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Who is PCJ
Penn Community for Justice works to hold Penn accountable for their exploitative relationship with the West Philadelphia community. We are a racially and socioeconomically diverse group of Penn staff, alumni, students and Philadelphia residents. We advocate for the defunding of private and public police forces and demand tax-exempt mega-nonprofits like Penn contribute to public resources by contributing PILOTs.
Voices From PCJ
A Brief History of
Penn-trification
Read Penn Community for Justice's contribution to the 2020 Penn Disorientation Guide. This article outlines the history of university driven gentrification in West Philadelphia and how it relates to the issue of PILOTs and the demand to defund Penn Police.
Defunding police [and] Walter Wallace Jr. [...]
Op-ed by PCJ on the Walter Wallace Jr. uprising. We look at the personal reflection that necessitates this moment of reckoning and discuss how private institutions and public offices must overhaul their budgeting priorities to promote community stability.
Penn and Drexel Must Fund Communities Not Cops
After six months of intense activism pressuring Penn to pay PILOTs, the administration announces Penn will will donate $100 million to the Philadelphia School District to help with asbestos removal, lead abatement and other environmental hazards.
PCJ Featured in the News
'Fire Rush, defund UPPD, pay PILOTs': Over 100 gather to protest Penn Police violence
"Over 100 Penn students and Philadelphia community members gathered outside the Penn Police Department headquarters on 4040 Chestnut Street shortly after 12 p.m. on Friday to protest Penn Police's..."
Penn, Drexel students call on universities to disband police departments
"Over 100 protesters, which included students and faculty from Penn and Drexel University, marched through University City on Sunday calling on both universities to defund and disband the Penn and Drexel Police Departments...."
[Groups] pressure Penn [for PILOTs] in push for ‘racial and economic justice’
"The issue is more pressing than ever, activists say, [...] the coronavirus pandemic and national reckoning over racism has laid bare wealth and racial inequities in the city. Paying PILOTs, they say, has become an issue of both racial and economic justice."