Sammy Caiola is a reporter with a passion for community engagement and trauma-informed journalism. She previously served as WHYY’s gun violence prevention reporter and hosted podcasts about stop and frisk and sexual assault.
Arts & Culture
Philadelphia school communities are pushing back against the district’s plan to close 20 schools. At Conwell Middle School, community leaders urged the district not to take resources away from the neighborhood.
Arts & Culture
Over 25% of West Kensington residents don’t have a high school diploma. Embedded advisers and support could help students overcome poverty and other systemic barriers, experts say.
A key member of the Philadelphia City Council has already expressed opposition to parts of the district’s plan to close, relocate, and co-locate several schools.
Solutions Spotlight
A key violence prevention program disappeared from schools across Philly this fall, including in Kensington—just when students needed it most.
Kids in Kensington
Klean Kensington is one of eight organizations citywide selected for the Department of Planning and Development’s “Philadelphia 2050: Planning Together” initiative.
Arts & Culture
The Harrowgate area will see increased funding as part of the City of Philadelphia's celebration of America's 250th birthday.
Housing & Shelter
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.
Immigration
A new audit from the Citizens Police Oversight Commission finds Philadelphia police officers aren’t always keeping their body worn cameras on during vehicle stops. The commission calls the finding a “major concern”.
Accountability
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.
Arts & Culture
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.
Weekly News
Backpack season is underway! We’ve got lots of places for you to scoop up new school supplies before classes start – plus a few opportunities to get wet and cool off on hot days.
Public Space
McPherson Square Library, which has been closed since June 21st due to a broken air conditioning system, may reopen by next Tuesday in time for a meeting with the City of Philadelphia’s Rebuild program.
Accountability
A new batch of organizations will receive $2.2 million in grants from the city’s 2025 Opioid Prevention and Community Healing Fund (OPCH), after what some groups called delayed and unclear communication.
Public Space
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office is charging 35-year-old Edgardo Rivera with felony drug possession with intent to deliver, among other crimes – including 11 counts of misdemeanor weapons offense.
Clean Streets
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.
Accountability
El oficial del Departamento de Policía de Filadelfia, Mark Dial, quien disparó y mató a Eddie Irizarry, de 27 años,
Accountability
Philadelphia Police Department officer Mark Dial, who shot and killed 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry during a traffic stop in Kensington in
Accountability
Those arrested will face same-day adjudication and be given a choice between entering a drug treatment program or facing criminal penalties.
Clean Streets
The “health hub” model creates locations where anyone, regardless of insurance status, can walk in and access primary care, infectious disease care, mental health assessments and opioid use disorder treatments such as methadone and buprenorphine.
Accountability
The civil suit, filed Wednesday, claims the city’s “blatant, conscious, and reckless disregard for the safety of the public” allowed Heron to harm the two plaintiffs, identified as Jane Doe and Jane Smith, as well as dozens of other women and girls.
Accountability
The City of Philadelphia is challenging a state trust’s decision to disapprove $3.4 million in opioid settlement funds earmarked for Kensington.
Community Life
Voters arrived at the Tomaszewski Funeral Home in Port Richmond with concerns about various issues Tuesday morning, including public safety, immigration, and health care.
Housing & Shelter
Kensington resident Gwen Collier-Jefferson advocated for NKCDC to open a polling place due to challenges people reported finding the previous location.
Accountability
Community leaders and residents believe funding environmental conditions that will improve the lives of families and children is a step toward repairing the harms the open-air drug market has caused the neighborhood.
