By Julia Lowe and Gabriel Donahue Nature lovers, mark your calendars for Love Your Park Week 2026. One hundred forty park friends groups care for the city’s parks year-round and are calling for volunteers to join the cleanup and beautification days hosted from May 9-17. “I think it’s a great way to be outside with
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Philadelphia’s quiet heroes include block captains, volunteers who, under the sponsorship of the Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee (PMBC)—a division of the Streets Department—rally their neighbors to keep their blocks attractive. Now, in addition to beauty, some block captains help ensure food and a sense of security for their neighbors in the face of the COVID-19
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In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. This jingle echoed through my head as a kid every Columbus Day when our history teacher would devote a whole lesson to the man who discovered America. Christopher Columbus was a visionary, a pioneer who spawned the dawn of a new world that would eventually become the United
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In early September, a flyer circulated announcing a “Proud Boys Rally” on Saturday, September 19, at Clark Park. Almost immediately, counter-events with names like “Families Against Fascism” and “Defend West Philadelphia” popped up, urging residents in the community to occupy the park that day with a unified message: hate has no home here. This past
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Today I walked my children past a city-owned vacant lot where the broken sidewalk is almost impassable and the weeds encroaching on the already narrow path are as tall as they are. We walk by everyday and they complain about how the weeds scratch their legs as they try to get through—and I’m sure they’re
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It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has radically impacted how festivals operate in 2020—but at least one artist, Jacques-Jean “JJ” Tiziou, is taking advantage of the shift. For the 2020 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, he’s bringing a socially-distanced outdoor experience to the table: a walk around Philadelphia’s perimeter. Born from a 2016 collaboration with Ann
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One could call the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s (PHS) Tree Tenders quixotic in their drive to increase Philadelphia’s tree canopy, a goal whose attainment would mean a healthier city. “Our canopy, which currently sits at 20 percent, represents a 6 percent loss over the past 10 years,” says Tree Tender Marcus Ferreira, 47, of South Philadelphia,
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Closing the Gap is a four-part series by Grid highlighting education nonprofits working to make sure Philly’s literacy gap doesn’t get bigger during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the fourth and final installation. Click on the following links to read the previous pieces on Mighty Writers, ATTRACT, and Springboard Collaborative. Like the other nonprofits, ParentChild+
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Closing the Gap is a four-part series by Grid highlighting education nonprofits working to make sure Philly’s literacy gap doesn’t get bigger during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the third installation. Click on the following links to read the previous pieces on Mighty Writers and ATTRACT. Since 2009, Alejandro Gibes de Gac has been on
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Closing the Gap is a four-part series by Grid highlighting education nonprofits working to make sure Philly’s literacy gap doesn’t get bigger during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the second installation. Click on the following link to read the previous piece on Mighty Writers. For Founder and CEO of ATTRACT, Tierra Jones, cares for the
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Closing the Gap is a four-part series by Grid highlighting education nonprofits working to make sure Philly’s literacy gap doesn’t get bigger during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the first installation. When seven-year-old Aki Mir passed by a lemonade stand in South Philadelphia with her mom, she heard someone calling her name but wasn’t sure
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