The Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) is hosting a COVID-19 Zoom Q&A with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health on Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 7 p.m. Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, the Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Director and COVID-19 Guidance Lead, will present and answer questions.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to get first-hand information on the current status of the pandemic, learn what the city is doing to combat the disease, and what safety steps you can take to help minimize risk,” according to SHCA Board President Evan Johnstone. “This is intended as an interactive Q&A session, so please come prepared with questions.”  Continue Reading

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier is launching a new Town Hall series to continue a dialogue with the community during the COVID-19 crisis. Town halls will take place every other Thursday at 4:30 p.m. The first town hall will be Thursday, April 16 and will focus on public benefits and how to access them. A representative from Benefits Data Trust will share information and answer questions about public assistance, including programs like WIC, unemployment, and Medicaid.  Continue Reading

UPDATE (Thursday, March 12, 2020): Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier has postponed all upcoming Community Conversation meetings (see below) due to increasing concern over potential spread of COVID-19 at social events. Stay tuned for updates once new dates are confirmed.

Community members in West and Southwest Philadelphia have a chance to meet newly elected City Councilmember (3rd District) Jamie Gauthier. She is organizing a series of community meetings, beginning this Wednesday (March 11) in Cobbs Creek. Residents are invited to share their thoughts on issues that are important to them and to help inform Gauthier’s legislative agenda. Food and childcare will be provided.

The following meetings have been postponed until further notice:  Continue Reading

Theatre in the X. (Photo by West Philly Local).

Theatre in the X, known for its free summer productions in Malcolm X. Park, is planning something exciting for the upcoming season and wants the community to participate. In addition to their August production in the park, the Afrocentric theatre troupe will present an original play in the summer of 2020. The play will be “created with the West Philadelphia community in mind,” according to a Facebook announcement.

Four public meetings will be held this winter and spring to devise an original theatre piece for Theatre in the X’s new community-based production. Here’s information on the first two meetings:  Continue Reading

A second public forum on gentrification is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 4, at the Kingsessing Library (1201 S. 51st St.).

The first forum held in late November brought together folks from a variety of backgrounds together to talk about everything from policy remedies to neighborliness (saying “hello” on the street, for example). This second meeting, billed as “Continuing the Conversation,” will feature the same facilitators: local parent and sociology professor Christina Jackson, Drick Boyd, a community educator and professor emeritus at Eastern University, and Gregory Benjamin, a Kingsessing native and candidate for the state legislature.

The meeting will run from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Here is the Facebook page for the event.

Greg Benjamin, the 51st Ward leader, and co-organizer of Saturday’s community conversation on gentrification.

A standing-room-only crowd packed the basement community room in the Kingsessing branch of the Free Library on Saturday afternoon to start what organizers hope will be an ongoing conversation about gentrification.

“All eyes are on Southwest Philadelphia now. We have four trolley lines, four bus lines,” said Greg Benjamin, an organizer of the meeting and candidate for the state legislature. “We have the opportunity to set an example for what wasn’t done right in other places.”  Continue Reading