Kensington officials hope to improve residents' quality of life with $7.5M opioid settlement

KENSINGTON - On Thursday, The Kensington Planning Process announced $7.5 million in opioid settlement funding will go towards improving the quality of life in the neighborhood. 

While at the New Kensington Community Development Corporation, officials provided an update on their efforts to further engage the community in their plans to address the impacts of the opioid crisis.

"The only way to address this is through truly collaborative, community driven, comprehensive and trauma-informed approaches to addressing these problems," said Bill Mckinney, Executive Director Of New Kensington Community Development-Corporation.

In order to achieve this, organizers heard from more than 600 people who live in Kensington about what issues most impact their quality of life.  

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Based on the feedback from residents, a report was compiled outlining the results and the next steps in the planning process. 

"Our children and babies can’t play outside or go to school and have to step over a body and watch people shoot up, said resident and community healthcare worker, Pamela Stanley. "With the drugs and you have the homeless and the addicts and the sellers and all kinds of trouble, it's not safe."

Organizers also pointed out the poverty rate in Kensington is about twice that of the rest of Philadelphia and the median income is only about $20,000. 

To combat this, the New Kensington Community Development announced $7.5 in opioid settlement funds will be dedicated to Kensington residents. 

$2 million dollars are allocated for home repairs and $1.5 million for eviction and foreclosure resources.

"We recognize that many of our residents are at super severe risk of being displaced," said McKinney. "And it's not just displaced by the pressures of the opioid epidemic that we're experiencing, but also by some of the potential progress that is coming."

For more information and to apply for the grants, visit the website.