How this Philly hackathon plans to help people after prison
Power-Up Reentry: A Digital Solutions Day will bring together coders, journalists and returning citizens together.
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Struggling to understand
I must have watched the video of Alton Sterling’s son cry on the internet five times when it first appeared on my Twitter feed. I could not help but watch it over again, and try to understand what just happened and why. To see Cameron Sterling become the man of the house so suddenly, and…
CeaseFire program introduces modified initiatives
Philadelphia CeaseFire, based at the medical school’s Center for Bioethics, Urban Health and Policy, seeks to reduce the number of shootings and killings in the 22nd district of North Philadelphia. Ceasefire, which has been in operation for six months, is a structured and disciplined violence intervention program, developed in Chicago and based on the premise…
GPA Spotlight
I started writing for Global Philadelphia in early 2013 and have been writing different pieces for them since then. They were nice enough to include me in their monthly newsletter last June. Super nice of them. You can read the small write-up on me below and check out the newsletter in all of its entirety…
Councilman wants kids on hoverboards to wear helmets, knee pads
Councilman William Greenlee wants to do something about the young users of the popular electric scooter balance board, nicknamed the hoverboard. Greenlee introduced the legislation Thursday and is hopeful that it will get passed. If successful, the bill would require parents to pay a $25 fine if their children are not wearing any type of…
African Community Learning Program founder semifinalist in Wharton startup challenge
Walk down into Aminata Sy’s West Philadelphia basement, and you’ll see color splashed on the walls. There are self-portraits and large, red suns drawn in crayon, as well as maps of Africa highlighting the different countries of the continent. Sy, originally from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and later Senegal, runs…
Experimental Hair Salon on Wheels Tries to Inspire Mobility in Homeless Clients
Visiting a barber shop or a hair salon may seem like a luxury, but an artist who visits shelters for homeless Americans sees it as a matter of identity. “Hair care is kind of seen as a non-essential need for people that are homeless,” says Jody Wood, creator of mobile hair salon Beauty in Transition….
Camelot Schools Making a Difference
“One thing about the teachers here is that they will never give up on you,” says Klarice Reed. The 11th-grader begins each day at Shallcross Academy attending Townhouse, a social gathering in which students from different grades come together to discuss their issues and brainstorm on how to make the day successful. Like most of…
Nonprofit supports adults who come back to college
Wendy Johnson had an idea of what she had wanted to major in while she was enrolled at the University of Phoenix’s Philadelphia campus – human services. But that would change over the course of her journey through college, mainly because she was unsure about how to navigate her educational path. Ultimately, Johnson stopped her…