Juniata Park: First-Year Principal Goes The Extra Mile To Help Students Succeed
Emily Mary Trunfio, principal of One Bright Ray Community High School, doesn’t want to just help kids who struggle academically get a high school diploma. She wants to help them achieve success after they leave school as well. The school helps at-risk kids who are behind academically to catch up and get that ever-important diploma. […]
Brewerytown: Residents Adapting Alongside New Developments, Businesses
Brewerytown is an attractive neighborhood to people looking for the cool, new hot spot to live. Its accessibility by public transportation and its proximity to Center City and Fairmount Park have made it an enticing area for developers and new residents. It’s no question that Brewerytown has seen changes in recent years. New apartment buildings […]
City Hall: Former Obama Administration Employee Brings Leadership Skills to District Attorney’s Office
Robert Listenbee was lucky to have two supportive moms while growing up in the projects of Michigan. He had his biological mother, who was African American, and his “white mom,” a woman by the name of Hazel Persons. Persons’ primary role was as Listenbee’s high school activities director but she quickly became his chief motivator. […]
Brewerytown: Local Business Owner Embraces Changing Landscape
Max Ochester, owner of Brewerytown Beats at 27th Street and Girard Avenue, moved to Brewerytown in 2010, a few years before it became the “up-and-coming” neighborhood that it is now. In late 2014, Ochester’s developer friends bought a property in Brewerytown and asked if he would like to open a small business in the location. He […]
East Falls: Glassblowing Studio Is All Access To The Public
With the help of over-sized tweezers, a wooden paddle and a 2,000 degree furnace, Nikolaj Christensen and his coworkers at East Falls Glassworks are able to turn molten glass into a masterpiece. Nikolaj Christensen is the director and head glassblower at the East Falls Glassworks. Christensen’s passion for glassblowing began in 2001 when taking an […]
Local Music: Marley McNamara Builds Community Behind The Scenes
Marley McNamara turned her passion for music into a career. McNamara became involved with the Philadelphia music scene through a job tending bar at World Cafe Live. From there, McNamara began booking small shows at the venue. She built friendships with people and started booking shows full-time. McNamara took her music career further and began […]
West Philadelphia: Local organizations tackle food insecurity
Every Tuesday and Saturday, Kinji Ridley parks his car and unloads boxes of groceries from the trunk, handing them over to volunteers who set them up on benches and picnic tables. A line of dozens of West Philadelphia residents forms and they each pick out bags of food, assembly-line style, before dispersing and going their separate […]
Kingsessing: Developing Adult Literacy Provides Opportunities
Eight years ago, Darrow Lyons’ wife encouraged him to join Never 2 Late, an adult literacy program offered through the Center for Literacy, an organization that provides programs to adult learners. The 63-year-old South Philly resident has been attending classes ever since. The program is held at the Kingsessing Branch of the Free Library every […]
Belmont: Entrepreneur Jennell Moody Hopes To Inspire City’s Youth
When she was 14 years old, Jennell Moody (above) started braiding her neighbors’ hair on the front steps of her mother’s North Philadelphia home. Word of her skills spread through word of mouth, and Moody eventually turned her hairstyling into a small business, charging $10 for the neighborhood girls to come get their hair done. […]
Northeast: Brain Waste Drags Down Immigrants And Economy
All along Bustleton Avenue are businesses built by foreign-born people who came to the U.S. in pursuit of a better life. Yet many highly educated and skilled immigrants are underemployed in Northeast Philadelphia and the U.S. “Over 40 percent of immigrants in Philadelphia hold at least a bachelor’s degree,” said Nikki Pumphrey, director of strategic […]