[NEWS] New $19 million wellness center aims to transform one of Philly's most struggling neighborhoods

From NewsWorks: 

Project HOME, an organization predominantly known for its work with homeless people, is officially opening a new community health center in north Philadelphia today.

For Monica Medina McCurdy, vice president of health care services at project HOME, the center is long overdue in a community struggling with high rates of cancer, obesity and heart disease. More than one third of residents live below the poverty level. The neighborhood, which spans Fairmount Park to Broad Street between Girard and Allegheny also has the lowest life expectancy in the city.

"There's lots of health disparities affecting our neighborhood, so there's something missing if we're in the shadow of five world renounced international academic medical centers and yet the community is the way it is," she said. "So what's missing? I think it's that closeness, that trust, that reducing barriers that we're trying to address."