Date/Time
Date(s) - October 15, 2020
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
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Located in the Lower Northeast area of Philadelphia, Kensington was once known as a vibrant, industrial hub of Philadelphia. Factories and mills were humming, with Kensington the center of textile production in both Philadelphia and the United States. However, de-industrialization in Philadelphia, beginning in the 1950s, led to significant population loss, high unemployment rates, rapid economic decline, and neighborhood and housing abandonment in Kensington. All of this, in turn, led to problems of homelessness and drug addiction, with the New York Times attaching to the neighborhood the infamous “Walmart of Heroin” moniker in the October 2018 issue of the NYT Magazine. In that feature article, one of our 2 speakers, Liz Hersh, was quoted regarding the issues of homelessness in the neighborhood. The Covid-19 pandemic has added another layer of complexity to these issues of health, safety, and access.
All is not lost, though, as redevelopment sprouts up in the neighborhood, with developers such as Shift Capital leading the way. Shift, a leader of impact development projects, has invested in re-energizing the neighborhoods in Kensington North of Lehigh Avenue, including re-developing the commercial corridor along Kensington Avenue. Tony Ewing, a principal of Shift Capital, spoke with members and guests about re-development in the neighborhood as well as Liz Hersh, Director of the Philadelphia Office of Homeless Services.