Broad Street as a lifeline for an immigrant family

NewsWorks Tonight’s Story Corner joins forces with WHYY’s series Every ZIP Philadelphia. It’s a collaboration with AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio, on Every ZIP Philadelphia to find out what the stories are where you live, work, and play.

There are 48 ZIP codes in Philadelphia, and each one tells a story.

Philadelphia-based community organizer and activist Fred Pinguel tells a tale that takes place in Olney, near the northern end of the Broad Street Line in ZIP 19141. That’s where he grew up in the early 1990s as an undocumented immigrant from the Philippines.

The location defined his family’s life here.

“We lived on Broad Street. That was our life line. That really oriented my family to a very specific geographic life,” he said.

He shared this story with a live audience at Arts Sanctuary about his family’s struggles and the relief they received from an unexpected source.

Every ZIP Philadelphia is brought to by WHYY and Finding America, a national initiative produced by AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio, with financial support from the Wyncote Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.