Photo from wepac.org.

Do you have a couple of hours a week to spend in a neighborhood school library and make a big impact on a kids’ lives?

Budget cuts across the city have left neighborhood schools desperate for help to keep their libraries open. The West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC) is recruiting volunteers to read to students and help staff libraries in the neighborhoods. An orientation session for new volunteers will be held Friday, Nov. 8 beginning at 2 p.m. at the Powel School at 35th Street and Powelton Avenue.

Many of your neighbors have volunteered with WePAC. You will have to fill out some background check forms and complete the orientation before volunteering at a school. WePAC is looking for volunteers who can commit to at least two to three hours a week.

Call 267-443-3224 for more information.

The University City District (UCD) and the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) received an award from the MetLife Foundation this week for their “extraordinary partnership to improve community safety.” The $20,000 award was presented on Monday at the UCD office at 39th and Chestnut by MetLife Managing Director David Fleisher.

The UCD-Philadelphia Police partnership was selected from more than 540 applicants nationwide for a MetLife Foundation Community-Police Partnership Award, a program administered by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). This is the second time the partners are being honored by MetLife Foundation and LISC. In 2004, UCD and the PPD were recognized for their successful revitalization and safety work for the Baltimore Avenue Commercial Corridor Initiative.

“UCD recently completed a 15-year analysis of crime trends in the neighborhood, and determined that—while serious crime in the entire city has fallen by more than 20% since 1998—serious crime in University City has been cut in half over that same time period…This stands as a testament to the incredible partnership between the Philadelphia Police Department and UCD, as well as the major investment in policing and public safety by Penn, Drexel and many other University City institutions,” said UCD executive director Matt Bergheiser.

West Philly Local is proud to present a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by photographer and videographer Lori Waselchuk. We profiled Waselchuk in 2011 upon the release of her book Grace Before Dying. She lives in West Philadelphia and Them That Do begins with stories close to home. West Philly Local will publish a ten-part series featuring a block captain profile every Wednesday.

Waselchuk is an award-winning photographer and author. She began Them That Do as a 2012 Pew Fellowship for the Arts.

Thirty years ago Gregory Pac Cojulun walked into his first neighborhood meeting. He walked out a block captain. “I was ambushed,” Cojulun said with smile that hinted that all was forgiven. “I just wanted to see how things were going and they nominated and voted for me.”

Now in his sixties, Pac Cojulun needs a cane to walk, but rarely sits down. He is still the block captain, but his bigger commitment is given to Malcolm X Park.

Cojulun likes to network on behalf of his neighbors. “I’ve met a lot of different people in different agencies. I’ve gotten to the point I can call people up and they recognize me.” He is also the president of the board that maintains Malcolm X Park, which he says can demand 60-70 hours of his time a week.

“Our park was a thug park in the 60’s and 70’s. Nobody wanted to come through it,” said Cojulun. Through a grant from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society nearly twenty years ago, a small group of residents began to clean up and restore the park. Today the park is an active cultural and social center in West Philadelphia. Cojulun says that it has been a slow process to revitalize Malcolm X Park and the board’s ability to plan programming and make improvements depends on donations.

Cojulun’s pride, though, is apparent. During a recent theater event, he walked slowly around the park’s centerpiece, a large round gazebo, checking in on young and giggling high school actors. He proudly watches and greets them as they prepare for a theatrical performance. “We try to make sure everything is done right, and make sure the people are happy,” he said.

We can’t get enough of Philly Thriller. The popular local community dance project has grown since its introduction in 2009 and this year included 34 dancers and a long waitlist of those who wanted to be part of the project, according to its founder Rashida Holmes. If you missed Philly Thriller perform this Halloween check out the video below shot by Rich Wexler of Project Arts. Rich also spoke to Rashida about her project and chatted with some Philly Thriller dancers. Enjoy!

Kùlú Mèlé African Dance and Drum Ensemble / Photo credit: Canary Promotion.

From November 6 to 9, West Philly’s Community Education Center in partnership with Drexel University will present the first-ever DanceAfrica Philadelphia, a four-day celebration of traditional and contemporary African dance, music, art and community.

Philadelphia is the sixth major city to present this spectacular event promoting the preservation of African dance and culture. Created by Charles “Baba Chuck” Davis in 1977 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, DanceAfrica has evolved into a weeklong annual celebration of African culture in New York with additional presentations held in cities around the country.

Local performing groups include Kùlú Mèlé African Dance and Drum Ensemble, Kariamu and Company: Traditions and Illstyle & Peace Productions, plus special D.C-based guests Farafina Kan. The Philly festival will also include the Afro Beauty, Health and Wellness Marketplace, the Philadelphia Folklore Project exhibition “Honoring Ancestors of Rhythm, Movement and Place,” family workshops and a lecture on African dance in America.

The festival events will take place at the Community Education Center, Drexel University (3141 Chestnut St) and Philadelphia Folklore Project (735 S. 50th St). Tickets range from $5-$25 and can be purchased online at brownpapertickets.com/event/428884. For more information, call the Community Education Center (3500 Lancaster Ave.) at 215 387-1911 or visit: http://www.cecarts.org/wp/danceafrica/.

The votes are in, the judges have made up their minds and we’re happy to announce the winners of West Philly Local’s 2013 Pumpkin Carving Contest. Thanks again to everyone who participated in the contest and to those who voted.

And the winners are:

The Readers’ Choice winner is the Scary Philly School Closings pumpkin (Pumpkin 3) and her creator Milena Velis. Nearly 250 votes were cast in the Readers’ Choice category and Milena’s pumpkin received 108 votes. As one of West Philly Local readers said in the comments, “Really amazed at the detail in pumpkin. And the statement on what is happening in our city.” Most of the voters agreed. Milena wins the grand prize, which includes two gift cards/certificates from local businesses of her choice, a $20 Four Worlds Bakery gift card  + two free tickets of her choice (to Penn Museum or Curio Theatre).

The winner in the Kids’ Category is 10-year-old Edward Brown who carved The Invisible Man pumpkin. Nice work, Edward! You win a $20 Lil’ Pop Shop gift card, and two Penn Museum tickets.

The winner in the Philly-themed category is Shir K and her West Philly themed Porch Kitties pumpkin.

The scariest pumpkin, in our judges’ opinion, is Bimal Desai’s Werewolf pumpkin. Congratulations, Bimal! You did it again.

Unfortunately, no pumpkins were submitted in the Funniest category, so our judges didn’t select a winner here. As a special prize, though we decided to award the pumpkin that finished second in the Readers’ Choice category – the Lou Reed pumpkin carved by our last year’s Readers’ Choice winner Nate Johnson. The Lou Reed pumpkin received 56 votes out of 249. Great job, Nate, once again!

We will be contacting all the winners shortly with more details about the prizes they won. And we would like to thank again the businesses who provided the prizes and made this contest possible: Aksum, Curio Theatre, Dock Street Brewery, Four Worlds Bakery, Cafe Renata, Honest Tom’s Taco Shop, Lil’ Pop Shop, Penn Museum, and VIX Emporium.