Clean & Green Philly, a local organization that helps community groups clean and green vacant properties to reduce gun violence, is offering a new workshop in partnership with the West Philadelphia non-profit Hope PHL. The workshop will help explore hands-on strategies for activating vacant spaces.

Session 1 of the workshop will be held at Wonderspring – Powelton Village (3939 Warren St.) on Thursday, Nov. 14, beginning at 6 p.m. To RSVP, please click here or scan the QR code in the flyer below. Seats are limited.

Clean & Green Philly’s research shows that greening and cleaning vacant properties is one of the most effective interventions available to reduce gun violence in a neighborhood. Philadelphia has nearly 40,000 vacant properties. Continue Reading

Photo by Albert Yee for Fairmount Park Conservancy

Over 100 Philadelphia parks need help preparing for the winter season and will host clean-up service events during Love Your Park Fall Weekend (November 8-10). Love Your Park is a program of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and Fairmount Park Conservancy, in partnership with the Park Friends Network, made up of 140 volunteer groups who steward their neighborhood parks.

Love Your Park Fall Weekend is dedicated to service and celebration in Philadelphia’s parks. Every fall, thousands of volunteers mobilize over the course of one weekend to care for their neighborhood green spaces by planting trees, raking leaves, cleaning up litter, and more to help prepare parks for the winter.

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Bark in the Park, the outdoor party for dogs and their owners, will return to 43rd & Chester beside the Bowl in Clark Park this Saturday, Nov. 2, at 1 p.m. This frolicsome fall affair will be held by Friends of Clark Park in honor of Fran Byers, founder and longtime organizer of the event, who passed away earlier this year.

A host of silly contests will give every kind of dog a chance to compete for prizes, treats and toys! And a raffle will give one lucky winner a bag of goodies to bring home.

The party will last an hour. As always, it’s free. See the flyer below with more details. For questions, contact anthony.abbott.west@gmail.com.

The Friends of Clark Park will also plant a memorial tree for Fran Byers this Sunday, Nov. 3, at 10 a.m. in the Dickens Garden. All are welcome to join.

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The Philadelphia Regional Institute of STEM Educators (PRISE) is hosting the annual STEM Educator Conference in West Philadelphia – on Saint Joseph’s University’s University City Campus (formerly USciences) – this Saturday, Oct. 26. The conference, entitled “Inventing and Affecting the Future through STEM: Working together to create the world we want,” will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and educators, high-school students, college students, and anyone interested in STEM education are welcome to attend.

The Keynote Speaker at this year’s conference is Gere Johnson, Women In Natural Sciences (WINS) alumna, graduate of the School District of Philadelphia and now a Conservation Planner with CT Resource Conservation & Development.

A student panel, The Future of STEM: A Student’s Perspective, will be facilitated by Dominique Thomas, a Philadelphia native and Manager of Social Justice Programs at The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. She works with WINS, which she is also a proud 2012 Alumna.

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Curio Theatre Company is kicking off their 20th anniversary season with the Philadelphia premiere of Larissa FastHorse’s satirical comedy and Broadway hit, The Thanksgiving Play. The play has been one of the most produced plays in the country. Curio Theatre Co-Founder Tim Martin is directing the staging, which runs October 23-November 9.

“Our playwright was tired of hearing many theatres say that they couldn’t produce plays with Native characters because there weren’t enough Native actors,” said Martin “This play is her response. Four well-meaning theatre artists come together to create a play for an elementary school, all the while struggling with the need for Native representation. Watch and laugh as they sort through cultural myths of our nation’s favorite family-focused turkey feast, by America’s premiere Lakota playwright.”

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The Spruce Hill Community Association has confirmed that the old neighborhood Halloween tradition is still alive: the 26th Annual Halloween Little Tot Parade will return on Oct. 31! As usual, gathering begins on 45th St. between Baltimore and Larchwood at 4 p.m. The parade will kick off at 4:30 p.m. and head east on Larchwood. Traditionally, the event concludes with a party at “Little Osage” (42nd and Osage), where parade participants are treated with cider and baked goods from local businesses and organizations.

Those who live in the area where the parade takes place, please be mindful of the following:

Roads will be closed from 3:45-5 p.m. (see the map below). You may not move your parked car if it is parked on the route during the parade.

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