At the February 6th stated meeting of Philadelphia City Council, Councilmember Nicholas O’Rourke presented a resolution honoring worker-owned cooperative businesses operating in the city of Philadelphia. Representatives from the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance and the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives discussed the importance and benefits of co-ops in Philadelphia.
Additionally, the Philadelphia Hall Monitor, a worker owned-cooperative, was invited to participate in the presentation, and our own Lance Haver spoke on the importance of making cooperative businesses a priority in city contracting.
”I look forward to the day when every city contract requires profit sharing,” Haver said. “Let’s build wealth for everyone, not just the owners of the corporation.”
Food Security Task Force Meets
The inaugural meeting of Philadelphia City Council’s Food and Nutrition Security Task Force met Wednesday, February 5th.
The task force’s stated mission is to research and develop “comprehensive proposals, strategies, and recommendations aimed at alleviating hunger and improving access to nutrients and high-quality food for all Philadelphia residents.”
Comprised of representatives from 24 of Philadelphia’s anti-hunger, anti-poverty, and health non-profit organizations, including the Share Food Program, The Food Trust, and Philadbundance, the year-long endeavor will look to use data-driven and research-based approaches to develop recommendations to alleviate hunger across the city.
The task force will likely comprise of the following workgroups:
Benefits Access
Nutrition Education
Food Production and Agriculture
Funding and Procurement
Data and Technology
The task force will schedule subsequent meetings as a whole and for the various task forces and begin a public engagement initiative to receive feedback from community members.
Jones Calls for Review of Parent University
Councilmember Curtis Jones introduced a resolution “authorizing the Joint Committees on Children and Youth and Education to review the Parent University 2.0 website.”
The website, borne from an event Jones organized nearly a year ago aimed at “empowering parents and guardians with the knowledge and resources necessary to support their children’s academic success and well-being, is the digital format acting as a repository for such information.”
The resolution seeks to hold a hearing to solicit feedback to assess the website’s “accessibility, content relevance, user experience, and overall effectiveness in meeting the needs of parents and guardians in supporting their children’s education, social, and emotional well-being.”
Landau Urges Expansion of Child Tax Credit
Councilmember Rue Landau introduced a resolution “urging Congress to expand the Child Tax Credit, an essential anti-poverty initiative that has drastically cut child poverty and benefitted millions of families.”
The Child Tax Credit (CTC) is a credit of up to $2000 per child under the age of 17 available to caregivers. As part of the American Rescue Plan Act, the 2021 iteration of the credit was increased to $3600 for a child younger than 6 and $3000 for children aged 6-17. The increase cut the child poverty rate in the United States in half.
However, Congress has allowed the CTC to return to pre-2021 levels, which could lead to a spike in child poverty across the country. Even more concerning, the CTC will be reduced to $1000 per child in 2025.
The expanded CTC had a significant effect on child poverty in Philadelphia, and a reduction could have severe negative consequences throughout the city.
Brooks Introduces POWER Act
Councilmember Kendra Brooks introduced an ordinance strengthening worker protections by providing “the necessary legal tools for the Office of Worker Protections to enforce Philadelphia labor laws.”
The POWER (Protect Our Workers, Enforce Rights) Act, will provide another layer of accountability to exiting laws, such as the Wage Theft Ordinance and Fair Work Week legislation, while also holding abusive employers accountable for “retaliating against workes who assert their rights.
“Our labor laws are meaningless if we don’t have the tools to enforce them, and the POWER Act is a vital next step to continue the progress we’ve made to protect workers in our city,” said Councilmember Kendra Brooks (At-Large). “Workers’ rights are under threat from an aggressively anti-worker Trump administration, so it’s more important than ever that we strengthen our own Department of Labor here in Philadelphia. We can’t sit by while workers face threats of termination and deportation, simply for reporting an unsafe workplace, wage theft, or other violations of our labor laws,” Brooks said via press release.
Legislation Passed by City Council on February 6th, 2025
Authorizing the Philadelphia Land Bank to dispose of 1212 S 17th St; 1317 and 1511 S 20th St; 1904 S 23rd St; 1216 S 31st St; 1911 Gerritt St; 1932 and 2044 Titan St located in the 2nd Councilmanic District in accordance with the terms of Chapter 16-700 of The Philadelphia Code.
Also naming N. 10th Street between Oxford Street and Master Street as “Paula Peebles Way.”
Authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority deeds conveying fee simple title to 719 S. 51st Street, 1124 S. 56th Street, and 1218 N. 41st Street in the Third Councilmanic District of the City of Philadelphia and further authorizing the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority to transfer to the Philadelphia Land Bank fee simple title to such properties pursuant to Section 16-405 of The Philadelphia Code.
Declaring 2025 as the Year of Cooperatives in Philadelphia and calling on the City of Philadelphia to explore all options to support the development and resilience of local cooperative businesses.
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