Health news in Kensington, Philadelphia — covering the opioid crisis, addiction and recovery, mental health, harm reduction, healthcare access and food resources.
Community members lead a spring cleanup at Trenton and Auburn Playground, followed by a visit from Mayor Cherelle Parker in support of revitalization efforts.
Accountability
The amendments, approved in a 12-3 vote, would require mobile providers to obtain permits while also imposing strict location and time limits on their operations.
Accountability
As Philadelphia City Council considered Mayor Cherelle Parker’s $3.7 million request to expand the new Kensington Wellness Court
Public Space
The basketball league teaches men about teamwork while also helping them improve their game, coaches and players say.
Accountability
The Overdose Prevention and Community Healing Fund, or Prevention Fund, used a community-led grantmaking process to distribute $3.1 million to 43 organizations in 2024.
Accountability
Parker’s spending plan includes $216 million over five years on the “wellness ecosystem,” mostly for the Riverview Wellness Village, a 336-bed recovery housing facility for people who have completed between 30 and 90 days of substance use treatment.
Accountability
The committee wanted to know three things: how the city-funded programs are spending their money, how effective those programs have been, and whether they need to change.
Accountability
The new dashboard provides data on violent crime, property crime, police response times, overdose incidents, and emergency services efforts. It also monitors health, quality of life, and economic opportunity metrics.
Accountability
While there was some tension, there were also moments of empathy, vulnerability, and shared struggle. The conversation was not black and white, with many landing somewhere in the middle.
Community Life
Although no ICE arrests have occurred at Kensington schools, the Trump administration’s decision to revoke school protections from immigration enforcement has stoked fears among students and parents.
Accountability
The city’s new Kensington “wellness court” has led to nine arrests since its launch last week, but questions about its effectiveness remain as two participants left treatment and outreach workers are now searching for them.
Housing & Shelter
For more than 80 years, health experts, scholars, and community advocates have emphasized the dire need for better access to physicians and health centers for Puerto Rican Philadelphians.
Arts & Culture
The Kensington Engagement Center is a hub for community connection and better resource access as part of the organization’s “Co-Creating Kensington” process.
Accountability
The fast-track court initiative targets people who use drugs by arresting them for summary offenses.
Accountability
Mayor Cherelle Parker signed an executive order Tuesday allowing police to take people into custody for certain summary offenses that were decriminalized under former Mayor Jim Kenney.
Accountability
The multiphase plan for opening Riverview will begin by offering 336 beds for people leaving short-term inpatient treatment programs.
Accountability
Those arrested will face same-day adjudication and be given a choice between entering a drug treatment program or facing criminal penalties.
Community Life
La crisis que enfrentan las escuelas del vecindario y que intentan corregir está traumatizando a los estudiantes.
Immigration
Access to green spaces have been shown to improve mental health and decrease neighborhood violence.
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
As of Dec. 19, Joey Gabor's family said the city has shared little information about his death.
Accountability
The arrests come as Philadelphia jails face increased scrutiny over staffing shortages, healthcare delays, and unsafe conditions.
Accountability
This marks at least the second death this year of a person arrested for drug possession in Kensington and held in a Philadelphia jail.
Accountability
The clinic provides HIV and Hepatitis-C testing and treatment, medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), wound care, STI testing and treatment, and more.
