Obama Visits Temple U: Get Out and Vote

With an important midterm election coming up, especially in Pennsylvania, President Obama spoke at Temple University. Obama spoke to the crowd of 1,500 about the importance of voting and to spread the word to others. Philadelphia was one of three stops scheduled for the President on Saturday. After lunch at Famous Fourth Street Deli, Obama went onto Bridgeport, CT and Chicago, IL for more of the "Moving America Forward" event. Tuesday, November 2 is election day; so GO VOTE!

Homeless Newspaper Honored

One Step Away is a non-profit Philadelphia newspaper that doesn't just cover stories on homeless, but produced by them. The paper is the only one of its kind. Coming up on its one year anniversary, One Step Away received the 2010 award for community service from the local chapter of the NAACP.

The publication is written, edited, and distributed by the homeless men, women, and children of Philadelphia. One Step Away gives homeless a chance to get back on their feet by becoming "vendors." The vendors buy each copy of the paper from one of the participating shelters for 25 cents, which pays for printing . Then they sell the paper on the street, asking for a minimum of a $1 donation. The profit they make is what they keep for themselves. Volunteers can also help out by either submitting articles, helping writers with their articles, or just donating on their website.

City School Library Comes to Life...What About the Others?

Potter-Thomas Elementary School received a much needed renovation of their library. They were one of 32 schools in the nation to win a $200,000 library face-lift from the Target School Library Makeover program. Before, the North Philadelphia school library was a dimly lit storage room filled with books that were 40 years old. Now the school  has a freshly painted, bright learning environment complete with new bookshelves, 2,000 new books and three new computers. As a bonus, everyone of the 400 students was given seven books to take home and share with other children.

Shhhhh: Philly lacks school libraries   Flickr: circulating

While it is great that a school received this generous gift; many other schools in the district lack fully functional libraries. The School District of Philadelphia has a total of 258 schools, but only 120 have libraries. Of that statistic, 71 have librarians. Elementary school is when a child needs to gain a respect for reading to help expand their learning abilities. However, only 25 of the 170 elementary schools in the city have certified librarians. This is a very important aspect that needs attention if Philadelphia wants to improve their school system.  

Read the Full Article Here

Extreme Makeover

Philadelphia is getting a face lift. The city is long over due for renovations of two of their most notable areas. For over a decade plans have come and gone to makeover the waterfront. Other than a few apartment towers and the new Sugar House Casino, Penn's Landing is scattered with vacant buildings and lots. This new plan is different from the previous. Instead of just a nice area to look across the river, the new project for the riverfront is to line it with low-rise residential buildings and shops. Also, ten parks are planned to be built along the Delaware. This will give ten neighborhoods access to recreation, just a ten minute walk away. When and if this project is complete, it will give Philadelphia yet another urban neighborhood to be proud of. 

Future Dilworth Plaza 

One of Philadelphia's most recognizable and historical buildings is also in line for a massive transformation. Dilworth Plaza, the area on the west-side of City Hall, is going to under go a $50 million project that will be completed by the fall of 2013. The now concrete plaza is going to get a large lawn to allow for concerts and other events. Next to the lawn, will be a giant fountain that pedestrians can walk across and in the winter will be converted into an ice skating rink. The plaza will also have a cafe with a number of glass pavilions that will have images projected on. At the same time Dilworth Plaza is in construction, Septa will start a $200 million renovation of it's subway.

With the current state of Philadelphia's economy and spending on the firing line, many will question these projects. However, it's important to invest in the city itself and give us, as a community, something to share and be appreciative of.

Paint the Town Pink

Pink is everywhere. Pink cleats on NFL football players, pink bumper stickers, pink bracelets; must mean it is breast cancer awareness month. In Philadelphia this past weekend was Susan G Koman's 3 day for the cure, a 60 mile walk which concluded at the Navy Yard in South Philly. A total of 2,200 men and women from our area participated in the race which earned $5.7 million for breast cancer research. They all walked for different reasons, but at the same time they walked for the same reason; to find a cure for breast cancer.

Read the Full Article Here

A New Type of Media Comes to Philadelphia

You may have seen these before on magazine advertisements or sales receipts. If you haven't before, these alien like designs are called QR codes. If you have a smartphone, which are almost half of people with cell phones, you can put these codes to use. All you do is download a free QR code reader, scan the box with your phone's camera, and the special content pops up. This code will take you to Tek Lado's mobile website.

Tek Lado is a new print magazine in Philadelphia and they are putting this new technology to good use. Their main focuses are technology and pop culture. What sets Tek Lado apart from every other print magazine in the country is they are the first bilingual publication. This is possible with QR codes placed throughout the magazine. Scanning the code will translate the article from English to Spanish or vise versa. Also, the QR codes will provide direct connection to extra material like pictures and videos. As of now, Tek Lado is a bimonthly publication, with their next issue due in late November. Visit their website to find out where you can pick up a copy.  

If you do not have a smartphone, here is the link to their website: Tek Lado

Read the Daily News Article about Tek Lado

Bringing Phamilies Together at Home

Other than an excuse to replace almost every word beginning with "F" with a "Ph," Phillies playoff baseball is a time when families come together. America's greatest pastime has been doing this for over a century, but in the last few years it got a jolt of life in our area. Some might call those fans who come out of hiding bandwagon jumpers. However, they just want to be a part of something larger than life and those opportunity's do not come around everyday.


Check out this letter from a father asking the Phillies faithful to accept his daughter (bottom picture) into the pack CLICK.

"The fate of our country won't be decided on the battlefield, it will be determined in a classroom."

The quote above is from the new award winning documentary Waiting for "Superman." The film tails a number of proficient students in the criticized American school system. When hearing about studies and information about our school systems, it is mostly an array of statistics. However, some might tend to forget that behind all those numbers and pie charts are stories.

Jalesaa Figueroa, 18, is one of those stories.  Figueroa and her grandmother Damaris Martinez live in North Philadelphia. Even though they receive food stamps and social security,  Figueroa attends Little Flower Catholic High School for girls. This is because Martinez stresses, "education we cannot live without." For three years they have bent over backwards to pay the annual tuition. Figueroa was in danger of having to spend her senior year at a public high school because her and her grandmother could not gather enough to pay tuition. Figueroa organized a fundraiser where her grandmother made home cooked food for guests and Figueroa sang. The fund raiser did not raise as much as hope, but Figueroa has received many checks sent to her school from complete strangers. One check anonymous for $1,000.

While America's schools will continue to be a hot topic, it is stories like these that show on the other end of the dropout rate are the promising future who want no more than a good education.

Read the Full Story Here