Cheri Honkala Community Center

Join us! Resource Generation (RG) Philly is mobilizing to secure a long-term home for our partner: Poor People’s Army. 

Why the Poor People’s Army (PPA)? PPA is a nonviolent army led by poor people who are fighting for a cooperative society where everyone gets what they need. The PPA is headquartered in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, an area dense with poverty and homelessness, despite the fact that there are 10 vacant houses for every person who needs housing in Philadelphia. PPA  works on the frontlines to take back housing and provide food and other resources to families living through this extreme inequality. RG-Philly has partnered with PPA for over 7 years, driven by shared values of equitable distribution of resources, to support their critical survival work, political education, and movement building across the city. 

Why purchase a property? 

PPA requires a physical space to realize their programs, including 

• Projects of survival: 

  • Providing emergency housing 

  • Food distribution and other mutual aid

• Political education among poor people to build leadership with the knowledge, skills, and capacity to organize for change. 

The PPA is expanding, creating a community center that will extend projects of survival and political education to afterschool arts, music, sports, and cultural programs.

 Securing a base in the Kensington neighborhood would allow PPA to: 

• Extend their roots in the heart of the Kensington community that PPA serves most 

• Solidify the stability needed to plan for future growth

• Own a safe space for emergency housing, collaborative work, storage for mutual aid, and movement-building supplies

• Give community members a place to feel seen and supported.