Neighborhood Innovation : Innovation + Job News

As Drexel research director and assistant professor Neville Vakharia points out, university-level faculty members always have their own research agendas, regardless of their fields of study. But in 2013, three faculty from Drexel's Westphal College of Media Arts & Design -- Vakharia included -- discovered a subject they could all agree on, and one they felt warranted immediate attention.
 
That was the arts-and-culture ecosystem of Mantua, Powelton Village and West Powelton -- three neighborhoods adjacent to the Drexel campus. Vakharia and his colleagues were intrigued by the reality that while their neighbor communities are home to large concentrations of artists, they've somehow failed to transform culturally.
 
In an effort to discover what might be holding back the growth of cultural opportunities in Mantua and Powelton, Drexel dispatched a nine-member research team to conduct six months of community focus groups, interviews with neighbors on the street, and brainstorming sessions with various arts-based organizations and cultural stakeholders in the area.  
 
The group has since compiled its findings into a 12-page public report, "A Fragile Ecosystem," which can be accessed here (PDF). And while much of the report explores the breadth of cultural opportunities that already exist in the neighborhoods, it also offers possible solutions that might better tie the local arts community together.
 
In late August, "A Fragile Ecosystem" was distributed throughout West Philadelphia, where it's now in the hands of many of the area's artists, arts organizations, and cultural and civic groups.
 
"There are a lot of strong [arts] players in the neighborhood," explains Vakharia. "What we're hoping is that this report will allow them to understand what the needs are when it comes to arts and culture, and to [help them] move forward on developing some solutions that can benefit the community."    
 
Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Neville Vakharia, Drexel University

In yet another powerful indication of the City of Philadelphia's extraordinary commitment to public art, Mural Arts recently unveiled a new piece by a world famous artist.

On Friday, August 8, Mural Arts Executive Director Jane Golden appeared in a vacant lot near the corner of Frankford and East Girard Avenues in Fishtown with the iconic street artist Shepard Fairey, who earned widespread recognition after creating the Barack Obama "Hope" poster during the 2008 presidential campaign. The occasion was the dedication of an enormous Fairey mural, titled Lotus Diamond, commissioned by Mural Arts and brought to life over the course of just three days.
 
By far the largest Fairey piece in the city, the 29-foot-square Lotus Diamond can now be seen on the side of 1228 Frankford Avenue, a currently unused structure that may eventually become a 125-room boutique hotel, according to its owner, Roland Kassis of Domani Developers.  
 
Kassis, who's been responsible for a number of recent developments in Fishtown and Northern Liberties, suggested that more wall-sized works of public art may make appearances in the neighborhood sometime soon.

"We're gonna keep on going from here," he says, referring to the momentum generated by Fairey's mural. "We have a lot of walls. We want artists to come."   
 
According to Golden, more large-scale work from Fairey himself will be appearing locally at some point in the near future. Mural Arts has already commissioned the artist "to do two other projects in the City of Philadelphia that are hugely exciting."
 
"We're called the Mural Arts Program," sais Golden during her dedication speech, "but [we're] really [about] community-based public art. [Mural Arts] is about tapping into that creative spirit and putting it to work on behalf of citizens everywhere. And that's really what makes our hearts sing."

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Jane Golden, Mural Arts Program
 

In a neighborhood as historic as Philadelphia's Germantown, the Germantown United CDC (GUCDC) is an anomaly: The organization isn't yet three years old.
 
When it formed in late 2011, the community was still reeling from allegations of severe mismanagement on the part of Germantown Settlement, a social services agency. During its formative months, Germantown United's main goal involved becoming known as a trusted and transparent community partner.
 
To a large degree, that goal has been accomplished. GUCDC regularly hosts well-attended events and forums, and recently undertook a business district tree-planting campaign.
 
Now, according to Executive Director Andrew Trackman, the organization is hiring its first commercial corridor manager. The position's first-year salary will be covered as part of a reimbursable $75,000 grant from the Commerce Department.
 
The corridor manager's responsibilities will mainly involve working as a liaison to the business and property owners of the Germantown and Chelten Avenue business districts. They might listen to retailers' complaints, for instance, or help them apply for development grants such as the Commerce Department's Storefront Improvement Program (SIP).    
 
"We're looking for this corridor manager to be kind of a defacto business association head," explains Trackman. The new employee will also be heavily involved in business corridor cleanup efforts in coordination with the Germantown Special Services District.
 
"[Local businesses] need help with capacity and technical assistance," he adds. "We're just trying to improve the overall business climate of the district."

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Andrew Trackman, Germantown United CDC
 

Cooper's Ferry Partnership, an organization that has been working for years to revitalize the city of Camden, was recently awarded a $475,000 grant from ArtPlace America, a group that supports creative placemaking efforts across the country.
 
According to Cooper's Ferry COO Joe Myers, it was largely the success of last April's Camden Night Gardens initiative -- a multi-disciplinary art festival held at the defunct Riverfront State Prison in North Camden -- that led to the grant.   
 
"We applied to ArtPlace with the idea of creating [a number of] smaller Camden Night Gardens events," explains Myers. The original event, which attracted roughly 3,000 attendees to the 15-acre former prison site and featured BMX riders and a Camden drill team along with art and music performances, created significant buzz throughout the community. "We wanted to use that as a kind of model to do [similar events] in smaller locations."
 
Those smaller events will take place somewhere within the North Camden and Cooper-Grant neighborhoods, which were most recently considered for redevelopment in 2008, when Cooper's Ferry released its North Camden Neighborhood and Waterfront Park Plan.
 
And while Myers says the future events might be similar in style to the original Camden Night Gardens, Cooper's Ferry plans to first spend the next four months consulting with the North Camden community.They hope to learn what local residents liked about the Night Garden, for instance, and get suggestions about underutilized sites that could be repurposed for events.  
 
Assuming that phase wraps up this fall, "I would hope we would begin the process of laying out new dates for these events," says Myers, "and having a conceptual idea of what they would specifically be."

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Joe Myers, Cooper's Ferry Partnership

The art-centric Destination Frankford initiative has been active since early spring with a mission of reclaiming, rediscovering and reanimating the formerly industrial Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood of Frankford, primarily through a process known as creative placemaking.
 
Thanks to a grant from ArtPlace America -- a national association that supports placemaking projects -- Destination Frankford was able to transform a vacant and dilapidated neighborhood storefront into the Destination Frankford Gallery.      
 
Two of the three exhibitions scheduled to take place in the pop-up gallery have already happened. The first, Reclaim, featured art constructed from items reclaimed by the Dumpster Divers of Philadelphia. The second, Rediscover, was a photography show featuring work exploring the city's often overlooked urban terrain.  
 
According to Ian Litwin of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, the Frankford CDC "wanted to keep the energy we built around the gallery going," so the opening reception of the gallery's third and final show might prove to be the project's most important event yet.
 
That reception will kick off at noon on June 28 and feature the unveiling ceremony for a pop-up park in the vacant city-owned lot adjacent to the gallery. The temporary space will host film screenings, art shows and live music events.  
 
The show itself, appropriately dubbed Reanimate, will run every Saturday through July 26, and feature work from the Philadelphia Sculptors organization.
 
Unfortunately, Destination Frankford's previously announced plan to install a trio of sculptures by artist Christine Rojek in Womrath Park won't be happening, but Litwin promises "we are exploring ways to keep the gallery or some sort of community in the building going."
 
Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Ian Litwin, Philadelphia City Planning Commission

It's a perfect example of an organization hampered by its own success: In the early days, the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby -- a beloved annual parade of unusual human-powered floats -- attracted less than 10 teams of sculpture riders and maybe a few hundred spectators. But that was eight years ago. When the annual Derby kicks off this Saturday, May 17, the hosts expect upwards of 10,000 fans.

For the event's organizers at the New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC), that means more street barricades, more fences, more portable toilets -- the works. Or, as NKCDC's Joanna Winchester puts it, "as [the event] has gotten bigger, the costs have gotten a lot bigger."    
 
In an effort to tackle those costs while still preserving the Derby's authenticity and local vibe, NKCDC has embraced crowdfunding. On April 22 -- Earth Day -- their Indiegogo campaign went live, with the goal of raising $5,000.
 
Kensington-based Philadelphia Brewing Company, long one of the Derby's most ardent supporters, is matching every dollar donated up to $5,000. And for a $500 Indiegogo donation, PBC is also offering one of the campaign's quirkiest reward perks: an opportunity to work the bottling line at the brewery, and to take home a case of your spoils come shift's end. Other perks include Derby T-shirts and Pizza Brain gift certificates.
 
The campaign ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, May 16, which means you have just a few more days to kick in. The real perk, of course, will arrive when the Sculpture Derby kicks off on Saturday, and when once again, the entire city has the opportunity to witness the artistic brilliance your largess made possible.

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Joanna Winchester, NKCDC
 

"It's definitely a long saga," says James Yoakum, sharing the story of how the three-week-old Cooper River Distillers, the first legal distillery to be based in Camden, N.J., since Prohibition, came to be. The gist features a mix of plucky entrepreneurial acumen and plain ole career dissatisfaction -- the same recipe that has given birth to so many creative endeavors before it.
 
After finishing the Wharton School's undergrad program and spending a few years in real estate brokerage, "I decided that I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life," says Yoakum. "And I've always been kind of entrepreneurial."

He'd also been brewing beer at home on the side, and about four years ago, he stumbled onto the concept of craft distilling, a growing trend that's now represented in all 50 states.
 
After finding a mentor in Paul Tomaszewski of MB Roland Distillery, he realized it was actually doable. And thanks to the three years Yoakum spent in business-building mode -- during which he acquired four silent partners and enrolled in Cornell's Artisan Distilling Workshop -- Cooper River's first product, the retro-tinged Petty's Island Rum, should be available in South Jersey bars and liquor stores by the end of May.
 
According to Yoakum, it was New Jersey's relatively liberal liquor regulations -- which allow small distillers to legally self-distribute -- that led to him choosing the state for his distillery's home.

"I love the idea of making a product one day," he says, "and then the next day taking it down the street to a bar and giving them a sample, and saying, 'Would you like the carry this?'"
 
For details about the availability of Petty's Island Rum, which Yoakum also plans to sell from his headquarters on Fourth Street in downtown Camden, visit CooperRiverDistillers.com.

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: James Yoakum, Cooper River Distillers
 

If you're a regular subway commuter, you've probably spotted one of the poster-sized Comcast advertisements touting Internet Essentials, the company's heavily discounted broadband Internet service for low-income Philadelphians.
 
From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 26, as part of Comcast's 13th annual day of employee community service, the multimedia juggernaut will attempt to take its broadband-for-all philosophy one step further by hosting an entirely free computer education event, the Digital Resources Fair, in a temporary pop-up location at 3846 Lancaster Avenue in West Philly's Mantua neighborhood. 
 
According to Bob Smith, Comcast's VP of Community Investment, the company has been hosting digital literacy classes for low-income locals throughout the city for years now. The upcoming Digital Resource Fair is an opportunity for Comcast, along with volunteers from the People's Emergency Center (PEC), which is co-hosting the event, to bundle together a series of basic computer and Internet education workshops with one-on-one assistance from specially-trained volunteers.  
 
"The backbone of the day," explains Smith, will involve a number of "short, very easy to succeed at workshops" on topics that include search engines and email, and finding and applying for jobs online. Attendees will also learn where low-cost computers are available for purchase, and how to access free and low-cost Internet service throughout the city.  
 
Smith points out that the Digital Resources Fair is a no-strings-attached event. No appointments are required and participants need not be Comcast customers.

"Relevancy has been a big barrier to Internet connections for a lot of low-income families," he says. "What we're trying to do is help people understand that there's something in it for them when they sign up for the Internet."  
 
Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Bob Smith, Comcast; Tan Vu, People's Emergency Center

Thanks to the efforts of Indy Hall's Alex Hillman and the local tech firm Jarvus Innovations, the expanse of North 3rd Street between Market and Girard is celebrating a transformational moment. As a nod to the growing number of tech operations and innovative companies located in the area, the stretch has been officially dubbed N3rd ("Nerd") Street.
 
According to Hillman, during a casual conversation some three or four years ago, Jarvus founders John Fazio and Chris Alfano pointed out that the corridor's street signs -- which are written as "N. 3rd St." -- could very easily be interpreted as "N3rd St."
 
"We all sort of slapped ourselves on the forehead for not having realized it earlier," recalls Hillman. And while the phrase was initially nothing more than an inside joke, "before we knew it," he adds, "it was being used in circles outside of our own."
 
Both the city's Chief Innovation Officer Adel Ebeid and Mayor Michael Nutter have referenced N3rd Street during discussions on the city's tech community. The group is careful to point out in its N3RD St. Manifesto that the street's renaming applies not only to "technology nerds," but also to the entrepreneurs and creatives from any number of fields who are doing important work in the area.   
 
"The long-term, large-scale vision for N3rd Street is for us to create a community that makes the area better to work and live in," says Danny Harvith, the Jarvus employee responsible for the majority of the project's outreach work. "And that attracts great people doing great things."
 
A N3rd Street BBQ will take place at Liberty Lands Park on April 11 (2 p.m. - 6 p.m.), with an official naming ceremony scheduled for 4 p.m. 

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Alex Hillman, Indy Hall; Danny Harvith, Jarvus Innovations

South Philly's Chris DiCapua is a Spanish teacher by trade and a board member at the Passyunk Square Civic Association (PSCA). With a Nicaraguan partner and a passion for the city's Hispanic community, he's also proven to be an important cross-cultural connector. 

"A lot of times, as is really common with most immigrant groups, I feel like the [South Philly Latino] population tends to stick together," says DiCapua. "There's very little contact outside of their own community."

In an effort to breach that cultural divide, DiCapua has used his PSCA affiliation to institute a number of Hispanic outreach endeavors. He started by introducing himself to business owners in the Italian Market and he raised the funds necessary to translate the PSCA's newsletter into Spanish. Last fall, DiCapua and PSCA kicked off a trial-run of low-cost ESL (English as a Second Language) classes for local Spanish speakers.  
  
The second installment of the English classes, which are entirely volunteer-taught, is currently nearing the end of its five-week run. For interested students who aren't able to attend in person, the volunteer teachers also host a weekly ESL class online on the local Philatinos Radio station.
 
The details for the next five-week ESL session aren't set in stone, but DiCapua insists tat "we're definitely planning to continue in the very near future. And hopefully, we're going to do it as long as there's interest."  
 
For information about future classes, email [email protected] or call 267-467-4307.

Writer: Dan Eldrige
Source: Chris DiCapua, Passyunk Square Civic Association

Philadelphia's co-working scene has matured considerably over the past half-decade. Back in 2006, the Old City-based Indy Hall was literally the only non-corporate option available to self-employed creatives wanting to share their work days with like-minded professionals. 

But this Thursday, February 13, the local outpost of a worldwide, socially-conscious network known as Impact Hub will be celebrating the grand opening of its Olde Kensington office, known as Impact Hub Philly. (Flying Kite's publisher, Michelle Freeman, is a founding member.) They have taken over the beautiful former 3rd Ward space at 4th and Thompson.

Self-described as "part innovation lab, part business incubator, and part community center...for companies that seek social or environmental change," Impact Hub was conceived in 2005 after a group of London-based activists grew tired of gathering in cafés and members' living rooms. They rented a space, and decided to expand their circle with others who were also trying to build a better world. 

"That was [essentially] 'Hub Beta,' or 'Hub 1.0,'" says Jeff Shiau, who relocated from Northern California, where he worked with both the Berkeley and San Francisco Hubs, to launch the organization's Philly headquarters. Today, 55 Impact Hub communities are active worldwide, with locations as far afield as Johannesburg, Tel Aviv, Athens and Bucharest.

Here in Philadelphia, the change-making members include youth-empowerment groups, a socially-minded law firm, an eco-friendly energy company and a philanthropic organization, among a slew of others.

According to Shiau, who prefers to think of his role in the Hub community as that of a "Sherpa, or a guide who's in service to others," the overarching plan is "to truly stir the community" -- especially the South Kensington community the Philly Hub calls home. 

Tickets for Thursday's launch party have all been snapped up, but you can still join the wait list on Impact Hub's website.  

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Jeff Shiau, Impact Hub Philly

When the City of Philadelphia entered Michael Bloomberg's 2013 Mayors Challenge last year, winning one of the contest's four $1 million prizes probably seemed a little far-fetched. And yet when the 305 cities that initially applied to the competition -- intended "to inspire American cities to generate innovative ideas that solve major challenges and improve city life" -- were whittled down to 20, and then just five, Philadelphia found itself among the victorious. (Chicago, Houston and Santa Monica were also awarded $1 million each; Providence, R.I., took home the $5 million grand prize.)

This all happened roughly 18 months ago. In the interim, the recently-formed Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) has been busy working with the Wharton School's Social Impact Initiative to pound out the kinks in the winning idea, which is being referred to as FastFWD. 

The program is a partnership between the city's public sector and 10 different social entrepreneurs from the private sector. The two spheres will work side-by-side in an effort to solve some of the city's public safety issues, including recidivism and violent crime. The Mayor's Office has agreed to share its city data with the chosen entrepreneurs, who in turn will spend 12 weeks in an accelerator program managed by Good Company Group.

The application period recently ended. Toward the end of May, the resulting business ideas will be primed and ready to hatch -- or at least, that's the idea.

According to MONUM Co-Director Story Bellows, easing up the procurement process and lessening the pain of dealing with the city's notorious red tape is one of the program's three main objectives.

"One of things we like about [the] public safety [initiative]," she says, "is that it's sort of exposing a market in which entrepreneurs have been underrepresented." 

The city is currently exploring revenue models that would allow FastFWD to continue after its initial $1 million is extinguished. According to Bellows, a second round is already in the works. Health-care, education and youth programs are some of the potential themes, and applications for that consortium will be available to social entrepreneurs sometime this summer. 

The initial accelerator program -- taking place at Impact Hub in Kensington -- will officially kick off with an open-to-the-public event sometime near end of February. Stay tuned.

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Story Bellows, Philadelphia Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) 

After five years of planning and building membership, the Kensington Community Food Co-Op (KCFC) is ready to sign a lease. Their current campaign, 60 in 60, aims to bring 60 additional members to KCFC in 60 days, and to secure enough funding to ensure holding costs. If these goals are met, KCFC will open a location in 19125 early next year.
 
"It's going to provide healthy, quality food to the community," says Lena Helen, president of KCFC. "No grocery store in the area is committed to doing that completely."
 
To assist the membership drive, KCFC is holding two meet-and-greets this month: the first was held November 4 at Pizza Brain and Little Baby’s Ice Cream and the second will be November 21 at Adorn Boutique. The co-op also holds bi-weekly marketplaces at Circle of Hope church on Frankford Ave. The evening marketplaces give new and prospective members the opportunity to ask questions about healthy foods.

KCFC plans to increase educational activities once the permanent location has been established. Due to the density of low income residents in the surrounding neighborhoods, the co-op expects to offer food access programs such as "Food for All," a neighborhood fund for subsidized memberships. 
 
KCFC is supported by local organizations including the East Kensington Neighborhood Association and the Norris Square Neighborhood Project. The New Kensington Community Development Corporation helped the co-op raise initial funds and conduct a feasibility study. KCFC has also held marketplaces at Greensgrow Farms and staffs a booth at Greensgrow events.
 
Source: Lena Helen, Kensington Community Food Co-op
Writer: Dana Henry

With construction of the FringeArts Lab well underway, the Race Street Pier is set to become Philly’s next creative hotspot. To draw attention to its revival, The Mural and the Mint’s Michael Kiley chose the site for his second sound installation.
 
Animina: A Race Street Pier Sound Walk -- created in partnership with South Philly web development company P'Unk Ave -- is a GPS-enabled musical piece; users can download the app via iTunes starting October 1. 

Kiley used a similar process with his first installation, Empty Air: A Rittenhouse Square Sound Walk. He began with an unaltered sound recording of the Race Street Pier, then layered in originally composed music. Unlike RIttenhouse Square with its concentric layout of walkways, the Race Street Peir is linear. Kiley had to adapt the musical installation -- which changes according to location instead of time -- to fit the structure.
 
"I couldn't just leave people at the end of the pier," he says. "I tried to write something that would work forwards as well as backwards."
 
While creating Empty Air, Kiley became familiar with how the app's technology affects sound; he created Animina with those subtleties in mind. The piece aims to embody the theme of "lost relationships and healing," and contains music and lyrics inspired by new activity along the river.
 
"I wanted to personify what the city is doing," says Kiley. "Philadelphia is where it is because of the Delaware River. We deserve a preeminent waterfront."
 
The project was created in partnership with FringeArts and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation, and is sponsored by grants from Pew Cultural Center for Arts & Heritage and the Painted Bride Art Center through the Wyncote Foundation.
 
Source: Michael Kiley, Mural and the Mint
Writer: Dana Henry

Every day, city agencies from the Streets Department to the Office of Housing and Community Development collect data that details the current state of Philadelphia. Thanks to Azavea, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) experts located in Callowhill, several civic-minded nonprofit groups can now "see" that information.

The company just wrapped up their Summer of Maps Fellowship, a stipend program that placed graduate-level GIS students with urban advocacy organizations. Recipients of the pro-bono services included The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, The Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children, The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and The Greater Philadelphia Coalition against Hunger.  

During the program, Tyler Dahlberg, who studies GIS for Development and Environment at Clark University, created web maps for the Bicycle Coalition that made use of raw data from the Philadelphia Police Department, the Philadelphia Department of Transportation and the coalition's independent research. The resulting map illustrates where people ride, where accidents happen and how the risk of bike theft varies (according to time of week and the time of year).

"It's an advocacy tool for them," says Dahlberg. "They can continue with the data and do their own research as well."
 
The Bicycle Coalition hopes the new tool will help them lobby City Council and the Department of Transportation to protect cyclists in Philadelphia.
 
Dahlberg also worked with the Coalition Against Hunger to locate potential food stamp recipients, pinpointing subgroups including children, the elderly, disabled people and immigrants. The tool will help the organization maximize their budget by targeting their marketing and volunteer outreach at neighborhoods dense with potential clients.
 
"It really expands the toolset that nonprofits have available for their decision making process," explains Dahlberg. "These nonprofits have a lot of data, but it's hard to analyze it. Being able to see the data visualized on a map really opens up new avenues."

The University City Science Center has partnered with Flying Kite to showcase innovation in Greater Philadelphia through the "Inventing the Future" series.
 
Source: Tyler Dahlberg, Azavea
Writer: Dana Henry