Britt James, Founder of Philly Unknown, takes us inside his journey of substance use disorder, and how his recovery gave birth to a life-changing community platform.

5 years ago you kicked off Philly Unknown and devoted your life to that project.
Why? What made you make that pivot in your life?

People always say, Philly Unknown started on a selfless level, and I actually started on kind of a selfish level. When I started Philly Unknown, I was coming out of a pretty dark period in my life, and I had made this pact with myself that if I was able to come out of this dark period, I wanted to start a place in the community here in Philadelphia where people could come together, they could connect, have a place to be.

What was that dark place for you?

I had been in and out of active substance use disorder for about 20 years. It started with opiate use disorder back in 1999, and it just sort of progressed further and further from there. It was a roller coaster ride over the years.

It got really good…and then it got really bad.

I owned a small business and with stress of all that, I went into active addiction and went from opiate use of pills to heroin. I would get to work, make sure my employees were all under control, and then I would duck out and find a way to go into my own world and hide from everyone. In that transition, I lost a lot of myself along the way. I have experienced overdoses and went to some really dark places that I never expected to go to in my life.

It was a lot like Groundhog’s Day every day; wake up and do the same thing over and over again.
I would get up, focus on my business, and then focus on getting high.

Do you remember the moment you reached
this level of drug addiction?

Oh, absolutely. Growing up I was a really good kid.
I didn’t drink. I didn’t smoke. I didn’t do anything.
I went away to college and then all hell broke loose. I started out drinking vodka, and for me, I found out that there is a connection between drinking and using drugs, and how it was effectively masking all of the negativity in my life that I was feeling, or trying to overcome.
It helped me escape who I was. Then, after college, it really started progressing.

What was the moment when you realized this is where your life was going, and you decided to make a change?

In January 2015. I had experienced an overdose.

I woke up to a bunch of cops and paramedics standing over me, as I’m parked in my car on a sidewalk against a warehouse. I must have hopped the curb and ended up there And then I was in jail. I had never experienced anything like that before.

“At that point in time, I thought, is this all worth it?”

Do you remember who was there for you when
you first launched the platform?

Oh yeah, I remember everyone. I remember seeing this empire that Peopledelphia was building and I wanted to be a part of that energy and enthusiasm. I started to attend events and go to community functions to see what was going on. It was the big push for me to start Philly Unknown.

Oddly enough, I was broken into around the same time I was working on a proposal for Philly Unknown. Before I walked in to present, the team had heard of my personal losses, but knew nothing yet about the non-profit.

I was applying for $1000 grant to start the program, and in that meeting, they handed me an envelope containing $1200. Philly Unknown was something that I wanted to start to give back to the community, and the community actually came together to raise money, and gave back to me. It was amazing.

Bean2Bean Coffee Co philly unknown britt james Meet Philadelphia hello series

Here we are 5 years later; is this where you saw Philly Unknown? What’s evolved in those five years that you never expected?

Everything! After the first year of Philly Unknown, I was thinking “this isn’t working, nobody cares, I think I’ll stop this.” Then I started to look around and saw more people connecting and reaching out—the energy was building and building, the momentum kept growing. We grew every week by leaps and bounds.

My head spins every day with where we are with Philly Unknown, the place we’ve built, and the work we do in the community with the people who are most vulnerable. It’s amazing; you can pinch me, and I’d still be shocked this is happening!

What are some of the projects you are working on to bridge gaps in these communities?

We have four main initiatives. First of all, our mission is to teach people about each other. We started an initiative called Cover-Up-Philly where we package compassion bags; drawstring bags packed with supplies that people who are most vulnerable don’t have. In the winter months we provide them with things they need to warm; sleeping bags, linens, and over 5000 donated jackets.

We have the Philly-On-Its-Feet Initiative, which started 10 years ago, when I was doing outreach and a friend of mine sent me a box of sneakers from the Boston Marathon from runners who had left their sneakers behind, asking if we could put them to good use.

Before I knew it, different marathons across the country were sending me boxes of sneakers saying ‘can you use these?’ It was incredible. We give out these shoes, and suddenly, people are walking with more pride; we’re carrying ourselves differently. It’s just great to see people's faces light up.

One of the biggest initiatives we have is called We Grow Philly. We’ve been awarded free land here in the city and we’re developing community gardens on these sites where we teach people about the benefit of healing trauma through gardening, and therapeutic use of sustainable living. We have a 13,000 square-foot lot in Kensington, and every Saturday morning we’re in the community garden.

What are some of the efforts you’ve taken during the climate of the world in the city right now?

We haven’t skipped a beat. Now more than ever, people in the city are in need. People are losing their jobs and trying to feed their families.

We’ve been working overtime, delivering care packages to local agencies around the city so the people we can’t reach, they can reach. The pandemic has really put things into a different funk.

Philadelphia itself is a very passionate city; it’s a small town for a big city. What can they do to build this community of togetherness moving forward?

I think the number one thing the people of Philadelphia need to do in order to move forward is really let go of a lot of preconceptions, and to be open to breaking down barriers…to learn things they may not know about. We talk about mental health a lot. We talk about issues like substance use disorder...many people will talk about that as a taboo sort of thing.

Homelessness is so taboo to talk about, yet you walk by it every corner in Rittenhouse.

You see people each and every day. I think for us to just continue to open people's minds in Philadelphia and to change their way of thinking by our actions.

I always tell people if you show up, you listen, and you try to love, those three things each day will get you through it.
And that’s what we do.

Interested in getting involved with Philly Unknown?

Stay up to date with all projects on Facebook, Instagram, or email
Love a good community garden? Open invitation every Saturday morning beginning at 9:30 am.

hello. meet Britt.