Eden Gibson still remembers the day she found squirrels running around her apartment. “I was scared because I have a child at home, and she was scared,” said Gibson, a longtime resident of North Philadelphia. “I was talking to my landlord, and she heard me screaming and started laughing.” Gisbon has been a renter in North Philadelphia since 2018. Even from the day she moved in…

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Six hours after the opening remarks of the Philadelphia Board of Education meeting on Thursday, Feb. 26, Overbrook resident and former teacher D’Angelo Virgo received his two minutes of testimony. Over a video call, Virgo made his case against the Facilities Master Plan, which included Overbrook Elementary School as one of twenty Philadelphia schools recommended for closure.

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By Jocelyn Hockaday and Leah Duffy NORTH PHILADELPHIA – Paul Birdsong, chairman of The Black Lion Party for International Solidarity, was served a notice on Feb 13, 2026, that his license to carry a firearm had been revoked by the Philadelphia Police Department. The notice cites “good cause” related to “character and reputation,” stemming from an incident that occurred on Jan.

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Walking down 62nd Street, Debra Joell was lost. It was her first day as a substitute teacher at Overbrook Elementary School, and she was struggling to find it. Disoriented, she walked to the nearby payphone and coughed up some change. After dialing up her new employer, Joell once again asked where to go. The response she received was simple: walk to the end of the block. Moments later…

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As a mother and grandmother, Rhemar Pouncey has been fighting along with other parents to keep Overbrook Elementary School open amidst the potential closure. On February 19, she attended the Community Meeting to Save Overbrook Elementary and received a standing ovation for her speech to the board, parents, staff, and students. “Let me explain something to you, our children are not dollars…

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At Carver High School of Engineering and Science in North Philadelphia, students in the journalism program are learning how to report on their own school and community. Through a student-run newscast, they are gaining hands-on experience in writing, interviewing, and media production while also challenging the negative narratives often attached to young people in Philadelphia.

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For decades, spaces like Iglesias Garden and the Open Kitchen Sculpture Garden have transformed long-vacant lots in North Philadelphia into sources of food, care, and community. Long maintained by local residents on land once neglected by the city, these gardens now sit in the path of new housing development. In Fairhill, rents have risen over the past decade even as thousands of…

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Philadelphia Neighborhoods reporter Laila Page sits down for a conversation with Philadelphia resident and retired grandmother, Mary Felder, whose life was forever changed after the passing of her youngest son, Gregory M Dennis Felder. He was killed last year due to gun violence at the age of 33. While Philadelphia experiences a historic decline in homicide and murder rates…

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On a rainy Saturday morning at the end of November, a line of people snakes around the United Muslim Masjid in Point Breeze, South Philadelphia. They are waiting for food at one of the many food drives that the Masjid has been organizing for over a decade, but today organizers say it has a new sense of urgency. “Since SNAP benefits were cut, more people have been coming out…

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On a chilly December Saturday, tables adorned with flower garlands line up and down one of the activity rooms in the Forman Arts Initiative, a community arts resources organization in North Philadelphia. As guests walk in, they are welcomed by staff and asked to sit at a table where there are materials for candle-making and coloring. The space is warm and invites creativity…

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