Nicetown: Activists Continue To Fight Against SEPTA’s Gas Plant
For the past three years, environmental groups from across the city have actively opposed the construction of a new SEPTA gas plant (pictured above) planned for North Philadelphia. They have protested outside the Mayor Jim Kenney’s office and outside Councilwoman Cindy Bass’ office, gathered signatures for a petition sent to the mayor and taken legal […]
East Falls: Playspace In The Works For McMichael Park
Outside of Fairmount Park, one might be surprised to hear there is a six-acre plot of land in East Falls that remains completely natural and undeveloped. But within the neighborhood, there is a great deal of disagreement over whether or not it should stay that way. McMichael Park, bracketed by Henry and Midvale avenues on […]
Powelton Village: Park Cleanup Initiative Brings Both Community And University Students Together
Love Your Park, a citywide initiative to keep Philadelphia’s parks clean, had it’s fall cleanup Saturday morning on Nov. 11 at Saunders Park on 39th Street and Powelton Avenue. Community members and Drexel University students came together to pick up leaves, throw out trash and begin planting flowers that would bloom by spring. The initiative does […]
Bartram’s Garden: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Plants Opportunities For People Leaving Prison
Darnell Drayton didn’t know anything about landscaping or gardening before joining the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s (PHS) Roots to Re-entry program. Drayton (pictured above) just wanted something to do while in prison. “I didn’t want to be in a cage all day,” he said. He completed the program and was taught how to landscape so he […]
Hunting Park: Esperanza’s Gabriella Gabriel Paez Uses Trees To Connect Community
On the blacktop next to McClure Elementary School, Gabriella Gabriel Paez (above) stood in front of what looked like a forest-in-the-making — rows of short and sparse baby trees in planters. She gave them out, free of charge, to families as they left parent-teacher conference night at the school. Gabriel Paez organized the yard tree […]
Point Breeze: Urban Farmer Shares His Craft With Community
Twenty-seven-year-old Atiba Ellerby is a part-time barista and full-time urban farmer. When he’s not making coffee at The Pharmacy, a coffee shop in Point Breeze, he is tending to gardens throughout the city. Farming is a craft he learned 14 years ago through the Urban Nutrition Initiative. How do you feel you impact your community? […]
Environment: NonProfit Sustains Through Home Renovations
Over the past 30 years, Rebuilding Together Philadelphia has renovated neglected homes and assisted people earning low-incomes in specifically selected areas of the city. On June 1 and 2, volunteers, experts and neighbors reconditioned 10 homes on Dewey Street in the Haddington neighborhood looking to showcase their pride in this overlooked area of West Philadelphia. […]
Nicetown: Community Involvement is Key to Accomplishing Zero Waste and Litter
Philadelphia isn’t disparagingly called Filthadelphia for no reason: Cans, bottles, bags, take-out boxes and other types of trash are ubiquitous on the streets of Philly. But following on Mayor Jim Kenny’s executive order in 2016 creating the Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet, the city is beginning to discover some ways Philadelphia might eventually kick that […]
East Kensington: Neighbors Work To Preserve Letterly Green
Stephanie Koenig, 36, moved to the East Kensington area with her husband, Lewis Colburn, in 2009. The couple, both sculptors who found studio space in Philadelphia, bought a house across the street from Letterly Green, an empty plot of land that spans half a block long, two years later. Along with their next-door neighbors, Onais […]
Cobbs Creek: Environmental Center Educates The Community And Works Alongside The Philadelphia Water Dept.
The Cobbs Creek Environmental Center is part of the Alliance for Watershed Education of the Delaware River, one of many organizations in the area providing public education about the environment and our water supply. “One of the problems we have in this part of the city is our system is very old,” said the center’s […]