Grid Magazine December 2023 [#175]

SP EC IA L RE PO RT

Can the Water Department’s plan to keep sewage out of our waterways keep up with climate change?

E TH DECEMBER 2023 / ISSUE 175 / GRIDPHILLY.COM

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EDI TOR ’S NOTES

by bernard brown

A Moving Target publisher Alex Mulcahy managing editor Bernard Brown associate editor & distribution Timothy Mulcahy tim@gridphilly.com deputy editor Katherine Rapin art director Michael Wohlberg writers Kiersten Adams Marilyn Anthony Kyle Bagenstose Bernard Brown Constance Garcia-Barrio Dawn Kane Ben Seal Ashley Lauren Walker photographers Kyle Bagenstose Chris Baker Evens Matthew Bender Troy Bynum Gene Smirnov published by Red Flag Media 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107 215.625.9850 G R I D P H I L LY. C O M

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GR ID P H IL LY.CO M

DEC EM BE R 2023

E

veryone loves green city, Clean Waters — at least in theory.

Twelve years ago the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) rolled out the ambitious, 25-year plan meant to deal with our combined stormwater-sewer system. When it rains, stormwater that flows off of roofs and pavement tends to overwhelm the system, sending raw sewage into our rivers and creeks. Aside from just being disgusting and violating federal law, the pollution can make us sick.

Lots of cities are dealing with the same problem by installing new stormwater systems. Washington, D.C. dug a two-mile, 23-foot-wide tunnel under the city to reduce sewage overflows into the Anacostia River.

Philly came up with a better plan, we were told. Since vegetation soaks up rainwater, Green City, Clean Waters has used plantings to moderate the flow of runoff.

Green infrastructure like rain gardens are also cheaper than the $10 billion tab for building new tunnels and underground water storage tanks, and they come with the recreational and ecological benefits of urban greenspace.

But it appears that Green City, Clean Waters isn’t enough. As Kyle Bagenstose writes in this issue, PWD isn’t on track to reach its target of greened acres. And even if they were, global warming is moving the target.

Most troubling is that the plan was designed for how rain fell in the years prior to 2006, not for how it falls in 2023 or how it is predicted to fall in 2036 and beyond, as global warming brings more frequent and intense precipitation. In coming years, it is entirely possible that storms could dump so much water on Philadelphia that even if every greenable acre were greened, it still wouldn’t be enough to soak it up.

So, what if the basic plan of Green City, Clean Waters is impossible to scale up suf-

ficiently to deal with our wetter future?

What’s the plan B? Currently, the City refuses to come up with one. PennEnvironment published a report about Green City, Clean Waters’ shortcomings in July. It found that PWD has accomplished some impressive reductions in sewage overflows, but that there are still billions of gallons annually left to deal with, and that it isn’t clear that the City can close the remaining gap, especially since climate change is widening it.

PWD responded with an impassioned rebuttal that admitted: “It is simply not realistic to move the goalposts on a massive, 25-year initiative at the halfway point to dramatically increase the implementation pace or add new projects.”

Reality be damned, they’re stuck with what they planned almost 12 years ago. Apparently it doesn’t matter to them that even if they execute their plan perfectly, in 2036 we’ll still be stuck with many billions of gallons of sewage polluting our waterways and in need of another fix. What kind of success is that?

Switching to plan B isn’t easy. As PWD correctly argues, they don’t currently have the money or other resources they would need to keep pace with the actual problem they are striving to solve. But that doesn’t make change any less important. At the end of the day, do we want to swim and paddle in what we flush down the toilet, or do we want the clean waterways mandated by federal law?

b e r na r d b r ow n , Managing Editor

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healing city

Hunter Elementary School students get their hands dirty during a visit by The Clay Studio’s “Claymobile.”

Ceramics studio brings the healing powers of clay to schools, shelters and seniors by constance garcia-barrio

D

uring her first class at the local Women Against Abuse shelter where she lived, the little girl stood distant and silent while The Clay Studio teaching artist Nitza Walesca Rosario made a pot. After a few weeks, however, the moist clay and the shapes it took wrought wonders in the child.

“Working with clay is healing,” says Rosario, who’s also the studio coordinator. “By the fifth class, the little girl was my assistant, showing other people how to create pinch pots,” Rosario says of the process of rolling clay into a ball, poking an indentation twothirds of the way down and pinching the sides into the desired shape and thickness.

“She just blossomed. I’d witnessed it before.”

The class was brought to the shelter by one of the studio’s “Claymobiles.” Equipped 4 GR ID P H IL LY.CO M DEC EM B E R 20 23

with the materials and supplies needed for ceramics lessons, the vans take teaching artists to senior centers, schools, juvenile justice centers and facilities like the shelter. The two Claymobiles serve some 5,000 people within a 30-mile radius of the studio.

It’s part of the organization’s efforts to reach more Philadelphians with the healing power of clay.

Widely used in art therapy practice, working with clay has been shown to improve emotional regulation and release tension, among other benefits. A 2018 study showed that after six sessions of working with clay, people with disabilities scored higher on happiness evaluations than their peers who didn’t take part in the sessions. Along the same lines, PTSD UK, a British organization devoted to raising awareness of post-

ATTEND A CLASS Every Saturday and the second Thursday of each month, 5-7 p.m., at The Clay Studio, 1425 N. American Street, free with preregistration. For details on the wide variety of classes and workshops offered, visit public.theclaystudio.org/public/1/classes

T H E C L AY S T U D I O

‘A Forgiving Quality’

traumatic stress disorder, found that making pottery helps to heal people with PTSD. “At times, words fall short in describing your emotions,” says Jay Bilinsky, a ceramic artist and programs assistant at the studio.

“You can’t put your feelings into words, but you can put them into clay.”

Begun in 1974 by five artists who wanted to share working space, The Clay Studio is among the nation’s oldest centers for ceramics. Their new, four-story, 34,000 squarefoot building in Olde Kensington has exhibition space, classrooms, studios, 24 kilns, a roof deck, a sculpture garden and a gift shop with the famed wall of more than 160 mugs

SAM OBERTER

in every conceivable style, shape and color.

The studio offers free weekly workshops and classes at nearby schools including Al-Aqsa Islamic Society, Moffett Elementary School and Kensington High School — as well as throughout the community with their Claymobiles. Some 4,500 students take classes each year, including workshop attendees and summer clay camp participants.

The staff has plenty of opportunities to see how making ceramic art nudges those involved toward more wholeness.

On a primal level, clay can bring us home from wandering in cyberspace, says Jennifer Zwilling, curator and director of artistic programs at the studio.

“In a digital world, clay is tactile,” she says. “It’s grounding, reassuring — it can be empowering. If children in difficult circumstances have a chance to mold clay as they wish, it may give them a sense of control.”

In addition, if a child gives their handmade bowl or cup to someone they love, they may gain a sense of accomplishment and completion, as do some professional potters.

“My pots are complete when they are in service, bringing a sense of human connec-

STAY TUNED Oct 9 — Dec 31, 2025 “Clay as Care” will examine the intersection of ceramics and health through scientific research, community programs and exhibitions. It will highlight work by studio resident artist Adebunmi Gbadebo, who uses clay from the South Carolina cemetery where her enslaved ancestors are buried to make large vessels to honor them, and California artist and Operation Desert Storm veteran Ehren Tool, whose 26,000 mugs use images of bombs, skulls, guns and skeletons to spark conversations about war. Both Gbadebo and Tool have work in Smithsonian museums. The program is funded by a recent $354,000 grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. For details visit theclaystudio.org/exhibitions/clay-as-care

tion to the user,” says studio resident artist and teacher Nate Willever of Mount Airy.

Then again, beginner potters often take pride in keeping their creations. Rosario speaks of a schoolgirl who brought one of her handmade bowls to a restaurant with her family. She ordered sushi and asked the waiter to serve her food in her bowl, which he did.

Not least important of clay’s healing properties is its inherent message of possible renewal. If an object doesn’t have the form one envisions, potters say, they can squish the clay and begin again. As autistic ceramicist Blake Zucker puts it: “Clay has a forgiving quality … that most materials don’t offer.”

Malika Turner, a recreation specialist at

a senior center in Northeast Philadelphia, says that the Claymobile has provided popular workshops for four years.

“Even participants who have conditions affecting their hands enjoy the workshops,” Turner says. “One visually impaired person also likes to work with clay.”

Danielle Rossi, a painter and art director at North Philly’s Cristo Rey High School, has folded studio ceramics classes into her curriculum for eight years.

“Working with both hands puts you in the present moment, and that’s healing,” Rossi says. “Many of our students deal with hard things, but making pots provides a moment free of worry. I can’t change their lives, but clay can give them that respite.” ◆

An artist teaches about ceramics at The Clay Studio’s new building in Olde Kensington.

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G R E E N C I T Y,

TROUBLED WATERS Philly is spending $2B+ to fix its sewage problem. But is Green City, Clean Waters working? by kyle bagenstose

I

n the early 1700s, botanist John Bartram surveyed his farmland abutting the banks of the Schuylkill River in what is now Southwest Philadelphia and had an idea: build a garden for his beloved plants. Approaching its 300th anniversary, the modern Bartram’s Garden is a National Historic Site and a gem of Philadelphia’s park system.

But the landscape around Bartram, and indeed much of the city, looks vastly different than it did three centuries ago. Layers of development have turned Philadelphia into one of the nation’s densest cities, and a collision of socioeconomic factors have also made it one of its poorest.

Bartram’s executive director Maitreyi Roy sees incredible potential for the gardens to serve this complex metropolis. There, she and staff have prioritized reconnecting some of the most underprivileged neighborhoods in the city to the river, where residents can fish, boat and otherwise relax. Since the murder of George Floyd and the racial reckonings that ensued in the summer of 2020, the work has taken on new urgency. Bartram’s is making progress as more neighbors utilize the park and access the river.

But there’s a problem. Dozens of times a year — basically every time there’s a decent rain — the water becomes off-limits. Pollution can enter a major river like the Schuylkill from a million places, but Roy is particularly worried about Mill Creek. Located just upstream from 8 GRID P H I L LY.CO M DEC EM B E R 20 23

the garden, the creek was one of several in Philadelphia paved over and converted into a sewer in the 19th century. Now when it rains and the sewer system’s capacity is exceeded, the creek funnels raw sewage directly from the homes and businesses of Philadelphia into the Schuylkill. The overflows bring E. coli and other threats to the water, making it unsafe for recreation and forcing Bartram’s

KROMAH STUDIO

You can fish at Bartram’s Garden, but only when it hasn’t rained recently.

to cancel events to protect their visitors.

“Our rivers are our lifelines,” Roy says.

“I’m not saying all residents need to be paddling on the water. But for our city to be livable, our rivers need to remain clean.”

Across Philadelphia, there are 163 outfalls like Mill Creek, where vast underground networks of aging sewers, designed in an era with less concern over the pollution of

waterways, can overflow into the Schuylkill, Delaware, and Tacony and Cobbs Creeks.

Indeed, it’s a challenge familiar to hundreds of older cities across the country, drawing significant attention in recent decades from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The stakes are high here in Philadelphia, where the City is halfway through a 25-year agreement with regulators to cut down

on the billions of gallons of sewer water that pour into area rivers and creeks each year. And the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) has pioneered a nationallyinnovative approach, using “green infrastructure” such as rain gardens, green roofs and permeable surfaces to soak up stormwater, as opposed to more traditional, concrete-and-steel engineering methods like D ECE M B E R 20 23 G R I DP H ILLY.COM 9

green city, troubled waters

underground holding tanks.

For many reasons, Green City, Clean Waters, as PWD named the program, has won widespread acclaim since its implementation more than a decade ago. In addition to reducing sewage overflows, green infrastructure can also beautify a neighborhood, offset summer heat and cost less than traditional infrastructure, proponents say.

Lisa Jackson, a former EPA administrator under President Barack Obama, went so far as to deliver a speech in Philadelphia on the program’s merits as it kicked off in 2012.

“The techniques under this program will work with Mother Nature, and use natural environments to filter runoff and relieve pressure from the city’s 3,000 miles of traditional sewer infrastructure,” Jackson said.

“It is our hope that lessons from Green City, Clean Waters will translate to other cities as well. We want to see the benefits of green infrastructure taking hold in other large metropolitan areas.”

But in quiet corners, critics of the approach have started to question just how well it’s working. The concern, they say, is whether the benefits of green infrastructure have been oversold, or at least overridden by climate change. And the kicker is that the cost of the multi-billion dollar program falls primarily on Philadelphians themselves, who are financing the program through increases to their water bills. If the City doesn’t get it right, Philadelphians will likely have to pay more in the future for a method that works better.

In partnership, Grid, Chestnut Hill Local and the online newsroom Delaware Currents spent several months examining the City’s program. This reporting is the result of reviews of more than a decade of PWD materials on the program, as well as interviews with more than a dozen engineers, clean water advocates and other experts about its efficacy.

What emerges is a complicated portrait, one that transforms with a slight change of perspective, and traces some of the deepest fault lines of American society.

On paper, PWD is currently hitting every single target that the EPA and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] are requiring of it. Each year, the water department releases an annual report with data on sewage overflows into waterways.

10 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M DEC EM B E R 20 23

When adjusted for annual rainfall, the documents show the City has achieved about a 21% improvement from a decade ago.

But, others question the targets themselves and whether the City is relying too heavily on green infrastructure. By design, the City primarily tracks success through modeling, tied to baseline weather conditions of 2006. Nick Pagon, a former Philadelphia School District teacher who became a clean water advocate after starting a boat-building nonprofit for kids in the city, believes the approach is already obsolete due to climate change, which is increasing the number of extreme rainfall events that exacerbate sewage overflows.

“The fine print is that they are meeting their mandated targets, but their mandated targets have nothing to do with the actual volume of overflows,” Pagon says.

The nonprofit PennEnvironment shares

his concerns. This summer, the group released a detailed report on Philadelphia’s sewer overflows. While PWD’s documents estimate that Green City, Clean Waters has so far reduced three billion gallons of overflows during a typical year, the PennEnvironment report points out that Philadelphia still releases much more: according to the city’s records, it’s released anywhere from nine to 16 billion gallons annually over the past half decade. In 2022, PennEnvironment calculated, such overflows made portions of the Schuylkill unsafe for recreation for 162 days, and for the Tacony, 128 days.

John Rumpler, clean water director and senior attorney for Environment America, says the nonprofit sees the value of green infrastructure, but still believes the City needs to rethink its overall strategy, especially in light of climate change.

“Even though they’ve made progress,

Wastewater combined with dirty water from streets can overflow into waterways.

they’re falling short because there’s increased rainfall,” Rumpler says.

There are also questions about the longterm chances of success. To meet its overall goals, the city must create 9,500 acres of new green infrastructure by 2035. That’s more land area than the Wissahickon Valley, Pennypack, FDR and Fairmount parks combined. By taking the total acreage of improvements so far and extrapolating to

2035 based on recent annual averages, our reporting found, the City is on pace to reach only 60% of its target.

The PWD did not offer responses to a reporter’s questions for this story within a two-week deadline. A spokesperson said the department would need one to two months, but did provide links to relevant documents.

Still, there’s an even more complicated, third perspective. Laura Toran, a hydroge-

The fine print is that they are meeting their mandated targets, but their mandated targets have nothing to do with the actual volume of overflows.”

— nick pagon, Clean Water Advocate

ologist and professor at Temple University, is among a handful of local environmental experts with firsthand experience studying the effectiveness of green infrastructure. On the whole, Toran says, it performs well for its primary purpose of keeping stormwater out of sewers, and thus sewage out of rivers.

She adds there are indeed still thorny questions, such as to exactly what extent green infrastructure works, whether it captures runoff pollution like road salt, and whether there is ultimately enough “greenable” space in the city to complete the Green City, Clean Waters plan.

For Toran though, these questions miss the bigger picture. Echoed by other professionals in the space, she’s seen the range of solutions any city can implement to deal with stormwater, and thinks whatever the shortfalls of green infrastructure may be, it’s worth prioritizing over the expensive, concrete ways of the past. In places like Europe and China, she notes, engineers acknowledge the approach can get swallowed up by major deluges, but are still doubling down as they endeavor to create a new paradigm.

“It’s very complex, measuring success,” Toran says. “I was fascinated that [overseas experts] admitted that it’s not entirely successful, but you need to do it anyway or else things will get worse. I think that’s a really hard thing for the public to swallow.”

Asked about the EPA’s current opinion of Green City, Clean Waters, an agency spokesperson pointed out the City has met its targets thus far and said the agency routinely communicates with the City and DEP. “EPA continues to have … discussions with PADEP and PWD regarding any challenges that may require PWD to re-evaluate their program,” the spokesperson said.

When asked if the DEP has expressed any concerns about the program’s performance, a spokesperson simply responded, “No.” If the agencies determine at any point that the program is falling short, they have authority to put new screws to the City. But the stakes are perhaps highest for Philadelphians, from the everyday taxpayer paying for the program, to those like Roy who look out over still-polluted waters and wonder if more can be done.

“To me, it’s really unfinished business,” Roy says. “It’s a long-term issue, but we can’t lose sight of it.”

D ECE M B E R 20 23 G R I DP HILLY.COM 1 1

green city, troubled waters

When Leem Patton, 19, and his family moved from West Philly to adjacent townhomes in Germantown three years ago, they had no idea they were moving onto a street so flood prone that people sometimes have to swim from their cars to their front doors.

After moving in, one of their new neighbors gave them a heads up that the block floods. But they’d learn firsthand soon enough. On July 6, 2020, Patton’s sister posted a video shot from her porch looking down at the intersection of Church Lane and Belfield Avenue below. Severe thunderstorms were passing through Philadelphia and floodwaters had completely submerged the intersection. They were now pushing several feet up the front steps of the home.

In the video, a red pickup truck plows through the water. Going the other way a minivan pushes a sedan, which appears to be stuck or disabled. Off camera, a neighbor yells, “We used to this s***!”

Patton says three years later, the family is in some ways used to it. Floods happen frequently and one totaled his mom’s car.

Now they know to move their vehicles to a higher elevation when a good rain is on the way. Still, it’s stressful.

“We think about it a lot, every time it rains bad,” Patton says.

Patton and his family aren’t alone. Flooding is a recurrent problem in Germantown and parts of Mount Airy. During Hurricane Irene in 2011, Deanna Compton, a 27-year-old mother of one, was driving home late at night when her vehicle became stuck in floodwaters at the intersection of Haines Street and Belfield Avenue, resulting in her death by drowning. Two years later, area residents told ABC6 they were fed up with flooding and basement sewage backups, which can occur when sewer mains are so filled with sewage and stormwater they can force the mixture back up into homes.

Retired environmental engineer Kelly O’Day thinks more can be done to help them. The East Mount Airy resident is something like a low-key crusader for green issues in the city, particularly sewers and plastic pollution.

The root of the flooding problem in the Northwest, he says, is the Wingohocking Creek. Like Mill Creek in Southwest Philadelphia, the Wingohocking was covered 12 GR ID P H IL LY.CO M DEC EM B E R 20 23

up and converted to a sewer at the turn of the 20th century, snaking its way from what is now East Mount Airy and across North Philadelphia before emptying into Frankford Creek (known as the Tacony at higher elevations). The sewer’s outfall pipe into the Frankford, known as “T14,” now releases more combined sewage into area waterways than any other. But O’Day also worries about smaller outfalls like “T1,” which discharges into tiny Rock Creek behind a Target just over the border with Cheltenham.

“It’s the grossest outfall in the region,” O’Day says. “It takes a [big] drainage area of Philadelphia and discharges it into this tiny little creek. T1 is like the hidden secret of the grossness of the combined sewer overflows.”

O’Day does think green infrastructure can help to cut down on sewer overflows. But, he says, it has its limits and believes more traditional infrastructure is still needed to solve acute problems like those in Germantown.

For proof, O’Day points to a map with red dots marking the street intersections that repeatedly flood within the Wingohocking watershed. These choke points primarily fall in more upstream areas in Germantown, not lower-lying areas like Logan and

Wayne Junction where one might expect.

That’s because, O’Day says, in the mid-20th century Philadelphia performed a massive expansion of the sewer lines running west from the Frankford, but stopped short of redoing the entire watershed in the 1980s.

“They may not have had the money to upgrade the upper Wingohocking,” O’Day says. “Up to the edge of the red dots.”

O’Day says he knows costs remain a limiting factor for PWD’s operations. But he says green infrastructure isn’t solving the pressing problems in Germantown — the City itself estimates $8.72 million in property damages a year— and time is being lost.

In its original 2011 planning document for Green City, Clean Waters, PWD estimated about $2.4 billion in investments under the plan citywide. The lionshare, about $1.7 billion, would go to green infrastructure. But it would also spend hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade its three wastewater plants to handle more sewage and reline pipes to keep sewage out of the Tacony and Cobbs creeks. And, it would set aside $420 million in a “flexible” spending category for green or concrete infrastructure, “whichever proves more efficient as the program evolves.”

In a response to the PennEnvironment sewer report this year, PWD said it is com-

K Y L E B AG E N S TO S E ( 2 ) ; I N S E T: S H A M I A R . F L E M I N G

Germantown, underwater

Leem Patton knows that signs point to flooding in his Germantown neighborhood; his family did not know the severity until after moving in. Below: A still image from a video shot by Shamia R. Fleming, Patton’s sister, of a submerged intersection from her porch during a July 2020 flood.

mitted to spending “over $4.5 billion in capital program infrastructure investments,” through 2029, with $1 billion dedicated to combined sewers.

The water department has also not been absentee in Germantown. Emaleigh Doley, executive director of the Germantown United Community Development Corporation, says PWD has been “doing a lot of work” in the area, including installing green infrastructure and meeting with community members.

She thinks it’s a bigger problem than PWD can solve alone, as there are also concerns about the affordability of flood insurance, the lack of disclosures of flood risk during real estate transactions and whether some homes should have been built in what amounts to an unmarked flood zone in the first place.

“It’s a big enough problem that it’s not going to have any easy solutions,” Doley says.

Indeed, PWD has studied the Germantown flooding problem and in 2019 released a report laying out potential solutions. It calculated that more traditional infrastructure options, such as a series of underground storage basins or a five-mile long storage tunnel running under Chew Avenue, could reduce flood depths by as much as 80% and eliminate up to two-thirds of basement backups. But estimated costs

for the projects ranged from $384 to $585 million, which would eat up the entirety of the City’s flexible budget under Green City, Clean Waters.

PWD did not respond by deadline to a question about the status of its plans in Germantown, but did provide a copy of a December 2022 RFP seeking “the first level of conceptual design for the Wingohocking Relief Sewer Tunnel, which extends from the flood prone areas in Germantown to the Tacony Creek.”

For Howard Neukrug, a former commissioner of PWD who spearheaded the creation of Green City, Clean Waters, money is the defining, inescapable factor. As the City was evaluating its options while creating the program, he says PWD did look at more traditional options citywide, such as

digging massive underground tunnels. Cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C. have spent billions of dollars on such projects, successfully storing hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage-laden stormwater during deluges, then pumping it back to the surface for treatment during drier days.

But in Philadelphia, those options had a price tag that would likely approach $10 billion in today’s dollars, Neukrug says, several-fold more than the green infrastructure

“... you need to do it anyway or else things will get worse.

I think that’s a really hard thing for the public to swallow.”

— laura toran, Hydrogeologist, Temple University

D ECE M B E R 20 23 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 13

green city, troubled waters

approach. Going down that path would have added sharply to affordability concerns in a city where residents are already facing annual double-digit rate increases on their water bills and have a history of delinquency.

“All the tunnels have nicknames. Ours was ‘the 100-year-tunnel,’” Neukrug says.

“That’s how long it would take for us to be able to, in a city like Philadelphia, find the $10 billion dollars, put it in the rate structure, and have people pay for this thing.”

Building large tunnels, Neukrug adds, can also greatly disrupt urban life during their construction, require heavy energy usage to operate, come with none of the co-benefits of green infrastructure, and also become susceptible to obsolescence wrought by climate change.

“You look at the green infrastructure solution, and you say, ‘While you’re designing the tunnel, we’re planting trees,’” Neukrug says. “We get benefits from day one.”

But Pagon, the former boatbuilderturned-water advocate, doesn’t believe that Philadelphia is doing the best it can. He says one need look no further than just across the Delaware, to Camden.

A tale of two cities When discussions began about a decade ago between the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Camden about its own combined sewer problems, Andy Kricun, then executive director of the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA), says there was a great blueprint to follow: Philadelphia’s Green City, Clean Waters, which was formalized just a few years earlier.

“When [the program] first came out, it was groundbreaking,” Kricun says, “Nobody had been thinking about this idea … it was really smart, a game changer.”

Kricun reached out to Neukrug and others at PWD to learn about their approach and says, in many ways, the Camden MUA — responsible for handling and treating sewage from all of Camden County — copied it.

But there were a few key differences.

Most significant was how Camden measured success. In Philadelphia, the primary metric is the installation of “Greened Acres.”

It’s essentially a modeling exercise, where each piece of green infrastructure is designed to capture a certain amount of stormwater.

14 GRID P H I L LY.CO M DEC EM B E R 2023

Install enough acres, the model shows, and the city will have reduced sewage overflows by an amount acceptable to regulators.

Camden, Kricun says, prioritized eliminating sewage flooding in homes as well as combined sewage overflows into the river, measured by devices that detect actual overflows from the sewers.

“In order to do that, we looked at gray [traditional] infrastructure improvements as the centerpiece of our program with green infrastructure being a complementary feature,” Kricun says. “PWD’s is the reverse — green infrastructure is the centerpiece, complemented by gray infrastructure.”

Camden also put nets on the end of all of their overflow pipes to capture sewage sludge as well as floating plastics with sensors that indicate when they’ve been impacted. Each of these goals came with hard data or dependable community feedback to indicate they were working.

For these reasons, some advocates on the Pennsylvania side of the river like Pagon hold up Camden’s approach as superior.

“Camden is doing much better for a variety of reasons,” Pagon says.

Kricun doesn’t go that far. Philadelphia is a different beast, he points out, much larger in size and thus more costly to fix.

“The Green City, Clean Waters plan has already done a great deal of good for water quality in the Philadelphia region and will be even more beneficial when it has been completed,” Kricun says.

Experts like Toran, the Temple University hydrogeologist, also caution that perceived improvements — like placing nets over pipes — can have significant maintenance issues and costs. In Philadelphia, there are over 160 sewer outfalls, compared to 28 in Camden, and many are in potentially tricky locations to maintain, like the Delaware River.

Kelly O’Day gives Grid reporter Kyle Bagenstose a tour of T1, which O’Day describes as “the grossest [stormwater] outfall in the region.”

Yet in interviews, even experts supportive of Green City, Clean Waters cautiously suggest close inspection. For Kricun, a pertinent question is whether Philadelphia’s use of 2006 as a baseline for its models will hold up, as climate scientists predict continued increases in extreme rainfall. He also has equity concerns. In Camden, green infrastructure installation was prioritized in frequently flooded environmental justice communities. But Philadelphia views installation at any location equally. “[Green City, Clean Waters] could be improved upon to address climate change, incorporate equity considerations and achieve even better water quality outcomes,” Kricun says.

There’s also the question of whether or not there’s even enough room to put nearly 10,000 green acres in Philadelphia. Under their 25-year agreement with regulators, installation is weighted toward the tail end.

P HOTO GRA P H Y BY C H R IS BA KE R EV E N S

It’s the grossest outfall in the region ...

T1 is like the hidden secret of the grossness of the combined sewer overflows.”

— kelly o’day, Environmental Engineer Philadelphia hit its target of about 2,100 acres at the ten-year mark, but that left 7,400 to go.

And over the past half decade, PWD has averaged only 236 new acres a year. At that rate, Philadelphia would install about 5,700 acres by 2035, less than 60% of the total target.

“We have a major city with thousands of

acres of impervious surface, so to implement and make this work, you need a lot of green,” says Robert Traver, an environmental engineer and Director of Villanova University’s Center for Resilient Water Systems.

For some, these issues prompt serious questions about the program at its halfway D ECE M B E R 20 23 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 1 5

green city, troubled waters

Stormwater from roadway flows into green inlet to rain garden

Excess stormwater is directed to overflow inlet and existing sewer

Water infiltrates through soil

mark. With the city spending billions on a program that may not be working, waiting another decade amounts to lost time and taxpayer money. Rumpler, of Environment America, says the program’s stated $2.4 billion price tag is probably even too low, and that state and federal lawmakers — along with suburban communities that send sewage to Philadelphia for treatment — should all be contributing more money to help pay for it.

“I think it’s a mistake to start debating how much of that $2.4 billion should be green and

how much should be [traditional] infrastructure,” Rumpler says. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they need to just double that number, at a minimum, to get to the point where they’re really dramatically ratcheting down and ideally eliminating their sewage overflows.”

But Neukrug says many of these criticisms miss a bigger picture. The Philadelphia Water Department is an extremely forwardlooking organization, he says. There is a century of unprecedented challenges ahead.

With climate change bearing down and sea

All the tunnels have nicknames. Ours was ‘the 100-yeartunnel.’ That’s how long it would take for us to be able to, in a city like Philadelphia, find the $10 billion dollars, put it in the rate structure, and have people pay for this thing.”

— howard neukrug, former PWD Commissioner 16 GRID P H IL LY.CO M DEC EM B E R 2023

DIAGRAM OF A RAIN GARDEN

levels rising, saltwater intrusion could potentially threaten the very safety of the city’s drinking water and require extremely expensive upgrades to fix. Residents of the heavily impoverished city already face affordability problems across the board. Constantly lurking are the threats of unregulated chemicals and lead pipes.

In other words, Philadelphia has a lot on its plate and limited dollars to go around.

From this perspective, Green City, Clean Waters is the right tool: an innovative and relatively low-cost solution that returns value to the community in more ways than one.

Neukrug says although its exact effectiveness can be tough to pin down, that doesn’t mean it should be abandoned at halftime.

It has too much merit, he argues, and the water department can do more in 2035 if it finds progress isn’t sufficient.

“It’s hard to say who is wrong or right either way,” Neukrug says. “[But] we’re supporting the growth of a sustainable city … and that’s it, that’s the spot. That’s environmental justice, fairness and affordability.” ◆

P H I L A D E L P H I A WAT E R D E PA R T M E N T

Stormwater flows downhill into garden from surrounding area

Health the

issue

How are you feeling? Yes, that’s a simple question with a complicated answer. ¶ How you rate your overall wellness depends on so many factors: Your physical, emotional and mental health is an obvious place to start; it’s easier to feel well if you’re not suffering. ¶ Easing and coping with pain can depend on finding a provider who understands you and can provide culturally appropriate care. If you don’t feel that the provider fully respects and understands you, it’s hard to focus on getting better. ¶ Are you getting enough exercise? We all know about the health benefits of moving your body. But if it’s tough to find an exercise class where you fit in, or a park where you feel safe running around with your kids, it’s a struggle to reap those benefits. In an ideal world, we’d all know the hiking trails and the fields for tossing a ball around, but in our reality here in Philadelphia, many of us need some help navigating the options. ¶ Of course it is harder to feel well if the home you live in poisons you, whether that’s through lead dust or cooking fumes triggering asthma attacks. ¶ There’s a lot that goes into feeling well. Some factors are under our control as individuals, but even more are under our control if we work collectively.

We hope this issue gets you thinking about all the ways we can all feel better.

D ECE M B E R 20 23 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 17

k

the health issue

A Weed’s Worth Expert forager shows us the power of the plants we overlook story by marilyn anthony • photography by matthew bender

O

n a brilliant October morning in FDR Park, a small group coalesces around a striking figure. Sporting a cap of tight platinum curls, “The Thursday Murder Club” earrings and floral overalls that would provide perfect camouflage in a perennial garden at high season, Lady Danni Morinich welcomes aspiring foragers to her two-hour exploration of wild plants. She sets the tone with the first of many memorable statements: “A weed is a plant whose value you haven’t yet understood.”

Morinich proceeded to school the group in foraging etiquette. For starters, foraging is not only for eating. Her four-season foraging yields plants for culinary, medicinal and other uses. Rule number two is: “Know and go slow.” Self-described as someone who “measures twice and cuts once,” Morinich warns against taking chances on unfamiliar plants. It’s always a bad idea to make a meal from a bunch of random stuff. She cautions against relying on unvetted internet sources and puts her trust in old hardback reference books, though in the field she checks “lookalike” plants with the Picture This app on her phone.

Before the picking starts she urges the group to be respectful. “You are walking through the home of many creatures. If you take something from their home, use it. Don’t waste it.”

We’ve only taken a few steps when Morinich bends down at the first edible, a clump of garlic grass. She pinches some off and passes it around for the group to smell, then digs up a few tiny bulbs. The tops are flavorful garnish while the bulbs, when steeped in honey as her grandmother used to do, offer respiratory relief during cold and flu season.

Lady Danni — an honorary title acquired when friends gifted her a tiny parcel of land in Scotland — is the proprietress of the mul18 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M DEC EM B E R 20 23

tifaceted business Landed Gentress Handcrafted Herbals. Through her website, Morinich offers guided tours and workshops and retails her handcrafted elixirs, tinctures and teas.

Morinich brings heavy bona fides to her forager’s role. She has a Master Herbalist diploma from the Centre of Excellence; is

a member of the American Herbalist Guild and the American Botanical Council; an alumna of The Wild Foodies of Philly; and a wild plants tour leader for the Free Library of Philadelphia, Mural Arts Philadelphia and other community organizations.

An initial foray with Wild Foodies in 2016 launched Morinich into researching wild plants. Morinich describes her first encounter with foraging as a “Damascene conversion” — she felt as if she was discovering her true place in the world. Wild Foodies founder Lynn Landes recognized Morinich’s passion and encouraged her to co-lead Wild Foodies tours as preparation for launching Landed Gentress in 2020.

At the FDR Park walk, her bright overalls are embroidered with the word “crone.”

“Crone is one of those labels people of a certain age don’t want, but I’m reclaiming

it the same way some people want to reclaim ‘bitch,’” she says. “It’s about knowing who you are and what you want, knowing that you have wisdom to share. If anybody else thinks that because you’re well over 50 you’re past your sell-by date, I want to say, ‘I am not! I will not be invisible.’” After only a few minutes in her company, it’s impossible to imagine anyone dismissing the 59-yearold as invisible.

She grew up in a Wilmington, DE, household with strong connections to the natural world. Her grandmother taught her to make soap; her father enjoyed hunting, fishing and being in the woods. Morinich, though, was known to be a “mosquito attractor,” she says. “The kid allergic to almost everything and scared to go outside.” After her father died, she says she felt drawn to the outdoors as a way of reconnecting with him. “I went

into the woods to find my dad and I found so much more.”

Morinich approaches her work as the “opposite of a ‘Magical Mystery Tour.’”

Crediting the discipline she acquired as an Ursuline Academy student, it’s important to her to provide Latin plant names and to share accurate research about the history, uses and context of every item. With wit and colorful descriptions, she points out a rich array of what most consider worthless weeds: white snakeroot, burdock, late boneset, rose swamp mallow, mugwort and timothy grass.

Goldenrod, she explains, does not cause an allergic reaction because its pollen is not airborne like ragweed, the true culprit. Sweet clover contains coumarin, the compound used in pharmaceuticals as a blood thinner.

Purple loosestrife is a natural antibiotic.

You are walking through the home of many creatures. If you take something from their home, use it. Don’t waste it.”

LADY DANNI MORINICH, Landed Gentress

Lady Danni Morinich teaches the unappreciated benefits of wild plants at FDR Park.

Duckweed is not pond scum but a prolific plant that prevents algae overgrowth and is a valuable food source for aquatic life.

Lots of appreciative “wows” float up from her audience as Morinich narrates stories of trees such as the northern catalpa, the groundsel, the sweet gum and the bald cypress, all majestically growing in FDR Park. She informs us that the box elder can be tapped for syrup and white pine needle tea contains five times more vitamin C than lemons. Her comments provide links to a time when poverty and lack of access to medical treatment necessitated using plants as medicinals, a rich tradition among rural and Black communities.

As the group observes a dandelion patch, Morinich recounts a creation story in which the angels asked every plant what it would like to be. The dandelion wants to be “golden like the sun, round and white like the moon, with seeds as beautiful as the stars.”

In her animated storytelling, Morinich shines as a teacher whose ambition is to change the way we see the natural world. “If all of a sudden you look at something you’ve looked at every single day of your life and thought it was absolutely useless and now you get it, that’s worth it to me.”

Despite her deep expertise, Morinich still gets jitters before leading tours and workshops. Two things motivate her: a belief in the healing power of nature and a commitment to encourage more people of color to exercise their rights to be on the land. Especially in an urban setting, it’s too easy to become detached from nature, particularly for Black and Brown people who may feel they are not welcome or safe exploring parks and woodland settings. She wants more people of color to experience the power of nature, though she admits they have to be prepared to face suspicion in what have customarily been areas of white privilege.

But the effort is worth it. Morinich believes that “Nature offers succor for everyone. Spending just 20 minutes outside listening to the trees, breathing the air, feeling the sunshine, and looking at the plants is calming — and it’s free.”

Whether the topic is crones, or weeds, or the power of nature, Morinich’s optimistic philosophy informs her work. “There are a lot of things in life people are really quick to dismiss,” she says, “but if you just understand what they’re capable of, that mindset changes everything.” ◆ D ECE M B E R 20 23 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 1 9

the health issue

Dr. Tyra Bryant-Stephens fights youth asthma with her team at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Breathing Easier Home repair program slashes childhood asthma hospitalizations story by ashley lauren walker

M

s. yalanda lewis lives in Southwest Philly with her three children — two boys and a 6-year-old girl, the youngest. “My amazing daughter wanted to test me and see if I could handle a child with asthma,” she jokes. “Every month, we were in the emergency room for allergic reactions, asthma attacks and more.” Amid these visits, a member of the Community Asthma Pre� vention Program (CAPP) team at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) reached out and encouraged Lewis to apply.

“I was at my wit’s end. Outside of getting her a new set of lungs, I said let’s do it.”

In 1997, Dr. Tyra Bryant-Stephens founded CAPP, a program that implements asthma interventions in underserved, poorly20 GRID P H I L LY.CO M DEC EM BE R 2023

resourced communities. As medical director of the program, she leads a core staff that includes public health professionals, nurse coordinators, research coordinators and community health workers. Since its inception, CAPP has made over 21,000 home-based asthma visits, educated thousands of caregivers in community education classes, provided site-based asthma trainings for hundreds of primary care providers and taught hundreds of children in schoolbased asthma classes.

“Did you know that Fabuloso is a huge asthma trigger?” inquires Bryant-Stephens. The multi-purpose cleaner is just one of many popular household products that contain a staggering number of toxic chemicals known to cause respiratory prob-

lems.“White vinegar-based products are best,” she informs me as we discuss some of the surprising causes for asthma attacks throughout the home.

Recently, Bryant-Stephens partnered with home repair agencies, including Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, to create Community Asthma Prevention Program Plus (CAPP+), which provides structural home repairs to eliminate root causes of asthma triggers.

Their work includes roof and plumbing repairs to prevent leaks that lead to mold growth, wall repairs to eliminate lingering smoke particles or traveling pests, and pest extermination to prevent allergic reactions.

The program primarily serves homeowners in West and Southwest Philadelphia.

These sections of the city are prioritized for good reason — as many as one in four children in West Philadelphia live with asthma.

In Philadelphia, 21% of children have asthma, which is more than double the national rate.

Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic children have the highest rates of asthma-related hospitalizations, roughly five times higher than that of non-Hispanic white children.

P HOTO G RAP H BY CHRIS BAKER EVENS

C H I L D R E N ’ S H O S P I TA L O F P H I L A D E L P H I A

When the CAPP team gave families tools for dust, mold and pest management, they would find more structural problems, Bryant-Stephens says. “I realized, for example, we won’t solve this mold problem because there’s actually a leak.”

After struggling to find local companies that did repairs for asthma specifically, she decided to partner with organizations to fix the structural issues, creating CAPP+.

The program’s interventions have reduced asthma-related emergency room visits by approximately 50% and symptoms by 30%.

CAPP+ prioritizes working with minority and women-owned businesses, BryantStephens says. “We also partner with The Enterprise Center and give recipients a $500 voucher for future repairs, which is almost like a starter emergency fund,” she says.

To ensure a holistic approach, families are partnered with Clarifi, an organization that helps people build financial resilience, and referred to CHOP’s Food Pharmacy.

To be eligible to participate in CAPP+, each family must have a child who had over four emergency room visits for asthma in one year, be a CAPP recipient and be a homeowner or have a landlord who will sign a memo-

I haven’t really had to run the air purifiers — only once or twice a month instead of buying $40 air filters weekly.”

YALANDA LEWIS, CAPP+ recipient

randum ensuring that they won’t raise rent or evict the tenants. Bryant-Stephens says that while the program is free, “not all eligible families that are offered a space want it, but we’ve had so many applications that we’ve had to turn families down.”

After about a year of program outreach, Lewis agreed to participate in CAPP+. “At first, I was really skeptical about people coming into my home. But as I filled out the paperwork and learned about the different triggers, I was able to ask my team member questions and become comfortable with the process,” Lewis says. She now understands how carpets hold dander, can spot water damage that leads to mold, and knows that humid basement air containing mold spores can rise to affect the rest of the house. “As a homeowner, nobody told me that these are the things that trigger attacks.”

Throughout the summer of 2023, the Lewis’ home underwent repairs. The program

paid for the family to stay in a hotel for three nights, which the kids loved, Lewis says. The workers kept in contact throughout the process as well. “Even as problems arose, it was an awesome experience. They checked in and followed up constantly,” she says.

By the end of August, Lewis’ home had upgrades she didn’t know she needed but was thrilled to receive. Over the course of several months, workers installed brand new ventilation systems in the kitchen and bathroom, dehumidifiers, ceiling fans and PVC pipes for plumbing; filled holes and stress marks on the walls; dusted vents and applied new coats of paint. These upgrades gave Lewis the confidence to make some cosmetic upgrades as well, she says. ”It took a few months from start to finish, but it was life changing for my family,” Lewis says.

Most importantly, her daughter’s asthma is now much better controlled. She doesn’t get winded, sneezy or itchy when she plays, and it’s easy for her to catch her breath, BEFORE&AFTER ›› The CAPP+ team repaired the wall in the Lewis says. “I haven’t really bedroom of Yalanda Lewis’ daughter — and brightened it up with had to run the air purifiers — a new coat of paint. Her daughter’s asthma has since improved. only once or twice a month instead of buying $40 air filters weekly.”

Before repairs, her daughter’s hospital visits were bimonthly; now, they’re virtually non-existent.

Bryant-Stephens and her team are hoping to help more families struggling with asthma before the end of the 2023 fiscal year. So far, “we’ve remodeled more than 30 CAPP+ homes and are approaching 200 homes overall,” she says.

As for families that are eligible for CAPP+ and are hesitant, as Lewis was, she says it’s all worthwhile. “The experience was truly a blessing. Don’t look at what could go wrong. If you go into the process with an open mind, there’s so much you can get done. Eliminating those triggers is for your loved ones, and trust the process from there.” ◆ D ECE M B E R 20 23 G R I DP HILLY.COM 21

the health issue

A Grounding Place Yoga nonprofit provides a supportive environment for people of all races, ages and genders story by dawn kane • photography by troy bynum

T

he nine students sitting before their teacher, Andre Coles, differ in age, physical abilities, gender and race, but they come together to grow and build community through the Roots2Rise yoga program. With soft music playing in the background, program director Coles welcomes all.

“Sometimes the world seems very unstable,” Coles says in a gentle tone that rises and falls, giving testimony to his background as a preacher’s son. “The first thing we need to do is to ground ourselves, to achieve stability. We must face the world from a grounded place. Feel the breath that helps us drop into ourselves. This is your time for growth, and it starts by anchoring ourselves through the breath.”

The weekly “In Touch” yoga class offered on Monday afternoons at the Lutheran Settlement House in Fishtown is one of the inclusive, accessible community classes offered by Roots2Rise Wellness, a registered nonprofit funded through donations, whose mission is to break down income, demographic and gender barriers to yoga and meditation classes. Their low or no-cost classes are currently available in Fishtown, West Philadelphia and online. In December, additional classes will begin at the Kaiserman Jewish Community Center in Wynnewood, Montgomery County. In the spring and summer, several outdoor classes will open in parks around the city.

Coles, also a singer-songwriter who goes

by Boy Wonder, believes that the benefits of yoga and meditation must be available to all Philadelphians, not just the privileged and affluent. He describes how, as a person of color, it helps him navigate a culture of white supremacy. “What yoga has done for me is give me enough space between 22 GRID P H I L LY.CO M DEC EM B E R 20 23

thought and action. It can literally save your life.” He says it has also improved his sleep; the first yoga class he ever took was a restorative class in 2016. “It was the first time in like two years that I slept eight hours,” he says.

A number of studies indicate that yoga and meditation improve strength, flexibility

and brain health. Regular practice has been shown to fight anxiety and depression, improve overall quality of life, and when used as a part of a treatment plan, it can help those suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Martisha Hardy has been coming to Roots2Rise classes for two years and appreciates the community aspect and affordability. “It was a surprise to find a good teacher who was also a male person of color,” she says.

“In the yoga world, [Coles] is like a unicorn.

It makes me feel comfortable and like I can be myself.” She also appreciates that she’s grown stronger and lost a couple of pounds. “I can do difficult poses now … Andre knows how to push me.” Hardy says she feels the difference and tries to come every week.

Pamela Coles, Andre Coles’ mother and a Roots2Rise board member, opts to practice from a chair because, at the age of 75, she says it’s hard for her to work on the floor.

What yoga has done for me is give me enough space between thought and action. It can literally save your life.”

ANDRE COLES, Roots2Rise

Roots2Rise director Andre Coles leads students through pigeon pose.

“Yoga helps my mobility. And sometimes you need stillness. You need calm,” she says. That calm helped her through the loss of her husband six years ago, and she now considers yoga and meditation a part of her spiritual practice.

Roots2Rise was founded by Tim Wagner, a newly certified instructor, when he was given the opportunity to teach at the Curran-From-

hold Correctional Facility (CFCF) in Northeast Philadelphia. After teaching there weekly for two years, a man approached and asked, “Why are you not doing this in the community? Why do I have to be locked up to get the opportunity to experience this?”

That conversation spurred Wagner to shift to community-based programming.

Wagner expanded Roots2Rise through-

BIPOC yogis can feel at home in Roots2Rise classes.

out 2018 and 2019, hiring more than twenty teachers across the city to teach in recreational centers, places of worship, libraries, pools and parks. Coles became a consistent student at the time; the affordability allowed him to attend regularly and he started seeing benefits, he says. His father, youth minister and role model Rev. Vincent Coles, was in ill health, which increased stress levels in Coles’ life. Coles approached Wagner for the instructor training the day after his father’s funeral. Less than three years later, he became the director of the program when Wagner stepped down.

Since then, Roots2Rise classes have continued to grow. Coles takes it as a sign that the formula is working. “I think we judge our success [by] the interactions that we have with the folks,” he says. He expressed particular satisfaction with the weekly virtual class called “Breathe” for Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC). “We created that space for the community to come together [to] breathe and move. We have four different teachers and we’re really proud of it.”

Dr. Loren Thomas, Roots2Rise board president, believes that the commitment to inclusivity and social justice that has continued under Coles’ leadership is essential because it provides a space for self-care that can help people who are anxious about money, health issues and racism.

As an example, Thomas recalls teaching a six-week Zoom series with the Free Library of Philadelphia where he was the only white face in the group. Then George Floyd was murdered and protests erupted. He was worried about the next class, but everyone showed up and one of his students took over the intention setting and brought cohesion to the group.

In the future, Coles wants to expand classes to reach more neighborhoods. He’s also open to virtual expansion and is considering starting a YouTube channel dedicated to the Roots2Rise mission.

In the closing beats of the Fishtown class, Coles dims the lights, and the music becomes softer as he leads the students in a resting meditation. “Go someplace in your mind that makes you feel calm and loved.

Whatever way you do, find rest.” ◆ For class schedules, follow @Roots2Rise on Facebook and Instagram.

D ECE M B E R 20 23 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 23

the health issue

Children get a taste of their medicine — the great outdoors — at Awbury Arboretum.

Doctor’s Orders Time in nature is a boon for children’s physical and mental health. It’s also great for parents story by kiersten adams • photography by troy bynum

S

ix-year-old west philly native Idris McClellan looks very much at home running through Awbury Arboretum on a recent fall day, but he’s actually there on doctor’s orders.

McClellan is part of Prescribe Outside, a collaborative program of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Awbury, Let’s Go Outdoors and the U.S. Forest Service to encourage outdoor time and recreation for children and their families.

When asked what he enjoys most about being outside or being a part of their program, McClellan explains it simply: “I like birds [and] I like hikes.”

24 GRID P H IL LY.CO M DEC EM BE R 20 23

McClellan’s mother, Laray ‘Lovely Ray’ Smalley shares that the prescription isn’t something that came as a burden, but as a relief. She sees it as an appealing opportunity for her and her son — who spend most of their days indoors at school and work — to participate in physical, nature-based activities.

That day at Awbury, Prescribe Outside program manager Grace Parker leads a gaggle of children and their families through the arboretum’s “farmside,” home to chickens, goats, a community farm hub and more, before taking part in an obstacle course.

“When I told [my son] that we were going to be coming here, he was even more excit-

ed,” says Smalley. “He actually got up [earlier] than he normally will just to make sure that we get here on time. So that was pretty awesome for me to know that he actually enjoys doing it.”

Through Prescribe Outside, CHOP — one of the leading medical institutions globally — is able to provide a free and healthy holistic treatment that comes in the simple form of being outside. It’s part of a trend among doctors exploring more holistic prescriptions for their patients, a practice that became even more needed during COVID-19.

“During the pandemic, we saw kids getting less healthy because they were trapped inside,” says Sharon Sutherland, pediatric doctor at CHOP’s Cobbs Creek facility. With quarantine came heightened use of screens and a major increase in inactivity leading to obesity in children and teens.

“There’s been a lot of research that has found excessive screen use makes kids depressed,” says Barbara Rolnick, pediatric

Grace Parker of Prescribe Outside works to give health practitioners the tools to connect kids to the outdoors.

a lot of these issues,” says Sutherland. “Kids with ADHD, hyperactivity, anything like that, we know just going outside and running and smelling the green will be important.”

As reported by the U.S. Forest Service and a 2022 Harvard University research study, time outdoors yields major benefits for one’s physical and mental health. Researchers say time in green spaces encourages exercise, social interaction, reduction in stress and anxiety, and improved sleep.

As a case worker for the Department of Human Services, Smalley works from home. For her, the prescription wasn’t just about getting her son outside, but offered some outdoor respite for herself as well.

“When I do get a chance to come outside, I feel happy, especially when the sun is shining. It just brings a good spirit into me, a good energy,” says Smalley.

While nature-based healing might seem simple, there are still barriers — such as lack of access to green spaces throughout the city — that bars folks from making the trek out.

West Philadelphia has Bartram’s Garden and The Woodlands; Rittenhouse Square

We want to live in a world where nature is seen as a valuable and celebrated part of health and well-being.”

SARA STEVENSON, Awbury Arboretum

doctor at CHOP’s Roxborough clinic. “Getting everybody off of those screens, the whole family spending some time together, doing something that is good for them, it just makes a lot of sense.”

Afraid of the long-term results of prolonged screen time and sedentary behavior, doctors Rolnick, Sutherland and fellow CHOP pediatric doctor Natalie Minto collaborated to initiate the Prescribe Outside program in 2022.

While CHOP isn’t always able to recommend this to their inpatients who need closer medical attention, Prescribe Outside offers another solution for ambulatory patients who are at serious risk of mental health concerns.

“We’re able to prescribe medication to try to help relieve whatever illness, but sometimes just getting outside will be helpful for

fits snuggly in Center City; Fairmount Park is expansive and has great views of downtown; and FDR Park is the famed treasure of South Philly. But despite the numerous green spaces, there are still people who’ve never explored these parks — or even know they exist.

“I feel that there are a lot of resources in the city of Philadelphia, but they’re kind of insular. And you’re not always aware of them,” says Minto.

Through Prescribe Outside, CHOP and their green space partners are providing opportunities for people to find ways to interact with the outdoors that don’t feel too daunting.

“I have one family that lived very near Pennypack Park and had never stepped foot in there. And after they went to one of these activities, it’s become one of their favorite

places and they go all the time,” says Rolnick.

“Sometimes people are afraid to try something new, but then once they try it and see how great it is, they become repeat visitors.”

Prescribe Outside recently partnered with Awbury to bring programming to families in Northwest Philly. Their mission is to make the program accessible throughout the city, meeting all patients and families where they are. The 56-acre, open-to-the-public arboretum, which includes sprawling woodlands, wetlands, meadows, gardens and agriculture fields like the Weavers Way Mort Brooks Memorial Farm, is the latest to facilitate programming on behalf of CHOP. As the land steward representative for Prescribe Outside, Awbury’s role is to help facilitate community connection to green spaces and help understand the needs of their community.

“It’s just so in line with our mission,” says Awbury executive director Sara Stevenson.

“We’re trying to create inclusive green spaces, we’re trying to foster an environment that’s really welcoming, and find creative ways to connect — especially youth and families — with nature.”

At Awbury, attendees can expect an array of activities to participate in, like nature hikes and storytime strolls where kids are read stories before venturing on a walk through the meadows.

Beyond Awbury, there are scavenger hunts, tree identification and card making in Cobbs Creek Park, archery at FDR Park and many more activities throughout the year. And the events aren’t random. Together, CHOP physicians and green space teams collaborate on activities that are both environmentally enriching and conscious of medical needs.

“We’re taking a look at what they’re seeing clinically and trying to translate into a program that could be helpful,” says Prescribe Outside’s Parker.

“For instance, our bubble walks. You’re walking out in nature, you’re able to explore and be amongst the trees. But also, there is this emphasis on blowing bubbles, which to kids is just fun, but [what] you’re trying to teach them is to moderate their breathing as a way to regulate their nervous system,” Parker shares. “I like to think of it as almost physical therapy, and that they’re playing, but don’t really realize it.”

D ECE M B E R 20 23 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 25

the health issue

Playing and exploring outdoors is as fun as it is healing.

Getting everybody off of those screens, the whole family spending some time together, doing something that is good for them, it just makes a lot of sense.”

DR. BARBARA ROLNICK, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Awbury and Prescribe Outside gear programming towards groups and families; in group activities, staff members like Stevenson and Parker notice there’s less hesitancy to get involved. Even if families are unfamiliar with the terrain, they’re trying new games and interactive activities because they feel safe and respected in their environments. As Stevenson shares, there’s a lack of intimidation about trying something new in a group.

“We’re intentionally not self-guided,” says Stevenson. “We are trying to do these structured meetups, one, to build community [and] two, because, though our target audience are children, we feel like parents are a really important audience for this. We want parents to feel comfortable in nature too, so that they’re taking their kids into nature beyond this program.”

Not only does the program create a sense of care and belonging for families who might 26 GRID P H I L LY.CO M DEC EM BE R 2023

not be intimately connected to green spaces, it also subtly addresses the alternatives to antidepressants — which can negatively affect young developing brains. In some cases, children and teens on antidepressants are still experiencing suicidal thoughts.

Rather than wait until antidepressants are necessary, Prescribe Outside utilizes preventative healthcare, or the act of treating a disease or illness before it manifests.

By getting outside, soaking in vitamin D, and breathing in fresh air, Rolnick feels CHOP’s doctors are able to tackle challenges with mental health before major episodes.

“The system that we have now is designed to be reactive, not proactive; we wait for kids to be in crisis. Then there’s a three to four month wait for them to get help for whatever is troubling them in terms of mental health,” says Rolnick. “We didn’t want to sit and watch all these kids getting worse and having nowhere to go.”

Prescriptive outdoor time isn’t a new concept, and Prescribe Outside isn’t an entirely novel initiative. It’s derived from the CHOP’s NaturePHL program, a multi-division project that connected kids with nature for better health and well-being. Bringing together CHOP’s primary care physicians, environmental educators, public health advocates, Parks and Recreation leaders with community leaders, NaturePHL worked to integrate green spaces and healthcare facilities as a resource in pediatric and family care.

NaturePHL was a widely recognized clinical outdoor project among 80 other similar programs that exist around the country, but despite its success, the program was scrapped amidst the pandemic.

Not willing to let go of the progress being made, childcare physicians Sutherland, Minto and Rolnick committed themselves to rebranding the nature-based care program.

As Prescribe Outside continues to expand into more green spaces throughout Philadelphia, Rolnick shares that the Chestnut Hill clinic could be the next to participate.

“We want to live in a world where nature is seen as a valuable and celebrated part of health and well-being,” says Stevenson.

“And that there’s no right way to engage with nature, that any way is positive.” ◆

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the health issue

Breaking Taboo Afrocentric practice offers culturally competent mental health care in North Philadelphia story by constance garcia-barrio • photograph by chris baker evens

T

he phone woke Jacqui Johnson, founder and clinical director of Sankofa Healing Studio, from a sound sleep. On the other end of the line, Tinika Hogan, recently released from prison, teetered on the brink of disaster. She was about to do something that would have gotten her kicked out of a halfway house, which could have meant landing on the street and probably shooting up heroin again.

But Hogan knew she could call on Johnson for help — they had already built a

Sankofa Healing Studio helped Tinika Hogan find her feet after prison; she now works there as community care coordinator.

28 GRID P H IL LY.CO M DEC EM BE R 20 23

trusting relationship during the art therapy classes Johnson teaches in prison.

“Once, Jacqui had each of us make a shield and decorate it,” Hogan says, recalling a workshop. “Then she asked us what the shield was protecting. Turns out, I was protecting my heart. The workshops helped, but I had minimal coping skills when I left prison.”

During that two-hour, early-morning conversation, Johnson, a board-certified art therapist, talked Hogan through the emergency. Sankofa’s mission — to provide

mental health care to Philadelphia’s Black community, especially people who’ve suffered trauma — frequently puts Johnson on the frontlines. Commitment and empathy keep her there.

“I had my own struggles,” says Johnson, raised in Southwest Philadelphia and Yeadon. “I was a young mother who wanted to be present for her children.” Johnson, who’s also an adjunct faculty member at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, worked in accounting, catering and other positions before opening Sankofa Healing Studio in 2018.

Johnson faces stiff odds in nudging some Black Philadelphians toward mental health support. Nationwide, only one in three Black adults who need mental health care receives it, according to the California office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Yet 16% of Black Americans reported having a mental illness in 2018 — a figure similar to other racial and ethnic groups — according to Mental Health America, a nonprofit devoted to mental wellbeing.

Cost and stigma play a part in stopping

many Black Americans from seeking treatment, according to NAMI. In addition, white providers, who may be biased, far outnumber Black mental health professionals. Nationally, 4% of psychologists and 2% of psychiatrists are Black, according to the Association of Black Psychologists.

The lack of cultural competence among some white clinicians can, and does, lead to misdiagnosis and inadequate treatment.

“People from racial and ethnic minority populations, as well as those from lower socioeconomic strata, and those … in rural communities, are less likely to have access to mental health care and more likely to receive lower quality care,” writes Joshua A. Gordon,

ing tones from singing bowls, chimes and other instruments to promote relaxation.

Clients who come to Sankofa’s suite in the Office of Reentry Partnerships in Center City find reassurance from the moment they cross the threshold. Laurel, which uplifts the senses, or cinnamon, a grounding aroma, scent the air. Luxuriant ivy drapes the shelves. The décor includes images of attractive Black people as well as Ghanaian Adinkra symbols. The symbols, found on pottery and fabric both in the U.S. and Africa, sum up traditional wisdom. Sankofa, the Adinkra symbol which gives Johnson’s healing studio its name, shows either a stylized heart or a bird looking backward while

Jacqui is culturally sensitive. She’s like the girl next door or a healing auntie. People don’t feel out of their element with her. She meets them where they are.”

DONNELL DRINKS, Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth

director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the lead federal agency for research on mental disorders. The situation fuels mistrust among Black Americans.

Johnson aims to breach those barriers.

Sankofa, which serves more than 350 clients annually, has a sliding fee scale to make care more affordable. The staff also approaches potential clients on their home turf to make the idea of psychological services less daunting. Sankofa’s six therapists handed out brochures and discussed the group’s services at Germantown’s 2023 Juneteenth celebration.

Johnson also gave attendees a free sound bath, which immerses participants in sooth-

its feet face forward. The bird conveys the importance of understanding or reclaiming the past to build a solid future.

The Afrocentric vibe helps, but Johnson’s manner is the key difference, according to Donnell Drinks. Drinks, who committed a murder at 17 and served 27 years in prison, is now an anti-violence activist and the leadership development and engagement coordinator at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. He often refers families who have lost a loved one on the streets to Sankofa.

“Jacqui is culturally sensitive,” says Drinks.

“She’s like the girl next door or a healing auntie. People don’t feel out of their element with

her. She meets them where they are.”

Besides the staff’s welcoming presence, Sankofa offers several Afrocentric therapies. Kemetic yoga, said to have developed in Ancient Egypt, is much slower and more deliberate than Hatha yoga from India.

Chicago native and master yoga instructor Yirser Ra Hotep brought Kemetic yoga to the U.S. some 45 years ago. Kemetic yoga has poses in common with Hatha as well as others that are unique.

Sankofa also provides Hip Hop therapy.

Begun in the 1990s by the late Edgar H. Tyson, it includes the music in session with clients. If the client is having a hard time in a relationship, the therapist might play a song about a relationship gone sour to tap into the client’s emotions. The lyrics could provide the starting point for a discussion and help clients find words to express themselves. In some cases, therapists encourage clients to write songs about their feelings, a process that can lead to catharsis and sharper communication skills. Sankofa has two sound booths to record songs.

Despite Johnson’s success and some support from grants and foundations, she finds herself in a bind because Sankofa isn’t fully self-sustaining. “I’m struggling to keep the doors open, to continue programs like the perinatal mental health series and other programs, to not turn anyone away, but I’m stretched thin,” she says. (To make a donation, visit sankofahealingstudio.org) In the years since Hogan’s frantic call to Johnson, much has happened. Hogan has joined Sankofa’s staff as community care coordinator. She accompanies Johnson at events like the Juneteenth celebration and talks with people about mental health.

“It’s my way of giving back,” Hogan says.

“Jacqui’s doing important work.” ◆

D ECE M B E R 20 23 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 29

the health issue

How to Change Philly’s Mind Therapeutic psychedelics hold the promise of individual and communal healing story by ben seal

E

arlier this fall, the future of psychedelics in Philadelphia looked promising.

Colette Condorcita Schmitt, the founder of Decriminalize Nature Philadelphia, which advocates for expanded access to psychedelic plants and fungi, had been in conversation with the staff of City Councilmember Jim Harrity about a proposal that would decriminalize the use and possession of psychedelics in the city.

With an apparent supporter in City Hall, she anticipated a legislative hearing that would shed light on the benefits of these 30 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M DEC EM BE R 20 23

drugs and their potential to help heal individual and communal trauma, connect residents to nature, and support the aims of harm reduction.

Bringing such a conversation into the City’s halls of power would have opened the door to Philadelphia joining a growing number of states and municipalities, including Oregon and Colorado, that are decriminalizing the use of psychedelics amid a renaissance of interest in and research about their potential to improve lives.

In the end, Condorcita learned that Harrity’s backing had fallen through, in keep-

ing with a trend in Philadelphia politics that has resisted the liberalization of drug policy, from marijuana sales to safe-injection sites.

Harrity, who is in recovery for alcohol addiction, was interested in the potential for psychedelics to be part of a “comprehensive approach to solving an addiction crisis,” according to his legislative director, Alex Palmer, but had concerns about their efficacy for that purpose and his ability to find support on City Council. His hesitancy was a setback in the effort to increase psychedelic access for Philadelphians, but perhaps only a temporary one.

Buoyed by a growing body of research showing the potential of these drugs to support the treatment of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction — supplementing generations of Indigenous medicinal practice using psychedelic plants and fungi — people are increasingly turning to psychedelics in search of healing. In Philadelphia, that work is largely taking place underground, but doctors, nurses, social workers and others are undergoing training in advance of the anticipated approval of psychedelic-assisted

M A X G R U DZ I N S K I

Colette Condorcita Schmitt is working to decriminalize psychedelics in Philadelphia.

therapies by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as early as next year.

As psychedelic reform expands mainstream use around the country, Condorcita says “it’s just logical that we start the process here,” in a city where poverty, violence and addiction leave their marks on so many lives.

“With all of the intense structural problems we have here, it’s not like everyone is going to take psychedelics and all these problems of racism and pervasive poverty are going to disappear,” she says. “But these tools are used by traditional cultures in a way to heal not only individual trauma but interpersonal community trauma.”

‘A Journey of Self-Discovery’ Sarah Cohen, medical director of Resource Medical Center, an integrative medicine practice, became a doctor because she saw the need for change in the modern medical system. Too often, she says, health care emphasizes disease management rather than

Although she doesn’t yet work directly with psychedelics in helping patients find botanical and pharmacological remedies, when Cohen concludes that an individual would benefit from access to psychedelics she connects them with someone trained in their therapeutic use by organizations such as the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) or the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.

“These medicines allow for a different type of compassionate self-reflection that really has an impact at a personal and a community level,” Cohen, who has worked in the past with West Philadelphia’s SoundMind Institute for psychedelic-assisted therapy, says. “I’ve seen it increase empathy for oneself and for others. I’ve seen personal liberation happening for people.”

Cohen describes, for example, a patient who dealt with internalized homophobia from a young age and after accessing psy-

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We don’t say ‘good’ or ‘bad’ trip. We say ‘meaningful’ or ‘challenging,’ or maybe both at the same time.

When we’re talking about healing, it’s not always the path people expect.”

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addressing the root cause of a problem, particularly when it comes to mental health.

“Our medical system doesn’t really serve true healing in a sustainable and profound way,” Cohen says.

Cohen trained in internal medicine and has continued studying integrative and botanical medicine, including visiting and living with communities in Peru, Mexico and Nepal that use psychedelics as part of their natural medicine traditions.

“There are a lot of tools that are available that just aren’t taught in medical school, but they’re very effective and can be life-changing,” she says. “Psychedelics are one of those tools.”

Cohen’s practice is split between Philadelphia and Denver, which has given her a front-row view of how psychedelics can be used to dig deep into a person’s mind and body for answers to what ails them.

chedelics was able to “shed that shame and emerge with brilliance and be their genuine best self.”

“It can turn someone’s life around for the better and really allow them to show up for themselves and their loved ones in a whole new way,” Cohen says, acknowledging that isn’t the case for everyone, and that it’s important to consider the risks of psychedelic use, despite how “groundbreaking and extraordinarily beneficial” they can be for some.

Jess Jones, a licensed clinical social worker and trained psychedelic-assisted therapist, has seen the healing potential firsthand. Until this fall, she ran a private practice in Philadelphia, primarily serving those in the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities who experienced childhood trauma, which included ketamine-assisted therapy — a legal drug with some hallucinogenic effects. She’s also worked on research studies

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the health issue

32 GRID P H IL LY.CO M DEC EM B E R 2023

Condorcita believes that psychedelics can be an important addition to the therapeutic toolkit.

My hope and prayer is that Philadelphia understands that we really need to incorporate as many different supportive healing modalities as we possibly can for the level of existential trauma that we are carrying here.”

COLETTE CONDORCITA SCHMITT, Decriminalize Nature Philadelphia

thing,” she says. She returns to Peru for a month each year to deepen her understanding of the medicine.

In her home in King of Prussia, Hancock hosts a monthly meeting for dozens of members of the Psychedelic Society, and she facilitates sessions up to three times a week for clients who bring their own psychedelics — some of whom have been coming to her for years, others visiting from around the country in search of someone with traditional training. Depression and anxiety are the most common reasons clients turn to Hancock, she says, but trauma and addiction frequently play a part as well. A growing body of research shows that psychedelics can play a part in addressing each of those health concerns.

“Ultimately, it’s a journey of self-discovery, finding out who you really are,” Hancock says. “You get down to the source of your essence, your soul energy. That’s what psychedelics show you.”

Hope for Healing When Condorcita looks at the state of the city, she sees so many people who have been “systematically disconnected from basic resources,” whether that means housing and food security or something as seemingly simple as having trees in their neighborhood. Psychedelics aren’t a cure-all by any means, but they can be part of the solution at the individual and communal level, she says, by helping individuals process and overcome trauma and reconnect to the people and world around them.

As she pushes for the decriminalization of psychedelics, Condorcita worries that Philadelphia will wait too long to make space for the change they could bring if allowed into the light. “My hope and prayer is that Philadelphia understands that we really need to incorporate as many different supportive healing modalities as we possibly can for the level of existential trauma that we are carrying here.” ◆

M A X G R U DZ I N S K I

for Cybin, a pharmaceutical company using an analog of psilocybin in a trial for major depressive disorder (MDD), and Maryland’s Sunstone Therapies, where she is now a full-time staff therapist on studies involving MDMA, aka ecstasy.

“Being with people in the room is so moving,” Jones says. “Sometimes there are these blissful experiences; sometimes there are incredibly challenging, exhausting, through-the-ringer experiences. Our view on that is that it’s all useful. We don’t say ‘good’ or ‘bad’ trip. We say ‘meaningful’ or ‘challenging,’ or maybe both at the same time. When we’re talking about healing, it’s not always the path people expect.”

Psychedelics can help people reconnect to themselves, Jones says. That can mean the surfacing of emotional dimensions that have been buried, or positive aspects of one’s identity that have long been ignored. Not all psychedelics work in the same ways, but, particularly when used in a therapeutic setting, they can allow people to “connect to memories they have defended against in ways that were important at the time for survival but are perpetuating suffering,” she says.

“It’s not like people [who undergo psychedelic-assisted therapy] are going to be walking around with a smile on their faces forever,” Jones says, “but they know how to deal with things that formerly felt crippling and overwhelming.”

In many cases, the people who Jones has worked with are in their 50s, 60s or even 70s and have been in pain for a long time, carrying grief and despair around with them as unwelcome companions.

Teresa Hancock, a self-described shaman who co-organizes the Philadelphia Psychedelic Society, which has more than 3,000 members on Meetup, says her clients tend to be on the older side as well.

“I hate to say it this way, but older people have more s***,” Hancock says. “They’ve been beaten down by it more.”

Hancock understands what many of her clients are going through. Several years ago her depression was so bad that she became suicidal. In search of anything that might help, she began microdosing LSD and found herself slowly turning the corner.

After visiting Peru and participating in an ayahuasca ceremony, she was able to begin healing. The experience “changed every-

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