Here are a couple of new grant opportunities for West Philadelphia businesses and organizations who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest.

• University City District (UCD) has partnered with several neighborhood associations to offer $15,000 in small business and non-profit grants. UCD and five neighborhood associations – Garden Court Community Association, the Walnut Hill Community Association, the Spruce Hill Community Association, the Powelton Village Civic Association, and Cedar Park Neighbors – will select 15 brick-and-mortar businesses/organizations (up to three in each neighborhood) from the list of applicants to offer them $1,000 grants.  Continue Reading

Rev. William Shaw, pastor of White Rock Baptist Church in West Philadelphia, at Saturday’s mass COVID vaccine clinic.

A mass COVID-19 vaccine clinic was held this past Saturday at the Church of Christian Compassion in West Philadelphia where 500 clergy and parishioners from the local faith community received the first dose of the vaccine. The clinic was organized by Penn Medicine and Mercy Catholic Medical Center – Mercy Philadelphia Campus, who have partnered with a coalition of religious and community leaders from Southwest Philadelphia.

The event was the first of three planned vaccination events in partnership with the local faith community.

Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Philadelphia, which is located at 54th and Cedar, is partnering with Penn Medicine and the local faith community to “bring vaccination opportunities directly to our West Philadelphia neighbors,” according to president Chris Cullom.  Continue Reading

More mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics are expected to open around the city by the end of this month, including in West Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health has announced this week that six mass vaccination clinics will operate each week beginning February 22 at the following locations:

Community Academy of Philadelphia Charter School in Harrowgate; the Martin Luther King Older Adult Center in North Philadelphia; and the University of the Sciences (USciences) in West Philadelphia.

Currently, people eligible to receive a COVID vaccine in Philadelphia include:  Continue Reading

UPDATE (2/10/2021): More details on the City’s partnership with CHOP to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to teachers were released Tuesday. The program will kick off on Monday, Feb. 22. Vaccination clinics will take place at CHOP’s Roberts Center and at several schools in the district. Teachers and school staff will be contacted by their employer about scheduling a vaccine appointment at one of the clinics.

The City is partnering with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to teachers and school staff, according to Monday’s announcement by city officials. Vaccinations are expected to get underway by the end of this month at a number of locations.

Teachers and staff at all Philadelphia schools, including parochial and private schools, and those working in early childhood education, will be eligible for a COVID vaccine through this program. Teachers and school staff who live outside Philadelphia but work in the city can also get vaccinated under this plan.  Continue Reading

Public school teachers and staff were supposed to return to school buildings today ahead of the students’ return to schools as part of the School District’s hybrid learning plan set to launch on Feb. 22. However, as instructed by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) on Feb. 4, the staff didn’t report to school buildings due to COVID safety concerns.

Since the District has announced the return to the hybrid learning model, which includes a partial instruction inside school buildings, the opposition to the plan has been mounting. PFT has issued a few statements opposing the plan until building safety conditions are met.  Continue Reading

The COVID-19 mass vaccination clinic, previously run by Philly Fighting COVID (PFC), reopened in Philadelphia’s Convention Center earlier this week. The City’s Department of Public Health is now running the clinic. The clinic’s goal is to administer second vaccine doses to people, mostly health care workers, who received their first doses last month at the PFC-run clinic.

Starting the week of February 22nd, the city is planning to open more mass COVID vaccination clinics, according to Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley. There will be three first-dose clinics and three second-dose clinics per week. The city’s health department workers will be reaching out to people who had pre-registered on the COVID-19 Vaccine Interest website about scheduling an appointment at one of the clinics. Also, people without internet access can now pre-register via the city’s COVID Call Center at (215) 685-5488.  Continue Reading