poverty
Only 2.5 Percent of Philly Businesses Are Black-Owned. The City Must Act.
In recent years, there’s been a lot of discussion about how Black millennials might be able to close the generational wealth gap in our community. […]
Philly, We’re Officially Living in an Apartheid State
Since moving to Philadelphia nearly a decade ago, I’ve never understood why people have embraced the term “majority-minority” as a way of describing the city. […]
The Moral Case for Why We Must Repeal Philadelphia’s Soda Tax
“The Philadelphia beverage tax — I know it has people angry about it, but it’s like Obamacare,” Mayor Jim Kenney told a crowd of Black […]
City Council Should Ban Cashless Stores, Because Philly Can’t Afford Them
City Council has finally produced a practical idea this year that simultaneously looks out for the poor and makes life easier for the rest of […]
I Love My Job: United Way CEO Bill Golderer Sets the Record Straight on Poverty in Philly
Bill Golderer, the visionary behind some of Philadelphia’s most impactful organizations, from Broad Street Ministry to Rooster Soup Co., is now at the helm of […]
Pew Report: Philly Remains the Poorest of America’s 10 Largest Cities
Although job numbers are up and population continues to rise, Philadelphia has maintained its unenviable position as the poorest of American’s biggest cities, according to […]
Philly’s Poverty Rate Is the Highest Among U.S. Big Cities
Pew Charitable Trusts’ Philadelphia Research Initiative released the findings of a new report on Wednesday that examined, in detail, our city’s poor. At 25.7 percent, […]
Here’s How Much Income Puts You in Philadelphia’s Top 1 Percent
The gap between the country’s top earners and everyone else is, unsurprisingly, still widening, and a report from CNBC this week gives us some insight […]
Enough With the Free Turkeys, Politicians — Get Serious About Reducing Poverty
The older I get, the more I realize that for all of the progress Philadelphia prides itself on, there is still so much that needs […]
ThinkFest Recap: 3 Takeaways From Otis Bullock Jr. on Generational Poverty
Otis Bullock Jr. still remembers the first time he understood the depths of the poverty that he was born into in North Philadelphia. It was 1996, […]
Generational Poverty: Trying to Solve Philly’s Most Enduring Problem
Mattie McQueen was about five years old when her mother offered a surprise: “Let’s all go for ice cream.” McQueen and three of her siblings […]
The Soda Tax Battle’s Biggest Winners and Losers
One of the longest and most expensive political wars in recent Philadelphia history has come to an end. On Thursday, City Council voted 13-4 to enact a tax on […]
Study: 670,000 Philadelphians Live In Economically Distressed Areas
Forty-three percent of Philadelphians live in “distressed” ZIP codes, according to a new report from the nonprofit Economic Innovation Group. That adds up to nearly 670,000 people, […]
Poor Philadelphians Are Leaving $100M in Tax Credits on the Table
Philadelphia is the poorest big city in the United States. There are about 395,000 people living below the poverty line here, including 126,000 children. The city’s poverty is brutal, […]
2 Years After Philadelphia’s Big Anti-Poverty Push Began, Little Has Changed
In 2013, Mayor Nutter launched “Shared Prosperity Philadelphia.” It was his administration’s first comprehensive anti-poverty initiative, and though it was arriving later than many advocates hoped […]