An art show featuring work by young homeless mothers will take place this Sunday (May 15) at Indigo Bleu Design Collaborative, 3870 Lancaster Ave. The work displayed in this exhibit, titled Mothers and Others, is the result of a powerful partnership between People’s Emergency Center (PEC), which provides housing and social services for homeless moms and their children, and the Homeless Health Initiative (HHI) of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

HHI volunteers visit PEC’s Center for Parenting and Early Childhood Education several times each month. Led by an artist, these volunteer healthcare professionals bring not only the canvas, paint and brushes, they offer their time, encouragement and expertise. The young mothers experiencing homelessness feel empowered and excited for their first exhibit.

The reception for the exhibit will take place from 1 – 4 p.m. on Sunday. Proceeds from this event will benefit the artists and future creative expression programming at People’s Emergency Center. General admission tickets are $20 and can be purchased here.

Indigo Bleu Design Collaborative is one of the newest event spaces in West Philadelphia.  Continue Reading

To wrap up Love Your Park week in Philadelphia, two West Philly parks will be holding celebrations this Friday and Saturday.

Cedar Park Neighbors are inviting neighborhood residents to have a Picnic in Cedar Park tonight (Friday, May 13) from 6 – 8 p.m. Please bring your blanket and a meal and enjoy the evening with your family, friends and neighbors. If you don’t feel like packing, pick up a dinner at one of great neighborhood businesses and head on over to the park.​​  Continue Reading

Instead of dumping unwanted stuff bring it to PennMoves locations until June 1.

This is this time of year again when we say good-bye to many of our neighbors and start welcoming new ones. Those who are leaving usually leave a lot of stuff behind, so if you are one of those people and are looking for information on how to get rid of stuff you don’t want to take with you or if you want to pick up what has been left, read on.

Since 2008, PennMoves has collected unwanted items from students, such as clothing, furniture, appliances, books, etc., at the end of each school year, and this year is no exception. The collections began on April 27 and will go on until June 1 at various locations across Penn’s campus. Not only students can bring their stuff, off-campus residents are also welcome to drop off items at one of the donation sites.

Since 2013, PennMoves has been working with Goodwill instead of organizing a big sale of all the collected stuff (much to the disappointment of many locals). The last sale was held in June 2012. In addition to clothing and housewares, you can also bring used electronics, functional or not. PennMoves is also teaming up with Philabundance, and is collecting nonperishable, unopened food. Also, in support of The Vietnam Book Drive Project, books of all kinds will be collected to be shipped to Vietnam for use in classrooms and free libraries.  Continue Reading

As we mentioned earlier, this year’s Fringe Festival is expanding into West Philadelphia neighborhoods and is currently seeking venues and artists who would like to be part of this great shebang planned for Sept. 9 – 24.

Tonight, there is a chance for interested artists and venue managers to meet each other in an informal atmosphere during a West Philly Venue and Artist Mixer. The event will be held from 5 -7 p.m. at Dock Street Brewery (50th and Baltimore).

Here’s some more information from the event’s Facebook page:

“Are you a VENUE? Do you have an awesome space in West Philadelphia? Are you interested in hosting some rad performances in this year’s Fringe Festival?

Or are you an ARTIST looking for a location to perform your work in this year’s Fringe Festival?  Continue Reading

This week has been rainy and gloomy in Philadelphia, but sunny weather is in the forecast for Saturday (May 7), just in time for the Spruce Hill May Fair, the annual community celebration.

The fair will take place from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m. at Clark Park (43rd and Chester) and will feature attractions for everyone. For children, the fair will once again have a petting zoo, pony rides, a bounce tent and a 40-foot obstacle course, all at family-friendly prices.

Book lovers will find one of the best assortments of $1 used books the fair has ever offered, and raffle players can shoot for an Apple watch offered by University Family Fun Center. Drawings will be held throughout the day for many gift certificates for dinner and services from local merchants, including Aksum, Renata’s Kitchen, Dock Street Brewery, Philly Homebrew Outlet, Dottie’s Donuts, City Food Tours, Pattaya Grill, VIX Emporium, Jinxed, Baltimore Pet Shoppe, Keswick Cycle, Studio 34 and many more!

Raffle tickets are just $1 a piece or 6 for $5 and will be available at the Fair, or you can stop by the Spruce Hill Center (257 S. 45th St) on Thursday, May 5 (6-9 p.m.). For the full list of the participating merchants, go here.  Continue Reading

PlanPhilly is once again presenting Jane’s Walk, a series of free, citizen-led walking tours inspired by writer and urban activist Jane Jacobs. The walks are geared at getting people engaged with their city and connecting with one another. Last year, there were more than 800 walks in more than 200 cities around the world. This year the walks will celebrate Jacobs’ 100th birthday (May 4).

Twelve walks have been scheduled this year for May 6-8 in Philadelphia, including two walks in West Philly:

Friday, May 6: Tactical Urbanism on the Eastern Edge of University City, with Nate Hommel

Join Nate Hommel of University City District (UCD) on a tour of public spaces popping up on formerly underutilized spaces, including: the Market Street Bridge, The Porch at 30th Street Station, and others. The walk begins at The Porch at 5 p.m. Registration is not required but you can RSVP here.

Sunday, May 8: Baltimore Avenue: A Place for People, with Daniel Wolf

On this walk down Baltimore Avenue, you’ll learn about a few recent and upcoming projects initiated by UCD to enhance the pedestrian environment. The walk will begin at 40th Street Portal at 5 p.m. and will conclude in Cedar Park and there will be a couple of surprises. More info is here.

For information on other walks taking place this weekend in Philadelphia, visit: http://janeswalk.org/united-states/philadelphia/