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City of Philadelphia
Penn seniors target eating disorder risk at Philadelphia public high schools
President’s Engagement Prize-winning project Be Body Positive Philly, led by seniors Christina Miranda and Amanda Moreno, is designed to address eating disorder risk among Philadelphia high school students.
Hope and help for wrongfully incarcerated Pennsylvanians
With Project HOPE, President’s Engagement Prize winners Carson Eckhard, Natalia Rommen, and Sarah Simon will address the lack of support to wrongfully incarcerated people in Philadelphia and across the state.
Student-athletes for an anti-racist society
Junior Jelani Williams of the men’s basketball team and senior Michae Jones of the women’s basketball team are leaders among Penn’s student-athlete community in the fight for social justice and racial equality.
A pivot, from financial literacy to restorative justice
Collective Climb won a 2020 President’s Engagement Prize as a West Philadelphia-based financial literacy project, but shifted their focus to engage with young people around the issue of community violence.
Husnaa Haajarah Hashim sees poetry as transformative
As poetry is in the national spotlight following the Biden inauguration, junior Husnaa Haajarah Hashim, a Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate, reflects on her writing and scholarship.
Transcending movement with Philadanco!
In a live virtual performance, principal dancers from Philadanco! performed “Oshun” before sitting down to a conversation on dancing, choreography, and choice.
Penn Museum interns explore jazz through family, protest, and creativity
Penn Museum interns delve into “The Year of Jazz” through a monthly series of events exploring family, protest, and creativity. Music Professor Guthrie Ramsey and his singer/songwriter daughter Bridget Ramsey headline the first event on Feb. 28.
Historic preservation of Black Philadelphia
Preserving Black history in Philadelphia is an evolving dynamic of the city’s legacy.
The joy and power of improvisation
With The Unscripted Project, President’s Engagement Prize winners Philip Chen and Meera Menon create an improv curriculum and bring teaching artists to Philadelphia public school students.
New Projects for Progress prize designed to promote equity and inclusion
Applications are now open for a new University initiative, Projects for Progress, which will award prizes of as much as $100,000 to support proposals by teams of students, faculty, and staff designed to promote equity and inclusion and make a direct impact in Philadelphia.
In the News
Philadelphia’s Market Street East searches for growth and renewal — with or without a new Sixers arena
Akira Drake Rodriguez, Rashida Ng, and Dominic Vitiello of the Weitzman School of Design say there should be a more robust and inclusive conversation about the future of Philadelphia’s Market Street East.
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Act 135 nonprofits bust blight. Vulnerable owners pay the price
A Penn Carey Law analysis found that Act 135 petitions in Philadelphia have disproportionately been filed against Black and Asian property owners.
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A burial for 19 Black Philadelphians, 200 years in the making
Penn Museum Director Christopher Woods says that the interment of 19 Black Philadelphians at Eden Cemetery represents a reckoning with the Museum’s colonial past and an act of reconciliation with the local community.
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Bus Revolution would bring frequent bus service to 1 million SEPTA riders
In an Op-Ed, graduate student Jonathan Zisk of the Weitzman School of Design says that SEPTA should green-light the Bus Revolution project and allow the rollout of transformative bus service across the Philadelphia region.
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Here’s what these youth advocates have to say about Philly’s truancy problem, and how they would fix it
The Netter Center for Community Partnerships has more than 30 years of investment in connecting resources that address truancy, such as establishing after-school programming.
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Chinatown residents brainstorm different ideas for Fashion District instead of proposed 76ers arena
Rashida Ng of the Weitzman School of Design and colleagues attended the Save Chinatown Coalition to propose different ideas besides the 76ers arena for Philadelphia’s Fashion District.
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