Grid Magazine, Philadelphia, PA (2025)

10/24/2025

Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend!

FRIDAY, 10.24
COMPA Philly Language Justice Cooperative Launch: Welcome to the Compa Philly Language Cooperative Launch! Join us at Making Worlds Cooperative Bookstore & Social Center for an exciting event where we’ll be introducing our new language cooperative to the Philly community. Whether you’re a language enthusiast, someone involved in social justice movements, or just curious about what we do, this is the perfect opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and learn more about our cooperative.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/compa-philly-language-justice-cooperative-launch/

SATURDAY, 10.25
People Power Media Fest 2025: People Power Media Fest is an annual convening for independent media creators seeking inspiration. We gather diverse media makers to participate in workshops, panel discussions, and networking opportunities in the spirit of community media.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/people-power-media-fest-2025/

SATURDAY, 10.25
Riverbend Fall Adopt-A-Tree: Come join Riverbend to welcome some new trees to our nature preserve! Bring your friends and family along to help plant native trees and provide homes for animals that live in our forests.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/riverbend-fall-adopt-a-tree/2025-10-25/

10/23/2025

There are dozens of worker-owned cooperatives in Philly, where the employees are the owners and have the opportunity to share profits and participate in governance and decision-making. Five local businesses that follow this model include:

• Home Care Associates
• Childspace Centers
• Black Bird Rising
• Obvious Agency
• Parula Gardens Cooperative

➡️ Meet them and learn more about their work at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/10/01/a-look-at-five-of-philadelphias-worker-owned-enterprises/

✍️ Emily Kovach
📸 Adam Ahmed

10/22/2025

Liberty Resources, a Center for Independent Living supporting individuals with disabilities, is advocating for SEPTA to invest in video remote interpretation (VRI) services at its 1234 Market Street headquarters. Igor Khmil, a deaf advocacy and independent living specialist at the organization, sat down with us to discuss the challenges deaf individuals face while using SEPTA and how VRI could help.

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

10/21/2025

🧑‍🌾 After nearly two decades, Henry Got Crops, the farm at the W.B. Saul Agricultural High School, still doesn’t turn a profit. But that doesn’t bother senior farm manager Ali Ascherio. The partnership between the school and Weavers Way Co-op pays off in other ways.

The vegetable farm takes up two acres behind the school. A hodgepodge of caretakers tend to its produce, herbs and flowers: staff members of the Weavers Way Cooperative, participants of state-sponsored apprenticeships, occasionally the working members of the co-op — and, most importantly, students of the high school.

“Our small vegetable farms and market generally are not profitable and are viewed more as a community resource — a way for folks to participate directly in the local food system, and an opportunity for young and beginning farmers to hone their skills and gain experience,” Ascherio says. “But, in the event that we became profitable, we have agreed to donate half of the profits to the school.”

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/10/01/henry-got-crops-gives-high-schoolers-a-start-in-farming/

✍️ Gabriel Donahue
📸 Chris Baker Evens

10/20/2025

🚍 Like many deaf Americans, Igor Khmil usually uses American Sign Language (ASL). But when he is helping another deaf individual access public transit information — about routes or fares or schedules — he cannot communicate with SEPTA staff in ASL, as there are typically no interpreters in the transit authority’s stations. Instead, he has to write back and forth with SEPTA staff in English, which can — thanks to mistranslations and logistical complications — lead to service delays.

For many deaf and hard of hearing Philadelphians, these miscommunications with public transit staff are a regular occurrence. But one local nonprofit says that bringing ASL interpretation to SEPTA could be as simple as scanning a QR code.

Liberty Resources, a Center for Independent Living supporting individuals with disabilities, is advocating for SEPTA to invest in video remote interpretation (VRI) services at its 1234 Market Street headquarters.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/10/01/septa-can-provide-better-service-through-vri/

✍️ + 📸 Julia Lowe

10/17/2025

Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend!

SATURDAY, 10.18
NAMI Walks Philly: It will take all of us to demand victory over mental illness. That’s why we provide a safe space at NAMIWalks in everything we do, for everyone who joins our mission. In fact, we embrace it. We invite you to take the walk of your life – with NAMIWalks. Each participant will stand by you and walk by your side, every step of the way.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/nami-walks-philly/

SATURDAY, 10.18
Watch Party at the Bookstore: Join a bunch of lit geeks as we pop some popcorn and watch Tolkien, a bio pic!

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/watch-party-at-the-bookstore-tolkien/

SUNDAY, 10.19
Fall Foliage of Laurel Hill East: Join our Arboretum Manager, Aaron Greenberg, on a brisk autumn walk through the peak fall colors of some of the great trees of Laurel Hill East. Fall is a beautiful time to explore our tree collection! We’ll enjoy the beauty and grandeur of the fall color display, and discuss how trees change throughout the seasons and prepare for winter.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/fall-foliage-of-laurel-hill-east-2/

10/16/2025

📝 Editor’s Notes: Hardly Free 📝

A human wrote this, and a human edited it. A human laid out the story on our website too.

I could have asked one of the popular generative artificial intelligence models to compose a 600-word essay, in this case about the concerns a middle-aged writer and editor holds about a flood of environmentally destructive new technology that threatens his industry and livelihood.

But I have always been a late adopter. I prefer to see how other people misuse new technology so that I can avoid their mistakes, and I like to take some time to weigh the costs versus the benefits. Yet try as I might, it is becoming difficult to avoid the new wave of AI as tech companies thrust chatbots and enhancements into every app and interface.

➡️ Read the full note from our editor at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/10/01/the-high-cost-of-ai-for-the-planet/

✍️ Bernard Brown

10/14/2025

🥒 Summer is over, but it’s not too late to capture its flavors in a jar. Scoop up late-season veggies at your farmers market and lean into the magic of pickling. Amina Aliako is eager to share her Syrian-style pickling secrets with you.

Aliako’s mother, an acknowledged gifted pickler in Aleppo, taught her how to make the sour pickles Syrians expect at every meal. In 2017, the International Organization for Migration brought Aliako and her family to Philadelphia. Aliako found work doing housekeeping at the Reading Terminal Market, where she saw a gap in the foods on offer, and approached general manager Anuj Gupta with an idea. The market management helped Aliako complete the requirements to become a vendor, and by 2019, she was selling authentic Syrian foods such as baba ghanouj, hummus and assorted pickles. The COVID-19 pandemic ended that dream when market operations were suspended.

These days, Aliako continues her family pickling tradition in her Northeast home kitchen, making gallons of pickled mixed vegetables for family and friends. “My kids are 16, 20, 22 and 24 and they love my pickles. They are always asking for some to be ready,” she says. She cooks many Syrian dishes for her children so they “don’t forget what is their country’s food.”

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/10/01/syrian-pickling-is-a-delicious-tradition-you-can-make-at-home/

✍️ Marilyn Anthony
📸 Tracie Van Auken

10/13/2025

While a worker-owned collective might not be everyone’s dream, these types of workplaces can be pretty dreamy. According to Corey Reidy, cooperative development director of the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA), co-ops create long-term job stability, equitable wealth-building and are safer and more productive than non-cooperative businesses.

“Co-ops in the U.S. are two-thirds more likely to succeed and 14% more profitable compared to the average company,” Reidy says. “There is also a 2:1 pay average compared to the average 301:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio in the U.S. The clarity in pay is a huge part of why people want to form co-ops.”

There’s also a profound sense of empowerment that comes with workplace democracy. It turns out that once people have a stake in a business, they’re more committed to it: the annual co-op employee turnover is just 14%, compared with industry norms of 40-60%.

“Workplace democracy is infectious: once you have it, you can’t ever go back,” Reidy asserts. “You know that if there are problems, you have the ability to change them.”

➡️ Learn how to start your own worker-owned co-op, according to the pros at PACA, at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/10/01/start-a-co-op-in-eight-steps/

✍️ Emily Kovach
📸 Tim Mossholder

10/10/2025

Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend!

FRIDAY, 10.10
Bikes and Bridges: Join Kleiman, Sheryl Rose, Doug Gibson, and Jean McWilliams for a midday bike ride along two waterways that link trails in the Wissahickon Valley Park to the Schuylkill River Trail.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/bikes-and-bridges-with-lisa-kleiman-sheryl-rose-doug-gibson-and-jean-mcwilliams/

FRIDAY, 10.10
Environmental Educators Mixer: Join Norris Square Neighborhood Project and The Environmental Collaboratory to bring Philadelphian environmental educators together in community, solidarity, and connection!

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/environmental-educators-mixer/

SATURDAY, 10.11
Mid Atlantic Food Cooperative Alliance Fall 2025 Conference: Join the Mid Atlantic Food Cooperative Alliance for a day of networking, learning, and conversations. Whether you’re part of a long-established Co-op or one that’s just getting started, this conference will have something for you.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/mid-atlantic-food-cooperative-alliance-fall-2025-conference/

10/09/2025

In our October issue, we included a story about the West Philly Tool Library, an initiative that loans tools to community members so they can perform simple home maintenance, tend their yards and gardens, build furniture, start projects, and learn new skills in a safe and affordable manner. At press time, the West Philly Tool Library learned that their lease will not be renewed.

➡️ To learn about fundraising efforts to help find a new home for the nonprofit, visit https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/10/01/the-west-philly-tool-library-can-help-anyone-make-repairs/

10/08/2025

🛠️ In early September I dropped by the West Philly Tool Library to return a detail sander I had borrowed for a canoe I’m working on. I can’t remember the last time I used a detail sander before that, and I imagine it will be a while before I need to use one again. The same could be said for the steel tamper I used 10 years ago when we set the flagstones in our backyard, and for innumerable clamps, saws, landscaping implements and power tools I’ve borrowed since.

The Tool Library functions pretty much as you might guess from the name. Members, who pay an annual fee based on their income level, borrow tools for a week at a time.

Rob Roy, who was borrowing a ladder when I dropped off the sander, became a member in 2016 and visits frequently when he is working on a home improvement project. “I built copper kitchen counters and used pretty much all tools from the tool library to do that,” he said.

Michael Froehlich started the library in 2007 after seeing similar tool libraries in San Francisco and Seattle. Ash Jones, who was returning some tools for a friend, joined three years later in 2010. “I’ve renovated my house and other houses with tools from the tool library,” he says.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/10/01/the-west-philly-tool-library-can-help-anyone-make-repairs/

✍️ Bernard Brown
📸 Chris Baker Evens

Grid Magazine

10/24/2025

10/23/2025

10/22/2025

10/21/2025

10/20/2025

10/17/2025

10/16/2025

10/14/2025

10/13/2025

10/10/2025

10/09/2025

10/08/2025

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category