Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative Launches Economic Mobility Project
Grants from Comcast, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Wyncote Foundation will support a yearlong initiative of the Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative (PJC) focused on economic mobility in Philadelphia.
This will build on the PJC’s signature project, Broke In Philly, which provides solutions-oriented reporting on poverty and economic mobility in Philadelphia.
“Our city continues to struggle with helping younger generations surpass the economic status of their parents,” saidLetrell Deshan Crittenden, director of the CCEM. “Through this initiative, we hope to examine what success looks like and deliver reporting that combines data with lived experiences to elevate actionable solutions.”
The PJC’s 30 local partner newsrooms will use solutions journalism to tell community-informed stories that highlight pathways to economic mobility and inform public policy in Philadelphia. These stories will center on Philadelphians who have achieved upward mobility and will be validated by data sources like Opportunity Insights, a Harvard-based research organization.
“Local journalism plays a vital role in helping communities understand and address the barriers to economic opportunity,” said Dalila Wilson-Scott, EVP and Chief Impact & Inclusion Officer, Comcast Corporation & President, Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation. “We’re proud to support the Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative and its partners as they use data-driven storytelling to spotlight real solutions and elevate the voices of those working to create a more equitable future for all Philadelphians.”
This local initiative is part of the 2025-2026 Economic Opportunity Lab, a national journalism effort led by the Local Media Association (LMA) and Comcast under Project UP, the company’s $1 billion initiative to create digital opportunity and advance economic mobility. The Lab includes 19 newsrooms in five markets that will leverage data from Opportunity Insights to produce original, in-depth multimedia news stories that examine how geography, policy and systemic factors shape individuals’ access to economic mobility and opportunity.
The PJC recently joined the Center for Community-Engaged Media in the Klein College of Media and Communication. It is a partnership of over 30 local newsrooms focusing on issues that affect the daily lives of Philadelphia residents. It is committed to maximizing access to news and information for all, providing coverage of the most critical issues impacting communities through collaborative reporting and understanding the information needs of communities across Philadelphia to produce relevant and impactful stories.
“Temple University’s founding mission was about economic mobility, so we embrace this—our first major project since taking in the Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative—with enthusiasm,” said David Boardman, Temple’s interim provost and the dean of the Klein College. “We are enormously grateful to Comcast, Wyncote, the Knight Foundation and the Lenfest Institute for supporting it.”