Philadelphia

You might try contacting Neighborhood Bike Works about their Bike Part Art Show, which often features reused and recycled materials. They may recommend artists who would be interested in your project.

Hi Adrienne,

I've contacted some Philadelphia artists and activists and am waiting for more suggestions, but in the meantime I suggest starting with Book Bombs. They do stuff like make books out of old clothes.

Hi Adrienne,

The Philly Zine Fest unfortunately seems to be a fall event nowadays, but you could get in touch with the organizers and see what advice they have. I also recommend Wooden Shoe Books as a source of zines. They've recently moved into a new space, and the folks I've talked to there have been super nice and helpful. You can also buy zines online from distros and stores in other cities.

For information on the chemical levels in Philadelphia's drinking water, go to the Philadelphia Water Department website and you can view Philadelphia's Annual Drinking Water Quality Report (most recent report is from 2007 data and is available in English/Spanish).

"Hunger and Homelessness Survey" is a report from the 2007 Conference of U.S. Mayors. It gives some statistics on various cities. Information regarding Philadelphia is on page 34.

Can be found at:
http://usmayors.org/HHSurvey2007/hhsurvey07.pdf

"Incarceration and Homelessness" is a paper from the 2007 National Symposium on Homelessness research. Includes some Philadelphia statistics that can be of use.

Can be found at:
http://www.huduser.org/publications/pdf/p9.pdf

For information on personal income, see the census bureau's city and county data book. On this page, download the .pdf spreadsheet with information on the "Place" tables for "Income and poverty".

The murder ate, and change compared to other metro areas can be found in the FBI's "Uniform Crime Statistics". Here is the page with preliminary data for 2008, including philly