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The sunlight and the tease of perfectly mild weather lured Nikki Jones and her son out of their low-slung West Philadelphia rowhouse on March 23rd. Jones planted herself on her porch. Nasir , 14, was right by her side. It was late in the afternoon, and the temperature had edged into the 70s. All of the kids in the neighborhood were running around outside, but Nasir didn’t budge. Jones is the kind of mother who worries about of all of the things that can go wrong once her son leaves her line...

When reflecting on the factors that derailed them academically, Quad’ir Ford and Nalik Lark-Hightower didn’t mention living in poverty or exposure to trauma as factors. But experts have said that these two distinct yet intertwined conditions in children’s lives can go far in explaining the root cause of the dropout crisis. “Trauma is not a singular event; neither is poverty,” said Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend, executive director of the Philadelphia Youth Network and co-chair of Project U-Turn.

Sanctuary is a place of refuge or safety. In urban neighborhoods all throughout America, sanctuary is a luxury almost beyond attainment. But Michael O'Bryan is working to bring that sense of sanctuary to the North Philadelphia community of Strawberry Mansion. The Sanctuary Model originated in Philadelphia in the early 1980s. It promotes safety and recovery from adversity through the active creation of a trauma-informed community. Crucial to this program is the understanding that trauma is a...

It’s spring break time in South Jersey, and in the tonier towns such as Haddonfield and Moorestown last week, the streets were eerily quiet. Families with school-age kids left the premises for warmer climes, including Florida, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Two middle school girls were heard conversing. “We go to Disney at least once a year,” said one. “Well, we can only afford to go every other year,” said the other, with a note of shame in her voice. For more on this story, by Rebecca Bryan,...

Glen's Village , the Notebook's 30-minute documentary film and multimedia reporting project on childhood trauma and Philadelphia's public school system, was named a finalist for an Education Writer's Association award for education reporting in the single-topic news or feature category for small newsrooms. The film, directed by journalists Dorian Geiger and Paul Jablow , follows the journey of Glen Casey , a resilient young Philadelphian who overcame violence, drugs, and family turmoil as a...

More than 7,800 men and women sit in Philadelphia's overcrowded jails, three-quarters of them languishing while they await trial under a bail system that critics call outmoded and that cities — and the White House — are working to change. Hundreds in the nation's fifth-largest city would be free, including nonviolent and first-time offenders, if there were alternatives to bail, a recent tally of the daily jail population showed. People accused of crimes here have historically...