The Germantown and Chelten corridor in early December 2024. (GIH | Rasheed Ajamu)
The Germantown Info Hub had a very robust year via our reporting and engagement in the neighborhood.
Of course, we enjoyed hosting our signature recurring events, such as Germantown Quizzo, which we held with Our House Culture Center this year, and Community of Joy Festival, which was bigger than ever since we teamed up with G-Town Radio and Maplewood Collective.
While we did many things this year, the Germantown Info Hub is proud of two more significant achievements.
The first is our Germantown Coverage Sprints, which were our way of discovering, block by block and section by section, the unique visions and untold stories shaping Germantown’s future. Each quarter of the year, we covered a different area of the neighborhood, which has its own distinctions and activities throughout the year.
This year, we focused on the Chew & Chelten, the 6200-6300 blocks of Germantown Avenue, Fernhill, and Baynton Hill. Each story illustrated how Germantown is constantly changing through all the nuances. More importantly, it displays how neighbors are at the forefront of these culture-shifting experiences, working to ensure a better future for Germantown.
Our second win was our summertime Germantown Zine workshops, which we launched to help inform a zine we hoped to publish by the end of this year. That didn’t happen; however, we hope to have one in 2025.
In these workshops, we provided neighbors with materials to learn another way to tell stories. The theme was “If Spaces Could Talk,” which centered on stories about the spaces and places that make Germantown what it is. We learned from these workshops that it’s important for neighbors to engage in storytelling that allows them to break down walls and engage in play.
We extend a special shoutout to Weavers Way Germantown, Natural Creativity Center, d’griot community gallery, and Lonnie Young Recreation Center for supporting us in these endeavors and hosting us in their space.
While we celebrate our bigger wins, we also celebrate the everyday happenings of Germantown that fuel the work we hope to do with every story we report on or event we encounter. Our thanks extend to all of our Germantown neighbors, whether native, transplant, business owner, or frequenter. Without your support and your work, none of this is possible.
GIH was excited to compile a list of our favorite things we’ve encountered and worked on this year. Below, we share that list featuring sentiments from your beloved reporters–in each of our own words.
Pryce’s Favorite Stories
Our intern for the second half of the year, Pryce Jamison, shares his top three favorite stories produced by GIH.
Germantown High School’s transition into apartments
In June, I published a story about the first phase of development in the Annex at Germantown apartment building, standing where the historic Germantown High School stood on the 5900 block of Germantown Avenue. Before the renovation, the 530,000 sq ft. structure was vacant for about a decade while enduring two transitions of ownership rights after the school’s closure in 2013.
This vacancy period worried many community members about the building’s future. When the luxury apartment building opened its first 45 units, listed them online, and began accepting tenants in June, the renovation was in its early phase, and many of the old features of the building’s interior and exterior had not yet been changed.
As I toured the four floors of units, captured details of the development’s plans and available units, and talked to residents and neighbors about their thoughts, I presented a well-rounded piece that informed a passionate community about what was happening.
YWCA conservatorship trials
The story that Rasheed wrote about the November 1 decision of the YWCA’s conservatorship case was the conclusion of their extensive coverage this year.
The historical YWCA building, which served as a haven of integration and growth for women of all backgrounds, has been vacant since 2006, leaving many wondering about its condition.
Local developer Ken Weinstein battled the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority during three hearings for the property to be placed under his care while presenting a case that the building had been abandoned and neglected.
Through each hearing’s coverage, Rasheed captured a brief history of the topic to bring everyone up to speed, the details that both sides presented, and the opinions of community members. With the final decision giving the PRA rights to the property, community members who’ve been profoundly keeping up with the case expressed a multitude of emotions.
Many residents value the property, so Rasheed ensured their voices were heard throughout the process.
Maplewood Collective’s Germantown Night Market
The Maplewood Mall Night Market, run by the Maplewood Collective on November 16, from 4-9 p.m., was a night of local small businesses and artists coming together to showcase their passions and products under the bright lights.
Events with vendors displaying their products across a Germantown block were prominent in the neighborhood throughout 2024, and this night market was the vibrant conclusion as hundreds of visitors packed the Maplewood strip.
The night consisted of people displaying and selling items such as clothing, accessories, handmade jewelry, artwork, skin care products, food, DJ music, and the strip’s storefronts being open. This event was also a full circle moment for the Maplewood strip of businesses that took a massive hit during COVID-19, who went on to form the Maplewood collective that will now hold these events annually.
The video reel I produced for Germantown Info Hub’s social media platforms captured its essence and further highlighted the town’s talent and entrepreneurial nature.
Maleka’s Favorite Stories
Our reporter and organizer shares her top three favorite stories GIH has produced this year.
Slow and Confusing: An explainer on pardons
One of my favorite stories of the year was Rasheed’s deep dive into pardons and the pardon process.
This story not only clearly explains what a pardon is and how it works but also gives real-life examples of people who have gone through the process, their challenges, and their successes. It also takes us through an actual pardon hearing and the emotional weight of it.
At this café, everyone is Harmony, and everyone is learning and growing
Another favorite story is my feature on St. Harmony’s cafe in southwest Germantown.
Block captain Mekia and her partner Heim started this pay-what-you-wish cafe right down the street from Fernhill Park. I loved hearing how Kia and Heim started modeling how they wanted their younger neighbors to become future stewards of the block and the neighborhood.
Their actions inspired many of the adults to also be examples for the youth and form community connections, even during conflicts or challenging times.
Germantown Info Hub Hour Interviews
My final favorite moments of 2024 were three radio interviews I conducted throughout the year with Freedom Horton, RA Certified, and Nzadi Keita. All three grew up in the area and talked about how their upbringing and experiences made them the people they are now.
Freedom Horton
Freedom Horton and his brother were both wrongfully incarcerated for a crime they did not commit. Even though they both spent over twenty difficult years in prison, Horton was able to use those years of self-improvement and education to create a career and life outside of prison that he hopes to inspire others with.
RA Certified
RA Certified is a local rapper and filmmaker. He grew up loving different kinds of art — music, visual art, and writing — but he started getting into trouble as he got older. He learned to use art in all forms for self-expression and now has a full-length feature film on Tubi. He has also recorded hip-hop songs and embraced his place as a community leader in the neighborhood.
Nzadi Keita
Finally, local award-winning poet Nzadi Keita talks about how her upbringing with Southerners who came to Philadelphia during the Great Migration gave her a perspective on life that follows her to this day.
Rasheed’s Favorite Things
Our editor & reporter share their favorite three themes within the neighborhood this year.
Literacy Work
To my enjoyment, literacy was a hot topic in the neighborhood this year.
We often need to remember to highlight the importance of literacy. We often think of literacy as just the ability to read, but it’s more than that. Literacy is not only the gateway to freedom in this country — it’s the key to freedom.
Literacy is broad and encompasses many things. It can impact how you communicate with others and can also strengthen or hinder your access to job opportunities. Literacy also supports the digestion of news and information.
Two organizations, Mighty Writers Germantown and Natural Creativity Center, have come to mind to help bridge the literacy gap in the neighborhood this year.
Mighty Writers Germantown
Mighty Writers Germantown celebrated a full year of service in the neighborhood in early 2024 through its many activities, such as summer camp, comic workshops, and radical playdates. Literacy Director Bryana Crump is always available to connect families to the best supplemental resources for youth to build literacy skills.
Natural Creativity Center
Natural Creativity Center greatly impacted the neighborhood this year by introducing the first-ever Germantown Literacy Fair. Executive Director Krystal Dillard said she felt it was essential to bring the literacy fair to Germantown, as she knows the value of literacy and its vital role in obtaining other things. The fair brought together various organizations committed to enhancing youth skills to connect families with more resources.
Arts and Culture
Undoubtedly, arts and culture are poignant themes in Germantown this year and every year. However, the presence and energy surrounding each event and happening grow larger every year.
If you’ve enjoyed the artistic air this year, you can thank various organizations and people in the neighborhood, including the following.
Germantown Art & Sound
Germantown was the home of the first-ever Black-owned art gallery, the Lucien Crump Art Gallery, now the Our House Culture Center. OHCC is also the home of the Germantown Art & Sound showcase.
Those artistic and communal energies blend perfectly within the space, uniting the community four times a year to celebrate the artists around the neighborhood–and beyond–while adding a musical flair. The organizing trio, known as the “Dream Team,” even launched the Germantown Sound Sessions this year, focusing on the musicians instead of their centric focus on painters, craftspeople, and other physical forms of artmaking.
Germantown Art & Sound turned five this year and plans to continue promoting local artistry in the future.
GAD Philly
Spearheaded by Germantown native Kristen S. Clark, the Germantown Arts District, also known as GAD Philly, took full shape this year, seeking to transform how the Germantown arts community interacts with Philly’s overall scene.
To help establish Germantown as a recognized arts and culture destination, the organization organized numerous events, such as the GAD Block Party and the first-ever Germantown Arts Festival, connecting neighbors to the arts and each other.
Already giving the neighborhood things to look forward to in 2025, GAD Philly provides Germantown 250 a foundation, being a founding entity of the movement. It is also one of the supporters of the Germantown Jazz Festival, coming to the neighborhood in April.
How else will the organization continue to plant seeds in the neighborhood in 2025? I’m not sure, but I’m excited to see how it will work.
Imperfect Art Gallery
It should never be surprising that our contemporary, longest-running art gallery in Germantown is always on my watchlist.
What founders and operators Renny and Rocio have created through this entity cannot be overstated. This duo consistently provides a space for creators across the city to have a place where they can display their art–freely.
The gallery is also always using its many events to call attention to various causes like immigration, freedom of speech, and even youth rights this year with the “Not Safe for Teens” exhibition that ran this past spring and summer.
This year, Renny and Rocio celebrated 12 years of art making and community building, and I wish them 12 more.
Philly Experiences
Though we did not report on Philly’s premiere “hood tours” this year, never underestimate the power and dedication of Germantown neighbor Chrissy Watts.
Watts, a North Philly native, uses her experiences and expertise as a Philadelphian to help visitors and residents alike explore and learn more about the significance of Black neighborhoods with her tours and food crawls.
Her Uptown tours include seeing murals around the neighborhood while stopping at different Black businesses and eateries, allowing the tour-goers the chance to connect with the history and support the local economy.
What will always impress me the most is Watts’ willingness to use her perspective as a Black person who saw gentrification change the landscape of North Philadelphia to help Germantowners identify and resist it.
Grief and Healing
When folks think of grief, they instantly jump to the sometimes less-savory feelings and experiences encompassing how we process loss. But, for me, grief brought feelings of gain in the neighborhood.
Oftentimes, grief can be isolating, leaving people feeling helpless and disconnected. People sometimes feel like others cannot imagine the pain and despair they experience. However, we all experience grief, and it’s one of the things we can all relate to.
This year, various people and organizations produced work and experiences to help the community collectively process their grief and inform why, I say, Germantown is for the grievers.
The Thread Philly
This public art installation was crafted to support people’s grief and maintain connections with lost loved ones. Inspired by Japan’s “wind phone,” the traveling booth has a disconnected rotary phone that allows visitors to call anyone they miss and talk to them about anything.
This experience came to Vernon Park in the middle of the summer and will stand through the end of the year. The Thread Philly helped normalize the often-hidden conversation around grief and offered a way for people to heal–personally and collectively.
Janice Tosto and “Grief Journeys”
If you need someone to thank for The Thread Philly’s Germantown presence this year, one person you can do that to is Janice Tosto. The New York transplant attended last year’s launch at The Rail Park and inquired about bringing it to Germantown.
However, aside from that, Tosto has been doing grief work for over a year now with her G-Town Radio show, Grief Journeys.
The show has allowed people to share their experiences with grief and personal loss and honor their loved ones. In its entirety, it validates the collective experience of grievers.
It has truly helped build a community of understanding while promoting healing.
Healing Verse Germantown
The streets absolutely spoke this year–and they said it was time to heal. That’s where Healing Verse Germantown came in.
This initiative, launched in the early fall, addresses the mental health impacts of gun violence through artmaking and creative expression. Former Philadelphia Poet Laureates Trapeta Mayson and Yolanda Wisher lead the project, engaging neighbors in ten workshops through February 2025.
These workshops serve as safe spaces for neighbors to translate their experiences into poems and “healing verses,” which can be–with permission–featured on the 24/7 toll-free Poetry Line (accessed via 1-855-POEMRX2).
This initiative will also culminate in an exhibition of 20 public artworks inspired by the community’s poetry. The artworks will be displayed throughout Germantown to help foster peace and resistance to harm.
“House of Frank” by Kay Synclaire
Kay Synclaire moved to Germantown a few years ago after the tragic loss of her mother. Honoring her mother, she channeled that grief into purpose and produced her first solo book, House of Frank.
House of Frank is a fantasy novel that follows Saika, a grieving witch who arrives at Ash Gardens—a magical arboretum where ashes are planted to grow into trees—to fulfill her late sister’s final wish. There, she meets Frank, a mythical beast overseeing the sanctuary and a diverse group of residents. As Saika becomes part of this found family, she confronts her grief and rediscovers love and joy.
The story tenderly explores themes of loss, healing, and the transformative power of community. This Germantown-produced text offers a more intimate and creative way for folks to sit with the topic of grief, and I recommend putting it on your reading list for the new year.