“Summertime slide” is the term that describes what occurs when young students don’t read during the summer months while they’re not in school. These kids lose up to three months of reading achievement and begin to fall behind their peers. Lest you fall into your own summertime slide as you enjoy Philadelphia’s rich cultural scene, pop-up gardens, and attractions, Fairmount has curated a list of reading resources that can help keep you engaged and up-to-date:

Overall

• Philly.com – A combination of content between The Philadelphia Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly.com covers breaking news, interesting city events, and opinion pieces about current events. The site offers a resource to understand what’s new and important in Philadelphia across education, sports, entertainment, hard news, etc. – @phillydotcom

• Newsworks – Newsworks is a great resource for local coverage that stands out for examining issues other mainstream sources don’t always cover. With thorough content, especially around Philadelphia’s education issue, Newsworks provides material for readers interested in plunging below the surface of news. – @NewsWorksWHYY

• BillyPenn – With its Twitter-like display, BillyPenn keeps readers informed on a wide-variety of news throughout Philadelphia. Content is aggregated from other sources and also includes unique pieces, establishing BillyPenn as a reliable source of fresh information. – @Billy_Penn

• Flying Kite – A weekly online magazine focused on what’s next for the city and its suburbs. It’s a community-centric publication that highlights people, ideas, neighborhoods, companies and institutions helping return Philadelphia to world-class city status. – @FlyingKiteMedia

Culture

• Hidden City Philadelphia – This publication offers readers a glimpse into cultural locations off Philadelphia’s beaten path. From interesting sites to the structural development of cities worldwide, Hidden City Philadelphia keeps readers abreast on cultural places and events they otherwise may have overlooked. – @HiddenCityPhila

• Uwishunu.com – Philadelphia’s rich arts and culture scene is vast, which offers citizens plenty to do. One problem however is keeping up with those events can be a challenge. Uwishunu is a blog operated by Visit Philly, one of the city’s tourism arms, that highlights all the festivals, art shows, concerts, and happenings in Philadelphia. – @uwishunu

City Planning and Design

• Plan Philly – Plan Philly covers city planning, design, and development in Philadelphia. In addition to great content, Plan Philly separates articles by specific Philadelphia neighborhoods. So if you want to learn about a specific section of the city, doing so is easy. Long-form articles that thoroughly explain what’s happening, what’s expected to happen, and most importantly why events happen makes Plan Philly a must-read resource. – @PlanPhilly

• NextCity – NextCity covers problems and solutions facing major cities. NextCity is among a host cities under the NextCity umbrella that focuses on many major U.S. cities. Readers can learn what’s happening in the future of design for cities and how cities are overcoming challenges unique to urban populations. – @NextCityOrg

• City of Philadelphia WordPress – Admitably dry-looking, this resource is ideal one-stop-shopping for access to the City of Philadelphia’s media advisories, alerts, and press releases. Civic-minded citizens can easily stay informed on all news released officially by the City.

Technology

• Technical.ly Philly – Philadelphia may not be known for its tech scene like San Francisco or Austin, Texas just yet, but its stature grows every day. Technical.ly Philly covers all things tech-related on the local scene with reporting about tech-related trends, events, and jobs. Readers seeking to meet like-minded tech enthusiasts, get involved, or find new tech work will call this a must-visit resource. – @TechnicallyPHL

Sustainability

• Grid Magazine – Grid is a digital and print magazine that features news related to sustainability, events to get involved, and interviews and information about the businesses and people doing a lot of work to make Philadelphia one of the most sustainable-friendly in the country. – @Gridphilly

Education

• The Notebook – For readers with an interest in Philadelphia’s evolving education saga, the Notebook is the place to go. A detailed list that can help readers get a sense of which high schools exist in the city and the admission process for each school can be found in the Notebook’s High School Guide. – @PSNotebook

Community-Engagement

• What Matters – this free e-newsletter by the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey is a great source of information about what’s happening at nonprofits in the area as well as ways to get involved. – @PhillySJUNITED

• The Philadelphia Citizen – this site is a cool resource that talks about different issues in Philadelphia. Created in part by a former Daily News editor, The Philadelphia Citizen has a unique twist. Articles don’t just aim to inform, but get others involved. Each article features ways for readers to get involved as related to the article’s subject. The unique format gives readers who want to learn and do an ideal resource. – (No Twitter account as of posting)

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