Fran Byers at a Clark Park re-opening event in 2012 (Archive Photo – West Philly Local).

We are sad to report that long-term Spruce Hill resident and community organizer, Fran Byers, 83, passed away this week. During almost all of her life in Spruce Hill, Fran was involved with local community organizations and neighborhood groups. She was a founding member of Friends of Clark Park.

“Fran… lived one block away from the park, and was an active member in many neighborhood groups, but her dedication to Clark Park knew no bounds,” reads a post dedicated to Fran’s passing on the Friends of Clark Park website.

“Fran had served as president many times and was still active at the time of her death. A threat to remove the internationally famous Dickens statue from removal triggered the original drive by Fran and fellow activists to create Friends of Clark Park; decades later, she still proudly served the cake at Dickens Birthday Party.”

For years, Fran headed many activities at Clark Park, like Bark in the Park, the Veterans Day celebration and Christmas caroling. She was also involved with St. Francis De Sales Church and the Calvary Center.

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Over $1 million worth of grants has been recently awarded to Greater Philadelphia’s BIPOC creative community through Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures Program. Ten of the 39 grants are going to West Philly based artists and art organizations: Arts Without Boundaries, jaamil olawale kosoko, Linda Fernandez, One Art Community Center, Selina Morales, Sherman Fleming, Tania Isaac, Theatre in the X, Val Gay, and Xenia Matthews.

Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures grants are administered in flat amounts of $10,000, $25,000, and $50,000 and will fund new performances, exhibitions, films, community-engaged public art, and help strengthen long-term organizational success. Here are some of the projects that these grants will support.

Arts Without Boundaries will utilize their grant to create a community theater program in West Philadelphia for children ages 6 to 13.

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Our Closet in Your Neighborhood (OCIYN) is a mobile basic needs program providing food and clothing at weekly pop-up events across the city of Philadelphia. Every month, the program partners with the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral (19 S. 38th St.) to host a pop-up event where they distribute food, clothing as well as an opportunity to speak to a qualified social worker about possible services or benefits.

The next event is scheduled for this Thursday, Feb. 29, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Check out the flyer below for more details. More information about the program is available here. To download OCIYN’s events flyer for March 2024, click here.

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SEPTA is expected to receive $317,160,000 in infrastructure funding to purchase approximately 200 new rail cars on the Market-Frankford Line, according to a recent joint announcement by U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA), U.S. Representatives Brendan Boyle (D-PA-2), Dwight Evans (D-PA-3), and Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-5), and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.

The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rail Vehicle Replacement Program, created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Pennsylvania delegation in Congress has consistently fought for federal funding for SEPTA to improve accessibility, promote sustainability and reduce emissions. This investment is thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

“A few weeks ago, I led a letter to the Department of Transportation on the urgent need to support SEPTA. Today, I am thrilled to join with my colleagues and announce DOT’s $317 million investment to support new cars on the Market-Frankford Line,” Fetterman said.

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A community-based committee tasked with brainstorming ideas for the Saint Joseph’s University (formerly USciences) campus near the south end of Clark Park and other buildings scattered nearby presented initial ideas to the Spruce Hill Community Association last night.

St. Joe’s hopes to sell the entire campus, including stand-alone residential buildings dotting the nearby neighborhood, to a single developer in a process that will likely take years to complete. For nearby residents, that process began last fall, when the university agreed to fund a “community advisory committee” made up of representatives of local community groups – including Friends of Clark Park, neighborhood associations and residents from the West Shore neighborhood.

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               Photo from temple.edu

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (3rd District) recently introduced a resolution honoring the life and celebrating the legacy of the late Emanuel Kelly, a trailblazing architect, longtime Temple University professor, and champion of affordable housing and equity.

Kelly passed away on January 12 at the age of 80. He spent the last 45 years of his life living in a Queen Anne-style house across from Clark Park, which he refurbished himself.

Gauthier’s resolution, introduced last week at a City Council meeting, celebrates Kelly’s historic career and honors his many contributions to Philadelphia.

“Today, we honor one of Philadelphia’s homegrown heroes, an esteemed member of Philadelphia’s ongoing Black history,” Gauthier said. “Emanuel Kelly may have passed on last month, but his mark on Philadelphia – figuratively and literally – will live on for generations.”

Kelly’s wife, family, friends, colleagues, and admirers testified about Mr. Kelly’s legacy during public comment.

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