Thriving in Philadelphia

February 16, 2024

Planet Philadelphia

Photo courtesy of PhillyThrive

People in many Philadelphia communities are organizing in to improve their communities and help residents live better healthier lives. We will be talking people in two major groups working hard to make the city better and more resilient. Planet Philadelphia environmental radio show airing 4-5:00 PM Friday 2/16/2024:

Thriving in Grey’s Ferry:

Photo courtesy of PhillyThrive

R Merriman-Goldring with PhillyThrive talks about their organizing for Environmental Justice in Gray’s Ferry, a neighborhood in South Philadelphia with many environmental justice challenges. PhillTthrive engaged in a successful campaign to close the PES Oil Refinery. Now Philly Thrive plans to establish a Climate Resiliency Hub in Philadelphia. The hub will serve as a resource for community climate resilience programs and climate emergency response. It will offer green job training for residents including a pilot program to maintain and plant trees to counter urban heat effects.

Gtown an beyond, local watershed:

Julie Slavet, Executive Director of the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership, Inc.
The Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership serves a diverse watershed that is home to many disinvested communities that face environmental injustice on a daily basis. They educate neighbors and stakeholders about clean water issues and how we can all make a difference at our homes and businesses, on our trails, and in our parks and communities.

Ruth A. Seeley with Friends of Vernon Park.
Friends of Vernon Park is an intergenerational volunteer stewardship group devoted to Vernon Park & our community. Vernon Park is an 8-acre park, one of the few green spaces in this area of Germantown. They work on connecting our watershed residents and communities to their creeks! Through hands-on education, stewardship, restoration, and advocacy, we empower our constituents to take care of and improve the impaired waterways across our 30 square miles.