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? […]
Comedy: Using Improv To Improve Your Mental State
Improv comedy is a relatively new art form in which many of its performers advocate the benefits which extend far beyond the stage. The National Alliance on Mental Illness indicates that one in five American adults experience mental illness every year. While improv comedy has become therapeutic to many, role play wasn’t officially established in […]
Hunting Park: Community Leader Preaches Squash and Family to Students
Nabilla Ariffin is the community impact director at SquashSmarts, a non-profit academic and athletic program which uses the game of squash to keep kids healthy, in school and on track to graduate. Since joining the program just six months ago, Ariffin has made an immediate impact in the Hunting Park community and looks to grow […]
Tacony: Creativity Freshens Up Torresdale Avenue
Walking down Torresdale Avenue in Tacony guarantees plenty of windows to look though. But sometimes windows need more than Windex, and the refreshing of buildings can give more to look at. So in 2014, the Tacony Community Development Corporation started revitalizing the Torresdale Avenue business corridor in the neighborhood. Torresdale Avenue Storefront Improvement Program (TSIP) Project Manager Alex […]
City Hall: New PAC Connects City Issues Through the Public Space
A few years ago, Geoff Kees Thompson created a blog, called This Old City, as a means to connecting the dots between various aspects of planning that affect the urban dwellers on a daily basis. Thompson believes many of these facets are taken for granted. And it is all connected to the public space. Thompson […]
Chestnut Hill: Morris Arboretum Bounces Back After Harsh Winter
After the past winter with its harsh weather conditions, the Morris Arboretum is still looking to bounce back without too much delay. “The biggest impact is the timing of flowering,” said Anthony Aiello, director of horticulture at the arboretum. “They usually are flowering around this time but we are seeing a delay, from a week […]
Kensington: Former Leader on the Football Field Moves on to UPenn
Time spent as a Tiger on the Kensington High School football team was about more than just touchdowns and field goals for Matt Sanasac. It was about creating a safe and new way to stay out of trouble in the heart of a rough neighborhood. Sanasac used football to figure out who he really wanted […]
University City: Drexel Lacrosse Player Looks Back
The night of Dec. 8, 2012 had started off like any other Saturday night for Brendan Glynn, then a lacrosse player entering his senior season at Drexel University. Glynn was coming off a successful junior campaign in which he had 26 goals and 11 assists and was gearing up for what would be his final […]
The Next Mayor: Bicyclists Seek Leader to Promote Safety, Harmony on the Roads
Bike commuting in Philadelphia has grown more than 200 percent over the past 25 years. And while Philadelphia continues to lead the top 10 largest cities in bike commuters, it has fallen behind other major cities in safety and infrastructure improvement. The Better Mobility 2015 platform, released in November by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, illustrates the […]
Sports: Five Bars for Fans of Out-of-Town Sports Teams
Philadelphia is known for having some of the most passionate fans in sports. Sometimes that’s a compliment. Other times, Philadelphians intimidate other team’s fans. For Philadelphia residents who are fans of out-of-town teams, gameday can present a dilemma. Is their team’s game being shown on their TV? Which bar might be showing the game they […]