Email: 46wardrco@gmail.com

Catherine Blunt a is long-term West Philadelphia resident who is the Co-Chair of the 46 Ward Democratic Committee Registered Community Organization (RCO).  The 46 Ward RCO works with the neighborhoods within 46 Ward on community zoning issues and housing concerns.  As gentrification hits our communities hard with large-scale, expensive developments and / or with multi-unit dwellings that are unaffordable and unsuitable for family living; families who owned and rented are being displaced through high property taxes, high costs to buy or even rent.  The quality-of-life in these once stable and primarily residential, community-centered neighborhoods is now being negatively impacted by short- term leasing which caters to short-term residents, over-crowding, and disastrous parking problems.  It is the Mission of the 46 Ward RCO to join with the residents in the 46 Ward to Protect and Preserve their Neighborhoods and residential communities from the Housing Injustices brought about by gentrification and as a result of gentrification.

Ms. Blunt grew-up in the James Weldon Johnson Homes (or Projects) and Jefferson Manor (low to moderate income homes) in North Philadelphia.  She attended public schools and graduated from William Penn High.  She is a graduate of Temple and Antioch Universities specializing in Urban Education.   She also received her Principal Certification in Secondary Education from Cheyney University.  Ms. Blunt retired from the School District of Philadelphia in 2013 after serving as a teacher and principal.

As a member of the West Philadelphia Community, Ms. Blunt

• serves as the Judge of Election for her Division in the 46 Ward
• provides Volunteer Services for the 46 Ward Democratic Executive Committee and its Ward Leader, the Honorable Jannie L. Blackwell
• serves as the Clean-Block Captain
• is a member of the West and Southwest Neighbors Block Association
• served as a Board Member, Vice-president, and President of the Cedar Park Neighbors, a neighborhood community organization

Finally, Ms. Blunt is a product of her times and the leaders who influenced civil and human rights changes locally, nationally, and internationally.  She is a fierce supporter of Struggles against Racism, Economic Oppression / Injustice, and War -- the “3 Evils of Society” as identified by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  To that end, Ms. Blunt became  involved in struggles for Truth, Justice, and World Peace at home and abroad:

• was one of the Leaders of the Philadelphia-Area Anti-Apartheid Movement – its Divestment, Boycott, and Sanctions Movement Against South Africa and Southwest Africa (Namibia)
• held educational events on the campuses of Temple University and the University of Penn; engaged church congregations; wrote news articles; lobbied the City Councils of Philadelphia, PA and Wilmington, DE; held demonstrations –- all of which called for divesting from and boycotting Apartheid South Africa where all people of Color were denied basic civil and human rights, and where the African Population especially were displaced from their lands and crammed into 13 parched, fake “homelands” called Bantustans that were located long distances from the cities which were the centers of power and wealth