This week: Nearly 100 photos from 2025, our community survey extended through Jan. 12 (with a chance to win $200), and the Power January fundraiser at 33% of goal. Plus free yoga, chess club, Zumba, and more events.
Emily Rizzo is the Accountability Reporter for Kensington Voice. She mostly covers the city’s response to the opioid and housing crises in Kensington, with a focus on how new policies and initiatives affect the community.
Kensington Voice collected and verified data on 87 people who were arrested during the first months of the program and tracked their journeys through the court. Most ended up with Wellness Court bench warrants after the city lost contact with them.
As of September 1st, people receiving SNAP benefits are required to work, volunteer, or be in an employment training program a minimum of 20 hours a week in order to continue receiving assistance. If they don’t comply and aren’t exempt, their benefits will terminate December 1st.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration plans to allocate more to Riverview than to all other opioid settlement money initiatives combined.
An ordinance that expands a business curfew currently in effect in a section of Kensington will be enforced in much of North Philadelphia and more of Kensington in 60 days.
The Philadelphia Board of Health unanimously approved a regulation relating to Councilmember Quetcy Lozada’s mobile services ban in Kensington. The health department will now oversee a permitting process for all mobile medical providers in the city.
Organizers and community members marched from Huntingdon Station to Prevention Point Thursday in memory of those who have died from overdose. The annual event is part of International Overdose Awareness Day.
The Philadelphia Board of Health postponed a vote on Councilmember Quetcy Lozada’s mobile service regulations, citing legal, policy and equity concerns about a district-specific law affecting Kensington.
After seeing the redesign plans for McPherson Square Park and Library, residents asked for more shade, and requested the library stay open during construction.
Council member Quetcy Lozada’s bill that bans mobile service units from most of Kensington’s 7th District will not take effect on the expected date — Sunday, July 27.
In Kensington, a neighborhood already grappling with public health challenges related to the decades-old open-air drug market and opioid crisis, residents say the AFSCME District Council 33 strike exposes longstanding problems including illegal dumping, homelessness and a lack of city support.
