How a Neighborhood Trust Helped Bring Fresh Food Back to Kensington

The Kensington Corridor Trust (KCT), a community-controlled real estate organization in Philadelphia, partnered with local entrepreneur Thomas Sheridan to construct a new grocery store after residents identified access gaps.

KCT helped open Kensington’s first grocery store in years after purchasing and renovating a vacant building, providing affordable fresh food, accepting EBT, and creating shared commercial kitchen space to support local food businesses.

This project highlights KCT’s broader goal of using community ownership of commercial real estate to combat disinvestment, prevent displacement, build local wealth, and strengthen neighborhood power. 

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Scranton Students Learn About Industries, Careers at Inaugural Summer Camp

The Scranton School District has piloted a Career Quest Summer Camp, where students learn about industries, careers, and pathways to future opportunities. 

Nearly 100 students in grades 5 through 8 are experiencing hands-on activities and interactions with professionals from local businesses, colleges, and public service organizations.

Funded by a grant from the Lackawanna County Workforce Development Board, the weeklong camp is exposing students to local opportunities in civil service, education, food service, healthcare, engineering, and manufacturing, helping them discover careers they may not have previously considered. 



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New Program Allows Teachers to Provide Park Summer Learning 

The Wyalusing Area Education Foundation has launched the Teachers in the Park program, bringing 50 students together in local parks for outdoor learning activities designed to reduce summer learning loss while keeping education fun and engaging.

This free program is offered to children from kindergarten through fifth grade and combines reading, writing, and math in a nature-based activity and exploration setting.

Organizers hope the initiative will help students retain academic skills over the summer, encourage social interaction away from screens.



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A Look at Safety Net Policy Over Time and Across States

The social safety net policy in the United States has shifted over the last twenty years, with overall cash and food assistance growing by 24 percent with significant expansions during the Great Recession and COVID-19 pandemic.

Support has also drifted from traditional cash assistance towards refundable tax credits, SNAP benefits, and expanded Medicaid coverage, increasingly favoring working families while providing less support to those without earned income.

Brookings Research explores substantial differences among states, service gaps, and policy evolution.

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A New Financing Model to Catalyze Mixed-Income Housing

Rising land, labor, material, and financing costs have made housing development increasingly difficult.

MassHousing’s Bringing Innovation to Lending and Development (BILD) program combines below-market public equity, private capital, and long-term debt financing to make mixed-income multifamily housing projects more financially feasible.

The Urban Institute highlights BILD as an innovative approach to expanding both housing supply and affordable housing opportunities in higher-opportunity neighborhoods and provides program recommendations. 

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The Renter-Owner Wealth Gap is Wider Than Ever

Record-high home prices have increased wealth for homeowners while making homeownership increasingly unattainable for many younger adults and renters.

The growing divide between homeowners and renters is becoming a significant source of economic inequality, raising concerns about a future in which more Americans rent indefinitely and accumulate far less wealth over their lifetimes.

NPR highlights the experience of renters facing rising housing costs, student debt, and other financial pressures, and experts’ warning that missing out on homeownership could make it much harder for future generations to build wealth because home equity remains the primary asset for many middle-class families.



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