Thanks to the joint efforts of several community organizations and over 300 volunteers, residents of the 3800 block of Aspen Street in Mantua are getting their homes improved and their block beautified.

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The volunteers and vendors, who are providing repairs to 20 homeowners on the block and working on greening and beautifying the block, will get together this Saturday, March 31, at the Green Block Party Open House. The open house will be held from 10:00 a.m.- noon and will include the house tours to see improvements in progress. There will also be an opportunity to learn more about healthy homes, meet the program partners, and hear local leaders and residents speak. Update: If it’s raining the open house will be held at the Mantua Community Improvement Committee building, 619 N. 35th Street – between Mt. Vernon and Haverford.

The project is carried out by the Green Block Build Collaborative, a coalition of community organizations including Philadelphia LISC, Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, The Partnership CDC, and a wide variety of other community partners. It is also supported by Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania.

The Green Block Build strategy is to improve low-income households, block-by-block, house-by-house by building on the strengths of each partner organization. Each home on the block will receive multiple critical repairs or energy efficiency upgrades, energy assessments, education around home health issues, and financial education. Other home improvements include the installation of green and cool roofs, rain barrel installation, the removal of allergy and asthma triggers such as mold and dampness, weatherization improvements, and overall greening.

The projects are designed to specifically meet the needs of each homeowner. For example, one homeowner with physical handicaps will receive repairs to his home that make the bathroom, backyard, and other rooms more handicap-accessible.

Once the renovations are complete, Drexel University will conduct an analysis of the program’s impact.

“Lord have mercy, we’ll enjoy living in our neighborhood again!” said Barbara Hall, the block captain, when she learned about the Green Block Build Program, “This has given me so much hope.”

See more, including photos, on Plan Philly.

Have you recently taken a great photo of the neighborhood? Would you like to share it with your neighbors? Please email it to us at: editor@westphillylocal.com and we’ll publish it on our site and Flickr page. Please don’t forget to include your name and your photo’s title or caption.

Enjoy a lot of chili and help a local pottery studio this Sunday, March 18 at University City Arts League’s annual Chili Bowl fundraiser. The event will be held from 1 – 5 p.m. at 4226 Spruce Street. Here’s how it works.

You can eat all the chili you want, just pay for the hand-crafted chili bowl made by Arts League potters. You can also vote for the best chili maker among neighbors (there will be an amateur competition between about 10 neighborhood residents).

It is a really fun event, with music and raffles, so make sure to bring your kids. It’s also an opportunity to learn more about the Arts League. If you’ve never been there before, you are welcome to take a look around or you can even get a tour.

Yards Brewery will be providing beer for the event. A bowl plus all you can eat chili will be $20. For more information, visit ucartsleague.org or call 215-382-7811.

Jazmin Idakaar, founder of the charity group Sweet Charity Sundays, has sent word that her group has got quite a few new members since our first publication about it, but more new members are welcome. The group meets every Sunday at The A-Space and knits, sews or crochets for those in need.

The group donated 28 items in February and 50 items in March and is always in search of new contacts for shelters in need. Also, once the cold weather is over, they will be reaching out to hospitals to make chemo caps and items for preemies, so contacts at hospitals or similar organizations would be most welcome.

If you would like to join the group or have ideas for places where the group can donate their handmade items, please email: sweetcharitycrafts[at]gmail.com. For more information, visit their website or Facebook page.

Reader Scott Buchanan emailed us with this information:

“…On Monday (Feb. 20) the house at Spring Garden & Budd Street (in West Powelton) burned out. The one resident, an older gentleman named Victor Martinez, had been living there for 14 years but now has no place to go. He’s able to stay at the Red Cross Home through Friday, but he doesn’t have any family and is on a very limited income, which is making finding a new residence extremely difficult.

Another neighbor (Sarah Esposito) and I have been trying to organize the neighbors to help get him afoot again.”

Scott and Sarah have set up this page where you can donate money to help Victor:

https://www.wepay.com/donations/gifts-for-victor-martinez

The first 2012 Friends of 40th Street general meeting will be held tonight at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street), from 6 to 7 p.m. Community members and business owners are encouraged to attend, learn about planning efforts in the area and share their neighborhood or organizational updates and announcements.

At tonight’s meeting, updates on the following planning efforts will be presented:

•    The Lighting Plan for 46th and Market.
•    The Peoples Emergency Center Neighborhood Planning Process.
•    The HUD Choice Neighborhood Planning Process happening in Mantua.
•    The Revelation Outreach Community Center’s plan to convert land at 39th and Haverford into the Walter Lundy Community Center.

Three more meetings are scheduled for this year:

Monday May 21
Monday August 20
Monday November 19

The Friends of 40th Street is a coalition comprised of residents, organizations, businesses, and anchor institutions working together on community-based issues. For more information on the Friends of 40th Street and what they do, visit this page.