Grid Magazine

12/16/2025

🌱 Stephanie Kearney has taught middle school science for 20 years. She uses the outdoors as a classroom, even when what’s outside is a schoolyard and the blocks of rowhouses around Penn Alexander School in West Philadelphia.

Grid talked with Kearney to learn what it takes to bring the natural sciences to life for urban students.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/12/01/a-teacher-talks-about-what-works-in-nature-education/

✍️ Bernard Brown
📸 Chris Baker Evens

12/15/2025

By now the announcement is all over our socials thanks to our friends and .news ... but here it is directly from us: we are beyond excited to merge our business into as of January 1, 2026.

When we launched Circle Compost in 2016, composting in Philadelphia looked a lot different than it does today. We had zero desire for Bennett customers to change over from their service to ours- the idea was and still is to get more people composting. In the 9+ years since those early days, we grew from servicing just 1 household and 1 coffee shop to composting for more than 2,500 homes and 50+ businesses. We are so humbled and proud of what Circle became, and grateful to all of our customers and partners who embraced us and fueled our growth.

Meanwhile, over those same 9+ years, Tim Bennett and Jen Mastalerz led Bennett Compost to become a national model for what urban composting can be. They partnered with city agencies to create and run Philly's first ever permitted composting site, added a 2nd permitted site, and are working on more. They grew to servicing over 6,000 homes and 150+ businesses.

Though technically we've been competing with them since our inception, we never saw things that way- our only true competitors are landfills and incinerators. In fact, we've collaborated with Bennett in multiple ways over the years, and a few months ago, for business and personal reasons, we approached them with the idea to merge our business into theirs. We are honored that they wanted to make it happen, and now that it's official, we are so excited to start working together toward our shared mission starting in just a few weeks.

Thank you thank you thank you to all of our customers and friends of Circle- none of this is possible without you.

-Dave and Michele, Circle Compost co-founders

📷 taken on the roof of in summer 2022, at one of many events over the years where we stood side by side

12/15/2025

12/15/2025

🏫 In June, the School District of Philadelphia’s long-running struggle to protect staff and students from asbestos in its aging buildings came to a head with federal criminal charges and an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to take care of the problem once and for all.

The Justice Department alleges that the Philadelphia School District violated the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act, a federal law requiring schools to monitor their buildings for asbestos and to quickly remediate them if they find the toxic mineral, long used as insulation. Rather than proceed to a trial, the Justice Department and the school district entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, placing the district under judicial oversight as it inspects schools and either removes or seals up remaining asbestos.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/12/01/philadelphia-schools-could-put-asbestos-behind-them/

✍️ Bernard Brown
📸 Photo courtesy of Office of Minority Leader Kendra Brooks

12/12/2025

♻️ For nearly a decade, Philadelphians looking to begin their composting journeys have looked to one of two options for private compost pick-up services — Bennett and Circle Compost. But now, customers won’t have to choose at all.

Bennett Compost announced its acquisition of Circle Compost in an email to customers on Dec. 12, with the merger officially taking effect in 2026.

Tim Bennett founded Bennett Compost in 2009, and the company now diverts 200 tons of waste from landfills each month, serving 6,500 households and 150 businesses with their compost pickup services. Circle Compost was founded by David Bloovman and his wife Michele in 2016.

“When we launched, we launched at the exact same price that [Bennett] had,” says Bloovman. “At the time, they were $15 a month for a five gallon bucket emptied weekly. And I told him, ‘I didn't do this so that we could go out there and be 14 bucks.’ We just wanted to give another option.”

Nine years later, Circle composts more than 25 tons of food scraps every month from over 2,500 customers, 55 of those commercial.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/12/12/bennett-compost-and-circle-compost-announce-merger/

✍️ Julia Lowe
📸 Chris Baker Evens

12/12/2025

Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend!

FRIDAY, 12.12
Christmas Village in Philadelphia: Running for its 18th season, Christmas Village in Philadelphia will transform LOVE Park and City Hall’s Courtyard and North Broad section into an authentic German Christmas Market. The event is at no charge to attend and will run from November 22 through Christmas Eve, December 24, 2025. Over 120 vendors offer their unique Christmas-giftware and delicious European food specialties!

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/christmas-village-in-philadelphia-2/2025-12-12/

SATURDAY, 12.13
Intro to Beekeeping with Anna Bee’s Honey: Curious about keeping bees? Join Master Beekeeper Mark Berman of Anna Bee’s Honey for a fun, beginner-friendly dive into the world of beekeeping! In this short presentation, we’ll cover the basics – from the gear you’ll need, to what a beekeeper’s year looks like, and the essential know-how to get started. Whether you’re looking to dive into beekeeping, fascinated by pollinators or just want to learn something new, this “Intro to Beekeeping” is for you.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/intro-to-beekeeping-with-anna-bees-honey/

SATURDAY, 12.13
Winter Luminary Nights: As the days grow shorter, we invite you to join us at Jenkins for an evening celebration of winter light. The gardens will be aglow with luminary-lined paths and the warmth of community. A family-friendly event, not to be missed!

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/winter-luminary-nights-sat-12-13-630-pm/

12/11/2025

🎭 When local productions need a feather boa to add to a costume or a vintage phone to serve as a prop, they know just where to look: to their fellow theater colleagues.

The aptly named Resource Sharing Committee brings the Greater Philadelphia theater community together to share their materials for productions. The committee’s website has a free shared inventory database, where theater companies can both upload their stock and search for costumes, props and other theater equipment to rent or borrow from their peers.

The goal of the Resource Sharing Committee is “reducing financial and material waste” while building community, says Nathan Renner-Johnson, committee member and executive director of Philadelphia Scenic Works, a nonprofit theatrical scene shop.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/12/01/database-helps-theaters-share-used-costume-and-prop-inventory/

✍️ Jenny Roberts
📸 Chris Baker Evens

12/10/2025

And that’s a wrap on the 2025 NextFab Holiday Gift Guide! We hope the ideas inside inspire you to shop local, choose handmade, and create core memories that will last for generations this holiday season.

➡️ View the full 2025 NextFab Holiday Gift Guide at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/11/01/nextfab-holiday-gift-guide-2025/

12/09/2025

🥟 Even the most talented chefs began their food careers as eaters. Well before they were able to cook, they witnessed the magic of combining ingredients into delicious dishes, made for them by family, friends and other cooks. For some, need, desire — or even nostalgia — converts us from eaters to makers of the foods we love.

Sharon Lee’s childhood memories are about eating dumplings, not making them. Growing up in southern Taiwan, she and her family frequented a day market where they purchased fresh, uncooked dumplings. Lee remembers the dazzling speed and dexterity of the woman who filled and wrapped the savory treats. The family took their dumplings home to savor, enhanced with the simplest of soy-based sauces and a splash of vinegar.

In February 2021, as the pandemic isolation was receding and the Chinese New Year was approaching, a friend suggested that Lee might host a dumpling party. “Typically Chinese New Year doesn’t easily fit into the American holiday calendar,” Lee says, “but I still like to celebrate it. Inviting friends over to make dumplings seemed like a low-pressure, fun way to bring a small group together.” That first casual dumpling dinner party launched a tradition that Lee, a radiology researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, has continued to celebrate every February since.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/12/01/dumpling-party-brings-friends-together/

✍️ Marilyn Anthony
📸 Photo courtesy of Sharon Lee

12/08/2025

🌳 On an afternoon in late October, students from Sayre High School were trickling into the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Center’s community room to take off their waders and to review what they had found in the creek. It was a scene you might expect at any environmental center, but a relatively fresh one now that the Cobbs Creek center is open again after a two-year, $1.5 million renovation.

The building, originally a horse stable used by the Fairmount Park Guard (a park police force absorbed into the Philadelphia Police Department in 1972), opened as an environmental center in 2001 thanks to a campaign helmed by retired teacher and school administrator Carole Williams-Green. The resulting nonprofit organization, the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center (I served on the organization’s board of trustees from 2009 to 2011), ran the center until 2017 when Philadelphia Parks & Recreation took over operations. At that point, Cobbs Creek native Alicia R. Burbage, who had been involved with the center and the efforts to create it since the 1990s, started as director of operations, community outreach and civic engagement.

Although Parks & Recreation did not officially announce the center’s opening, they hosted a performing arts camp in June, according to Burbage. Parks & Recreation brought on environmental educators Andrew White and Nick Tonetti in June as well, and they got to work cleaning up the center’s orchard and launching programming such as weekly plant walks in the park.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/12/01/cobbs-creek-environmental-center-reopens/

✍️ Bernard Brown
📸 Chris Baker Evens

12/05/2025

NextFab Holiday Gift Guide: Crafted for Adventure & Experience
•••
Unique gifts that facilitate an activity or experience.

Featuring:
Ben Banjos
NextFab
Vino Glassworks
Blind Mice Tailors
marklee_boats

➡️ View the full 2025 NextFab Holiday Gift Guide at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/11/01/nextfab-holiday-gift-guide-2025/

12/04/2025

☀️ A year ago, advocates of solar energy across Pennsylvania were flying high. Democratic state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, whose South Philly district stretches from Pat’s King of Steaks to Lincoln Financial Field, had just pulled off a political Hail Mary: successfully shepherding a clean energy bill through the gridlocked State Capitol. Titled Solar for Schools, the legislation promised to provide $25 million dollars for schools to install solar arrays across the commonwealth.

A year later, the sentiment is decidedly mixed. In a state budget bill approved by lawmakers in November — after an impasse that spanned more than four months — Solar for Schools was renewed for another $25 million. That appears to be a vote of confidence by lawmakers after a successful first year. Environmental nonprofit PennEnvironment calculates that the program received 88 applications to install solar at schools, totaling $88 million in requested funds, more than three times what it was equipped to pay out. Ultimately, 73 applicants across 24 counties received about $23 million, including about $2.3 million for projects at seven schools in Philadelphia, with additional projects in the suburbs.

“I’m proud of the first year,” Fiedler, who chairs the state House Energy Committee, said in a late October interview. “The ability of a school to generate their own electricity, to provide them with that energy, freedom and independence, and also that return on investment, is really exciting for me as a parent and lawmaker.”

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/12/01/will-feds-block-solar-on-philly-schools/

✍️ Kyle Bagenstose
📸 Photo courtesy of The Office of Rep. Fiedler