Ideas We Should Steal: Grassroots Housing Reparations

A rapper-turned-community activist is preserving Black wealth in Portland, the Whitest big city in America, by helping homeowners repair — and therefore stay — in their homes

By Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

Ideas We Should Steal: Public Toilets

Sometimes, you really, really need to go. That’s why Philly is looking to Portland to adopt a successful model of free public bathrooms.

By J.P. Romney

Ideas We Should Steal: The 20-Minute Neighborhood

Paris, Portland, Houston and even Detroit are planning neighborhoods where residents can walk or bike to everything they need for a healthy and vibrant life. Is now the time to do the same in Philly?

By Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

Ideas We Should Steal: The Housing Reform We Really Need

Portland, Oregon, just passed the most revolutionary urban zoning reform in recent history to keep residents from being displaced. In Philly, that could bring housing relief to tens of thousands

By Jessica Blatt Press

Ideas We Should Steal: Community-Centered Development

A Portland B Corp is pushing a more inclusive process for building up a neighborhood. Can Philly learn a lesson from the most gentrified city in America?

By Jill Harkins

Ideas We Should Steal: Friends of the Children

The 25-year-old Portland nonprofit has a proven method for ending the cycle of poverty for children—a 12.5 year mentorship

By Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

Ideas We Should Steal: Putting Panhandlers to Work in Portland

In this Solution of the Day, instead of taking punitive measures, the city of Portland, Maine hires panhandlers to clean its parks

By Saurav Upadhyay