Who you are determines how well and how long you live. In 2012 the life expectancy for white Philadelphians was 78 years, versus 73 for Black Philadelphians, according to the latest Health of the City Report, produced by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. In 2019 that five-year gap remained, and it widened to six
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Air is something we share. But clean air, it turns out, is not equally available to all. Using technology with an almost cartoonish name, the PurpleAir monitor, Christina Rosan thinks making disparities in air quality “in your face” will lead to more equitable, citizen-informed public policies. Advocating for clean air everywhere, she believes, could promote
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Grid has been hearing a lot lately about FDR Park. After our series of articles on the development of the Cobbs Creek golf courses, Philadelphians concerned about the fate of the South Philly Meadows got in touch to defend the park’s former fairways against a plan to develop the beloved greenspace into a complex of
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Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is taking comments through April 27 about a proposed rule to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), sometimes called “forever chemicals,” in drinking water. The chemicals have been linked to a variety of human health problems, including reduced fertility, developmental problems in children, and some cancers. PFAS are a
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Imagine a world without co-pays, deductibles, premiums, explanations of benefits, pre-existing conditions, tiers, in-network and out-of-network providers. I talked to two capitalists the other day. One in favor of Medicare for all. One on the fence. I initially wanted to talk to small businesses in Philadelphia about Medicare For All and their challenges with our
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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.
MoreExposed: the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Powerby Mark SchapiroChelsea Green, $16.95There has never been a shortage of books critiquing American government policy or society, but with the current economic crisis, such books now have a lot more cachet. Exposed, by Mark Schapiro, editorial director of the Center for
MoreA local teen finds success by growing healthy foodby Dana HenryThe school bell rings and teenagers fill the entrance halls of University City High School. Many are running and some are calling out to their friends, relieved from a long day of classes. A young man apologizes to the woman at the front desk who
MorePatients as Person, City as Healer?by Nathaniel PopkinIn the earliest days of the Center for Community Partnerships at Penn, a project I was a part of for a few years in the mid-’90s, we considered (but never executed) a “misery/happiness index” for West Philadelphia. The index was an idea of the historian Lee Benson, the
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