The Felix Varela Award, which provides $40,000 award for excellence in American journalism funded by the Al Dia Foundation, is now open to more than Spanish-language articles.
The award, one of the largest in journalism, is named for a Catholic priest who wrote journalistic articles in Philadelphia and New York about his native Cuba during the 19th century.
The award, which celebrates the value of the First Amendment, is calling for journalists to submit entries on Latino and multicultural issues in the United States.
The competition was officially opened in Annenberg Hall at the Temple University School of Communications and… Read the full story »
Excited children, eager to raise their hands, are not characteristics often found in fifth-grade history classes.
As Philadelphia is filled with much of the nation’s history, History Hunters was started as a way to involve children in the learning process. The education program, which has four participating sites throughout Germantown, follows the state curriculum standards for fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms in Pennsylvania.
History Hunters Program Coordinator Kaelyn Taylor said, “There was a lack of a program that engaged students with their neighborhood history and many teachers were unable to get students to… museums.” History Hunters is a subsidized program that… Read the full story »
This past weekend seemed dreary and quiet throughout parts of Germantown. A slow stroll up Germantown Avenue changed all of that when singing, clapping and preaching were heard in the distance. Impacting Your World Christian Center (IYWCC), located at 5507 Germantown Ave., was where numerous local residents came together to listen to the word of God and to find a message of hope. Church members’ faces glistened from ear to ear, friendly faces were seen in every direction and uplifting messages were being preached in the welcoming atmosphere.
IYWCC has been around for 17 years and was founded by a… Read the full story »
“We [tend to] just look at them as numbers, but there’s a story,” said Marla Davis Bellamy, the executive director of Philadelphia Ceasefire.
Her perspective reflects Ceasefires’ commitment to developing interpersonal relationships with residents in violence-plagued neighborhoods. The City of Philadelphia acknowledged the validity of the approach by providing them with $250,000 for the program.
“It’s been proven to be effective. It is evidence based and that’s something that Philadelphia has been somewhat short on– evidence based programs,” Bellamy said.
Instead of the evidence-based programs, she said that Philadelphia has been primarily law enforcement driven, meaning that the individual is mandated… Read the full story »
Although a new Philadelphia law went into effect earlier this month that makes the hiring process less discriminatory for former convicts, its most prominent supporter is still seeking a full-time job and said the bill doesn’t do enough for those trying to smoothly fit back into society.
Mic Tabon, a former convict who was incarcerated for seven years for attempted homicide, initially hailed the ‘Ban the Box’ bill as a progressive step and “needed for change,” he said. But since he started to promote the bill, little has changed for his own employment.
Tabon held a rally last year with other former… Read the full story »
Gina Michaels’ life has all the elements one might expect to find in an artist’s biography: time spent living in New York City, a connection with the natural world, fluency in French, deep spirituality, a quirky studio – it is all there.
But there was a time before Michaels lived the life of an artist. A time when she did not even consider taking up the artist mantle.
Art seemed like a male’s world. “I knew artists, but they were all men,” Michaels said, recalling her youth in Westport, Conn. Michaels’ grandfather, Irving Brodsky, collected art, and took her to… Read the full story »
This is a two-part look at revitalization efforts in Frankford in cooperation with our partner, neastphilly.com
For the residents of Frankford, neighborhood revitalization efforts are nothing new.
The once-thriving historic community has fallen on hard times and has succumbed to blight in the past few decades, evidenced by the empty storefronts, the graffiti and trash that decorate the street, and the lack of pedestrians going out and buying wares from the local shops.
Business is not booming, that much is clear. But the bigger problem is no matter how many programs have come through the area, not much has changed… Read the full story »
When I first agreed to go on a field trip to Merrymead Farm in Lansdale with L.P. Hill Elementary School, I was concerned. The thought of helping chaperone 80 first- through third-graders was a little intimidating.
Several scenarios played out in my head. What if I lost a kid I was supposed to be watching? What if a kid gets hurt under my watch? What if a kid gets sick while on the hayride? All these scenarios ended differently, some good and some bad. I just hoped none of them would happen no matter how they ended.
The kids were… Read the full story »
Fernanda and Cesar Marroquin were not afraid of the police last month when they joined 11 other activists in an act of civil disobedience in Montgomery, Ala.
While Cesar and another activist waited in the lobby of the capitol for Sen. Scott Beason to respond to their letter asking for the repeal of an anti-immigration bill, Fernanda and 10 other activists blocked traffic in the street and displayed a banner that read “We will no longer remain in the shadows.”
The demonstration led to the arrest of all of the activists. After the arrests they spent two nights in jail.… Read the full story »
Robberies and assaults have been plaguing the Mexican community of South Philadelphia, but many of the crimes are not reported to the Philadelphia Police Department.
“I want to say five years, probably a little bit longer than that, that this has been going on,” Detective said Jose Valdes, a member of the Victim Services Unit of the Philadelphia Police Department. He said he believes it is a lack of trust in law enforcement that is keeping victims from getting justice.
Mexican immigrants are being targeted as the victims in this series of attacks that happen late at night normally on… Read the full story »
For George W. Nebinger School, Nov. 2 stood as a significant tick on the school’s timeline.
That day, the School District of Philadelphia announced it would close nine schools in an effort to alleviate a persistent problem: excess seats, which the district estimates to be slightly more than 70,000.
Parents, students and those affected by the schools closings are currently engaged in community engagement sessions with the district, which are scheduled to last until mid-February. If the district’s recommendations are implemented, students will relocate to nearby schools, buildings will be left vacant or reused, and communities will move forward without… Read the full story »
The Philadelphia Housing Authority plans an auction today for 100 vacant, scattered-site properties throughout the city. Eva Gaymon, who has lived in North Philadelphia for 43 years, said she would like to see houses built on the many vacant lots in her neighborhood and hopes more houses and fewer vacant lots will make the neighborhood safer. She said she is unsure whether or not the auction will achieve this result.
The auction is part of PHA’s attempt to return some of its 4,000 vacant properties to private ownership under the agreement that the new owners will improve the properties within… Read the full story »
A program of the Department of Journalism at the School of Communications and Theater at Temple University. Copyright 2012.