two weeks following the insurrection, on the eve of Joe Biden’s inauguration, it was evident that a repeat to the violence and conflict at the Capitol was not possible. Approaching the White House
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Far from any port in North Philadelphia’s Fairhill neighborhood are four massive shipping containers, retrofitted with doors and windows. North Philly native Chikrock Gonzalez ,42, converted two 20-foot and two 40-foot shipping containers into a tire shop after the pandemic forced him to close J&C Tire Shop. “The whole idea was, I had a tire
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