As the weather seems to be improving, why not go out and try your luck in the Second Friday Scavenger Hunt tonight on Lancaster Avenue, from 5 to 8 p.m. Collect as many tickets as possible at the 15 participating businesses in order to be in the running for some great prizes.

Here’s are the rules:

1. Start at the Community Education Center (3500 Lancaster Ave).
2. Pick up your Lancaster Avenue tote bag with a list of all participating businesses.
3. Visit at least 10 out of the 15 locations listed to collect as many tickets as possible to increase your chances of winning.
4. There will be bonus 5 tickets for those who visit Vintage Villa Antiques.
5. At 8 p.m., make your way to 3848 Lancaster Avenue for live music and drawings of the winners!

Prizes include $25 gift cards at Powelton Pizza, Central Resellers Market and Vintage Villa Antiques.

There will also be a prize for the person who checks in the most on foursquare at the different locations and a bonus random drawing from a bowl for a bag of goodies.

Also while you’re on the scavenger hunt, feel free to drop off canned goods or other non-perishables at CEC to support a local food pantry.

Finally, make sure to check out a new exhibit by ceramic artists Angela Klaerner Clark and Jimmy Clark opening at the Art on the Avenue Gallery. The gallery is located at 3808 Lancaster Ave and the opening reception is from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. For more information visit www.artonave.org.

This upcoming Second Friday on Lancaster Avenue, Oct. 12, look out for Fall Market discounts, street vendors, live music, giveaways and plenty more. Little Baby’s Ice Cream Truck and Jimmie’s Cupcakes will also be there in this beautiful fall weather.

Drexel University officials have announced that the school will use a $10 million donation to build a community center that will offer residents in Powelton Village and Mantua a host of services, from free legal and health clinics to art programs and advice for small businesses.

Two properties and a former elementary school on Spring Garden Street between 34th and 35th streets will house the center, which will occupy about 29,000 square feet.

Drexel President John Fry told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he wants the center to help Drexel become the most civically engaged university in the country. Dana Dornsife, a 1983 Drexel graduate, and her husband David donated the money for the project, which will draw on faculty and student expertise to help address issues in the surround neighborhood.  The Dornsifes are based in California.

The center is expected to open in 2014.

A plan to keep middle school students in the Powelton Village neighborhood closer to home got a significant boost yesterday.

The Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) awarded a $215,000 grant to devise a plan that would add a fifth grade to Powel Elementary, which is currently K-4, and create a new middle school in the neighborhood. The grant marks the first time that PSP, which manages a philanthropic education fund, has invested in a public school in the city.

“The Powel community has long imagined an expansion of our current program to include fifth grade, and the opportunity for our students to attend a high-quality middle school in our neighborhood,” Powel principal Kimberly Ellerbee said in a statement.

PSP awarded the grant to a consortium that includes Powel, Science Leadership Academy (SLA) and Drexel University. Drexel President John Fry sits on the board of directors at PSP, which has raised about $50 million in grants for private and charter schools. As a vice president at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1990s Fry was a key architect of the changes in the neighborhoods around Penn, including the creation of the University City District and the Penn Alexander School.

Officials from SLA, a top magnet school in the city, will consult on the creation of a middle school.

The Inquirer‘s Kristen A. Graham reports that members of the School Reform Commission approves of the plan in concept. The SRC, which is currently considering another round of school closures, would need to sign off on adding a grade and a new middle school.

Powel hopes to add the new grade by next fall and the middle school could be open as early as the fall of 2014.

A West Philly resident proposed to his girlfriend at Sabrina’s Cafe in Powelton last weekend and made the national news.  Huffington Post says it was “the best brunch proposal ever” and we agree. Dante proposed to Audra by singing to her with accompaniment from a Philly area trombone player he found on Craig’s List. Congrats, folks! Check out the video below.

Thanks to our reader Tony D. for this info: The 32nd Annual Hamilton Street Porch Sale, a four-block long sidewalk sale, will be held in Powelton Village this Saturday (Sept. 8). The sale began as a small yard sale and has grown over the years to a four-block long sale with over 100 vendors, a mix of long time residents and local vendors.

There will be a wide variety of items for sale, including: housewares, bookcases, furniture, pottery, clothes, family treasures, books, antiques, plants, food, jewelry, musical instruments, electronics, and more.

The sale will take place all along Hamilton Street from 34th Street to 38th Street from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (rain date: Sunday, Sept. 9).