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
Moreby Marilyn Anthony For inquisitive kids who can appreciate the magical aspects of science, it’s hard to imagine a more engrossing summer playground than the Franklin Institute. FI’s summer Discovery Camp boasts, “We have FUN down to a science” and the extensive, imaginative programming seems to support their claim. The Science Adventures program kicks off
Moreby Marilyn Anthony The hacktory’s staff believes that the best way to understand things is by “repurposing, decoupling, breaking and rearranging them from their intended use.” It’s fitting that the Hacktory Summer Camp is a “do-ocracy,” repurposing “democracy” just as the West Philadelphia nonprofit organization created its name by melding “hack” and “factory.” There’s more
Moreby Marilyn Anthony In the heat of summer, everyone wants to be near water, and City Wild offers plenty of it. Campers gather each day of the two-week sessions at the Fairmount Waterworks, then set off by van for points around the city, including Dilworth Park and the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. Afternoons at
MoreScience & Sustainability Academy Explorers CampThe Academy of Natural Sciences introduces two new educational camps this year for teens who love the great outdoors. In Invertebrate Camp, participants can meet live insects and learn about basic handling and care, get an up-close look at the animals from the academy’s invertebrate collection, venture into invertebrate-rich local
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Second Harvest by Marilyn Anthony Monika Crosby, a “true blue farmer’s daughter,” does not grow vegetables. Employing what she calls “picking with a cause,” Crosby runs Philabundance’s gleaning program, coordinating volunteer vegetable harvests at three commercial farms in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Since 2014, Philabundance has redirected 760,000 pounds of produce to low-income families. Dating
MorePhoto by Mark Likosky The Crucible by Thomas Parry It’s below freezing and the wind blasts across a lot in Northeast Philadelphia, but Chris Little doesn’t shiver. He’s big. Defensive-tackle big. And fast. In a moment he’s around the back of his battle-worn Ford pickup, sorting through a pile of metal set against the wall
MoreBeyond the Brown Box by Emily Kovach If you’re a seasoned CSA buyer, you probably already have a favorite farm that does heirloom tomatoes just right, or you know a farmer who will surprise you with a crazy new item you’ve never seen. This season, try a new kind of CSA. Here are some options
MoreReport Shows Oil Trains are an Environmental Justice Issue Marginalized communities bear a disproportionate risk in the operations of oil train rails in Philadelphia, according to the report “Environmental Justice and Oil Trains in Pennsylvania.” Released in February by ForestEthics, ACTION United and PennEnvironment, the reportstates that people of color and historically poor communities in
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Big changes to federal policy are cascading into local programs and breaking down barriers to healthier lives for some of our most vulnerable residents
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Photo by JJ Tiziou Photography Studio 34 by Marilyn Anthony Our mind will deceive us,” says Angie Norris. “Our body will not.” Norris, 45, is the studio manager at West Philadelphia’s cherished health, wellness and community center, Studio 34. Soft-spoken, but full of thoughtful passion, Norris says that she sees too often how people fail
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