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El Centro participates in Kinetic Sculpture Derby this Saturday

2013-05-17T18:11:00Z

Every May the Philadelphia neighborhood of Kensington gathers to celebrate homespun ingenuity, functional sculpture, and human-powered transit at the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby. One entry this year is a remarkable combination of youthful enthusiasm, alternative education, and neighborhood pride- built by a small band of El Centro high school students to celebrate Habitat for Humanity’s efforts to provide affordable housing.

The designers are “over-age, under-credited” youth, or students who lack the appropriate number of school credits for their age and intended grade. These students are often on the verge of or have dropped out of school, for a range of reasons including; financial instability, failing grades, parenthood, or bullying.

With only roughly half of Philadelphia students graduating high school on time, there is a moral and economic imperative to educate and inspire struggling students towards personal sustainability as working adults. El Centro del Estudiantes, or El Centro as it is called for short, is an alternative high school in the Kensington section of Northeast Philadelphia that caters to students who have dropped out of traditional high schools. The academic program is experience-based, with students earning 80% of their credits through community internships with local businesses and nonprofits. These experiences give them exposure to a variety of professional fields and help them build skills for their futures. El Centro opened in 2009 through a partnership between Congreso de Latinos Unidos and Big Picture Philadelphia, a national nonprofit that has opened alternative schools across the country including the first local one in 2005 in Camden, NJ.

While technically a district funded school, El Centro has a drastically different “student-centered” approach that lets youth drive their work through elective projects. Jesus, a student at El Centro and father of three, has been interning at Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore in Kensington. He began by advertising their services in the community using fliers and other traditional outreach media. Concerned that his paper-based efforts were not reaching his audience and that online marketing would have limited reach in a low-income area where many don’t have computers, he decided to think outside the box and do something new and big. Jesus, or Zeus as his advisors and friends call him, is the mastermind being El Centro’s first derby entry, a 10ft tall vehicle shaped and painted like a brick row house. He said the goal is to advertise to the community what Habitat is all about, “helping people own their own homes.”

Jesus, along with his classmates and advisors (the El Centro term for teacher) was inspired by the local rowhouses in the Kensington section of the city. Together they have designed and partially built their float using almost all donated or salvaged materials, and if all goes according to plan they will be ready to reveal their masterpiece this Saturday at the race.

Be sure to cheer on Zeus and his classmates from El Centro’s this Saturday 12pm, at Trenton Ave & Norris St! http://kinetickensington.com

Morgan is the Director of Community Engagement for Grid Magazine and in her spare time (big laugh!) she is a full-time Master of Sustainable Design graduate student at Philadelphia University. She is really proud of her roof-top deck garden.

Rain Barrel Art for a Sustainable Future

2013-05-17T15:00:46Z

What happens when artists bring children, adults, and elders together to create painted rain barrels? They build community. They make waves for water conservation through their paintings and luscious images. They raise awareness of water as a natural resource. They demonstrate to homeowners and businesses how they can save money, while protecting the Wisssahickon Watershed, by capturing water in a rain barrel. They use art to build a sustainable future.

The member artists of the Mt. Airy Art Garage (MAAG), a community center of creativity for the arts in Northwest Philadelphia, saw this project as a natural extension of their first rain barrel project. In May 2012 the Mt. Airy Business Improvement District (MABID) was the first Philadelphia neighborhood association to receive 15 rain barrels from the Water Department to be used for sustainable practice within our Northwest community. MABID reached out to the Mt. Airy Art Garage (MAAG) to create a partnership, and they turned it into both sustainability and art.

Volunteer for National Trails Day in Wissahickon Valley Park

2013-05-16T15:00:55Z

The 21^st anniversary of National Trails Day is on Saturday, June 1^,and the trails Kitchen’s Lane of the Wissahickon Valley Park is getting a polish to celebrate. Volunteers can spend the morning performing invasive plant removal and trail maintenance to keep the trails in tip top shape, both recreationally and ecologically.

The event, sponsored by the American Hiking Society, takes place every year on the first Saturday in June. Friends of the Wissahickon is joining with REI Conshohocken for the event in an effort to raise awareness of and care for the trails in Wissahickon Valley Park. REI is a national outdoor retail co-op that has been a partner for the event for over ten years. Friends of the Wissahickon has been working to advocate and care for the Wissahickon Valley since its founding in 1924.

Trail work begins at 9:30 a.m. and continues until 12:30 p.m. Meet at the parking lot at Kitchen's Lane, down Wissahickon Avenue in Mt. Airy. Register with FOW Volunteer Coordinator Eric Falk at falk@fow.org or 215-247-0417 x107.

Camden’s New Fresh Mobile Market Takes the Produce to the People

2013-05-15T18:00:18Z

Food trucks aren’t known for having the healthiest fare, but in Camden, NJ, where fresh foods are scarce, there is a new Mobile Market that sells locally grown fruits and vegetables at bargain prices. At their Launch Party on May 8, the Camden Fresh Mobile Market program set up a mini farmer’s market at Mickle Towers, a senior home where most residents have difficulty accessing fresh food without help from their families. Thanks to Mobile Market’s refrigerated trailer, residents had their pick of fresh asparagus, strawberries, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, eggs, and more right where they live.

The program also strives to be educational, helping people learn “what they can do with the produce and with things that are grown nearby that they’ve never seen,” said CCGC Executive Director Mike Devlin. Much of the produce is bought wholesale from the Camden City Garden Club’s Urban Farm on 3^rd and Beckett Streets, as well as a CCGC board member’s farm in Sewell, NJ, Duffield’s Farm. CCGC, through their USDA Entrepreneurial Gardening Program, is also enabling Camden Community Gardeners to sell their surplus harvest to the Mobile Market to make a profit.

The Mobile Market was funded by a $63,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation. Its partners include NJ Senator Donald Norcross, county and city officials from Camden, and the NJ Department of Agriculture. The Mobile Market program is operated by the Camden City Garden Club, which also runs the Camden Children’s Garden CCGC manages 120 community gardens in Camden and produces $2.3 million worth of produce each year, feeding 12% of the city’s population.

The Mobile Market plans to make stops at various community centers and housing facilities. “We’re going to go to the people,” said Mike Devlin. Tracy Nyszczot, of Camden Children’s Garden Public Relations explains that the Mobile Market program “will establish a key contact with each organization/housing area at each stop that will provide a handout flyer in English / Spanish to advise when we are coming.” Interested Camden Residents can sign up for the email list at http://bit.ly/11fpfBp. A finalized scheduled will be available here: http://camdenchildrensgarden.wordpress.com/mobile-market.

Hidden City Festival 2013 to Kick-off Block Party

2013-05-15T15:01:10Z

The Hidden City Festival 2013 will kick-off this year with a block party at the Goldtex Building, located at 12th & Wood Streets on May 25 from 7-11 p.m. The evening features live music and a dance party under the Reading Viaduct, starring Hank & Cupcakes, City Rain, DJ Adrian Hardy, DJ Lina Luv, and the New Sound Brass Band. Gourmet eats from local food trucks and craft beer will be sold on site.

Join Hidden City in previewing this year's exciting lineup of Festival sites and artists, purchase your Festival passes, and learn more about Hidden City Philadelphia.

Tickets are $10 for advanced purchase and $15 at the door. All proceeds benefit the Hidden City Philadelphia Festival 2013. To purchase tickets visit hiddencityphila.ticketleap.com/kickoff or learn more about the Festival at festival.hiddencityphila.org.

Northeast Philly's Newest Farmers Market Opens Saturday, May 18

2013-05-14T18:00:07Z

When some folks are unhappy about something in their neighborhood, they vent their frustration to neighbors and friends. Others brainstorm a solution and make something happen. Benjamin Bergman, of the Parkwood community (between Poquessing Creek and the Woodhaven Expressway), is of the latter sort. Irked by the severe lack of farmer’s markets in the entire Northeast area of Philadelphia, he decided to organize one himself, and that's how the seeds of the Parkwood Farmers Market were planted

"The far northeast is disproportionately represented in the farmer’s market scene. There's probably 40 markets going on in the city and most of them are within ten miles of each other in Center City, South and West Philly," he says. "The closest market to me is still eight miles away, and people just won’t travel that far. I really wanted to start a market close to where I live."

Grid Alive Celebrates 50 Issues

2013-05-14T15:00:51Z

More than 100 people showed up for Grid Alive on Friday, May 10, to celebrate Grid's 50th issue, enjoy great food and beverages, listen to fascinating conversation and great live music, and say hi to old friends and meet some new ones.

Guests Judy Wicks, William Woys Weaver and Rob Fleming were entertaining and informative and musical guest Todd Henkin and company, while maybe not quite as informative, was absolutely entertaining.

Sponsored by Clean Currents Energy, the event also featured wine and beer and a selection of great cheeses from Rolling Barrel Events. Also at the event was a representative of Solar States. Stay tuned for details on the next action-packed Grid Alive, scheduled for Thursday, July 11.

Indeterminate Hikes

2013-05-13T15:00:32Z

Have you ever felt like your smart phone is running your life? The little touch-screen task master tells you where you to be and when. It lets your boss track you down whether or not you want to be found. It speeds you up when all you want to do is slow down and enjoy nature, maybe even contemplate your place in the cosmos.

Now there’s an app for that. Artists Leila Christine Nadir and Carey Peppermint have created Indeterminate Hikes+. It redefines your relationship to your phone, and, yes, even to the world around you. “We’ve always been nature lovers, but we’re also digital artists, interested in mobile devices,” said Nadir. “Phones help keep us busy, directed. Is that necessary? Or is it just the way we use them? We wanted to reinvent our phones in ways that might be infused with more environmental mediation, awareness.”

Country Fair Day at Saul High School, Sat., May 11!

2013-05-10T15:00:13Z

Sometimes spending a day in the country is all a city-dweller needs to recharge. This Saturday, May 11, W.B. Saul High School for Agricultural Sciences is inviting Philadelphians to do just that. Saul’s annual Country Fair Day will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the high school’s 150-acre campus at 7100 Henry Avenue in Roxborough. The school’s biggest annual fundraising event will feature demonstrations, games, a plant sale, food trucks, a silent auction, a “horsey baby shower,” and cow plop bingo. (We’ll leave that last one to your imagination.) Money raised through the event supports the school’s hand-on approach to teaching students about agriculture, animal sciences, horticulture, and natural resource management.

Weavers Way’s Henry Got Crops! CSA, a community supported agriculture partnership between Weavers Way and Saul High School, will also be on hand with information about their CSA. You can sign up to support the on-site farm by becoming a CSA shareholder, and they will be offering an orientation for new members. The Henry Got Crops! CSA differs from some CSAs in that all vegetables are grown on-site, and they don’t purchase vegetables from other farms. Additionally, Weavers Way Community Program’s farm educator teaches Saul students about small-scale, sustainable agriculture and distribution through the CSA.

For a full listing of Country Fair Day events, visit W.B. Saul High School’s website. To learn more about Weavers Way’s Henry Got Crops! CSA or to become a shareholder, visit Weavers Way’s website.

Our 50th Issue, featuring Judy Wicks, Is Out Now!

2013-05-09T18:00:49Z

We are very excited that our 50th issue is out, and even more excited that it features Judy Wicks on the cover. Judy is local icon and a pioneer in the local food and sustainability movements. We'd call her inimitable, but luckily many have imitated her, and the world is a better place because of it.

This issue also features our 24-page guide to the Hidden City Festival 2013, a six-week celebration of some of Philadelphia's least-known gems. With great photos and fascinating facts from our friends at Hidden City, we know you're going to enjoy the guide, and we hope it helps inspire you to take advantage of this unique — and uniquely Philadelphian — event.

We have a few hidden gems of our own in this issue, including stories on an innovative workplace CSA, the return of native wildflowers through forest restoration efforts, money-saving energy efficiency grant programs, and more, including features on forager David Siller and artist Meei Ling Ng.

So be sure to pick up a copy at one of our more than 450 pickup locations, or, if you can't wait, click HERE to read it on line. And don't forget, you can meet some of the people who are in this issue and who helped put it together, at Grid Alive, Friday, May 10. Hope we see you there!