Here’s some great news for a West Philly based nonprofit: Neighborhood Bike Works (NBW), which offers educational and recreational programs and career-building opportunities for youth and adults in underserved areas, was awarded a $100,000 grant this week. Impact100 Philadelphia, an all volunteer women’s collective giving group that funds Philadelphia nonprofits, selected NBW as one of the $100,000 grant winners after they presented their cause on Monday during Impact100’s sixth annual meeting. In total, $328,000 was awarded to five area nonprofits on Monday.

Neighborhood Bike Works receiving a $100,000 check from Impact100. (Photo courtesy Impact100 Philly).

Thanks to the grant, NBW can now move forward with some of their big plans.

First, a new West Philly hub is planned, which would bring NBW’s two sites, in West and North Philly, together. With the help of the Impact100 grant, this vision will become a reality. The new single hub will enable NBW to expand its programming, strengthen relationships with community partners, increase its retail and instructional spaces, and reduce the overhead costs associated with maintaining two facilities.

NBW will also launch a new program, Freedom to Ride, that will bring their services to the heart of the neighborhoods. NBW staff will go to schools and community centers and involve 100 new middle and high school students in an intensive 10-week program. The students participating in the program will build their own bikes and then go on cycling field trips to explore natural areas, like Bartram’s Garden and Cobbs Creek.

Finally, NBW is planning to launch a series of outreach activities to get families and communities engaged in cycling. They’re planning to train and employ teens as assistant instructors and ride leaders. Teenagers employed by NBW will go to block parties and other community events and will talk to the public about safe riding skills and offer quick bike tune-ups.

For more information about Neighborhood Bike Works and their work, visit: http://neighborhoodbikeworks.org/.

The Spruce Hill Zoning Committee will be meeting this Thursday (June 5) at 6:30 p.m. and both Spruce Hill and Walnut Hill residents are invited to discuss a couple of properties within the two neighborhoods. The meeting will be held at the SHCA center at 257 S. 45th Street.

Here’s the meeting’s agenda, according to an announcement by Spruce Hill Zoning chair Barry Grossbach:

1. Expansion of the number of children enrolled in The Little Green School House, a small home based day care and after school program, from the current six allowed to the number 12 requested. West Philly Local wrote about The Little Green School House last summer when it was preparing to open.

“This operation at 219 S. Melville was given a trial run for a year by agreement of neighbors and the zoning committee when it came before us last Spring. Neighbors wanted to determine the impact of the school on traffic, congestion, and quality of life issues on the block. The applicants have met with immediate neighbors recently, and this is now before the zoning committee with all parties invited to attend and share their views,” the announcement reads.

2. The second item on tomorrow’s meeting’s agenda is the construction of a single family house on the lot at 223 S. 46th Street (between Walnut and Locust). Neighbors in the area have been alerted and all are welcome to attend and share their thoughts, according to Grossbach.

Lot at 223 S. 46th Street. (Source: Google Maps).

Click to enlarge

The Partnership Community Development Corporation‘s Neighborhood Advisory Committee office is inviting community members to a series of free workshops, titled Community Conversations. There will be two workshops this month. The first workshop is on Wednesday, June 4, and is about the importance of estate planning and avoiding tangled titles.

You’ve probably heard about cases where families are being displaced out of their homes because a deceased family member did not have a will and the person in the home did not transfer ownership. Without the right documentation for the house residents, they are unable to access city resources for home improvements, housing counseling for foreclosure proceedings and tax delinquencies. Tomorrow’s meeting is being held to inform, help and prevent Philadelphia residents from facing these challenges.

Paulette Adams, Director of Community Development for Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell’s Office and a representative from the City of Philadelphia’s Register of Wills will be in attendance to present information.

The workshop will take place from 6 – 7 p.m. at the Community College of Philadelphia West Branch (4725 Chestnut St).

A retirement planning workshop is scheduled for June 25 (see flier).

If you have any questions please feel free to call the NAC Office at 215-662-1612 ext. 12.

Dr. Ketchup performing in Cedar Park. (Photo courtesy Cedar Park Jazz)

Starting this Friday, June 6, live jazz will again waft through Cedar Park. The Cedar Park Jazz series, an annual summertime staple, brings some great jazz and blues musicians to the park every Friday. The free shows begin at 6 p.m.

The local band Dr. Ketchup will open the series this Friday. Here’s the full schedule (please note that there’s no concert on July 4):

Every Friday 6 to 8 p.m.:

June 6 – Dr. Ketchup
June 13 – Mixed People
June 20 – Shirley Lites Band
June 27 – Gretchen Elise and Crew
July 11 – Rich Tucker and the Universal Experience
July 18 – Gregory McDonald & Friends
July 25 – Glenn Bryan and Friends
August 1 – Broke and Blue Band

Community contributions to the Cedar Park Jazz are always welcome. Please follow this link to make a donation:

The sponsor list of Cedar Park Jazz includes: Cedar Park Neighbors, Philadelphia Parks and Rec, Fairmount Park Conservancy, Baltimore Avenue Business Association, Gold Standard Cafe, and other local businesses and organizations.

Proposed zoning changes fall within the area pictured above.

Proposed zoning changes for the area stretching from 45th to 50th streets and between Chestnut and Spruce streets will be the subject of a public meeting tonight at the Lea School Auditorium (47th and Locust). Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell introduced the proposed changes on May 8th and the City Council’s Rules Committee hearing (the last opportunity for public input) is scheduled for Tuesday, June 3, according to Garden Court Community Association’s Zoning Chair Mariya Khandros.

The Garden Court, Walnut Hill and Spruce Hill neighborhoods are included in the area, so residents in these neighborhoods are encouraged to attend today’s meeting to provide their input (yes, we know it’s Friday night but the zoning changes affect almost every block in that area, so the organizers want to make sure that as many residents as possible give their input).

The changes include switching some parcels from multi-family to single-family zoning, or changing a commercially zoned location to residential. The parcel that includes the old West Philadelphia High School would also reportedly be zoned  for commercial use, presumedly to clear the way for  development of the high school building.

Blackwell introduced several zoning changes earlier this month, including proposed rezoning of the old University City High School parcel at 38th and Powelton.

The meeting will be held from 6 – 8 p.m.. Tuesday’s public hearing will be held in Room 4000 in the City Hall.

University of Pennsylvania (Source: Wikipedia)

Is the University of Pennsylvania paying its fair share?

It’s a question worth asking and it’s at the heart of the upcoming Philadelphia Area Jobs with Justice (JWJ) community forum, taking place Sat. May 31 at Monumental Baptist Church (4948 Locust Street). The forum, which begins at 3 p.m., will discuss Penn’s contributions (and lack thereof) to Philadelphia, as well as a campaign for the university to make PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) contributions—voluntary payments made to the city by nonprofit hospitals and universities, which are tax-exempt entities, that benefit city schools and services.

According to the labor and social justice coalition, while the rest of Philadelphia is grappling with employment insecurity, slashes to the city budget, cutbacks in public services, and a long-standing education crisis, Penn continues to prosper on and around its 994-acre campus. The JWJ points out, the Ivy League’s total endowment is valued at $7.74 billion as of the 2013 fiscal year, and its president, Amy Gutmann, makes over $2 million a year as of 2011—over $600,000 more than 2010—ranking her as one of the highest-paid university presidents in the country. The university’s total budget for the 2014 fiscal year, though, is $6.6 billion, which consists of a $3.634 billion payroll budget including benefits.

And none of that money is earmarked for PILOT contributions—at least, not since 2000. In 1995, the city and Penn struck a five-year agreement during  which the university would voluntarily pay $1.93 million a year to the city as part of PILOT, but the program expired, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. None of Philadelphia’s 2011 PILOT money came from Penn, Drexel University nor Temple University. Instead, reported Generocity, the biggest contributor was a 40-acre retirement community in Andorra called Cathedral Village that donated $272,250 of the $383,650 the city received in that year.

In response to Penn’s lack of PILOT contributions, Gutmann told DP in 2012: “We are very committed to having a big economic impact on the city. We’ve been cited as a model around this country of a university that has the most positive impact on its neighborhood and city.”

But JWJ clearly sees it differently.

“As you probably guessed, [‘Is U. Penn paying its fair share?’] is a bit of a leading question. [O]f course U. Penn isn’t paying its fair share,” the organization wrote on the event’s page. “It’s one of only two Ivies that refuse to make PILOT contributions … Well, we think it’s time to pay up.”

Registration is required for the forum. To register, click here. For more information, email director@phillyjwj.org.

–Annamarya Scaccia