Work in progress at the Lea School playground. (Photo courtesy of West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools)

UPDATE (8/14/14): The Greening Lea project has reached its fundraising goal after a sizable donation from the Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA), West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools reports. SHCA’s gift of $1,000 completed and even exceeded the $3,000 fundraising goal for Greening Lea’s August project several weeks early!

8/7/14: Here’s a great chance to make something good out of a bad situation. The Henry C. Lea School (47th and Locust) has a chance to get a great playground set from the recently shuttered Alexander Wilson School (46th and Woodland) and they need some help.

The new playground set was built at Wilson in November 2010 through a grant from The Hamels Foundation, the charitable organization of Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels. The plan is to move the playground set onto the Lea playground (near the existing structure there) at the corner of 47th and Spruce, roughly doubling the size of the school’s play area.

But the committee in charge of Greening Lea, the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools project to make the Lea School’s footprint greener and more kid-friendly, needs to raise $3,000 to help cover the costs of transplanting the playground structure. The grant will help cover costs for a new porous surface that will be built under the new and existing play structure to make it safe for kids. The new surface will also help with the Greening Lea plan to manage stormwater run-off. The current massive asphalt playground, if future plans play out, will be converted into an inviting tree-lined space.

But that’s still in the future. The goal now is to get the new playground structure in place. The work at the playground has already begun. Click here to donate. As usual, any amount will help.

A new early learning center has opened within a few blocks of the area’s largest employers as part of the development of the area around the Philadelphia Cathedral at 38th and Chestnut.

The Philadelphia Cathedral Early Learning Center offers about 100 spots for children ranging from infants to pre-school aged kids in the remodeled basement of the cathedral, which, with exposed ductwork and beams in the ceiling and a lot of hardwood floors, feels more like an artist’s loft than a pre-school.

“We really want the center to feel like home,” said enrollment specialist Elaine Errico. “You see beautiful wood floors and real furniture.”

Think earth tones, not Disney.

The Philadelphia Cathedral is leasing the basement to Hildebrandt Learning Centers, a management company that runs a few dozen centers around the region, including several on college campuses. The expansion is part of the plan that includes a new 25-story apartment building and three-story commercial building next door.

The construction, which is scheduled to be completed next spring, means that the learning center entrance is a little tricky to find for those interested in a tour (construction of the center itself is done and when we were there they were training the first group of teachers). The entrance is currently on Ludlow, a half-block north of Chestnut. They are offering tours between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Here are some more details on the center:

• Open from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Full- and part-time is available.
• The center participates in the state-subsidized tuition program.
• Number of spots: infants (6 weeks to 12 months) – 8; young toddlers – (13-24 months) – 10; toddler (25-35 months) – 24; preschool (3-5 years) – 60.

To schedule a tour call 267-428-6714.

Little WePAC library installation in progress. (Photo by Sarah Elizabeth)

The West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC), a nonprofit that works on reopening and restaffing libraries at local schools, is inviting neighbors to the launch of their first mini library outside of Samuel B Huey Elementary at 52nd and Pine Streets. WePAC will be bringing students out to get books and eat water ice from 1-3 p.m. today and hope that more community members could make it!

The Philadelphia Student Union and the Media Mobilizing Project are hosting a screening on Thursday of short films students created in response to the school budget crisis.

Student Union members have been working with three filmmakers since January. The collaboration resulted in three short films about school closures, the “struggle for a high quality education in Philadelphia” and the school-to-prison pipeline. This is the first time these films will be screened and the public is invited. High school age youth and PSU sustainers will be admitted free of charge. Others are asked for a donation ranging from $5 to $20. There will also be pizza on hand.

The screening runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Media Mobilizing Project headquarters at 4233 Chestnut St. Get tickets here.

University of Pennsylvania (Source: Wikipedia)

Is the University of Pennsylvania paying its fair share?

It’s a question worth asking and it’s at the heart of the upcoming Philadelphia Area Jobs with Justice (JWJ) community forum, taking place Sat. May 31 at Monumental Baptist Church (4948 Locust Street). The forum, which begins at 3 p.m., will discuss Penn’s contributions (and lack thereof) to Philadelphia, as well as a campaign for the university to make PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) contributions—voluntary payments made to the city by nonprofit hospitals and universities, which are tax-exempt entities, that benefit city schools and services.

According to the labor and social justice coalition, while the rest of Philadelphia is grappling with employment insecurity, slashes to the city budget, cutbacks in public services, and a long-standing education crisis, Penn continues to prosper on and around its 994-acre campus. The JWJ points out, the Ivy League’s total endowment is valued at $7.74 billion as of the 2013 fiscal year, and its president, Amy Gutmann, makes over $2 million a year as of 2011—over $600,000 more than 2010—ranking her as one of the highest-paid university presidents in the country. The university’s total budget for the 2014 fiscal year, though, is $6.6 billion, which consists of a $3.634 billion payroll budget including benefits.

And none of that money is earmarked for PILOT contributions—at least, not since 2000. In 1995, the city and Penn struck a five-year agreement during  which the university would voluntarily pay $1.93 million a year to the city as part of PILOT, but the program expired, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. None of Philadelphia’s 2011 PILOT money came from Penn, Drexel University nor Temple University. Instead, reported Generocity, the biggest contributor was a 40-acre retirement community in Andorra called Cathedral Village that donated $272,250 of the $383,650 the city received in that year.

In response to Penn’s lack of PILOT contributions, Gutmann told DP in 2012: “We are very committed to having a big economic impact on the city. We’ve been cited as a model around this country of a university that has the most positive impact on its neighborhood and city.”

But JWJ clearly sees it differently.

“As you probably guessed, [‘Is U. Penn paying its fair share?’] is a bit of a leading question. [O]f course U. Penn isn’t paying its fair share,” the organization wrote on the event’s page. “It’s one of only two Ivies that refuse to make PILOT contributions … Well, we think it’s time to pay up.”

Registration is required for the forum. To register, click here. For more information, email director@phillyjwj.org.

–Annamarya Scaccia

As always, we’re sharing information on the upcoming Kindergarten open houses at assorted West Philly schools. The list has been compiled by the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools.

A. D. Harrington School
5300-34 Baltimore Ave., 19143
(215) 471 – 2914
www.philasd.org/schools/harrington
Open House: Call for date and time

Alain Locke School
4550 Haverford Ave., 19139
(215) 823 – 8202
http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/l/locke
Open House: Tuesday, May 13. Starts at 9:30 a.m.

B. B. Comegys School
5100 Greenway Ave., 19143
(215) 727 – 2162
Open House: Call for date and time

Henry C. Lea School
4700 Locust St., 19139
(215) 471 – 2915
http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/l/lea
Open House: Thursday, May 15, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m.

Martha Washington Academics
766 N. 44th St., 19104
(215) 823 – 8203
www.philasd.org/schools/marthawashington
Open House: Tuesday, May 13. Starts at 4:00 p.m.

Morton McMichael School
3543 Fairmount Ave., 19104
(215) 823-8272
http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/m/mcmichael
Open House: Call for date and time

Penn Alexander School
4209 Spruce St., 19104
(215) 823 – 5465
www.philasd.org/schools/pennalexander
Open House: Tuesday, May 13, 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Samuel B. Huey School
5200 Pine St., 19143
(215) 471 – 2901
Open House: Tuesday, May 13, 9:30-10:15 a.m.

Samuel Powel School
301 N. 36th St., 19104
(215) 823 – 8201
www.philasd.org/schools/powel
Open House: Friday, May 16, 8:30-9:30 a.m.