A great weekend is in store for local jazz fans, with a couple of awesome (and free!) events happening in the area. Plus, there will be a free classical jazz concert at a local library on Monday. More details are below.

• The annual Lancaster Avenue Jazz and Arts Fest is returning to Powelton Village on Saturday, July 18. The fest is an all-day fun for the whole family, featuring internationally renowned performers, vendors, food trucks, and children’s activities. The event, organized by People’s Emergency Center and the Producers’ Guild, celebrates the rich history of jazz and the arts in Philadelphia. The lineup includes a wide variety of both international and Philly jazz musicians, including Sonny Fortune, Charlene Holloway Band, Glenn Bryan & Friends, Kimpedro Nu Gruv, and more.

The festival will be held from noon to 7 p.m. at Saunders Park (39th and Powelton Ave). For more information, visit: www.lancasteravejazzfest.com.

• The weekly Summer Jazz series will be held on Friday night in Cedar Park (49th and Baltimore), starting at 6 p.m. This week features Dahi Divine and Friends.

• Charlie X will present a free classical jazz concert at Walnut St West Library (40th and Walnut) on Monday, July 20. This event starts at 6:30 p.m. Refreshments will also be served. The event is sponsored by the Library Friends. You can hear Charlie X at charliex.org.

You may have seen them cropping up around the neighborhood — Little Free Libraries are tiny libraries installed on posts outside homes or organizations where community members can “take a book, leave a book,” and they are often just the size of large birdhouses.

A Little Free Library is being installed in front of Samuel Huey school (Facebook photo).

The West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC), which works systematically to reopen closed school libraries in West Philly and around the city (95 percent of Philly public schools lack a functioning school library), is also using the Little Free Library model to get books into the hands of children over the summer and in the evenings.

New research suggests that having books in the home is the single most important factor in future literacy, more important even than the educational attainment or income of parents.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2014, WePAC organized a build day that produced 11 Little Free Libraries. But only two have been installed so far — one in front of Samuel Huey school, and one inside Y-HEP, a health clinic at 15th and Locust that is part of Philadelphia FIGHT. In addition to allowing the tiny library to be installed on their property, host sites make sure the libraries stay in good condition and re-stock them with books if borrowers neglect to return.

But WePac has nine other libraries still awaiting homes. “The challenge is to find locations where someone can commit to maintaining the library for the long haul,” says Mica Navarro Lopez, WePAC’s Deputy Executive Director.

WePAC is actively seeking sites where the remaining nine libraries will be cared for by a responsible steward—this might be a school, a community organization, or private individual who lives within their service area. If you or your organization is interested in becoming a host site to a WePAC Little Free Library, get in touch with them by filling out their contact form at http://wepac.org/contact-us/.

– Emma Eisenberg

UPDATE: Registration for Session 1 of the SNAP Box program is still open. Please go to: http://www.greensgrow.org/life/snapbox/sign-up or contact Greensgrow at: snapbox@greensgrow.org or 267-496-0148.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a great thing, but most farm share programs are costly and inaccessible for many city residents. Greensgrow Farms is bringing back its low-cost SNAP Box program this summer to help connect low-income individuals and families with local farmers and their produce. The program launches on Thursday, July 9, and here are more details:

SNAP Box participants in West Philadelphia can purchase their produce from Greensgrow West located at 4912 Baltimore Ave. on Fridays from 3 to 6 p.m. The SNAP Box program consists of three sessions, and each session runs for four weeks. Session 1 begins the week of July 9th, session 2 begins the week of August 6th, and session 3 begins the week of September 3rd. A one time fee of $26 valued at a retail price of $64 will offer participants an assortment of 5-8 weekly produce items sourced from local farms throughout the four-week program. In addition, program participants will have access to an onsite nutritionist and herbalist who will answer general health related questions and to free culinary education classes. Recipes, food prep and storage tips will also be offered. Additional information about the farms and farmers who contributed to the share will also be available.

Sign-up is still open for sessions 2 and 3. More information and a sign-up form are available here. If you have questions, please email: snapbox@greensgrow.org or call 267.496.0148.

2014 Cedar Park Neighbors scholarship recipients. (Photo courtesy CPN)

Tomorrow evening is a good chance to catch some outdoor jazz at Cedar Park (49th and Baltimore) and congratulate a hard-working group of neighborhood young people who are heading off to college.

Gretchen Elise and Friends is scheduled to take the stage at 6 p.m. as part of the Summer Live Jazz Fridays in Cedar Park series. In between sets, folks from the community group Cedar Park Neighbors will announce the recipients of college scholarships from the Gary Bronson Memorial Scholarship Fund. Each year Cedar Park Neighbors award scholarships to students in the neighborhood.

As always, the concerts are free and open to everyone.

Upcoming concerts in the Jazz Fridays series include:

• July 10th – Gretchen Elise and Friends
• July 17th – Dahi Divine and Friends
• July 24th – Broke and Blue Band
• July 31st – Side by Soul

Over the past 42 years, The People’s Emergency Center has served the West Powelton, Mantua, Belmont, Mill Creek and Saunders Park neighborhoods to provide comprehensive support services to homeless women and their children with temporary and permanent housing and services. The non-profit organization has invested over $57 million in quality-of-life improvements for West Philadelphia residents.

Kathy Desmond

The PEC board of directors appointed Kathy Desmond as the new president of the organization effective July 1. Desmond has been with People’s Emergency Center for two years but has previously served families in the area as CEO of BestNest for 14 years. She holds a Master of Social Work from Temple University. Desmond’s first order of business will include an analysis of where the organization stands and refining PEC’s strategic plan, to better serve the neighborhoods in the area.

We had the opportunity to speak with Desmond who shed light on what she intends to do in her new role.

– Do you have any ties to the areas that PEC serves?

I have worked for PEC for two years in several capacities in the social services department, focusing on serving mothers and children experiencing homelessness. In my previous role as CEO of Best Nest, a foster care support services agency, I did work with families in the neighborhoods served by PEC. I am excited to be in this new capacity at PEC, where I can impact all of PEC’s programs so that we can continue to nurture families, strengthen neighborhoods and drive change.

– How do you plan to improve services to the communities you serve?

PEC’s role in the community is to be an amplifier to the strengths and voices already present in Belmont, Mantua, Mill Creek, Saunders Park and West Powelton. PEC’s activities are currently guided by the resident-driven “Make Your Mark” neighborhood plan. We are particularly pleased that the planning process engaged and brought together the very diverse communities we serve, which we couldn’t have achieved with the leadership of the civic groups and residents in each of our neighborhoods, the creative implementation from Interface Studios, and financial support from Wells Fargo Regional Community Foundation.

Going forward, we are pledged to continue to work with our neighbors to build on the community’s assets and to amplify their voices to the institutions, agencies and market forces that impact where they live. As we develop PEC’s next strategic plan, our community development work will continue to respond to the issues raised in the “Make Your Mark” neighborhood plan, such as quality of life, education and increasing affordable housing stock. PEC’s work in these areas so far include the Bigham Leatherberry Wise Place development, the LISC-supported Financial Opportunities Center, and working with the Philadelphia Promise Zone collaborative.

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Philadelphia has one of the highest rates of pedestrian traffic fatalities in the United States among large cities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s data. The Bicycle Coalition of the Greater Philadelphia has just released the official Vision Zero report, which contains statistics on the safety of Philadelphia streets and a series of policies that aims to bring traffic deaths and injuries down to zero for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. According to the report, traffic crashes kill about 100 people per year citywide and cost $1 billion in damages and economic activity.

The report breaks down traffic crashes and statistics by neighborhood (see map). In West Philadelphia, the report shows that 52nd Street, between Baltimore Avenue and Sansom Street is the fourth-worst corridor for pedestrian-involved crashes in the city. Also, 40th and Market Streets, where many people are crossing the street to use the Market-Frankford Line, is in the top 10 of crash sites in the city. The intersection saw 15 pedestrian-involved crashes between 2009 and 2013.

Vision Zero policies have already been successfully adopted in other U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Vision Zero Philadelphia proposes partnerships among various municipal agencies, and includes recommendations for safer road design, traffic calming strategies, and suggestions for funding sources. The document also stresses the importance of cultural shift and public education campaigns. Both of Philadelphia’s current mayoral candidates support the policies.

The full report can be downloaded here.