PhilaNet.com

205 West Tulpehocken Street
Philadelphia, PA 19144
215-842-0428
ddembro@buildabridge.org
www.buildabridge.org
Press Contact: Rita Calicat, 215-589-8491

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BuildABridge At City Hall

My Home is in My Heart: An Artistic Inquiry
of Place, Home and Belonging by Philadelphia’s Children

Philadelphia – Art In City Hall, part of the City of Philadelphia’s
Office of the Arts, Culture and the Creative
Economy presents a student exhibition by BuildaBridge
in historic City Hall celebrating the artistic expressions of
local children: My Home is in My Heart: An Artistic
Inquiry of Place, Home and Belonging by Philadelphia’s
Children. The exhibit runs from March 7 – April 29, 2011, fifth floor
City Hall, NE corner. A program and performance open to the general public is scheduled for Thursday March 31 in Conversation Hall, Room 201 with a reception to follow on the fifth floor, NE corner.

The art exhibit highlights children’s creativity and interpretations of
geography, home and community through visual art, photography, and 3-D installations. The artwork expresses the insight of those with the greatest need in our communities – our children residing in the city’s transitional housing and experiencing a time of homelessness.

BuildaBridge’s Community Programs consist of three distinct efforts:
Discovery, which sends teams of artists
to emergency and transitional housing partners to provide educational
after school arts classes; Healing which sends clinical arts therapists to 2 -3 sites for specific therapeutic support; and, Artology which recruits students from Discovery and Healing programs and provides an educational summer camp exploring art, biology and environmental concerns.

Dr. Vivian Nix-Early states that, ‘Research has proven the many
benefits of creativity and art-making to health, emotional wellness and
learning. Creating is a form of play, and engaging regularly in both of
them strengthens our problem-solving and adaptive capabilities – our
resilience. Through art-making, one of BuildaBridge’s goals is to facilitate resilience in the children we work with.”

BuildaBridge is a nonprofit arts education and intervention organization
that engages the transformative power of the arts to bring hope and
healing to children, families, and communities in the tough places of
the world. BuildaBridge spans barriers of race, class, faith, and culture
to promote holistic personal, family, and community development
through art-making that uses trauma informed, hope-infused and child
centered methods. Committed to principles of love, compassion, justice,
reconciliation, and service to others, BuildaBridge trains and connects
artists with those in greatest need. For more information,
visit: http://www.buildabridge.org/, join us on www.facebook.com,
or follow us on www.twitter.com. Visit: http://www.buildabridge.org/

The exhibitions in City Hall are a collaborative effort between the City
of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy
and the arts community. They are supported by an independent City
Hall Exhibitions Advisory Committee made up of arts professionals and
private citizens. In addition to Art In City Hall’s juried exhibits for
professional artists, other public spaces in City Hall feature artwork from
Philadelphia’s schools, other city agencies, local non-profits, and
community arts organizations on a rotating basis. For more information,
visit: www.phila.gov/artincityhall or join us on www.Facebook.com/artincityhall and www.facebook.com/creativephl.

The mission of the Office of Arts Culture and the Creative Economy is to
improve access to the arts for both residents and visitors and to expand arts education for young people. The Office also coordinates with relevant City agencies to unify the City’s arts efforts, oversees all the City’s arts programs, and serves as a liaison between the City’s many cultural institutions. Furthermore, the Office supports the growth and development of the City’s arts, culture, and creative economy sector, by promoting public and private investment. In addition to the Office’s focus on the nonprofit arts sector, it also focuses on the many aspects of the larger arts and culture industry including individual artists, design industries, music clubs and other entertainment ventures.

City of Philadelphia, Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy

There will be a meeting of the Delaware Valley Branch of the American Begonia Society on Saturday, April 16, 2011. The meeting will take place in the Huntingdon Valley Library, 625 Red Lion Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006. The meeting will take place in the Main Library conference room on the first floor and will begin at 10:00 AM. The speaker will be Charles Jaros, a begonia authority and judge from Florida. Mr. Jaros is an expert on the classification and identification of previously unknown species begonias from all over the world. He will draw on his vast knowledge to present an interesting program on the vast variety of species, how they are grown, and their uses in hybridizing.

There will be a plant raffle at the meeting.

Call Stephen Ripper, President, for details – 215-536-9034

PHILADELPHIA (March 15, 2011) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that more buildings than ever have earned the EPA’s Energy Star certification in 2010. The Philadelphia-area added many first-time labeled Energy Star buildings in 2010, jumping to a national ranking of 14th up from 24th. Many of the most recently added buildings in Philadelphia are schools. Energy Star buildings play an important role in preventing harmful air emissions that effect climate change, plus they reduce energy use and save money.

“I am pleased to see progress across the Philadelphia metropolitan area in energy efficiency and renewable energy,” said EPA mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “From Philadelphia to the smaller communities across the region, we are seeing growth in design, construction and retrofits to energy challenges of the 21st century.”

Philadelphia has 21 commercial Energy Star certified buildings, and across the country more than 6,200 commercial buildings earned the Energy Star in 2010. Nationally this is an increase of nearly 60 percent compared to 2009. Since EPA awarded the first Energy Star to a building in 1999, more than 12,600 buildings have been certified.

Energy use in commercial buildings accounts for nearly 20 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of more than $100 billion per year. Commercial buildings that earn the Energy Star must perform in the top 25 percent of buildings nationwide compared to similar buildings and be independently verified by a licensed professional engineer or registered architect each year. Energy Star certified buildings use 35 percent less energy and emit 35 percent less carbon dioxide than average buildings. Fourteen types of commercial buildings can earn the Energy Star, including office buildings, K-12 schools, and retail stores.

To see a short video about one of Philadelphia’s recently labeled buildings:

http://www.epa.gov/region3/multimedia/playercontents/video/septa/septa2.html

More information on the other top cities in 2010 with Energy Star certified buildings:

http://www.energystar.gov/TopCities

More information on EPA’s real-time registry of all Energy Star certified buildings:

http://energystar.gov/buildinglist

More information about earning the Energy Star for commercial buildings:

http://energystar.gov/labeledbuildings

Philadelphia’s LARGEST Earth Day Celebration:

The 30th Annual 5K Run for Clean Air and Earth Day Celebration will take place April 16th, 2011. The course starts at the Philadelphia Art Museum and runs along Martin Luther King Drive. Arriving back at the finish line, the Clean Air Council has invited its partners and sponsors to participate in the Earth Day Celebration, providing an opportunity for community participants to hear about the latest Green event news, resources, and trends.

The 5K Run for Clean Air is a community effort to decrease the air pollution that triggers asthma and other respiratory problems in our families, as well as support programs that reduce waste in favor of increased recycling and composting and slow down global warming.

To get more information about the run, check out the website at http://www.5KRunforCleanAir.org

“Autism Speaks” rummage sale and flea market in Northeast Philadelphia at Norcom Community Center 10980 Norcom Road (close to Franklin Mills Mall.

Presidents Day weekend February 19, 2011 and February 20,2011, 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM. We will have lots of items for sale including a fill a bag of clothing for only $5.00 plus shoes, collectables, food, tons of baby items and much more.

Vendor registration
http://home.earthlink.net/~ntw/

RSVP for email reminder
http://home.earthlink.net/~ntw/sale/

Any other questions:
Miss Deka Wood
215-439-8206

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For additional information, contact:
Terri Keane
Phone: 215-860-6171

Homes for the Holidays

Historic Newtown Borough, Bucks County welcomes visitors to its Holiday House Tour on Saturday, December 4th.

Now in its 48th consecutive year, this house tour is a Newtown tradition and a festive start to the holiday season. For the $20.00 cost of a tour ticket, visitors can enjoy Newtown on foot for an up-close look at the interiors of six private homes and several public buildings, all dressed for the holidays.

Included in the cost of the tour is entry to the Half-Moon Inn, a beautifully restored 18th century building and home to the Newtown Historic Association, sponsor of the tour. Inside, tour goers will enjoy period musical entertainment, hearthside colonial cooking demonstrations and refreshments of mulled cider and cheese.

Tour hours are from 10:00AM to 4:00PM. Advance tickets can be purchased at Newtown Hardware, 106 S. State Street and on-line at the Association’s website, www.newtownhistoric.org. On the day of the tour, purchase tour tickets at the Half-Moon Inn, Court Street and Centre Avenue and at the Stocking Works, 301 South State Street, Newtown.

In the event of significant snow, the tour will be held on Sunday, December 5th.

Please, no picture taking or high-heeled shoes permitted in the houses.

For additional information, call the Newtown Historic Association at 215-968-4004 or visit our website.

All proceeds from the tour will benefit the Newtown Historic Association and its programs dedicated to the preservation of Newtown’s historical heritage.

Real Estate Open Houses November 7th 2010

Montgomery County, PA

Conshohocken, PA – $375,000

Montgomery County

4 Years Young

3 Floors, 3 BR, 2.5 BA

Open House, Sunday Nov. 7th from 12 to 3 PM

610-883-7631 if any questions.