“Residents who choose to live in Kensington should have the opportunity to define what this community is in their lives,” Executive Director Dr. Bill McKinney says in the opening moments of NKCDC’s new video series about life in one of Philadelphia’s most conflicted neighborhoods.
The 8-part series was put together in late 2021, and includes information and ideas that NKCDC presented to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and Senators Nikal Saval and Christine Tartaglione when they visited NKCDC in November.
In the second video in the series, Dr. McKinney takes viewers on a four-day tour of his neighborhood, describing the personal impact of violence from drug sales that he says the city has been unable or unwilling to curtail.
“I’m sharing all of these not to be dramatic about what’s going on up here,” McKinney says. There’s 60,000 people living in the greater Kensington area, “and most folks are just good folks…trying to go to work, trying to go to school, trying to care for their kids.”
“We have so many wonderful assets, but unfortunately we also have areas that are under constant assault,” he says.
In subsequent videos, Ralph Whitfield, vice-president of the NKCDC board; Brenda Mosley, executive director of By Faith, Health and Healing; Gloria “Smooches” Cartagena, a commercial corridor manager with NKCDC; and Casey O’Donnell, president and CEO of Impact Services Corporation all speak frankly about their efforts to improve their community.
On this Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we encourage you to watch these videos, and ask you to think about ways that you can support Kensington’s local leadership in their efforts to make Kensington a better place.