Camden: A New Path Forward
This introduction to the seven-part series "Camden: A New Path Forward" sets the stage for understanding the debate among residents, elected officials, and policymakers about the city's future.
Camden was once a thriving city — a bustling sibling to Philadelphia, whose ambitions, if not its size, matched those of its civic relative on the other side of the Delaware River.
But post-industrialization ushered in decades of unemployment, crime, and an overwhelming spirit of hopelessness.
State intervention was supposed to turn Camden around, but produced mixed results at best, and did nothing to quell the debate among residents, elected officials, and policymakers about the city’s future.
In the seven essays in this series, that debate continues in an attempt to help Camden chart a new path forward.