About Us

Charles Ellison

Producing and hosting the daily public-affairs broadcast “Reality Check” on WURD radio/TV over the past several years, I have heard directly from many Philadelphians, particularly in the Black community, about how broken their hometown is. I’ve seen that same frustration going all the way back to my days growing up in the city’s Logan section. It’s the frustration of watching this great, iconic city fail its people time and time again.

It does not have to be this way. We know there is a path to a better Philadelphia, one that works and thrives in a way that provides opportunity, access and optimal quality of life for everyone. That’s why I’ve sought to spark conversation and debates that lead to impact, whether on WURD or in the pages of the Philadelphia Citizen, the Philadelphia Inquirer or my national publication theBEnote.com. It’s why I launched and serve as the managing editor for the groundbreaking ecoWURD environmental justice journalism initiative. And it’s why I serve as a senior fellow on the Council of State Government’s Eastern Regional Conference (of which Pennsylvania is a member state). My quest for a better way has continued through more than two decades in politics, public policy, campaigns and elections, crisis management, and digital media, and has helped to build a strategic communications firm known as B|E Strategy, with clients across the country and a mission to build that elusive bridge between the “grass tops” and the grass roots.

Where does Philadelphia see itself 10 to 20 years from now? That’s a question we need to answer now. This is our big, step-up moment to reimagine and rebuild our home into what it should be.