Playing Fields Not Killing Fields: Can Sports Be the Answer?

A collaboration with The Inquirer/Claire Smith Center for Sports Media

Temple University’s Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting and the Claire Smith Center for Sports Media, in partnership with the Philadelphia Inquirer, have launched a multimedia series examining the state of North Philadelphia’s recreational facilities and youth sports programs and whether investing in them should be a cornerstone anti-violence strategy for City Hall.

We’ll visit parks, pools, and playing fields north of Girard Avenue to document the conditions of facilities and compare them to others throughout the city. We’ll also outline the challenges leaders face in maintaining activities for young people in the city’s poorest neighborhoods most impacted by gun violence.

Read some of our recent reporting:

• ‘Playing Fields, not Killing Fields’
• Philadelphia pool closures leave neighborhoods without a vital community resource: ‘Why our pool?’
• Training teens to become lifeguards could save Philly public pools
• Philly’s indoor pools have become ‘a travesty’ after decades of disrepair and neglect
• In dual efforts to keep city kids safe, the contrasts between these two recreation centers are stark
• Nelson Recreation Center represents ‘home’ for West Kensington community
• One of Philly’s most historic fields is in disarray. Neighborhood activists are asking for help.