Articles by charper

If there’s one thing that can bring a community closer, it’s a trip out of town together. At least that’s what Kamika Foster, 26, of Commission Street in Nicetown believes. For eight years now, members [continue reading…]

Sadly, it is a scene that hardly changes. Flowers line sidewalks, teddy bears are dropped off, and photographs are mounted on fences and sidewalks. People gather, light candles, and mourn the loss of a fallen [continue reading…]

On the second-floor of North Philadelphia’s, Deliverance Evangelistic Church, class is set to begin. The Center for Urban Theological Studies (CUTS), leases nine classrooms from the massive church, but typically only uses four. It’s just [continue reading…]

Imagine, for a moment, you are back in elementary school. You are the kid who is always being bullied around and picked on. Perhaps you were. You know what it feels like, and it isn’t [continue reading…]

Every big city has its neighborhoods to avoid after the sun sets, but in Philadelphia, our problems can be seen everywhere and they cannot be avoided. The difference between a city such as Washington, D.C., [continue reading…]

On an unseasonably warm March afternoon, a group of four fishermen lines the pier at Pulaski Park. They bait their hooks with shrimp and cast their lines into the Delaware River. Some days they catch [continue reading…]

Catherine Whalen’s day begins like many young, single mothers. Her alarm clock pierces the calm of the Fishtown morning at 6 a.m., leaving her just enough time to get her two children out of bed, [continue reading…]

It’s 11:45 a.m. on a Friday in the Nicetown area of Philadelphia. Children and teenagers litter Germantown Avenue on an unusually cool April afternoon as they window shop and gather with friends on street corners. [continue reading…]