A judge’s bench stands in the former breakroom of what used to be the Merakey Children’s Services building at B Street and Lehigh Avenue in Kensington.
The property, now known as the Kensington Wellness Support Center (KWSC), is open 24/7 to serve those struggling with addiction, including through a fast-tracked court diversionary program, a methadone van and a branch of the Office of Homeless Services.
“This is our best effort to bring all of the necessary services into one centralized hub,” Mayor Cherelle Parker said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday.
Among the other programs active at the site are Police Assisted Diversion (PAD), the PPD’s Behavioral Health Unit and an anti-human trafficking initiative from the Salvation Army. Attorneys aid visitors with clearing bench warrants, and basic medical treatment and referrals are available through Merakey and Penn Medicine.
“We provide services from as far east as New Jersey to as far west as California, and I will tell you there is nothing like this anywhere in the country,” Merakey CEO Joe Martz said.
The KWSC has been open for months, and about 5,000 people stopped in the facility last year. However, the Parker administration says, the site is now near completion, with additional service providers moving in over recent weeks.
Perhaps the most substantial newcomer is the courtroom for Neighborhood Wellness Court (NWC), which Parker launched through an executive order in January 2025.
Individuals arrested for low-level drug offenses through the program are brought in, evaluated and work with health professionals to develop a treatment plan that can be finalized before a judge on the same day. Anyone with an out-of-county warrant or violent criminal history is not eligible, according to Eleni Belisonzi, the program’s director.
Until early June, police officers brought participants to the Lehigh Avenue center, where they were assessed before being transported to the PPD’s 24th/25th district headquarters on Whitaker Avenue for legal proceedings.
NWC began as a one-day-a-week pilot initiative before expanding earlier this year to two days and later three days. Adam Geer, the city’s chief public safety director, said 25 people who opted to enroll in the program were taken directly to inpatient care between March 4 and May 29.
PPD makes NWC arrests on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, when a judge is on duty to conduct the hearings. Belisonzi said the city intends to have the courtroom open five days a week beginning next month.
KWSC and NWC are part of Parker’s “wellness ecosystem,” a slate of initiatives that includes Riverview, the city’s 234-bed drug recovery house that opened last year along State Road in Northeast Philadelphia.
The strategy is designed, in part, to fulfill Parker’s campaign promise to end Kensington’s open-air drug market. While her approach has alienated some, particularly in Philadelphia’s harm reduction community, City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, in emotional remarks, thanked the mayor for improving the quality of life for the neighborhood’s residents.
“This is more than just a building,” Lozada, who represents parts of Kensington, said at the ribbon-cutting. “This is about responding to the community that has suffered for so long, and I'm not talking about just the people who are living in substance abuse disorder. I'm talking about the people who are just trying to live here.”
While the wellness center is located in Kensington, long the center of the city’s opioid epidemic, Parker said the facility is open to anyone living in the city.
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