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Local tech company thrives with business model that invests in employee happiness and community work

Courtney Duchene

October 21, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Promptworks is a tech company seeking to create a nurturing environment for its own employees as well as help the local community. When the pandemic shut down the city, Promptworks created a mutual-aid platform connecting people in need with local residents who wanted to help. The company also hosted an event bringing together 80 leaders across several sectors to discuss and develop concrete plans to make Philadelphia more equitable.

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Jumpstart trains developers to fight gentrification in Philly neighborhoods

Courtney Duchene

September 29, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jumpstart Germantown and five spinoff programs trained about 1,000 people in the art of locally controlled neighborhood rehabilitation. The Jumpstart programs target particular neighborhoods, mainly mid-range housing stock with vacant and deteriorating conditions, and lend money to newly minted developers to fix and resell the properties. Housing rehabs maintain the character of neighborhoods, rather than gentrifying them or making wholesale redevelopment changes. Beyond the community improvement benefits, the program helps diversify the real estate business and provides employment opportunities.

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This Philly-based video-chatting platform helps older adults stay connected during socially isolated times

Courtney Duchene

September 22, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

OneClick.chat is an online video chatting and live events platform, with 50,000 users in over 30 countries, that helps older adults connect with old friends and meet new people. The technology is designed to be easy to master, with key features such as chat, mute, and screen-share buttons more obviously placed, easy to access, and remaining accessible throughout the conversation. Meeting scheduling is also made to be simple. Users, who pay $15/month for the service, get a unique meeting room URL that never changes. Using the services doesn’t require people to download software or create an account.

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The Kitchen Garden Series upends the textiles industry by reviving an old Philly tradition: producing local linen

Courtney Duchene

August 13, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Pottstown, Pennsylvania

A former costume designer and a farmer in Pennsylvania are partnering together to grow flax to produce their own linen. Since the fashion and textiles industries produce a lot of waste, the duo are reviving the crop that was traditionally grown in the area to raise awareness on the importance of a strong local textile supply chain. While harvesting the crop can be labor intensive and they don’t plan on making a profit from it this year, they hope to show that growing flax could be a staple crop in urban agriculture.

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(Environmental) Justice for All

Courtney Duchene

March 18, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Serenity Soular is a worker-owned cooperative that installs solar panels in an affordable way, focusing on communities of color in North Philadelphia. They employ local residents through an apprenticeship program, training high school dropouts to install affordable clean energy options. Because the solar energy nonprofit was rooted in Serenity House, a community center, they have successfully been able to get buy-in from local residents to help bring more solar energy to their community.

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A Greener Afterlife

Courtney Duchene

September 11, 2019 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia’s West Laurel Hill Cemetery has gone green. While the burial business may be notoriously filled with chemicals, this cemetery has introduced 50 different sustainability initiatives, including banning machinery use, only allowing biodegradable caskets – or no caskets at all – and keeping the grounds flourishing with native plants instead of manicured lawns. The efforts also include community engagement to bring residents into the environmental shift as part of a larger, cultural trend toward sustainability.

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