It was a warm, late spring morning and traffic was light in West Philadelphia. Not the vehicular kind: the lurching, beeping and swerving on thoroughfares such as Market and Chestnut were as hectic as ever. But things were slow around several Indego Bike Share stations that now pepper the corridor from 50th to 60th streets.
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On a cold February morning, a new birding group huddled up at the John James Audubon Center in Audubon, Montgomery County. Though there’s nothing remarkable about birders getting together at the museum, the former home of America’s most famous birder, what was remarkable was what they were celebrating—the launch of a more accessible kind of
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Wei Chen grimaces and shakes his head when talking about how it’s been a hard year for many in Philly’s Asian community. “It’s at the point where many of our elders are afraid to go out,” says Chen, 30, civic engagement coordinator for Asian Americans United (AAU). Wei Chen of Asian Americans United under the
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When Tya Winn was in college, she was the only Black female student out of 500 in her architecture program. “Five days a week, I’d have class until 6 p.m., and I’m the only Black female. It was alienating. When I’d come home from class, I never had someone who I could talk to that
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Calvin Keeys didn’t see many people like him working in conservation. “Growing up I didn’t have a lot of Black naturalists to look up to,” Keeys says. When his father brought home information about MobilizeGreen, an internship program at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum that connects young BIPOC people with careers in
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When you don’t have a home, you likely don’t have access to a laundry room, or a basket and quarters to go to the laundromat. A mutual aid group has stepped in to provide for this need, which is not addressed through most charities or organizations. It began as a tent and table atop muddy
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Every Sunday in Manayunk, a swarm of cyclists meet in the Regal UA Main Street Theatre parking lot. One group stands out from the rest. More than 20 people of color pull bikes out of their vehicles and begin pumping their tires with air. Laughter and conversation fill the parking lot as the cyclists catch
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There’s a shallow lagoon surrounded by embankments at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum that provides a good habitat for the northern snakehead and the common carp. Because the two invasive fish species are originally from other places in the world but have thrived in our waters to the detriment of native species, the
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There’s not a moment to lose, according to Ben Sand, 40, author of the 2020 book “A Kids Book About White Privilege.” “By 2045 the majority of children born in the United States will be children of color,” says Sand, of Portland, Oregon, who reports receiving death threats for writing the book. “Today’s young people
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The reverend Luis Cortés jr., 62, gave the invocation prayer at Barack Obama’s 2013 Presidential Inauguration Luncheon, conferred with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about not separating migrant families at the border and sipped tea with Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. Yet wherever Cortés goes, his heart stays in El Barrio: the streets of North Philly’s
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