Black Owned Business Crawl Recap
Pride Month
Ruff Ride Philly

Black Owned Business Crawl Recap

Saturday, May 21st November Project Philly held its first ever Black Owned Business Crawl – a 5 mile run to Black Owned Businesses around the city of Philadelphia. As unique of an idea as it may sound, Black Owned Business Crawls have become a great way to garner support for Black and Brown owned businesses around the nation. However, to put our November Project stamp on it, we integrated aspects of other Black Owned Business Crawls with a well known Storytelling event format known as “The Crate Escape” – an event where participants ran from location to location to hear theme based stories from people within their community. This style of event not only encouraged patronage, but also fostered connection, curiosity, and exploration in a way that provides opportunities for greater visibility, appreciation, and support of black owned establishments. Listed below will be information about the businesses that participated along with some ways YOU can support them moving forward. If you are attending the November Project Summit in Philadelphia this September, I highly recommend you take notes. 😉 To begin the event, the group met up at REC Philly which is located at 9th and Market St on the 2nd floor of the Fashion District mall in Center City.

REC Philly

Imagine wanting to make fitness more accessible, and less intimidating to get into, and yet not having the money to buy fancy home-workout machinery. The next step for many (before they maybe stumble upon available free fitness in their community!!) is to look into a gym membership. REC Philly is what William Tyron Toms, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer would call, a “gym membership for creators”. A place where creatives would have access to state of the art equipment, quiet and finely crafted workspaces, educational seminars and workshops, and most importantly a community of other creatives as well as a commitment from leadership to elevate and support them in their creative pursuits. We could talk about this organization for days but for now here are some ways you can support them.

Follow them on Instagram @RECphilly – Visibility and awareness is essential for businesses because the more we know, the more opportunities we have to share and support.
Support Philly Artists and their work – One unique thing about REC Philly is that the café area, accessible to the public inside of the Fashion District Mall, also functions as a showroom for the work of local artists in the REC Philly community. If you want something that is homegrown Philly, this is a highly recommended place to go. You can also book talent through REC Philly as well from bands to voice actors!
Purchase Will Toms New Book – Congrats to Will Toms for becoming a first time author! Check out his book (Un)common Sense: Your Strategy Guide For Creative Freedom which provides a roadmap for creators to turn their ideas and passions into a profitable business.

Coffee Creams and Dreams

Located at 15th and Fairmount Ave, Coffee Creams and Dreams was opened in 2019 by Stephanie Ford and Sonja Mosley-West after years of planning. One of the things that sets this coffee shop apart is that it was not only born out of a desire to serve good coffee, but also to cultivate connection and community. If you are in the Fairmount area looking for warm, welcoming, friendly faces to get your day started along with your cup of jo and pastry, Coffee Creams and Dreams is the place to be. Here are some ways you can support them.

Follow them on Instagram @CoffeeCreamandDreams
Stop by and say Hi! – At Coffee Creams and Dreams they serve coffee, pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and more. With large windows on both sides, it is a great place to catch up with some friends, or get some work done.
Order online – Surviving a pandemic isn’t easy. Online ordering has helped keep the dream alive. You can do that HERE if you are ever in a pinch.
Buy swag – From t shirts to hoodies, candles to tumblers, the Coffee Creams and Dreams swag shop is a great place to catch some positive vibes. 🤘🏾

Made With Love Juicery

Next stop on the Black Owned Business Crawl was Made With Love Juicery located on the north side of 20th and Spring Garden Street. In May 2021, Latoya Brown opened Made With Love Juicery with aspirations to promote love and wellness in the Philadelphia community. Fast forward to over a year later, Latoya and her crew have been working hard to connect with and win over the hearts of the Philadelphia community. Not only was Latoya excited to participate in the Black Owned Business Crawl, but she went a step further in rallying her staff to open up early to host our breakfast crew and join us in celebrating Seember’s final time leading November Project Philadelphia. This business is every bit of what the name advertises – Made With Love, so here are some ways you can #JustShowUp and show some love in return!

Follow them on Instagram @lovejuice8
Stop by and show some LOVE – Boasting a menu featuring Acai Bowls, Smoothies, Juices, local coffee from Minas World, and now “Nice Creams” (Vegan Ice Cream), this spot needs to be on your places to be. Take lots of the vibrant colorful pictures and then share it to your socials! 😁
Volunteer Time – Due to the up and down nature of the pandemic, staffing for normal hours of operation have been challenging. If you would be interested in volunteering time to help Latoya keep that fridge stocked it would go a long way! Reach out to Vinnie for more details.

Farina Pasta and Noodle

The final Black Owned Business on our crawl was Farina Pasta Noodle located at 17th and Moravian in Rittenhouse Square. For this stop we met with Daniel Lee one of the Co-Founders of Farina Pasta and Noodle, a business that serves fresh handmade pasta, blending Italian style dishes with Asian style noodles at more accessible prices. We met with Daniel in Rittenhouse square park amidst the Saturday bustle of the farmers market, and we had an opportunity to hear him talk about the journey from being a startup ghost kitchen to becoming a brick and mortar establishment in the middle of a pandemic. Having just opened in September of 2021, Daniel is hoping that this blend of high quality pasta mixed with a fast casual concept will begin to catch on in the city. Here are some ways you can show your support for the Farina Pasta and Noodle Fam. 😎

Follow on Instagram @FarinaNoodle
Stop by for lunch or order online at their website
Buy gift cards for friends, family and co-workers.
Have them cater your events!

Pride Month

In acknowledgment of Pride Month, November Project Philadelphia will be Calling our community Inward to engage in active support of our cities LGBTQ+ community. On Wednesday, June 1st bring a WHITE SHIRT with your name on it, to the Art Museum steps to be tagged with Pride colors. Also check out this video by Sarah Stuhr of the November Project Minneapolis group, as they walk through the Pride Tagging process, their experience as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and what Pride Tagging means to them. More to come as we navigate celebrating, supporting, and acknowledging the LGBTQ+ community.

Ruff Ride Philly

On June 4th at 12pm, Ruff Ride Philly will kick off a 24 Hour Spin Relay to raise money for Team Foster, whose mission is to advocate for and support injured and disabled Veterans by

Helping Veterans obtain highly-trained service dogs they need at no cost;
Providing grants for the unmet needs of Veterans and their service dog;
Ensuring Veteran service dogs receive the highest quality training;
Promoting awareness of service-related PTSD and TBI, and advocating for the long-term needs of our Veterans.

Ruff Ride is part festival, part competition, bringing together a fantastic community of companies, service organizations, or groups of friends to form teams to sponsor a stationary spin bike. Teams compete against each other for bragging rights throughout the event all while raising funds for Team Foster. Literally the only one of its kind, Ruff Ride brings all the fun you can handle for 24 hours. In short: We provide the bike, the fun, THE DOGS & you provide the team. Each registered team is assigned a spin bike. Fill your team with civilians, Vets, athletes or non-athletes to take turns keeping the bike going for 24 consecutive hours. We will ride in one hour increments! The event will begin at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday, June 4th at Noon, and end on Sunday, June 5th at Noon and we are getting a November Project Philly crew together to participate in the event led by our very own Vinny Carrano.

Register for the event Here and Sign up for your time slot here.

20+ Veterans and service members die by suicide every day. Service dogs can save these lives. No Hero should be Left Behind.

Cheers to the weekend, Philly! Thanks for being here 😁