📓 District plans to start school year early

🏫 Summer Cut Short in Proposed School Calendar

If your kids were hoping the next school year wouldn’t start until after Labor Day, think again. After weighing public feedback, School District of Philadelphia officials may start the 2025-2026 school year in August. The rationale is to lengthen winter and spring breaks, and honor holidays of other cultures and traditions. [🔒The Inquirer]

🏘️ Millennials Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place in Housing Search

Young Philadelphia families hoping to buy their first home are finding tough luck in today’s housing market. High interest rates, sticker shock, and shoddy house flips are turning them away from buying property. Renting isn’t much better, given the average monthly rent for a detached single family home is $2,118. [🔒Philly Mag]

🍕 Slice of a New Life

Down North Pizza is sharing its mission beyond Philadelphia with a new cookbook, “We the Pizza: Slangin’ Pies and Savin’ Lives.” The North Philly pizza shop, known for employing formerly incarcerated individuals, released a book with 65 recipes that details the restaurant’s story and impact. [NBC10]

🏥 Opioid Deaths Begin To Dwindle After Record Spike

While the city plans to release data this spring about 2024 opioid deaths, overdoses were down 7% in the city in 2023 compared to the prior year. Naloxone access and education, access to buprenorphine, and the consequences of skin wounds from xylazine-laced fentanyl are thought to be reasons for the slight decline. But racial disparities remain among overdose rates. [The Conversation]

Feltonville, a neighborhood in North Philadelphia, was once a Philly suburb known for its farmlands and elegant houses. Previously nicknamed “Wyoming Villa,” the neighborhood sits between Hunting Park, Olney, Lawncrest, and Juniata Park. It's roughly bordered by Roosevelt Boulevard to the north, Rising Sun Avenue to the west, G Street to the east, and Hunting Park Avenue to the south.

Feltonville gets its name from the Felton family – Samuel Morse Felton and his son Samuel Morse Felton II were prominent Philadelphians in the late 1800s with careers as civil engineers and railroad executives. One landmark of Feltonville’s storied past is the now shuttered Felton Theatre, a 1,300-seat movie house founded in 1919 by Samuel Shapiro that screened films from stars such as Shirley Temple.

Although much has changed since the Feltons' time, the neighborhood is still anchored by a multicultural community. Here’s some local businesses and neighborhood institutions to check out in Feltonville.

☕ Food & Drink

If you want a taste of Colombia, visit Café Tinto. The bakery offers sweet and savory treats from classic Colombian hot chocolate to beef empanadas. My personal favorite? Guayaba pan – a sweet bread filled with guava and cheese.

Cabarete Restaurante is a newer addition to the neighborhood. Opened in October 2024, the Dominican establishment serves traditional food such as tostones (fried plantains) and arroz con dulce (rice pudding).

Another Dominican restaurant, La Tierra de Chicharron, has had different owners and names through the years, but the food has yet to falter. Serving Caribbean comfort food, it's known for its chicharrones, a fried pork skin dish. My go-to order is mofongo, which consists of mashed fried plantains with garlic, oil, and pork cracklings. And the portions of mofongo are far larger than I’ve had elsewhere.