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 […]
Haverford North: The Health And Resource Festival Returns To West Philly
St. Ignatius Nursing and Rehab Center collaborated with Alain Locke School, West Philadelphia Seventh Day Adventist Church and the Department of Public Health to bring back the Health and Resource Festival Saturday Sept. 29, which had been absent from the neighborhood since 2015. The center started what had been the annual festival in the early […]
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. […]
West Philadelphia: Philadelphia’s Poet Laureate Helps Puerto Rico’s LGBTQ+ Community
When Hurricane Irma struck Puerto Rico in October 2017, Raquel Salas Rivera, Philadelphia’s poet laureate for 2018-19, wanted to help. “I’m very close to the trans community in Puerto Rico,” Salas Rivera said. “Many went without access to medicine or their hormones after the hurricane. Some are safe now, but there are still a lot […]
Comedy: Former Ohio Comics Now Contributing To Local Communities
Dorian Vasquez and Setoiyo Ekpo are both Philadelphia-based comedians by way of Columbus, Ohio. Each giving back to North Philadelphia residents in their own way, they just happen — by coincidence — to be helping people on different ends of the age spectrum. Vasquez is as a career specialist, helping find jobs for graduates at […]
West Philadelphia: Libraries “Plant A Seed” That Brings Success And Literacy For West Philly Children
Out of the 339 schools within the Philadelphia School District, only eight have full-time paid certified librarians. Louis Lozzi, a Philadelphia native and teacher said that the lack of library funding in the school system has been an issue since he began his teaching career 15 years ago. “I’m used to being in schools without […]
Kingsessing: In Changing Neighborhood, ‘Play Terrains’ Project Opens Dialogue
Meghan Talarowski thinks play can bring anyone together. “There’s no race, there’s no economic status related to play,” Talarowski said. “Everybody plays. That’s what we do. It’s like a basic human nature.” Talarowski, a landscape architect, developed such a passion for play that she made it her career. Almost three years ago, she founded Studio […]
West Philadelphia: Local organizations tackle food insecurity
Every Tuesday and Saturday, Kinji Ridley parks his car and unloads boxes of groceries from the trunk, handing them over to volunteers who set them up on benches and picnic tables. A line of dozens of West Philadelphia residents forms and they each pick out bags of food, assembly-line style, before dispersing and going their separate […]
Cobbs Creek: Food Pantry Serves As A Staple At St. Cyprian Church
Several years ago, April Robinson needed groceries— so she turned to the St. Cyprian Church for a meal. “A bag of chicken, some canned goods and some noodles, and juice,” Robinson said. She still remembers the groceries she received in the church’s basement, which has served as a food pantry for well over a decade. […]
Kingsessing: Developing Adult Literacy Provides Opportunities
Eight years ago, Darrow Lyons’ wife encouraged him to join Never 2 Late, an adult literacy program offered through the Center for Literacy, an organization that provides programs to adult learners. The 63-year-old South Philly resident has been attending classes ever since. The program is held at the Kingsessing Branch of the Free Library every […]