Resolve Philly
Resolve Philly is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit news organization (founded 2018) that addresses information and digital divides in Germantown through free bilingual text services, hyperlocal journalism, public-meeting documentation, and cultural programming funded by foundation grants.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersPhiladelphia, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Resolve Philly does
Resolve Philly is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit news organization founded in 2018 that operates a participatory, community-centered journalism model addressing the information and digital divides in Philadelphia neighborhoods, with an operational focus on Germantown. Its core product portfolio comprises Equally Informed Philly (a free bilingual text and social media service connecting residents to housing, jobs, and food-access resources), the Germantown Info Hub hyperlocal newsroom (producing engaged and solutions-oriented journalism), the Equal Info Text Line (a human-managed bilingual SMS service), the Equally Informed Community Newsletter (printed and digital resource guides), Philly Documenters (a program training and paying 300+ residents since 2023 to document public meetings), and Healing Verse Germantown (a 2024 cultural/public-art initiative). Notable partnerships include Creative Philadelphia and Bloomberg Philanthropies (Public Art Challenge, $1 million), Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund ($250,000, 2019), the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative, and Next City.
The organization relies on a non-proprietary technology stack built around a text-messaging service, a WordPress-based website (resolvephilly.org), a Germantown Info Hub microsite (germantowninfohub.org), standard collaboration tools for community reporting, and the Givebutter donation platform. There are no developed AI/ML systems or proprietary software platforms described. Distribution is achieved through text messaging, email newsletters, in-person tabling at neighborhood locations such as Gaffney Fabrics on Germantown Avenue, partner organization networks, and the public website.
As a registered nonprofit, Resolve Philly does not generate commercial revenue in the traditional sense. Funds flow from philanthropic grants (including a $1M Bloomberg award and a $250K Knight-Lenfest award), project-specific sponsorships (Pennsylvania Council on the Arts), and individual donations collected via Givebutter. Output is non-priced: all core services (text line, newsletter, journalism content) are free to residents, and freelance contributors are paid a flat $500 per story. Primary customer segments are Philadelphia neighborhood residents (particularly Germantown), civic-engaged residents participating in Philly Documenters, freelance community journalists, and partner neighborhood organizations.
Resolve Philly firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Resolve Philly
- Legal name
- Resolve Philly
- Website
- https://resolvephilly.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Resolve Philly is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit news organization (founded 2018) that addresses information and digital divides in Germantown through free bilingual text services, hyperlocal journalism, public-meeting documentation, and cultural programming funded by foundation grants.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Resolve Philly industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Community Journalism
- NAICS
- Broadcasting and Content Providers (516), Educational Support Services (611710)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Local & Neighborhood Community Platforms (MPACAJAI)
Keywords
Where Resolve Philly is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Philadelphia
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Resolve Philly business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Grants and Foundation Funding: Resolve Philly receives significant grant funding from major foundations. The Healing Verse Germantown project received a $1 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies through Creative Philadelphia. The Germantown Jazz Festival received funding from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. The organization operates as a nonprofit news organization dependent on philanthropic support.
- Donations: The organization accepts donations through platforms like Givebutter to support operations. The website prominently features a donate button and subscription options for newsletter engagement.
- Freelance Contributor Payments: Resolve Philly pays freelance contributors $500 per story for Germantown Info Hub reporting, indicating a cost structure rather than revenue generation.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Resolve Philly product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Resolve Philly is a nonprofit news organization that produces community-centered journalism and distributes trusted local information to Philadelphia residents, particularly in Germantown. It operates free bilingual (English/Spanish) information services including a text message line, newsletters, a hyperlocal newsroom (Germantown Info Hub), and the Philly Documenters program that trains residents to report on public meetings. All offerings are provided at no cost to community members and supported by philanthropic grants and donations.
Product overview
Resolve Philly is a community-centered news organization reporting with and for Philadelphia neighborhoods, operating as a collaborative journalism model focused on bridging the information divide. Its core product portfolio consists of Equally Informed Philly (a free bilingual text and social media service delivering trusted local news and resources), the Germantown Info Hub (a hyperlocal sub-brand newsroom serving the Germantown neighborhood with engaged and solutions journalism), the Equal Info Text Line (a human-managed bilingual SMS service), the Equally Informed Community Newsletter (delivering printed and digital resource guides), and Philly Documenters (a civic-engagement program recruiting and paying residents to document public meetings). These offerings work together as a unified community-information ecosystem, prioritizing participatory and community-responsive journalism to maximize access to news for underserved populations.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Equally Informed Philly: A free text and social media service connecting residents to trusted local information in English and Spanish.
- Germantown Info Hub
- Philly Documenters
Products and services
- Equally Informed Philly (EIP) A free bilingual text and social media service that connects Philadelphia residents to trusted local information in English and Spanish, sharing resources and news on topics such as housing, jobs, and food access.
- Germantown Info Hub (GIH) A community-centered newsroom serving Germantown residents with hyperlocal, actionable news, civic engagement reporting, and community-responsive storytelling, working with local partners, volunteers, and residents to provide neighborhood updates that are easy to find and trust.
- Equal Info Text Line A free bilingual SMS service managed by real people, providing bite-sized news reporting and verified resources in English and Spanish. Residents sign up by texting 'EQUAL INFO' to 215-910-4040.
- Equally Informed Community Newsletter A free email newsletter offering printed resource guides and digital information for residents, including those without technology access, bridging the information divide in Philadelphia communities.
- Philly Documenters A program that recruits, trains, and pays Philadelphia residents to attend and document public meetings (City Council, School Board, Planning Commission) with notes, audio recordings, and agendas, making local government more transparent and accessible.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 300 Philly residents trained as Documenters since 2023
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Resolve Philly
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Resolve Philly technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Resolve Philly partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Creative PhiladelphiacoreCreative Philadelphia, a program of the City of Philadelphia's Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, partnered with Resolve Philly's Healing Verse Germantown project. Creative Philadelphia awarded a $1 million Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge grant to fund the project, selecting local organizations as grant recipients to organize community healing events.
- Trapeta MaysoncoreFormer Philadelphia Poet Laureate and co-creator of Healing Verse Germantown along with Yolanda Wisher. Mayson founded the Healing Verse Poetry Line in 2021 and serves as Project Manager for the HVG initiative.
- Yolanda WishercoreFormer Philadelphia Poet Laureate and co-creator of Healing Verse Germantown alongside Trapeta Mayson and Rob Blackson. Wisher co-facilitates poetry workshops as part of the Healing Verse Germantown public art project.
- Lenfest Center for Community Workforce Partnerships at Temple UniversityminorTemple University's Branching Up program partnered with Southern Flames BBQ (a Resolve Philly covered business) to support businesses focused on hiring returning citizens, providing $11,000 grants and job training support.
- Philadelphia Journalism CollaborativecoreGermantown Info Hub is one of 30 news organizations powering the Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative, a collaborative initiative to strengthen local journalism across the city.
- Next CityminorNext City partnered with Resolve Philly's Germantown Info Hub on the Equitable Cities Reporting Fellowship, producing stories about economic opportunity and workforce development.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Resolve Philly competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- City Bureau: Chicago-based nonprofit civic journalism organization and originator of the national Documenters model. Directly comparable to Resolve Philly because both run community-centered newsrooms and Documenters-style public-meeting training programs.
- Spotlight PA: Pennsylvania-focused collaborative nonprofit newsroom covering state government and civic accountability. Comparable because it operates on a similar nonprofit-grant-funded model delivering original local investigative and civic journalism in the same region.
- Type Investigations: Nonprofit investigative journalism outlet producing long-form accountability reporting. Comparable because it is a similarly sized, grant-funded, mission-driven news organization producing investigative work outside the for-profit news model.
- Chalkbeat: Nonprofit news organization covering local education and civic issues across multiple U.S. cities. Comparable because it shares the nonprofit, grant-funded, hyperlocal-community-impact model and uses a hub-and-spoke approach Resolve Philly could emulate.
- The 19th News: Nonprofit newsroom focused on gender and politics. Comparable because it is a similarly structured, grant-funded digital-first nonprofit news outlet targeting an underserved information audience.
- The Marshall Project: Nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal-justice system. Comparable because it is a similarly sized, foundation-funded, mission-driven newsroom using engaged-journalism techniques with affected communities.
Broad incumbents
- ProPublica: Largest U.S. nonprofit investigative newsroom. Comparable as the dominant nonprofit-news peer operating on foundation funding and impact-driven journalism, though at substantially larger scale.
- WHYY: Philadelphia's primary public radio/TV station and a major regional journalism outlet. Comparable because it serves the same Philadelphia civic-information audience with broadcast, digital, and community-engagement programming.
- The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia's major for-profit daily newspaper. Comparable because it covers overlapping Philadelphia civic and community news, including Germantown, and competes for reader attention and local advertising/support in the same market.
Emerging players
- Hearken: Community engagement platform used by newsrooms to crowdsource story ideas and audience questions. Comparable because it serves the same community-responsive journalism workflow that Resolve Philly's Equal Info Text Line operationalizes, and represents the technology-vendor analog.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Resolve Philly social profiles
Digital presenceResolve Philly financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Resolve Philly leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Resolve Philly funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Resolve Philly M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Resolve Philly
What does Resolve Philly do?
Resolve Philly is a nonprofit news organization that produces community-centered journalism and distributes trusted local information to Philadelphia residents, particularly in Germantown. It operates free bilingual (English/Spanish) information services including a text message line, newsletters, a hyperlocal newsroom (Germantown Info Hub), and the Philly Documenters program that trains residents to report on public meetings. All offerings are provided at no cost to community members and supported by philanthropic grants and donations.
Is Resolve Philly a public or private company?
Resolve Philly is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Resolve Philly founded?
Resolve Philly was founded in 2018. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Resolve Philly based?
Resolve Philly is headquartered in Philadelphia, United States, in the North America region.
How does Resolve Philly make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Grants and Foundation Funding is the primary driver. The others are donations and freelance Contributor Payments.
Who are Resolve Philly's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are City Bureau, Spotlight PA, Type Investigations, Chalkbeat, The 19th News and The Marshall Project. Broad incumbents are ProPublica, WHYY and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Hearken is listed as an emerging player.
Does Resolve Philly have an API?
No public API is recorded for Resolve Philly.
What industry is Resolve Philly in?
Resolve Philly's product category is Community Journalism. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAJAI, Local & Neighborhood Community Platforms. Its NAICS code is 516.