//

The humanities aren’t just practical. They are critical to our democracy.

Illustration by Abayomi Louard-Moore The Open Mind by Laurie Zierer Last spring, a group of teenagers gathered regularly at the Philadelphia City Institute branch of the Free Library. They came from different neighborhoods and attended schools that spanned the local spectrum, from traditional public schools and magnets to charters, private schools and home-school settings. Nonetheless,

More
3 mins read
//

Fixing social problems requires a new framework for philanthropic giving

Illustration by Carter Mulcahy Old Money, New Ideas by Omar Woodard I believe in social innovation as a pathway to eradicate poverty in Philadelphia.  Broadly defined, “social innovation” is new thinking or novel approaches to longstanding challenges facing society, such as poverty. Philadelphia suffers the distinction of being America’s poorest big city, and accelerating the

More
3 mins read
//

Farmworkers do dangerous work for little pay. They deserve better.

Illustration by Abayomi Louard-Moore The Hands Behind Our Harvest by Stephanie Dorenbosch We are lucky to have a vibrant and diverse community of stakeholders in Eastern Pennsylvania working to improve many aspects of our food systems, including groups working on local and seasonal food sourcing, sustainable production and food access in underserved communities. In addition, consumers

More
3 mins read
/

Congress should reauthorize funding to help feed our hungry and poor. But you can do your part, too

Illustration by Carter Mulcahy Sharing Our Plenty by The Coalition Against Hunger Following a bitter and contentious election, family gatherings will no doubt meander through, or completely around, treacherous topics this holiday. Some will avoid political discussions all together, some will commiserate, others celebrate. However, we hope that the holidays will be a time of

More
3 mins read
/

We must come together and create solutions at scale

Illustration by Bart Browne The Case for a Moral Economy by Lina Blount When we face the overwhelming issues of economic inequality and injustice, oftentimes the available solutions seem either exclusively consumer-based or incredibly small scale. We buy local food and fair trade coffee. We join a local co-op with no vision for how to

More
3 mins read