May 1, 2020

West Philadelphia Promise Neighborhood (WPPN) is a U.S. Department of Education funded grant to support “cradle-to-career” opportunities for children living or going to school in one of the designated promise neighborhoods. This collective impact, place-based initiative seeks to improve education, health, and economic success for children, their families and the community, and the Data and Research Core housed at UHC focuses on studying the process and impacts of this approach. Recently, a special emphasis has been given to the health aspect of their mission during the COVID-19 pandemic. WPPN has been hard at work generating infographics and resources for the City of Philadelphia.

Feedback from their West Philadelphia partners and community residents prompted work on advocacy for social distancing measures, facts about COVID-19, internet access, food access, and testing sites. The team has been hard at work developing radio messaging, posters, and infographics on these topics that have been shared with City agency leaders, West Philly partners (including food distribution sites), and via social media. Resource bags containing cleaning supplies, educational supplies, and COVID-19 information and resources have been distributed to civic leaders and neighbors daily. In addition, the Promise Neighborhood team has been convening with program partners, civic leaders, OST providers, neighborhood residents, principals and school leaders to find out the needs of the community during this time and mobilize to meet them. Further, virtual literacy workshops will begin in partnership with Drexel's School of Education to support schools and parent engagement around homeschooling.

To see WPPN community graphics and to read more about the UHC’s response to the pandemic, please visit: bit.ly/UHC_COVID19.