On Blast

youth-produced radio with the Philadelphia Student Union

Community Wins Demand for Reinvestment in Wiliam Penn High School

July 09, 2009 07:58 AM PDT

Months ago, when the school district first announced that it would be closing William Penn HS, almost no one doubted that that would be the case. However, thanks to the quick and effective organizing of the community around William Penn, the school is going to remain open and there is a new plan to turn it into a cutting edge career and technical school.

The building, located on Broad and Master Sts., is on prime real estate for developers, and there was a lot of pressure to close it so it could be put up for sale. However, the strong and organized messages put forth by the Committee to Revitalize William Penn made it clear that the district could not get away with ignoring the school's problems for decades and then saying that is was too much to fix.

Congratulations to everyone involved in the campaign to reinvest in William Penn High School!

This piece was narrated by Candace Carter and recorded by Dan Jones for On Blast Radio with the Philly Student Union.

Podcast Summary

On Blast is an organizing tool for the Philadelphia Student Union. On Blast represents the needs and interests of young people. We know that mainstream media doesn’t have our interests in mind when they broadcast their news, or play commercial music. The owners of mainstream media use their content to maintain the status quo; their framework comes from a place of sexism, racism, militarization and class oppression. At On Blast, we choose subject matter that amplifies the voices of those not being heard; those who are routinely hurt and misrepresented by the dominant media.

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The Philadelphia Student Union exists to build the power of young people to demand a high quality education in the Philadelphia public school system. We are a youth-led organization and we make positive changes in the short term by learning how to organize to build power. We also work toward becoming life-long learners and leaders who can bring diverse groups of people together to address the problems that our communities face.

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