Neighborhood Innovation : Innovation + Job News

There's a whole lot of hiring going on in Zone 7. Lest you think you've slipped into a science fiction world, Fresh From Zone 7 is the name of a fast growing company that's, well, all about growing. Founded in 2008 by Mikey Azzara, the Cranbury, N.J.-based farm-to-table distributor serving Pennsylvania and New Jersey has doubled in sales every year.

Right now, there are five job openings for energetic people who are committed to providing local food to local eaters: sales, warehouse crew, warehouse crew leader, drivers (multiple) and a sales team intern. While the positions are primarily part time, the right candidate could combine several to create a full time gig. Currently there are 9 people on staff, and the new hires would represent about a fifty percent increase. The company began with just two employees in 2008.

Azzara reports that each week of the 2011 season, Zone 7 has been adding deliveries at an almost explosive rate and at this point is maxed out in terms of staffing.

"On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, all three of our trucks are out," says Azzara of the fleet that picks up from all over New Jersey and Pennsylvania, delivering to over 80 establishments, including The Farm and Fisherman, Southwark, Garces Trading Company, Weaver's Way, Greensgrow and the Fair Food Farmstand in Philadelphia. The New Jersey territory stretches from Atlantic City to West New York, NJ.

The 40 farms that supply Zone 7 include Blooming Glen, Jah's Creation Organic, Griggstown Farm Market, and Branch Creek, where the original seed for Zone 7 was planted.

Azzara had been working for the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey for five years when he sat down at the table of Mark and Judy Dornstreich, pioneers of the local food movement and founders of Branch Creek Farm, which has been growing and delivering organic produce to Philadelphia restaurants since the 1970s. "They supplied me with the truck, the name and the idea," says Azzara.

Zone 7, named for the USDA Hardiness Zone in which we live, is a 52-week-a-year operation, says Azzara, and its busiest months, surprisingly, are November and December. "Our time to catch our breath is January, February and March." Starting in April, asparagus and swiss chard are the first crops to harvest.

Source: Mikey Azzara, Zone 7
Writer: Sue Spolan

Agriculture wasn't in Dean Carlson's original plan. "I was a bond trader working in derivatives," says the owner of Wyebrook Farm, a 355-acre spread in Chester County. Carlson is now offering sustainably raised chicken and eggs, with beef and pork on offer this fall. "We have two full time employees, three summer employees and two chef interns," says Carlson of the Honey Brook operation.

Carlson left Susquehanna International Group in 2009, hoping to take time off in a bear market. "I came across the idea of sustainable agriculture and became captivated by it," says Carlson, who explains that conventional agriculture, with its dependence on cheap oil, cannot last forever. "Five to 10 years years from now, it will be obvious. Food will become higher priced and more scarce. You see it already."

Carlson purchased the foreclosed 200 year-old farm from a bank for $4.25 million, and has invested over $750,000 in improvements, which include solar power and renovations to three existing 18th century stone buildings. "The previous owner was going to develop the land into a 100 house tract," says Carlson.

"I looked at the business of conventional farming and didn't like it," explains Carlson, who refers to standard practices as the definition of a bad business -- capital intensive and fraught with variables. "With sustainable agriculture, you are minimizing your input cost. Instead of machinery and hay in a barn, animals are out in the field, harvesting the grass themselves. Our input costs are sunshine and rain."

Wyebrook Farm's first product, Freedom Rangers Chicken, is now available for $4 a pound direct from the farm. Carlson is transforming the old stone barn into a store where customers will be able to purchase chemical-free grass fed meat and poultry directly. It's just a 45 minute drive from Philadelphia, and not much farther from New York.

Carlson draws inspiration from billionaire financier Jim Rogers, who, when asked by a room full of MBA finance students for advice, replied "Quit school and go work on a farm."

Source: Dean Carlson, Wyebrook Farm
Writer: Sue Spolan

Your scraps are Tim Bennett's gold mine. Bennett Compost offers urban dwellers the opportunity to recycle food waste without expensive equipment or outdoor space. Bennett began the business out of a personal need. "At the time, where I was living in South Philly, I wanted to compost, but I had no backyard." After dissatisfaction with home composting systems costing around $300, Bennett created a composting service that would benefit city homes and businesses at a fraction of the cost.

For a $15 monthly fee, residential customers receive a covered bucket, and Bennett's truck swings around once a week to empty and return the container. Commercial customers, including coffee shops, a florist and some restaurants, pay on a sliding scale depending on volume and frequency of pickup, but Bennett adds that the cost offsets commercial trash hauling fees, and in some cases commercial customers are able to save money on refuse.

Used food and some types of paper are sent to a composting facility in Delaware and then picked up for distribution to area community gardens. Customers can opt to receive up to 10 gallons of the finished product free of charge; beyond that, compost is available at a discounted price. You don't have to be a customer to buy compost. Five gallon buckets are available to the general public for $10, and will soon be sold at area retail locations including Essene Market and Green Aisle Grocery.

Current offices are based in South Philly at Bennett's home, with a North Philadelphia warehouse. Bennett was able to quit his day job at Temple University last summer to devote his career full time to compost. "We bootstrapped our way up. Now we are profitable enough that I am able to pay my own salary, and we have three part time employees." The business continues to grow, with 300 residential customers and 20 businesses distributed across the entire city.

Source: Tim Bennett, Bennett Compost
Writer: Sue Spolan

Weathervane Music is not a record label. It's an ecosystem, according to founder and executive director Brian McTear. The recording industry as we knew it a decade ago is gone, and that's probably a good thing, because artists rarely benefited from a top heavy system which rewarded executives while creating a kind of indentured servitude for musicians.

Weathervane's non-profit Shaking Through project sprouted from the idea of growing a musician's career from the ground up. Now in its second year and funded by a two-year, $50,000 grant from WXPN, Shaking Through takes the budding musician out of the garage and into a high end studio, complete with a seasoned producer who is redefined as a curator. In 2010, Shaking Through created 10 song and video packages; so far in 2011, six episodes have been released.

While plenty of things were wrong about the old system, some aspects were pretty great. A sharp editorial ear. State of the art recording studios. High production value music videos. "Everyone can make recordings in their bedrooms," says McTear. "We were trying to come up with a way to provide holistic grass roots support." McTear recasts the Kensington-based Shaking Through as a new music incubator.

Reserving the best qualities of the old industry while adding a millennial spin, "Shaking Through shows the birth of a song by an emerging artist," explains McTear, providing a transformational, collaborative production experience. Bands are selected by guest curators, who are respected members of the music community. Recent curators include WXPN's Bruce Warren; Ben Swanson, co-founder of the indie label Secretly Canadian; the Pelly Twins, sisters who DJ and blog about music; and Peter Silberman of the band The Antlers. Some curators participate in the 2-3 day sessions, which have an estimated value of about $10,000, far beyond the reach of emerging artists.

McTear, who also runs the for-profit Miner Street Studios, says the project is totally unique from all other music and video series on the web because Shaking Through sessions produce brand new material. Each month, Shaking Through creates a song and accompanying music video shot during production. The audience has a chance to go behind the scenes, get to know each artist, and lift the curtain on a previously invisible process.

McTear points to the success of Shaking Through artist Sharon Van Etten, who was recently signed to the Jagjaguwar label. Other emerging artists who've been shaken through include Strapping Field Hands, Reading Rainbow and Hezekiah Jones.

The future of Shaking Through depends on funding and other revenue streams. While McTear is in renewal talks now with WXPN, he is seeking additional sponsorship. He adds that music and video licensing could prove profitable over time.

Source: Brian McTear, Shaking Through
Writer: Sue Spolan

A partnership between the Franklin Institute and the Free Library of Philadelphia designed to grow young scientists is going national. LEAP into Science began as an offshoot of the library's afterschool homework help program. This year, 10 sites in urban centers nationwide will adopt LEAP, which encourages science and literacy learning among children and their families.

"We received National Science Foundation funding to pilot and develop the program," says Dale McCreedy, Director of Gender and Family Learning Programs at the Franklin Institute. LEAP has used the four year, $1.1 million grant for programs in 33 library branches across the city, taking advantage of the library's vast trove of science books for kids in kindergarten through fourth grade.

The two originating institutions, which sit across the Parkway from one another, have overlapping missions, says McCreedy, in trying to reach multiple age levels and supporting lifelong learning, combining the library's resources with the Franklin Institute's strengths in informal science education.

While the original model was set up in a library, nationally, the program may look different, according to McCreedy, with workshops and enrichment sessions held in museums and schools in addition to libraries. A recent expansion conference held in Philadelphia brought together stakeholders from across the country to consider curriculum and goals as they design and launch their own programs. The national expansion program received 30 applications for the 10 available spots in the first phase of the NSF funded initiative.

LEAP into Science now employs around 54 people in Philadelphia, with a dozen teens who serve as leadership assistants, some of whom have moved up the ranks to become associate leaders.

This is the third locally launched program out of the Franklin Institute that's gone nationwide, says McCreedy, who cites two initiatives in collaboration with the Girl Scouts that have expanded to 90 sites around the country.

Source: Dale McCreedy, Franklin Institute
Writer: Sue Spolan

You can have your stake and eat it too at this local micro-funding event. Philly Stake provides fast funding for great ideas, with a heaping helping of local cuisine and good cheer. On July 17, the group set up at Historic Bartram's Garden on the banks of the Schuylkill River in Southwest Philadelphia.

A sliding scale admission fee of up to $20 gave over 250 attendees the opportunity to hear about 10 local startup projects while enjoying a locally sourced organic dinner. It was immediate gratification. At the end of the night, three groups were handed cash to carry out proposals.

Tidal Schuylkill River Tour received $1,000 to collaborate with the Philadelphia Wooden Boat Factory in creating a vessel that will go out on a river tour; Fair Grounds won $600 to build a food and sculpture garden in East Kensington; and Sunday Suppers received $500 to encourage family dinners in low income areas of Philadelphia.

Theresa Rose, who by day works for the City of Philadelphia's Office of Arts, Culture and The Creative Economy, is the founder of Philly Stake, which is not connected with her work for the government. "I was excited about the idea of having a platform for people to get together and share ideas," says Rose. "There's so much going on in Philadelphia, but not so many outlets for us to share with each other." The July event was the third in the growing series, which began last September.

A shorts and sundress clad crowd set up blankets on a grassy bank overlooking the 46-acre botanic gardens and enjoyed a summer menu that included veggie and meat tamales, salads, dessert, beer and wine served on vintage plates collected at local thrift stores. Ten fundraising hopefuls, chosen randomly from a pool of 21 applicants, presented projects. Voting ballots were collected and tabulated on the spot to determine the night's winners.

It takes a lot of volunteer effort to orchestrate Philly Stake. There are 18 dedicated core organizers, according to Rose, who donate time and skills, including chefs Eliot Strathman and Eric Blasco. Rose got the idea for the program after attending Feast in Brooklyn and says it fulfills a need for a place to exchange creative ideas and foster connections. The next Stake dinner is planned for this fall in Center City.

Source: Theresa Rose, Philly Stake
Writer: Sue Spolan

As America races to maintain standing in the global economy, industry clusters have been touted as a key strategy for technological innovation. While Silicon Valley and North Carolina's Research Triangle are held as bright spots where higher education meets high tech, few innovation clusters are successful. A recent column in the Washington Post dubbed government funded industry clusters "the modern day snake oil," doomed to fail.

At the third annual Regional Affinity Incubation Network (RAIN) meeting, held last week at the University City Science Center, David Finegold, Dean of Rutgers' School of Management and Labor Relations, responded. "A lot of efforts haven't panned out, but industry clusters are not without hope." He explained that early efforts were "real estate plays." What sets the tri-state region apart is the ability to build from that which is distinctive about this area, said Finegold, rather than starting from scratch and hoping that if it's built, innovation will come.

New Jersey, in particular, has nowhere to go but up, having ranked last in 2010 in U.S. job creation. While traditionally the state was a leader in biopharma and telecommunications, these industries made up a large-firm culture, and it's now time to build diverse networks, according to Finegold.

The University City District in Philadelphia is a 2.5 square mile powerhouse of commercial and institutional vitality, employing 70,000 people, according to UCD president Matthew Bergheiser. Forty percent of NIH funding in Pennsylvania is granted to projects within the boundaries of University City, and the Science Center has long been a fertile startup breeding ground that encourages organic growth, rather than superimposing ideas of innovation on an otherwise bereft area.

In Delaware, by contrast, plans are underway to convert Newark's former Chrysler assembly plant into an 250 acre innovation hub complete with living and working space, with an existing rail station to encourage commuters, and the potential to create collaboration across state lines, according to David Weir, PhD, Director of the Office of the Economic Innovation & Partnerships at the University of Delaware.

With a continued soft real estate market, Finegold offers that the way out of the recession is through leveraging human capabilities and university facilities. "We already have a great talent base here," said Finegold of efforts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, which he terms one of the most diverse regions on the planet.

RAIN is a regional network of over 40 research parks, incubators and support organizations located in the tri-state area.

Source: David Finegold, Matthew Bergheiser, David Weir, RAIN
Writer: Sue Spolan

PHOTO:

Former Chrysler Assembly Plant in Newark DE

Lollapalooza meets SXSW meets Burning Man, with a side order of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In the first of many brainstorming sessions to shape the identity of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, creative ideas were flying.

Celebrating the passage of time since 1776 is a big project, so Sam Katz is starting with plenty of lead time. Fifteen years, to be exact. The three-time mayoral hopeful has turned his ambitions toward creating a national extravaganza branded as USA250, based in Philadelphia but celebrating the whole country, with the world as an audience. The idea merges with Katz's work as a documentarian. His new 30-minute film Philadelphia: the Great Experiment, is the first installment in what Katz hopes will become a series about the 400 year history of the city. Part one covers 1865-76.

In short order, the idea sprung to life from three highly involved Philadelphians -- Greg Heller, Job Itzkowitz, and Andrew Hohns. Now with a 501c3 non-profit group dedicated to USA250, the group is holding a series of idea gathering sessions with folks who will likely be around in 15 years to see the idea to fruition.

At a conference room in a Center City high rise, about a dozen of the city's brightest and most outspoken gathered to explore Katz's concept. While it will not be possible to recreate the 1876 Centennial celebration that attracted an international audience to Philadelphia, the group hopes to capture some of the spectacle and pomp of that event. "We want to promote, advocate, conceptualize and collaborate in the lead up to July 4, 2026," says CEO Katz, asking those gathered to use social media and email for outreach and spreading the word.

Katz plans on asking hundreds of people for their opinions on the nature of the USA250 celebration, which will have its own website and Facebook page, and is already making an appearance as the hashtag #USA250 on twitter.

What would you suggest if you could design USA250? Would you concentrate on diversity, the arts, democracy, history, technology or a caravan that travels across the United States gathering stories? The field is wide open to suggestions, and it could be your idea that makes millions in tourism dollars. By the way, Katz says he isn't planning on running for office again. Anytime soon.

Source: Sam Katz, USA250
Writer: Sue Spolan

Heat waves put a serious burden on the electric grid. Day after day of 90 degree heat translate into peak load for PECO as customers crank up the air conditioning. PECO Smart A/C Saver, part of the Smart Ideas program, asks electric users to participate in load reduction, not just by turning up the thermostat by a few degrees, but by allowing PECO to install a switch directly on air conditioner compressors.

As a thank you, residential and commercial customers receive a $30 rebate in June, July, August and September for a total savings of $120, whether or not the Smart A/C Saver kicks in. Last week, amid days of 90 plus degrees, the first ever A/C Saver event occurred, according to Cathy Engel Menendez, manager of communications for PECO. And participants probably didn't even notice.

After agreeing to join the Smart A/C Saver program, PECO sends out a technician to install a small gray box directly on the exterior compressor unit. A Smart A/C Saver event means that the compressor cycle will be slowed down, and the compressor rests up to 15 minutes of every half hour between the hours of noon and eight in the evening.

While the program quietly launched last summer, the big marketing push occurred this past spring, and this summer is the first that the program is in use, with 67,469 residential and commercial customers for a savings of 320 megawatt hours. The Smart A/C program also created 161 new jobs in the Philadelphia area.

Smart A/C Saver is part of a broader initiative. "In Pennsylvania, the Public Utilities Commision challenged all utilities to come up with products and programs to help customers save money and energy," says Menendez, who adds that the timing couldn't have been better with the expiration of rate caps this past January along a with sluggish economy.

Other programs in the Smart Ideas suite include energy efficient appliance rebates, old appliance recycling, and incentives to use better bulbs. Menendez reports that taking the whole suite of programs into account, through May 2011, customers saved more than 546 million kilowatt hours of electricity, and an estimated $131 million.

Source: Cathy Engel Menendez
Writer: Sue Spolan

University City's story of urban renewal, job creation and international talent is well-told. In a few short years, the 20 by 16 block, 2.5 square mile neighborhood has blossomed into a hub for culture and technology, with business and creative communities growing in tandem. One benchmark is fast growth in the food world, where five of The Food Trust's 40 area farmer's markets operate. For example, the Clark Park farmer's market has grown 30 percent since 2005 and has expanded from Friday afternoons when it began in 1998 to two days a week and year-round.

Another example can be found right now in University City Dining Days. An expected 26,000 patrons of 29 restaurants will eat the fruit of world class chefs like Garces and Flay for under $30. There's been a 20% increase in full service restaurants in the neighborhood in the past three years.

Philly Homegrown turns a sharp focus on all the awesome food on offer round these parts, and considers University City to be at the top of the locavore list, as the area provides a concentrated look at what can happen when people take farm to table very seriously. "West Philly is particularly rich in chefs and consumers who care about food," says Donna Schorr of the GPTMC.

UC menus tend toward locally grown and sourced items, and chefs may be found perusing the goods at Clark Park, where thousands flock weekly and even includes food trucks Honest Tom's and Guapos Tacos, which was recently renovated and sports bright orange furniture.

"It's a good source of revenue for small to medium family farms," says the Food Trust's Nick Uy, noting his organization charges vendors just $35 per stand.

There's an explosion of activity west of the Schuylkill, according to UC District Communications Manager Mark Christman, with tourism friendly Sustainable Saturdays and Farm to Table Trolley Tours; as well as neighborhood boosters like the Clean & Safe Program which employs 80 people who function as West Philly ambassadors, and the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative, now in its second year providing employment for local high school students.

Source: Nicky Uy, Food Trust; Mark Christman, UC District; Donna Schorr, GPTMC/Philly Homegrown
Writer: Sue Spolan

You go to Foobooz for the latest inside info on the Philly restaurant scene, and now the foodie website is positioning itself to be the first stop for food industry job seekers. "We really want Foobooz to be the home page for restaurant news," says Art Etchells, founder and primary content provider. "Our audience is not only people who are passionate about going out to eat, but also passionate about creating food. So many people reading the site are already in the hospitality business."

Etchells says the idea for food related job listings came while visiting a bar owner who was shaking his head about the quality of resumes he was receiving via Craigslist. Etchells realized a job section on his site would be one more way to cultivate content. While the competitively priced job listings have been a quiet part of Foobooz for the better part of a year, Etchells is only now starting to promote the section, and there's been a concurrent uptick in submissions from area dining and drinking spots.

Currently, there are opportunities all over the Delaware Valley for line cooks, managers and even a summer camp director in the Poconos. Top kitchens like Zahav and the STARR Restaurant Group are represented. This is just the beginning of what Etchells terms a natural companionship.

Foobooz, which launched five years ago, was purchased by Philadelphia Magazine in December 2010, providing Etchells himself with a new job description. While he used to do most of his blogging from The Beauty Shop Cafe, he's now got a room with a view in the highrise offices of Philly Mag. But he still makes a morning ritual of stopping at his favorite coffee spot, where he gets the latest gossip from neighbors and local chefs.

As Philly's premier eating ear to the ground, Etchells reports that the hot dog is the new hamburger, and he's looking forward to the annual summer influx of local tomatoes and corn on Philadelphia menus.

Source: Arthur Etchells, Foobooz
Writer: Sue Spolan

CityRyde, the Philadelphia-based startup that makes software to turn bike rides into cash, has become the first company to receive validation for its carbon methodology. "It's software that tracks every bike ride," explains Tim Ericson, CityRyde CEO and co-founder. All those accrued miles can then be sold as carbon credits as part of a worldwide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adds co-founder and COO Jason Meinzer.

The company also announced that it will be receiving a total of $345,000, half from Virginia-based New Dominion Angels, and half in matching funds from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA.

CityRyde started as a Philly bicycle sharing concept. While there are no communal bikes on the streets here just yet, in a few years, CityRyde has instead positioned itself as a global software solution provider at the juncture of transportation and energy.

The startup's proprietary Inspire software enables bike sharing programs worldwide to create a new revenue stream. Ericson explains that Inspire "pinpoints the exact amount of carbon emissions saved, so it can be aggregated and sold within the carbon space."

Eight people now work at CityRyde, which is based at Drexel's Baiada Center. "We're hiring. It's part of Ben Franklin's requirement for funding,' says Ericson. "We anticipate having pretty extensive hiring spree in the next year." Developer positions will be advertised first, according to Ericson.

The idea for CityRyde came from a visit to Paris, where Ericson and Meinzer saw Velib' docks everywhere they turned. "Bike sharing has completely transformed the way the city moves, and reduced traffic by 8 percent within a year of implementation in Paris," says Meinzer, who terms biking the fastest growing form of transportation worldwide, with a predicted apex in 2017.

Source: Tim Ericson, Jason Meinzer, CityRyde
Writer: Sue Spolan

It's a gritty city, and someone's got to pretty it up. Sarah Holmes' Gritty City Beauty Company began as a personal quest for simple skin care products. "It started when I was pregnant," recalls Holmes, who had to give up tubes of topical ointment and needed a healthier alternative. She started making her own scrubs and masks, and it wasn't long before the full-time product liability lawyer saw a business idea in her afterwork potion making.

"It seemed like the more I cut out the prescription creams, the better my skin got," says Holmes, and Gritty City Beauty Company was born at the end of last summer. Holmes is also a wife and mother of a 15 month old toddler, yet she somehow finds time evenings and weekends to create and grow her line of organic beauty products.

Gritty City now carries soaps, scrubs and toners as well as all natural makeup. While the former can be cooked up in Holmes' Port Richmond kitchen, the makeup is created in a lab. While this type of product is not mandated by law, "You do have to adhere to certain manufacturing practices," says Holmes. "Ultimately you have to put out a product that is safe and can hold up to consumer use. I am very careful about that sort of thing."

Gritty City is primarily an online operation, and Holmes sets up tables at local outdoor events, where people are able to smell and test the items. Holmes was surprised to discover that she has a strong older customer base. If she had to guess, she would have placed her target customer in the 18 to 35 age range, but she actually gets a lot of buyers in their 50s and 60s.

Gritty City is also beginning to get placement in Philadelphia boutiques and has met or exceeded all its benchmarks so far. With no outside financing, Holmes relies on social media marketing, and Facebook and Twitter are driving traffic to the online shop. You can find Gritty City at Nice Things Handmade on Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia, and Vix Emporium in West Philly. Or head down to Headhouse Square on July 2, when Gritty City sets up shop at the Craft and Fine Arts Fair.

Source: Sarah Holmes, Gritty City Beauty Company
Writer: Sue Spolan

It's never too soon to start your own business. Two Philadelphia high school students have won a business plan competition hosted by the Philadelphia chapter of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). Bianca Nieves, a senior at Esperanza Academy in North Philadelphia, won for a business based on her grandmother's Hispanic spice recipe, called Grandma's Secret.

Viktor Vabishevich, a junior at George Washington High School was the runner-up for Vito Lawns, a landscaping business that's already quite successful. Based in the Somerton section of Northeast Philadelphia, Viktor reports he takes care of around 40 neighbors' lawns after school and has made enough money to purchase two cars, while saving up for college.

Philadelphia NFTE serves over 1,500 students in 20 area schools. "These kids are coming from environments where they don't have the luxury of spending time with video games," says Sylvia Watts McKinney, Executive Director of NFTE Philadelphia. "These are kids with innately good business acumen, and they're put before a group of people who encourage them to take advantage of that talent."

NFTE's mentoring program runs throughout the entire school year, bringing dozens of area business leaders to high school students. McKinney reports that over 60 volunteers and judges participate. "Not only do we go to schools and teach them, but there are also opportunities throughout the year to meet entrepreneurs at Drexel and Community College of Philadelphia, helping students to build a resume, and teaching them how to get a job. We have coaches at Wharton and Temple." By bringing students to college campuses, says McKinney, the NFTE program demystifies the academic experience for kids who may be the first in their families to go to college.

McKinney reports that this year's business plan presentations were quite sophisticated, and in many cases could go head to head in competitions with adults. Vabishevich, who received a check for $1,000, and Nieves, who was awarded $1,500, will now advance to the national competition, held this fall in New York City.

Source: Sylvia Watts McKinney, NFTE; Viktor Vabishevich, Vito Lawns
Writer: Sue Spolan

A new hybrid temporary and permanent public art installation has transformed an entire city block in the Mantua section of Philadelphia. A Place to Call Home, a project of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, is a multimedia presentation that culminates at 3828 Melon Street.
Over 200 people showed up for last week's dedication of A Place to Call Home, which addresses the specific issue of homeless youth.

While there are about a thousand children without a permanent address in the city, Mural Arts Executive Director Jane Golden says, "We don't think about these kids, hiding in plain sight. They experience tremendous problems when they're not able to feel a sense of security."

A Place to Call Home is actually divided into three parts: Pathway to The Art House is a series of small murals, executed by Shira Walinsky, adorning neighborhood walls, pointing to the 3800 block of Melon. That entire block has been transformed through a Community Mural by artists Ernel Martinez, Damon Reaves, and dozens of schoolchildren who painted house facades in a rainbow of colors. Finally, The Art House, located at 3828 Melon, is a site specific installation in which each room of a formerly abandoned house holds a different art work. In the front room, walls, table and chairs are adorned with thousands of words derived from youth stories.

Elisabeth Perez-Luna of WHYY created a sound mural for the house. "It was an eye opener for me," says Perez-Luna, who conducted 20 interviews with kids who live in what she terms a parallel world, invisible to many.

Guests are welcome to wander the premises and gaze upon the overgrown back yard from an open doorway in the kitchen. "I like the concept of each room of a house affecting the whole, each family member affecting the whole, and ultimately the whole house being affected by the outside world," says artist Shira Walinsky.

Free to the public, Art House Tours will be held on the afternoons of Friday June 24 and Saturday June 25. At the end of the exhibit, the Art House will be renovated for residential use.

Source: Jane Golden, Shira Walinsky, Mural Arts Program; Elisabeth Perez-Luna, WHYY
Writer: Sue Spolan