This year Action Tank is leveraging community connections to:

• Increase access to books for Greater Philadelphia students in public schools;

• Fundraise to purchase bilingual books and books with diverse characters;

• spotlight how organizations combat the literacy crisis.

Action Tank, an organization based in the Greater Philadelphia area, has made a significant impact by providing children with books to promote literacy and learning. Through their efforts, they have distributed books to underserved communities in Philadelphia and surrounding counties. The initiative aims to ensure that children, especially those in low-income neighborhoods, have access to reading materials that can inspire and support their educational development. This effort is part of a broader mission to improve educational outcomes and foster a love of reading among young learners.

Period poverty is defined as inadequate access to menstrual hygiene tools and education.

Menstruation is a bodily function and should not dictate one’s ability to attend school, work, or put food on the table. Action Tank is equipped to support on-going local and state efforts to reduce period poverty.  This includes legislation that would require schools, colleges, shelters, agencies providing food and housing assistance, correctional facilities, and local, state, and federal government programs supporting people of low socioeconomic status to provide free disposable menstrual products in all restrooms.

But the team at Action Tank strived to develop a greater understanding and build framework to communicate what we do at Action Tank. Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people live, learn, work, play, and worship and how these impact the overall health of people and communities. When people live in poverty, around violence, and experience unemployment, these negative social determinants result in a myriad of diseases such as asthma, diabetes, and mental health conditions. In November of 2021, for our capstone project: the Veteran Tree Memorial, Action Tank planted 39 trees to memorialize veterans in partnerships with Drexel University, Penn Medicine Hospice, Jefferson University, Villanova University, and Temple University Ambler Arboretum. Our tree planting in Ambler Arboretum was especially meaningful after an unexpected tornado ravaged Upper Dublin County, destroying hundreds of trees and homes. We are honored to be a part of their restoration. Thank you to the people who made the Veteran Tree Memorial possible and the wonderful people who keep the trees alive 

While many of us carried firearms during our time on active-duty in order to protect our fellow service members and innocent civilians in the areas where we were deployed, we recognize that reducing the number of injuries and deaths caused by firearms is critical to protecting the health and well-being not only of Pennsylvanians, but of people across our great nation. In an effort to reduce firearm related violence. 

This experience drove us to focus on food insecurity for 2018. The prevalence of food insecurity has been decreasing across the United States, but has continued to increase in Philadelphia, where one in five Philadelphians are food insecure. This startling statistic prompted us to take ACTION. Throughout the year, Action Tank members helped to build a new community garden at Bartram’s Garden, maintained a vegetable garden in support of Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, packaged pallets of food for delivery to local food pantries with the SHARE Food Program, and served meals for Muslims Serve.  Action Tank members ended the year by inviting 100 influential Philadelphians to attend 100 for Hunger. The aim of 100 for Hunger was to foster new relationships and ideas through collaborative work. Through collaboration with Dietz & Watson, Action Tank members were funded to produce a short documentary with Giddy Up Bronco Productions called Feeding Philly. Which follows Action Tank on their year-long mission in the fight against hunger as they work with community partners to improve the food insecurity landscape in Greater Philadelphia.

We have partnered with individuals and groups including Prevention Point Philadelphia, to help provide services at multiple levels of this epidemic. As part of our collaboration with Prevention Point, we have provided financial training for the organization’s staff and clients, helped to establish an emergency shelter for their homeless clients, organize a community clean-up, and cook meals for at-risk individuals in Kensington.

Action Tank was represented on the Mayor’s Task Force to Combat the Opioid Epidemic in Philadelphia by Action Tank member Matt Miclette (Data + Sharing Subcommittee). 

Our stance on the Opioid Epidemic remains much the same as our 2017 policy recommendations. We believe in a public health approach, to support individuals with opioid use disorder with social and other services that are backed by science. Action Tank supports increasing access and reducing barriers to medications for opioid use disorder and other evidence-based treatments for opioid use disorder. We also support access to life-saving overdose medications, such as naloxone. 

Need help finding treatment? Visit www.samhsa.gov/find-treatment