Can a school save a neighborhood?
“Vaux opened its doors again last September, part of a sweeping neighborhood revitalization effort led by the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA). The $500 million plan — the largest single undertaking in the history of the housing authority, according to officials — also includes the redevelopment of the neighborhood’s 510 units of public housing and roughly 10 blocks of a commercial corridor. PHA bought the historic Vaux building from the city school district for $2 million. The housing authority and the district, which manages the school, hired Big Picture Learning, a nationally recognized education nonprofit, to operate it.”