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“It's Not Just About Housing”

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

December 20, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

While any attempted solution to homelessness is admirable, it’s the ideas that include community that may be the most successful. This is the concept supported by Stephanie Sena, a professor at Villanova who has dedicated her life to bringing “best practices” of homeless communities to Philadelphia. Still in the early stages, this community model would attempt to beat homelessness by bringing people together - not only giving a roof and a bed. Ideally, the community aspect would make the solution sustainable.

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Keeping It Local

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

November 29, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

In Philadelphia, a program based on a similar initiative in Cleveland is on its way to success. PAGE (Philadelphia Anchors for Growth & Equity) will direct spending from large institutions locally. Specifically, it will work with anchor institutions like the universities in town and fill gaps, like building a laundry facility that will create jobs and fill the need by places like Jefferson Health and Penn Medicine. Job creation is what will keep this organization and the city of Philadelphia going.

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Barbershop Confessions

Michaela Haas

November 20, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

The Confess Project trains barbershop workers in black communities about creating pathways to talk about mental health and recognize and respond to signs of a mental health crisis. This training expands mental health services—especially culturally competent services—and parlays what is often a close, trusting relationship to raise awareness and provide an effective intervention.

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Fully Paid Teacher Sabbaticals

Quinn O'Callaghan

November 13, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom

Every teacher lost costs almost $9,000 for a U.S. urban school district, according to a report out of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. To help deter “brain exodus,” the UK is piloting a teacher sabbatical program, borrowing from the model traditionally found in higher education. Could such a model work in Philadelphia?

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Make Voting Easy

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

November 07, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Oregon

Voter turnout is higher where voting is made easy. Consider one innovation: vote-by mail. States that allowed mail-in ballots had an average of 10 percent more voting in the 2016 election than other states. More innovations include pre-registering young voters, automatically updating a voter’s address when they move, automatically registering citizens unless they opt out, and same-day voter registration.

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Citizen of the Week: Adam Kesselman

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

October 31, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

In Philadelphia, the City Bright initiative is working to pay individuals experiencing homelessness to help clean up the streets in city neighborhoods. While it might not pay much and is not a silver bullet solution, incentives like recommendations and the small amount of pay can help - and are part of a larger trend around the country.

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Borderwise

Meerabelle Jesuthasan

October 30, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Borderwise is an online interface that makes it easier to apply for a green card or naturalization in the United States. Since Borderwise was created in 2016, more than 80.000 immigration forms have been prepared using the interface. In addition to streamlining immigration paperwork, the startup also offers low or no-cost legal aid to applicants.

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Teaching Curiosity

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

October 24, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Since Ascend Charter Schools switched from the popular "No Excuses" model to a Responsive Classroom philosophy, test scores have steadily risen, suspension rates have dropped dramatically, and the racial achievement gap has all but disappeared. While traces of the former structures, such as repeated routines, still exist today, the school has also incorporated trauma-informed elements and social-emotional learning curricula.

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A New Twist on Salvation

James Meadows

October 16, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Church after church in Philadelphia is being slated for demolition. In times where funding for religious institutions are scarce, Sacred Places, Civic Spaces is trying to repurpose old churches for community use. By working with the Civic Design Center, church leaders will be able to work with free design consultants to reimagine ways that their spaces can add new value to their communities.

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Fixing the Problems We Can Fix

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

October 10, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A Philadelphia non-profit is targeting young people who struggle when leaving the foster care system and providing them with comprehensive services to help them transition into independent living successfully; that includes helping them find jobs, homes, and more. The program is based off a model from Youth Villages, a national nonprofit, and is showing impressive results - for example, "90 percent of the youth who joined the program were in need of stable housing; now, 35 percent have their own homes, and the rest live with family, former foster families or in supervised independent living."

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