State of Our City | March 11-18

Joan Shepp
Joan and daughter Ellen Shepp at the Chestnut Street Retail reopening ceremony. | Image: provided

50 years of fashion

Joan Shepp is celebrating half a century being in the business of boutique Center City fashion design. Shepp’s store was burglarized in March, right after COVID hit, but it reopened in August and is now closed on Mondays. She and her crew will celebrate their 50th anniversary showing off a brand new window display featuring Shepp’s evolution of fashion. Throughout the year, you’ll see art installations, special collaborations with artists, events and pop-ups. 

Quotable: 

“Dr. Farley was disconnected and uninformed about the intricacies of the health department’s relationship with PFC, having delegated deep responsibility to the department’s trusted epidemiologist, Dr. [Caroline] Johnson.”

Despite calling him a “cautious voice” within the department, Philly Inspector General Alexander DeSantis wrote this of Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley in a report detailing the findings of the city’s relationship with Philly Fighting COVID.

Daniel Alzate and Victoria Alzate, recipients of the Children’s Scholarship Fund | Image: provided

Cash for kids

The Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia, a program that provides financial aid for needy families to attend K-8th grade tuition-based schools, has distributed more than $1 million in tuition aid through more than 1,500 grants. This comes at a particularly special time when kids want to stay in their schools and are suffering financial hardships resulting from the pandemic.

102

The number of homicides this year, to date, under Mayor Jim Kenney and District Attorney Larry Krasner’s leadership. 

More Popular Articles

Upcoming Philly Events