As we kick off Earth Month, SBN is celebrating by spotlighting some of our member’s sustainable products and services that have a positive impact on the environment. Although environmental stewardship should be recognized throughout the year, this month is a perfect reminder that we all play a role in preserving our environment. Whether you’re well-versed in sustainability or you’re looking for a new opportunity to make an impact, our Earth Day Business Guide is here to highlight the businesses in our area that can help you reach your environmental goals.

Bar Hygge

HYGGE (pronounced HOO-GAH) is a word that embodies a culture of Danish living that embraces warm atmosphere and cozy surroundings, where people can spend time surrounded by loved ones enjoying good food, drink and conversation. Bar Hygge was designed and built to offer a space where guests can experience hygge firsthand.

The restaurant and brewery located at 1720 Fairmount Ave., opened in 2016 was constructed using a sustainability model utilizing repurposed wood, barrel staves and pallets. The scratch kitchen presents a new/contemporary American menu with seasonal changes, local ingredients and a focus on neighborhood comfort food.

Brewery Techne is their in-house 10 barrel brewery. They exclusively use local barleys grown in Pennsylvania and malted in Philadelphia. Eight to ten seasonal and year-round beers can be found on draft and in cans.

Composting is an integral part of Bar Hygge’s daily routine and they are proud to use fellow SBN member, Bennett Compost.

Make a reservation today and stay up to date via their Instagram, @bar_hygge!

Crust Vegan Bakery

Crust is a queer woman owned vegan bakery that values high quality ingredients and purchases local products when possible to support other like minded small businesses. Crust strives to find the balance between offering an affordable and quality product to customers while providing a living wage and supportive work environment to their staff. They ensure there is always room to give back to our community within their costing structure, and they embrace their politics in deciding who to donate to. Crust keeps it political because food is political.

Crust was also the winner of SBN’s Inaugural Food Saver Challenge last year! They were recognized for their unique repurposing solutions that helped prevent waste from entering landfills. Learn more about Crust’s win and other food waste reduction achievements in our Food Saver Challenge Report.

Visit their storefront location at 4409 Main St, Philadelphia, PA 19127 to learn more and order. You can also check out their Instagram, @crustveganbakery, for weekly and seasonal menu updates!

Triple Bottom Brewing

Triple Bottom Brewing Company is a woman-owned craft brewery and event space located on Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia. They are the first and only brewery in Pennsylvania to have earned the B Corp Certification, and have been a fair chance employer since their founding in 2019. Triple Bottom Brewing recently launched their Future of Service Apprenticeship program, which helps people impacted by the justice system and housing insecurity to build meaningful careers in the hospitality industry and beyond.

Visit them at 915 Spring Garden St, Philadelphia, PA 19127 and check out their instagram, @triplebottombrewing for more updates and fun events!

Cork & Candles

Cork & Candles is an interactive, hands-on candle making experience where guests create their own personalized candles in a welcoming space. Select your favorite scents, blend them to perfection, and create your own candles during their 90-minute experience!

Cork & Candles’ scent bar is designed to be a sensory delight, with a wide range of fragrances that cater to every preference, from exotic and fruity to earthy and floral. It’s more than just candle making; it’s about the joy of creation, learning, and exploration in a cozy environment where memories are made.

Follow @corkandcandles on Instagram and book an experience at one of their locations throughout the region!

Weavers Way Co-op

As a community-owned organization, Weavers Way has a long history of putting planet before profit, ensuring shoppers have opportunities to reduce waste, with extensive bulk shopping opportunities, incentives for shoppers to use their own containers, an innovative container refund program that recirculates reusable containers, and community work to improve our environment. Weavers Way has a long history of environmental action, and they continue to seek ways to improve. Their stewardship for this planet is written into their Ends. They also invite community engagement in sustainability efforts through the Weavers Way Environment Committee (WWEC) and their Plastic Reduction Task Force (PRTF) who work together with Weavers Way administration and staff to make the Co-op sustainable.

Weavers Way was also awarded as SBN’s 2025 Triple Bottom Champion at this year’s Annual Meeting. The Triple Bottom Champion Award recognizes a business within SBN’s network that embodies the triple-bottom-line approach of being mindful of people, the planet, and profit.

Visit one of Weavers Way’s store locations in Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill, and Ambler. Stay updated on their news and events as well via their Instagram, @weaversway and Facebook, @WeaversWayCo-op!

Perrystead Dairy

Perrystead Dairy is an urban Philadelphia producer of American original cheeses made with pastured milk from local, sustainable family farms. In the past four years, they have won 20 domestic and international awards and the Slow Food Snail of Approval, along with major media coverage affirming their uncompromising commitment to flavor and quality, environmental stewardship, and supporting both the urban community and farmers who do right by land and animals.

Their cheeses bring together novel ideas and heritage techniques, to create distinctly American flavors that speak to our place and time. They are also one of your most local producers.

Learn more about Perrystead Dairy by following their Instagram, @perrysteaddairy.

Glitter

Cleaning up Philly, one block at a time—while creating living-wage jobs.

Glitter is a community-powered cleaning service that helps neighbors crowdfund weekly block cleanings while providing fair-wage jobs for people facing barriers to employment. Since 2021, they’ve cleaned thousands of city blocks, improving neighborhood quality of life and environmental health.

Glitter’s work directly reduces litter in storm drains, keeps public spaces cleaner, and fosters stronger, more connected communities. By investing in cleaner streets, they are not only making Philly greener—they’re creating economic opportunities for those who need them most.

SBN is excited to team up with Glitter for Earth Month to bring cleaner, healthier streets to more neighborhoods. As part of this partnership, SBN members can get a FREE first block cleaning! This offer is valid for new blocks who have reached at least their first pledge goal of $50 (to be split between as many neighbors as you want!). Sign up today and help make Philadelphia a cleaner, greener, and more welcoming place for everyone! (If you are not already an SBN member, learn more and join today!)

Start a cleaning fund for your block today and visit their social media for more updates: Instagram: @shareglitter, Facebook: @shareglitter, and Linkedin: @ShareGlitter.

Baby Gear Group

Borrow, don’t buy!

Baby Gear Group is a local baby gear library helping families gear up for their little ones while saving money, reducing clutter, and living sustainably. Replace your registry items with a sustainable alternative or rent a la carte for summer travels!

Earth Month Promotion: Use promo code SBN20 to get 20% off gift cards for the month of April. Buy for yourself or give a gift to a friend!

Shop online today or check out their Instagram, @babygeargroup for more news and updates!

ECHO Systems

Cut Costs, Waste Less, and Elevate Your Business with Reuse!

Tired of watching your hard-earned dollars disappear with every trash pickup? At ECHO Systems, they help food, beverage, event, and hospitality businesses slash waste-hauling costs, reduce single-use expenses, and boost their brand by adopting reusable solutions that work. ECHO Systems’ circular systems and warewashing strategies don’t just save you thousands each year—they make your business look good while doing good. Sustainability isn’t just about the planet; it’s about profitability, too. Let’s build a smarter, cleaner future—where waste is out, and reuse is in!

Earth Month Promotion: Get 10% off of our consulting services to help any businesses set up an end to end reuse system using code SBN10%!

Visit their Instagram or Bluesky profile to learn more and get updates!

Grow Our Food

Grow Our Food is a full-service edible landscaping company. Transform your outdoor space into a beautiful, productive landscape that provides fresh food for your family and friends! Whether you have a small urban yard or a larger suburban plot, Grow Our Food will help you understand your land’s potential and create a roadmap for developing a sustainable food garden.

Services offered include: vegetable garden setup, native gardens, pollinator gardens, rainwater harvesting systems, fruit trees & berries, garden coaching, expert consultations, and full site design & planning.

Earth Month Promotion: Get a 10% discount for all landscape projects using code SBNSPRING2025 executed before June 1, 2025. Reach out via email, growourfooddesign@gmail.com, or phone, 267-415-6076, and get on the calendar today!

Rego

Rego believes that what gets measured gets improved. The most significant and overlooked opportunity in climate is helping organizations accurately measure their waste management data that would help organizations recoup billions of dollars of waste costs and increase global waste diversion rates. Rego is building incredible tools that make it easy for any organization, anywhere in the world, to easily measure waste and take action.

First-time clients can access Rego’s Zero Waste tracking at any organization for $9 per month for their first 12 months with a 100% money-back guarantee. Whether you’re a local coffee shop or global organization wanting to learn how to achieve Zero Waste, lower your waste costs, or show off your sustainability efforts to your stakeholders, Rego’s platform can help!

Earth Month Promotion: First-time clients can unlock a 40% discount to try Rego’s waste tracking platform at any location! To claim your offer, email Josh at Josh@liverego.com.

Stay up to date with Rego through their Instagram and Linkedin!

Green Investment Strategies

Green Investment Strategies crafts portfolios that aim to help you maximize return potential for your risk tolerance level and keep as much of that return as possible by making investments that minimize risk and maximize opportunities for our shared future. Green Investment Strategies is proud to be a Climate Investing Firm.

Earth Month Promotion: The Earth needs a good financial advisor. In honor of Earth Day, Green Investment Strategies is extending its friends and family discount of 10% off for the remainder of the year to all new clients who sign up in April 2025.

Bargain Thrift Center

Reduce overproduction and waste this Earth Month by buying used — commit to buying your clothes, housewares, decor, and more secondhand by shopping at Bargain Thrift Center! By shopping secondhand, you can help keep over 30,000 lbs of items out of the landfill every month.

Follow Bargain Thrift Center on Instagram for more updates and visit their storefront at 5261 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19144 to start shopping!

That’s a wrap!

Supporting local, sustainable businesses like these is a powerful way to advance environmental goals by reducing carbon footprints, minimizing waste, and promoting ethical resource management. Investing in these businesses also strengthens our local economy and communities by encouraging more companies to adopt environmentally-conscious models. By choosing to support businesses that prioritize sustainability, consumers help drive demand for greener and more ethical products and services, ultimately contributing to SBN’s mission of building a just, green, and thriving local economy.

If you’re interested in joining SBN and supporting our work this Earth Month and beyond, please consider donating or becoming a member today!

The post SBN Earth Month Business Guide 2025 appeared first on Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.

Taking a step back to acknowledge the wide web of connections being formed in our network, the proverb rings true:

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Sustainable Business Network member businesses continue to express the importance of collaboration and building a strong supportive local business climate in our region. These cooperative relationships take many forms — businesses convening to share best practices and offer support, two entrepreneurs trading products and services, and many more iterations.

Ideal collaborative endeavors stem from the pursuit of a mutually beneficial result — a win-win — and although the “win” does not always have to be financial (there is no need to discount the value of other types of support) it is particularly encouraging when two business can come together to address each other’s needs and also serve their own business growth.

At a recent SBN Member Orientation at High Point Café’s wholesale facility, Jason Henschen and Asia Simmons, High Point’s Sales Team, met Meagan Benz and Shannon Roche, Co-Owners of Crust Vegan Bakery. Working in the same industry, the conversation eventually turned to a time of sharing details about logistical challenges and solutions.

Crust Vegan Bakery was delivering their own products to customers three days a week. Owners and bakers were supporting the delivery program when able, but without more delivery options, the business wasn’t able to grow as fast as the owners wanted. Benz and Roche were preparing to hire a full-time delivery driver, but they knew this was a big hire that required finding someone they could trust and training them well.

High Point already had a full-scale delivery program taking their products to customers seven days a week, but they needed more business to necessitate the costs of additional drivers.

High Point and Crust delivery vans were already stopping at some of the same establishments, so if High Point started to deliver Crust’s products, then Crust could relinquish the responsibilities of hiring and training a delivery driver, something that High Point already has a proven track record of doing successfully. Also, this arrangement allowed Crust to focus on baking, which was necessary because this relationship expanded their delivery schedule from three days a week to five days a week.

“We wanted this relationship to be mutually beneficial,” said Benz. “We both shared our needs, identified any deal breakers and then quickly realized that this arrangement would be a great fit for us.”

Not only does this arrangement take a van off the road three days a week, but it also benefits High Point in that they can make extra money on delivering Crust’s products on their routes. And both businesses have seen their customer base grow as a result of this collaboration.

“It was a lightbulb moment,” said Henschen. “We are able to help out another business and bring in extra revenue without doing a lot of extra work.”

This is an ideal win-win.

It starts with like-minded businesses convening and sharing their commonalities, struggles, victories. More specifically, it starts with someone picking up the phone and saying I have an idea.

Without this connection, businesses risk siloing themselves off from the larger local business community and potentially missing an opportunity to collaborate and address each other’s challenges in a way where both sides benefit and thrive.

To learn more about Crust Vegan Bakery’s products, click here. And follow them on Instagram at crustveganbakery

To learn more about High Point Café, High Point Wholesale, and High Point Catering, including their selection of Gluten Free products, click here.

The post Win Win appeared first on Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.

The name has changed, but their mission to end poverty has not. Communally has marked itself The Antipoverty Technology Company.

For the past 25 years, they have taken the lead on offering guidance and support services to allow low- and moderate- income community members to address issues of financial instability.

After an extensive year-long rebranding process with fellow B Corp and SBN Member, Message Agency, Communally is now busy expanding their reach. Using its online services, The Benefit Bank and the MyBudgetCoach platforms, Communally offers community members easier access to public benefit programs and free tax assistance, as well as helping people budget and plan their finances.

In short, Communally marries technology, public policy and outreach to create for resilient and vibrant neighborhoods, giving citizens the tool to escape the Crisis of poverty through Choice.

As one of the first companies to register as a B Corp, Communally is no stranger to the Triple Bottom Line. This year, they were honored by B Lab as a “Best for the World” business in the “Best Overall,” “Best for Customers,” and “Best for the Long Term” categories. I asked Communally CEO Chris Jacobs to share some of what he learned through the collaborative rebranding process as well as what is in store for the anti-poverty technology company.

Bradford: I know you collaborated with fellow SBN member Message Agency to rebrand and design a new website. How was the collaboration process for you? Knowing that you were partnering with a like-minded business, how did you initially approach this project?

Chris: Working with a fellow B Corp was a strong contributor to the success of the rebranding effort. Having Message Agency, a company experienced in rebranding efforts that also fundamentally understands who we are, provided for a positive overall experience. We did not need to spend time explaining to Message Agency the importance of valuing the triple bottom line of people, place, and profit and having a social impact as a core business goal. Throughout the process, we continued to say that Message Agency “got us.”

They constantly challenged us to figure out the balance between our role as a social enterprise with a clear social mission — End Poverty — and our role as one of the earliest civic technology companies in the region.

Bradford: Can you tell us more about what inspired the rebranding? And how did you arrive at the name Communally?

Chris: As we considered the implications of our in-depth analysis, it guided us toward a name and brand that better defined who we are: a partner, or Ally, to community-based organizations that assist those in poverty.

Communally represents both the company today and our vision for its future. A refreshed identity provides a better understanding of what we do for current and prospective customers, as well as our other partners. Having a “.tech” URL and the tagline “The Antipoverty Technology Company” emphasizes the technological component of our work while positioning us as a social enterprise.

The name change and refresh of our brand are also reflective of the work we have been doing in the sustainability movement.

We have become a local leader in promoting Certified B Corps and Public Benefit Corporations. The company has been a B-Corp since 2012 and was one of the first companies to register as a Benefit Corporation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 2013.

In changing our name and revitalizing our brand, what has not changed is our approach to our mission. Our focus is ending poverty, not managing it.

Bradford: We know that it’s not always easy to brag about yourself: What is one thing that people do not know about your business that you would like them to know?

Chris: At Communally we have worked very consciously to build a corporate culture that ensures that our internal operations are aligned with our external goals. Not only do we pay family-sustaining wages, we also offer a full complement of benefits that provide multiple options for staff to be refreshed from the stress of work that includes generous sabbatical, parental and personal leave policies. The result is very low staff turnover and a high return rate.

The real measure of our success is how well we have assisted individuals and families in moving from Crisis to Choice.

Since 2006, we have assisted over 1 million household members obtain an estimated $2.5 billion in benefits and supports. And for every $1 spent on TBB (including outreach), up to $43 is returned to the community in the form of benefits payments and tax credits/refunds. For MyBC, an independent evaluation of the service showed a 35% increase in overall financial capabilities for MyBC members.

Bradford: You’ve clearly had success in networking with other businesses in SBN. What other event, program, or member benefit have you found most beneficial, and what impact has SBN membership had on your business?

Chris: One of the biggest benefits of being a member of SBN has been connecting and collaborating with like-minded businesses, such as Message Agency.

The other major benefit has been through SBN’s advocacy work. There is no other part of the triple bottom line, conscious company community that has dedicated resources to ensuring that our voices are heard in City Hall and Harrisburg on issues critical to the social, economic and environmental health life of the region. This has been a key element in our active participation in SBN.

To learn more about Communally, visit https://www.communally.tech/

And to read more about what Communally CEO Christopher Jacobs learned in the rebranding process, check out Generocity’s coverage.

The post “They Got Us” appeared first on Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.

by Julie Snell, TEND landscape inc.

In 2015, the Friends of Rittenhouse Square selected TEND landscape inc. to assist with the redesign of the formal gardens at the center of the park. As it turned out, an SBN/GSI Partners trifecta was born when TEND, Organic Mechanics Soil Company, and Fine Garden Creations joined forces to see the design and implementation through from start to finish.

TEND’s design of the garden required a full renovation, beginning with the soil. When exploring ways to improve the existing soil conditions, TEND reached out to Mark Highland, owner of Organic Mechanics Soil Company. Together, TEND and Mark developed a custom specification using biochar, supplied by Organic Mechanics, and liquid biological amendments.

For garden installation and maintenance, we looked for a contractor best equipped for the challenge and selected Fine Garden Creations (FGC). Owner Liz Haegele personally oversaw the details of plant sourcing, scheduling, and installation. FGC’s expert crew planted over 300 boxwood shrubs, 5000 perennials, and 1000 spring bulbs. Currently, TEND and FGC are working together on the establishment and care of the garden. Fine Garden Creations maintains the garden with organic methods.

The Formal Gardens of Rittenhouse Square serve as a reminder of the success of like-minded collaborators committed to sustainable practices and businesses that value people, places, and the environment.

TEND, SBN and GSI Partner since 2013, is a full-service landscape architecture firm, located in Philadelphia. They value collaboration with their clients and colleagues and are driven by their mission statement: Design with maintenance in mind. Visit https://tendlandscape.com/ to learn more.

Fine Garden Creations, SBN & GSI Partner since 2014, is a landscape design, installation, and maintenance company that has been serving the broader Philadelphia area with great pride and dedication for over 25 years. With excellent customer service and innovative horticultural design, they have built a lasting legacy in the Delaware Valley. From highly respected cultural and city landmarks to backyards and rooftops, FGC invests creative passion and hard work into every project. We offer the stability of a large company and the professional touch of a small company. Visit http://www.finegardencreations.com/ to learn more.

Organic Mechanics Soil Company, SBN member since 2009, GSI Partner since 2013, is a wholesale manufacturer of premium, organic, peat-free potting soil. Their family run company based in Chester County has a philosophy that embraces environmental sustainability as a core value. Organic Mechanics Potting Soils are chock full of beneficial biology, and use only the finest 100% organic, all natural, and completely peat-free ingredients. They deliver superior results for sustainable home gardeners, professional growers, organic farms, arboretums and botanic gardens. They give back to our local community by donating soil to school gardens that teach children about the importance of growing and eating healthy food. Embedded in their local community, they were awarded a Gold Medal Product in The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s (PHS) Gold Medal program in 2013. Visit http://www.organicmechanicsoil.com/ to learn more.

Julie earned a Master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, is a certified arborist, accredited organic land care professional, and a founding principal of TEND landscape inc. Prior to forming TEND, Julie’s work focused on landscape management, developing her expertise over 14 years as project manager of high-profile public spaces in Philadelphia with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

The post Connection Corner appeared first on Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.

“To me, business is personal. I cannot separate the two.” -Marcus Iannozzi

Reflection.

From the Latin, reflexionem — “a bending back” (Online Etymology Dictionary).

Any attempt to undervalue the role reflection plays in innovation would be a fool’s errand. Whatever the purpose of innovation — products, services, workplace culture, societal impact — conscientious reflection precedes, and even incites, innovative thinking. How else can you consciously re-think or challenge the conventional structures and practices of business that inform how a company engages with its community, both within its walls and beyond, without first looking back so as to look forward?

This is why I find it important to note the etymology of the word reflection. The root of this word takes the concept of how one thinks about the world around them and hurls it out of a site of thinking into a place of action. I also find the action of bending back an instructive image for thinking about innovation in the third sector. The task at hand for many social enterprises is not to create a brand-new economic system but to reevaluate and reconsider how business can be a force for good, how seemingly rigid conventions can be curved. (Connections to King’s arc of the moral universe are unintended but welcomed.)

Enter: Marcus Iannozzi, Founder and Principal of Message Agency, a full-service interactive studio based in Philadelphia that provides social marketing, branding, design, content strategy, website development, and systems integration services.

“We do a lot of thinking and deliberation as a team, and people’s voices and ideas really count and make a difference in the work that we do,” said Marcus. “At our core, we feel that innovation comes from sharing and that directly extends to how we interact with world outside of our business, the ecosystem we function in.”

Much of Message Agency’s work is focused on collaboration. They take their partnerships seriously and are committed to working with nonprofits, foundations, universities, governments and social enterprises. Message Agency’s long list of clients includes ProjectHOME, Mazzoni Center, Center for Sustainable Energy, and the Sustainable Business Network.

Not only is SBN’s Sustainable Business Directory an example of Message Agency’s design work, but it is also a helpful case study to understand how they help nonprofits and social enterprises leverage tools already at their disposal.

Committed to open source development, Message Agency created the modules that allow for integration of Drupal and Salesforce. Drupal, an open source content management system, is available license-free, and Salesforce, a customer relationship management product, is free for nonprofits. Taking a step back and realizing the profound impact that integration could have on their client base, Marcus and his team figured out how to incorporate the two tools.

“We could have kept these modules as a competitive advantage and made them proprietary, and by all other typical business advice from other people, we should have,” said Marcus. “But we knew that our clients would benefit tremendously from a tool like this.”

Instead of making the sexy high-dollar contracts their primary goal, Marcus and his team realized that there are many organizations and businesses who are not being served well. And even though there are many self-service tools available, sometimes potential clients and partners do not always know how to leverage these tools for their success. True to Message Agency’s mission and culture, they are working out of the latter half of the familiar give a man a fish proverb: “What we want to do is figure out a cost effective way to help folks learn how to fish,” said Marcus.

Reflection was a central theme of my conversation with Marcus. In fact, at one point, Marcus even noted that he hadn’t intended for our conversation to lean so heavily towards his philosophy of business; however, this is exactly why our conversation was energizing. Marcus puts his principals into action when it comes to social enterprise and rethinking conventional business ideas. He very much lives the Franklinian ideal that “well done is better than well said.”

Social enterprise values are baked into his person. “If I can’t run a business in this way, I don’t want to run it at all,” he said. He jokes that some may see this as a dysfunction, but this is obviously far from the truth. He has a vision for how business can be a force for good in Philadelphia and he is unwavering in his dedication to his values that have led him through his career journey. “I have always been working in the third sector, even before we had the term social enterprise to define what businesses like this were doing.”

And Marcus is not alone. Message Agency’s anatomy as a values-based business appeals to talented individuals looking to both engage in the fast-paced innovative world of technology and participate in work that considers more than the conventional bottom line.

“I have the greatest staff in the world,” he said. “[Message Agency] attracts super smart, super conscious people. Assembling a cast of folks like this creates a culture of reflection, because we are always asking questions of ourselves, of our clients. Our culture is about being thoughtful.”

Creating a workplace culture like this that promotes learning, collaboration, and reflection not only creates a creative, supportive workplace, but it also ensures that they are able to provide quality service and products to their clients. At Message Agency, employees are encouraged to reflect on their work and what kind of environment they require to not only hit deadlines, but to complete tasks well.

Keep in mind, when Message Agency initially completed their B Impact Assessment, a free online tool that helps businesses measure their social and environmental impact, they were recognized as a “Best for the World” company. They specifically excel in the areas of the assessment that focus on how a company values their employees. In 2016, when B Lab segmented the “Best for the World” winners into different categories, Message Agency was recognized as a “Best for Workers” business. (They have been recognized as “Best of the World” three years in a row.)

Not only does Message Agency have a very narrow difference in salaries between the highest and lowest earners, but Marcus has been very intentional in fostering a specific kind of culture. For Marcus, thinking about employees requires a business owner to contemplate who owns value.

“As a business owner, I think fundamentally differently about who owns the value that our business collectively generates; our employees, in particular, contribute substantially to that value, and we respond with employment, benefits and management practices that reflect that acknowledgement,” said Marcus (“Best for the World” List).

It is important to note, however, that even as we celebrate businesses, like Message Agency, in the social enterprise space, that rethinking business conventions and then subsequently putting those values into practice is difficult. Marcus stressed that communities like the local B Corp network and SBN are helpful to remind yourself that you are not alone.

“Being a part of a community is powerful. Being a business owner is lonely and difficult no matter what sector you are in, but finding other like-minded folks who all look at business in a particular way — that is amazing and reaffirming,” said Marcus.

This sense of belonging is vital. Businesses who value more than just the conventional bottom line still have to consider the bottom line. Business owners have to know how to make a profit, but this doesn’t automatically assume that they should receive the lion’s share of that profit. It is a different way of thinking about business and it can become exceptionally difficult when business owners watch colleagues make different decisions, with different values, and become richer because of it. But when business owners are in a community where their principles are valued and affirmed, it allows the social enterprise movement to continue to have a positive lasting impact in local economies.

“Philadelphia is a hub for social enterprise,” said Marcus. “You can run a business like Message Agency in Philadelphia. There are external pressures in other big cities that keep you from making the decisions that you want to make.”

When Marcus talks about Philadelphia, he is a cheerleader for this town. “If I could wave pom-poms I would,” he said.

He affirms that the social enterprise and social justice community is strong in the city and that it is increasingly essential for this community to stay strong, stay together, and “to build bridges and coalitions that we didn’t even know could exist.”

After my conversation with Marcus, I am encouraged to think big, to continue to create spaces for collaboration and community — spaces where people can support each other as they bend their ideas about the role business plays in communities without breaking their spirits. And I am also convinced that I want people in my corner like Marcus and his team, with or without pom poms. Don’t you?

To learn more about Message Agency, click here.

The author, Bradford Bucknum, serves the Sustainable Business Network as the Member Relations Associate. He focuses on member experience, communications, and retention. In 2016, he received his MFA in Poetry from Temple University. Questions?: bradford@sbnphiladelphia.org

The post A Culture of Reflection Is a Culture of Innovation appeared first on Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.

“They get us — they get our storytelling style,” says Kristen Rantanen, Senior Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs at JEVS Human Services. “PWPvideo has high standards and they are as committed to our vision as we are.”

For over a decade, PWPvideo has partnered with JEVS Human Services, whose mission is to enhance the “employability, independence, and quality of life of individuals” for their annual fundraising and networking event, “Strictly Business” (www.jevshumanservices.org). PWP directs and produces video vignettes of some of JEVS’ clients telling their stories. These videos are told from the perspective of the client and this is one of the reasons why they are such an emotionally powerful part of the event.

Each year JEVS makes hope happen for nearly 35,000 lives; they focus on “individuals with physical, developmental, and emotional challenges as well as those facing adverse socio-economic conditions” (www.jevshumanservices.org). From this long client list, a selection committee selects a few stories to highlight at the fundraiser that serve to “put a face to our work so that people can understand the difference we make,” says Rantanen.

The production process for these videos begins with an audio interview. PWPvideo’s Director/Editor Pat Ganley and Rantanen sit down with a few individuals whose lives have been affected by JEVS. They conduct and record audio interviews that later become the voice-over for the video. These interviews can last an hour and sometimes an hour and a half. “The challenge is that we are distilling someone’s life down to three and a half minutes,” says Ganley. He said that they work to identify the conflicts and sets of barriers that these individuals have faced and then focus on how they have overcome whatever barriers they were up against. The interview ensures that the individuals are comfortable telling their story because being in front of a camera can add an extra layer of anxiety. “We work to make sure their personality is on the screen,” says Ganley.

At this year’s “Strictly Business” event, JEVS premiered this year’s videos. One in particular was about a young man named Maurice.

At 18, Maurice was shot twice in the back of the head after an altercation in his neighborhood. The first thing he remembers when he woke up in the hospital is the doctor asking, “If you can hear me, put the middle finger of your left hand up.” Maurice was able to respond to that request and heard the doctor say, “Ok — he’s responsive so he has a chance.”

Before this life-changing injury, Maurice had become “entrenched in his life on the street.” In the video, he speaks about his former life and how he was engaged in robbery and selling and using drugs.

Complications from surgery led to a case of viral meningitis before Maurice fell into a three-month coma. Waking up from the coma, he thought, “I’m still here — this is my second chance.”

The video is poignant, personal, and powerful and the accompanying voice-over complements the video to really bring the viewer into Maurice’s story. In his own words, Maurice tells his story of how he recovered, excelled at JEVS’s Orleans Technical College, and now supports young people so that “they don’t have to hit their brick wall like [he] did.” You can (and should) watch the full video here.

Michael Schweisheimer, Founder and Executive Producer of PWPvideo, says that their collaboration with JEVS and Rantanen is far from work. “Kristen is a treasure — she is so good at finding these stories and without her and the works she does, we would have nothing to point the camera at.”

Schweisheimer — who refers to himself as an accidental entrepreneur — has been working behind a camera since 1991. In 2000, he founded PWPvideo with the intention to focus on nonprofit organizations and “helping them convey their missions to the public through video communication” (www.pwpvideo.com). He recognized early in his career that when you work with impactful organization, “even on a bad day you know that you are still doing good.”

He describes the relationship that PWPvideo has with JEVS as more of a partnership than just a “vendor-client” relationship.” “We have worked with JEVS so much that we really feel part of their team.”

To watch all of the “Strictly Business” videos, including Gentil Ndizihiwe and Josh Shusterman’s stories, click here.

The post A Decade of Collaboration appeared first on Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.

June 13th, 2015 will go down in history as an important and memorable step for humankind. This is the day that students at the Workshop School blasted a pint of Little Baby’s Ice Cream into space.

Little Baby’s Ice Cream distributes pints of their delicious and unique frozen desserts in the world’s first ever 100% re-pulpable and recyclable ice cream pint container. To celebrate the launch of their new packaging —that came about with support from the Merchant’s Fund and through collaboration with Union Packaging — Pete Angevine from Little Baby’s contacted The Workshop School in West Philadelphia, whose mission is to “unleash the creative and intellectual potential of young people to solve the world’s problems,” about an idea: he wanted to launch a pint of ice cream into the stratosphere.

I spoke with Pete Angevine and Simon Hauger about this collaboration.

Bradford: Pete, it seems to me that one of Little Baby’s strengths is your ability as a company to green-light unconventional ideas when they “pop” into your head. In your busy life of running a business, do you set aside intentional time in your schedule where you can clear your mind and make room for these ideas to come to you? Are you someone who is constantly writing down inchoate ideas in a notebook or on your phone?

Pete: Truthfully, Little Baby’s itself began essentially as an unconventional idea (to me) that “popped” into my head. Creating a foundation and an environment for other ideas to pop up and become realized is an essential part of what makes the company a fun, interesting, and unique place to work. I do not go anywhere without my notepad and a pen — I write incomplete ideas down constantly. Finding intentional time to clear my mind and let ideas bubble up is a critical part of my day-to-day life.

B: In a way, it takes some courage or at least confidence to approach someone like the Workshop School with an idea like this — can you speak to your process of communicating unconventional and nascent ideas to new partners, collaborators?

P: Little Baby’s thrives off of true collaboration in which all parties are equally contributing to the vision & end result, so in some ways, identifying a project partner and sharing a concept before it’s fully formed is best so that it can be sculpted by everyone involved, not just us. If there was any confidence involved in approaching the Workshop School in this case, it’s only because launching Ice Cream into space is an undeniably hilarious, absurd, and worthwhile idea.

B: Why did you reach out to the Workshop School with this idea? What were your initial expectations? What about the process surprised you or delighted you?

P: I first became aware of the Workshop School around 2013, when I saw the principal Simon Hauger interviewed for the Grid Alive show. It was immediately clear to me that he is an extremely capable, open-minded guy who is really dedicated to his alternative approach to education. While I didn’t have anything in particular in mind at the time, I definitely logged TWS in the back of my mind as an ideal match for a community partner to work with on something, someday. When I first reached out to them and went in to meet them, I really did not have any expectations. I tend to get “stuck” on certain ideas (as a musician, I call this demo-itis in the recording studio) and so when working with others I sometimes deliberately try to not imagine anything too specifically and just see where it goes. There are many delightful things about TWS, but most prominently, it was that everyone — from the principal, staff, teachers, students, advisors — was “all in” right off the bat.

B: Some might say that launching a pint of ice cream into space and developing an innovative package are two very separate tasks, but, to me, both are similar in the sense that you asked why not and then set forth to see if you could make it happen, turning something imagined into something real. When did you have the idea to design your new packaging? Can you tell me about what it looked like to propose this idea to Union Packaging?

P: The packaging was a long time coming. I believe it was in 2013 that I met Mike Pearson of Union Packaging at an SBN event. Because innovation, singularity, and waste reduction have always been important tenants of LBIC, it was obvious to me that we needed to take advantage of the fact that a local sustainable packaging company was potentially willing to work with a tiny company like ours (most packaging companies probably wouldn’t pick up the phone for a company 10x our size). A few months later, we received a small grant from the Merchant’s Fund to work with UP in an attempt to create the first 100% compostable Ice Cream pint container. While we weren’t able to quite meet that goal (yet), we’re proud of what we accomplished and have out there on the market.

B: In general, can you tell me about how collaborating with other businesses/ organizations has both helped you advance your business goals, but also advance your hopes for a culture of collaboration in Philadelphia?

P: Part of our goal as a business is to engage with the world around us in a meaningful way, both because it’s fun and personally satisfying, but also because it’s “good for business.” Joining forces with others to create something new attracts twice the amount of attention (or more), broadens our own perspectives, and sometimes even leads to more people buying more ice cream. I have found that Philadelphia can be an excellent incubator for this type of creative community collaboration — it’s small enough that you can’t really be too disconnected from pretty much anyone, and people and entities tend to support and encourage one another.

B: Simon, when Pete approached you about this idea, what was your first thought?

Simon: We are always looking to collaborate, and although this project was not really a real-life problem, building partnerships is a great opportunity and there was a still a lot to learn from this project. It was also too much fun to pass up.

B: And how did your teachers respond to this idea?

S: A year ago, I sat down with one of our teachers, Maura Chambers. I pitched it to her; we shared it with the students, and decided that we would figure it out. Next, Pete came in to meet with our students to talk about the project and we had an idea-sharing session.

B: So once you approve a project, you design a whole semester around that idea, right?

S: Yes and each project has deliverables as we build towards the final project. Two of the deliverables for this projects were the balloon itself that was equipped with a GPS receiver so that students could analyse the flight data and the video, Ice Cream in Space!

B: Why space, Pete? Why not sink a pint into the depths of the sea with a go-pro?

P: That is a really good idea.

B: Where else could you send a pint of ice cream, Simon?

S: We have discussed potentially sending a pint on a transatlantic flight.

To learn more about this project, The Workshop School, Little Baby’s, and to watch Ice Cream in Space!, an absurdist docu-comedy directed by Jesse Engaard, click here.

The post Beyond the Sky’s Limit: Ice Cream in Space appeared first on Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.

It was fantastic to see our students interacting with nature and with each other in such a positive manner. Indeed, there is certainly Lots to Love about Lots-to-Learn. — Deanda Logan, Principal, William Cramp Community School

Most would not — could not — argue against the extreme value of a child’s education, but for some, it is vital to emphasize how important it is for that education to extend beyond the physical confines of a classroom. Children learn in myriad and diverse ways. Children are heavily influenced by their environment — this goes for adults too — and although this sentiment is often expressed to communicate negative environmental impacts on young learners in cities, there are big thinkers and imaginative do-ers considering educational sites and how to incorporate natural and vegetative aspects to learning environments.

Interpret Green’s Lots-To-Learn Project at William Cramp Community School in North Philadelphia was recently honored with the 2016 Groundbreaker Award from the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.

The Trust for Public Land’s Parks for People — Philadelphia program worked directly with students to turn the school’s previous asphalt parking lot into a beautiful green schoolyard. Interpret Green’s Lots-to-Learn project then transformed the newly landscaped areas into an amazing “learning landscape” that integrates thriving wildlife habitats with interactive science, education & art. DVGBC’s award recognized Lots-to-Learn for its “groundbreaking” dedication to students, creative innovation, sustainable initiatives, beauty and reverence for nature.

The Lots-to-Learn project was commissioned and funded via a Community Impact Fund grant from the Trust for Public Land. The support and guidance from TPL’s Parks for People — Philadelphia program was invaluable. ( Dave Lamm / @pwpvideo)

Interpret Green incorporated five aspects to this project: Habitat, Monitoring, Education, Beauty, and Care.

www.interpretgreen.com

The post “Lots to Love about Lots-To-Learn” appeared first on Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.