PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Jennifer Bennetch, a prominent activist who prompted the creation of the Philadelphia Community Land Trust and brought attention to housing issues in Philadelphia by organizing encampment protests, died Thursday of complications from COVID-19. She was 36.
"She was a natural defender of people who were suffering with injustices," said friend and fellow activist Ruth Birchett. She said she first met Bennetch at a community meeting to stop the Temple University stadium from being built.
She remembered asking Bennetch, who was holding a sign, if she wanted to speak and Bennetch said she did, but wanted to talk about the Philadelphia Housing Authority.
"She was the last speaker and it roared the crowd. I later learned that that was the first time she had spoken publicly," said Birchett.
Over the years, Bennetch became a permanent fixture at PHA board meetings, Birchett explained, getting them to change policies and create a process for citizens to give complaints about PHA police behavior. She said Bennetch made a positive impact on those who most needed help.
"Jennifer Bennetch is the reason why the Philadelphia Housing Authority police vehicles that looked identical to Philadelphia police vehicles now have appropriate signage on them," she said. "That's groundbreaking that an entity that big is responding to citizen concerns."
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Fellow activist Fredo Trice said she also helped coordinate the protest that later became the Occupy PHA movement.
"Being in the truck and she's saying 'Do you want to occupy PHA?' and my response was yes," he recalled. "She has a way of bringing corrupt people to their knees."
Bennetch leaves behind three children. Her oldest, 18-year-old Cole Bennetch, said he was most proud of his mother for the strides she made on behalf of the people seeking help from the Philadelphia Housing Authority.
"She went with arguing with Kelvin [Jeremiah, president and CEO of PHA], not being able to be in the room with him, to like having meetings with him. She made leaps in housing," said Bennetch of his mom. He believes her greatest legacy will be teaching him to always speak up for injustice.
"You should always speak up because even when she was shy, even when she was scared, she always did and you didn't know she was scared because she would go up there and she would yell ... and you wouldn't even know she was scared," he said.
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As for Birchett, she said Bennetch's work continues through other activists like Cole and herself.
"Our question to Mayor Kenney is, 'Where are the 50 houses for the Philadelphia Community Land Trust?' We're coming to ask you in person," she said.
"Even right now, even after she's gone, they're still fighting to get the 50 houses for her," said Cole Bennetch. "You got some people moving into these houses, and she made a very big difference in the city."