How a Community Fridge Built … a Community

Jane Ellis opened one of the city’s first community fridges at the start of Covid. Two years later, Germantown’s two free-to-all pantries testify to the power and promise of mutual aid

By Ethan Young

Business for Good: YING

Karla Ballard has raised over $1 million for her app, which seeks to replicate the community of helpful neighbors she grew up with in Philadelphia, one task at a time

By Courtney DuChene

Glitter’s Glow Up

Morgan Berman’s street cleaning startup company is working better than ever. The City, which once declined to fund the “unproven pilot,” now faces proof: It works.

By Nick Russo

Citizen of the Week: Rev. Dr. Michelle Simmons

Rev. Simmons’ Germantown nonprofit Why Not Prosper helps recently incarcerated women get their lives back — and stay out of prison for good

By Christina Griffith

Art For Change: Elder Scribe

Next up in our conversation series with Forman Arts Initiative, oral historian Julie Rainbow connects the Second Great Migration of African Americans from the South to Philly to our present search for community

By Blake Bradford

Business for Good: Jumpstart Germantown

Ken Weinstein’s anti-gentrification training program, with six spin-offs in the city and region, is keeping development local—and bringing women and people of color into the industry

By Courtney DuChene

How to Not be San Francisco

Pro-housing activist and Philly native Sonja Trauss on how her hometown can avoid the pitfalls of Bay Area unaffordability. Yes, it might involve more building

By Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

The Opposite of Gentrification

Jumpstart Germantown, brainchild of developer Ken Weinstein, trains local residents to be their own community developers

By Jill Harkins