Emily Rizzo
@emilykrizzo.bsky.social
Freelance Reporter and Podcast Producer. Previously Kensington Voice, WHYY. Heard on NPR, words in The Intercept, Chalkbeat, Inquirer. Based in Philly, raised in Jersey.
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I work for the only news org reporting on Kensington from the inside. We hold power accountable, and center solutions and community voices. But we need help to stay running after January. If you've appreciated our work, please consider donating: www.kensingtonvoice.com/kensington-j...
Help Kensington Voice start 2026 at full strength. Local news doesn't fund itself.
Every dollar donated supports an act of journalism.
kensingtonvoice.com
I tracked the results of Philly's new "Wellness Court," a fast-track court which offers diversion to drug treatment or a same-day trial. The city loses touch with most (usually unhoused) people they arrest in Kensington, and two people have since died from overdoses. bit.ly/3J1kHvc
New Kensington ‘fast-track court’ lands most with warrants, back into the cycle of addiction and homelessness
Kensington Voice collected and verified data on 87 people who were arrested during the first months of the program and tracked their journeys through the court. Most ended up with Wellness Court bench...
bit.ly
Grateful for this in-depth reporting from @emilykrizzo.bsky.social for @kensingtonvoice.bsky.social on Philadelphia's Wellness Court (forced treatment program). It's primarily creating a backup of bench warrants for people who just really need housing. www.kensingtonvoice.com/new-fast-tra...
New Kensington ‘fast-track court’ lands most with warrants, back into the cycle of addiction and homelessness
Kensington Voice collected and verified data on 87 people who were arrested during the first months of the program and tracked their journeys through the court. Most ended up with Wellness Court bench...
kensingtonvoice.com
Turns out Philly is budgeting $167 million of its opioid settlement money for Riverview Wellness Village, long-term recovery housing. The city isn't planning to spend any more settlement funds on Kensington quality-of-life efforts, like it did in 2023. www.kensingtonvoice.com/philly-opioi...
Most of Philly’s opioid settlement money to go to Riverview Wellness Village recovery housing facility
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration plans to allocate more to Riverview than to all other opioid settlement money initiatives combined.
kensingtonvoice.com
City council is pressing Parker administration for Kensington Wellness Court data. But the city's top public safety official offered little data on the initiative’s effectiveness, saying, “It’s just too early to tell.” www.kensingtonvoice.com/en/city-coun...
City Council presses for data on Kensington Wellness Court, city leaves key questions unanswered
As Philadelphia City Council considered Mayor Cherelle Parker’s $3.7 million request to expand the new Kensington Wellness Court program on Tuesday, the city’s top public safety official offered littl...
kensingtonvoice.com
Mayor Parker's administration is ending a community-led grant program funded by opioid settlement dollars. It allowed residents to decide where money flowed in the neighborhood. www.kensingtonvoice.com/en/parker-ad...
Parker administration ends community-led opioid settlement grants, leaving Kensington programs in limbo
The Overdose Prevention and Community Healing Fund, or Prevention Fund, used a community-led grantmaking process to distribute $3.1 million to 43 organizations in 2024.
kensingtonvoice.com
This week, Mayor Parker launched the Kensington "wellness court" — a fast-track court that targets people who use drugs by arresting them for summary offenses like disorderly conduct and obstructing the sidewalk. Wednesday was the first day of the pilot. How it went: shorturl.at/GSTow
Three arrested during Kensington “wellness court” launch; two diverted to treatment, one jailed
The fast-track court initiative targets people who use drugs by arresting them for summary offenses.
kensingtonvoice.com
Really appreciate @kensingtonvoice.bsky.social following up on what happened to the people arrested on the first day of Philly's wellness court. www.kensingtonvoice.com/en/three-arr...
Three arrested during Kensington “wellness court” launch; two diverted to treatment, one jailed
The fast-track court initiative targets people who use drugs by arresting them for summary offenses.
kensingtonvoice.com
"In Philadelphia, 942 Black men born from 1951 through 1970 died of overdoses over a five-year span ending in 2022." www.inquirer.com/health/older...
More older Black men in Philadelphia are dying of overdoses than many other places in the U.S.: ‘It’s like a secret disease’
In Philadelphia, a new analysis shows that older Black men from their 50s to their 70s are dying at the highest rates of all.
inquirer.com
ICYMI: A man died in police custody this week, after he was arrested for narcotics possession in Kensington. Drug paraphernalia was found in his cell. Sam Lew of Abolitionist Law Center says, "the city has blood on its hands.” www.kensingtonvoice.com/en/man-dies-...
Man dies in police custody after Kensington narcotics arrest, drug paraphernalia found in cell
This marks at least the second death this year of a person arrested for drug possession in Kensington and held in a Philadelphia jail.
kensingtonvoice.com
where could a girl go for a good piece of cake in the great city of philadelphia? real answers only
*loud whisper* OBJECTIVITY DOES NOT EXIST "No news outlet is truly objective. When I was metro editor at the Chicago Tribune, I didn’t green-light every story. I chose the ones that my fellow journalists and I thought were the most relevant to our city and our readership. It was a judgment call."
Jay Rosen@jayrosen.bsky.social · 2y agoMark Jacob, former editor at the Chicago Tribune, commenting on the "bias meter" that the MAGA-friendly Los Angeles Times owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, claims to be developing. www.stopthepresses.news/p/stupidest-...
Public speakers at this Philly school board meeting are holding up this story and calling for the district to do more to protect teachers speaking out in support of Palestinian students
The Intercept@theintercept.com · 2y ago“With that many Palestinian students in our school, I would not be able to sit right with myself if, as a teacher, didn’t do anything while a genocide is happening.”
Kensington’s Willard Elementary School is getting its first playground. It’s also getting something less whimsical: a bullet-resistant fence. Both have an unusual funding source: drug companies. www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia...
How Philly schools battered by the opioid crisis are using a financial settlement
Amid a devastating drug epidemic in the Kensington neighborhood, one principal at a local public school said kids there “don’t have basic human rights.” But educators hope money from a legal settlemen...
chalkbeat.org
Students at Philadelphia’s Willard Elementary School are getting their first playground — paid for by the drug manufacturers that fueled the opioid epidemic in their backyard. Spend some time with this excellent @emilykrizzo.bsky.social story today if you can www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia...
How Philly schools battered by the opioid crisis are using a financial settlement
Amid a devastating drug epidemic in the Kensington neighborhood, one principal at a local public school said kids there “don’t have basic human rights.” But educators hope money from a legal settlemen...
chalkbeat.org
Six Kensington schools are using opioid settlement money to build a playground, a fitness center, a drum line, hire a bilingual climate specialist, and so much more. A full break down of the $2 million, in collaboration with @ChalkbeatPHL: www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia...
How Philly schools battered by the opioid crisis are using a financial settlement
Amid a devastating drug epidemic in the Kensington neighborhood, one principal at a local public school said kids there “don’t have basic human rights.” But educators hope money from a legal settlemen...
chalkbeat.org
Philly schools traumatized by opioid crisis use settlement money to remind kids ‘they’re special’ https://www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia/2024/12/05/schools-use-opioid-settlement-money-to-create-safe-spaces-for-students/
How Philly schools battered by the opioid crisis are using a financial settlement
Amid a devastating drug epidemic in the Kensington neighborhood, one principal at a local public school said kids there “don’t have basic human rights.” But educators hope money from a legal settlement will provide students and families more support and opportunities.
chalkbeat.org
Quetcy Lozada's bill that bans mobile service units from most of Kensington has passed through committee. “We have prioritized harm reduction and the harm reduction way for a very long time, while ignoring an entire community of people,” Lozada said. www.kensingtonvoice.com/en/philly-ci...
After hours of contentious testimony, Kensington mobile service restrictions bill advances to Philly City Council for vote
The legislation will proceed to a full City Council reading and, if passed, will require Mayor Cherelle Parker’s approval.
kensingtonvoice.com
My employer, the School District of Philadelphia, should be ashamed of how it’s treated teachers in the past year.
The Intercept@theintercept.com · 2y ago“With that many Palestinian students in our school, I would not be able to sit right with myself if, as a teacher, didn’t do anything while a genocide is happening.”
My first for @theintercept.com: theintercept.com/2024/12/03/p...
Three Teachers Tried to Give Palestinian Students a Safe Haven — and It Cost Them Their Jobs
The Philadelphia school ordered teachers to “stay neutral” on Israel’s war on Gaza, but they helped students make pro-Palestine posters.
theintercept.com
“With that many Palestinian students in our school, I would not be able to sit right with myself if, as a teacher, didn’t do anything while a genocide is happening.”
Three Teachers Tried to Give Palestinian Students a Safe Haven — and It Cost Them Their Jobs
The Philadelphia school ordered teachers to “stay neutral” on Israel’s war on Gaza, but they helped students make pro-Palestine posters.
interc.pt