Philadelphia Group Blogs

(Philadelphia) -- Mayor Jim Kenney announced on Thursday that the city would dedicate more than $4 million to "interrupting" violence on neighborhood streets. Flanked by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, members of City Council and anti-violence advocates, Kenny introduced a set of new programs that will focus on gun violence as a public health problem. He said the city would seek to promote a more data-driven and "holistic" approach to stanching the city's rising homicide rate.

The best leaders lead by example. At the Gen. Louis Wagner Middle School at 1701 Chelten Ave., students are able to come into their own, succeed in the classroom, and prepare for their future because of the leadership roles and innovative thinking of the administration and teachers at their school. “Some of our goals this school year was continuing to improve our attendance and providing trauma informed training for everyone,” said principal Maya Johnstone. “Last year, we improved our...

ACEs Connection presents, "Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Online & In Real Life (IRL)" , an interactive webinar training series focused on developing existing and potential online community managers and IRL ACEs champions. If you are not a current online community manager, please know that ALL are welcome. This series is dedicated to providing insight into creating sustainable and effective online & IRL ACEs intiatives. "Starting & Growing Resilient Communities:...

How do you get people to support public policies that help children thrive? Do you emphasize the possible health consequences of child abuse, or do you emphasize the financial consequences for society as a whole? If you focus on consequences, does this messaging have the unintended consequence of creating prejudices towards vulnerable children and their families? When it comes to informing and persuading, how we deliver a message matters as much as the message itself. With a $500,000 grant...

On a sunny afternoon in early September, so hot the public schools dismissed early, Hazim Hardeman strolled into the neighborhood where he grew up, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with “North Philly” in large red letters across the front. It was here, in the Raymond Rosen housing development, that Hazim fell in love with sports, music, clothing. Here, where he spent hours each day on the basketball court, indulging boyish dreams of stardom, and nights at his best friend’s house nearby.

Ann Marie Healy used to travel around Pennsylvania talking to community members about “smart” land use planning. Through her work with 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, a non-profit devoted to revitalizing cities and towns, “we would meet with people to share what we had learned about how to approach planning in a more strategic manner.” In one small town, residents questioned the relevance of the pitch. “Isn’t what we’ve learned locally just as important as what experts have found works...

October marked the second anniversary of the tragic death of 17-year-old David Hess, who was killed during an assault by staff in his bedroom at the now-closed Wordsworth residential treatment facility. Two years later, we continue to uncover examples of abuse, isolation, and substandard education in facilities that are supposed to provide treatment and supervision to youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Rather than provide trauma-informed care, institutional...

The 3rd Annual Philadelphia Trauma Training Conference: Promoting Equitable Access to High Quality Services for Vulnerable Children and Families , will be held on Thomas Jefferson University's East Falls Philadelphia Campus July 29 th -August 1st, 2019 . This unique training conference will provide an intensive, collaborative, and engaging experience to providers, educators, and leaders across health, education, and social service disciplines, as well as to community members invested in...

School Violence - In the age of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, the topic has gained more and more attention. Although members of the national media tend to focus on gun violence, the percent of school children who are affected by school shootings remains very small; not a great comfort to those who experience such a tragic event. Instead, it is far more likely for students to be affected in their day-to-day lives by other threats or acts of hostility that make them feel unsafe.

On Tuesday, the City of Philadelphia was awarded a $1 million grant to create a 24/7 trauma-informed facility that will be an entry point into the criminal justice system for children who are arrested. The city was one of five winners out of 35 finalists in the yearlong Bloomberg Philanthropies U.S. Mayors Challenge . The location and an official timeline for the opening of the facility — named the Hub for Juvenile Justice Services — are still being determined, said Julie Wertheimer, the...

The Advancement Project and the Alliance for Educational Justice want police out of schools, according to their new report . The advocacy groups believe school police officers create a hostile environment for Black and Brown students and contribute to the trauma many experience outside of school. Philadelphia was among the cities featured in the report, but the idea of removing school police for some city parents is just unthinkable. Terri Seward, whose daughter attends Bartram High School...

If you’re grocery shopping in Philadelphia over the next year you might run into a cherubic cartoon character named A.J. Though his wide smile and trendy haircut impart a sense of whimsy, A.J. has a serious task. He wants to transform your daily supermarket trip into a learning laboratory. A.J. is the face of “Talk It Up,” a pilot project aimed at inspiring interaction among parents and kids. At strategically placed sites across 10 grocery stores in Philadelphia, A.J. appears on small,...