Earlier this month, I went on a ride-along with the West Frankford Town Watch in lower Northeast Philadelphia. For the love of hyperlocal journalism and community coverage, I put together a 2,500 word profile of the organization, with a handful of photos of mine. It was good to remember that I got into this whole [...]

Two pieces I wrote for NEast Philly made their way into yesterday’s Metro Northeast Philadelphia edition. First, as depicted above, a piece on Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams’s presentation at the Northwood Civic Association meeting during which he again outlined the four main objectives of his nascent administration. Second, as depicted below, my coverage of [...]

That niche vertical or hyperlocal news site that covers your community can be just as valuable as the big newspaper or local TV spot, I told an audience of nearly 20 as a panelist during an Entrepreneurship Week session hosted by the Empowerment Group last month. The Kensington-based nonprofit who mission is “building a better [...]

The cover of a regional edition of the highest circulated daily newspaper in Philadelphia featured a news story of my own yesterday. Rumors on the possible sale of an alleged drug-infested nuisance property veiled as a recovery home in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood that came out of last week’s Frankford Civic Association meeting was enough [...]

They weren’t from around here, were they, shouted my neighbor across the street over the weekend. She was talking about a pack of young journalists — from Florida and Washington state and California — who had invaded my Fishtown rowhome the weekend before. That was perhaps one of the largest take aways I drew from [...]

Updated 4/25/10 @ 5:41 p.m. with William Penn Foundation clarification Fewer than four months after its Philadelphia media elite round table to discuss the subject, the William Penn Foundation has released a more detailed outline of its intentions of investing and developing local online journalism in the region. The report, which was released Wednesday, comes [...]

Updated 4/13/10 @ 8:50 a.m.: Regionally-specific hyperlocal is just part of the broader system WHYY, the public media station for the Delaware Valley region, is hoping a $1.2 million hyperlocal news initiative for the northwest region of Philadelphia will be the first successful bold Web-first journalism effort from a legacy media player. Updated: That northwest [...]

I’ve squabbled with people over domains and publication names, of projects and story titles. There was a moment of inaction in creating the technology news site for Philadelphia that I am now proud to say continues to take on readership and bring on partners. Technically Philly certainly isn’t descriptive on its own and makes for [...]

When you’re launching a business or a brand, a check for domain availability has to be part of the brainstorming. I worked with Shannon McDonald to launch a hyperlocal news site for Northeast Philadelphia. Initially in late 2008, she wanted the product to be the Web presence of a print product she wanted to call [...]

I’ve decided to step away from self-employment. I’ve spent the last year of my life freelancing, by some accounts, at perhaps the worst time to do so in my life and arguably the worst time in the history of journalism. After a meeting of the most influential media leaders in the region made clear no [...]