News
By Sojourner Ahebee | Votebeat Louise Grant takes extra steps to protect her son. She is the caretaker for the 41-year-old schizophrenic and worries that if she needs to call for assistance, the police may arrive unprepared. That’s why she wants everyone in her position to do what she did — register him within her [...]
By Sojourner Ahebee | Votebeat Earlier this week, WURD and Votebeat spoke to a dozen Black voters across the city of Philadelphia and asked them to reflect on the 2020 Presidential Election. Now, we’ve asked these same voters to talk about the promise of the new political administration and how they believe these commitments will [...]
By Sojourner Ahebee | Votebeat Activist and community organizer Walter Palmer remembers coming up in West Philadelphia’s Black Bottom in the 1950s and 60s during a period of pronounced political activity amongst the city’s Black residents and leaders. Palmer, 86, has spent the past 70 years teaching and training grassroot networks of Black community organizers [...]
Penn’s $100 million contribution to the School District—$10 million annually for 10 years—will be used to remediate environmental hazards, including asbestos and lead, in our public school buildings. This funding will have an immediate impact, supplementing the ongoing efforts of the City and District, and enabling them to dramatically accelerate and expand their response to [...]
Philadelphia announces new “Safer at Home” restrictions, starting Friday, November 20th, to fight rising COVID-19 cases This Friday, Philadelphians should prepare for new restrictions for about 6 weeks to help reduce the increase in coronavirus cases. The new “Safer at Home” restrictions will begin on Friday, November 20 and will remain in place through January [...]
By Hadriana Lowenkron | The Plug One Philadelphia tech nonprofit’s latest initiative has big plans to fight such inequity, and with a recent round of funding, it just might succeed. As the coronavirus pandemic catapults society into a digital-first future, it lays bare racial, social, and economic disparities borne out of the historic exclusion of Black [...]
By Sojourner Ahebee | Votebeat Nakia Carr, 45, was poll watching at her local precinct in South Philadelphia on Election Day when chaos ensued. She remembers a rush of voters wrapped around the block during the early morning hours right when one of the voting machines suddenly stopped working. “We were having a very rough [...]
Brings the City’s direct support for small businesses to $38.7 million and for rental assistance to $39.4 million since start of the pandemic PHILADELPHIA – The Kenney Administration and Philadelphia City Council today announced a new commitment of $30 million dollars in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to aid renters and [...]
by Solomon Jones | Philadelphia Inquirer Trump’s voter fraud lawsuits are not about contradicting the will of all the people — just the Black ones As Donald Trump engages in a twisted pattern of denial after losing the presidency to Joe Biden by nearly 5 million votes, media pundits have begun to talk about how [...]
