After seven years, Ed Schwartz's Institute for Civic Values is losing a big chunk of its city funding.

And if it's not restored, Schwartz, a former councilman, will have to look elsewhere for $150,000 to help keep his program, PhillyBlocks, running.

At its core, PhillyBlocks is an online vehicle that allows some 1,000 neighborhood activists throughout the city to talk to one another about mutual concerns.

"There is nothing like this in the United States in terms of a citywide network of groups working to improve neighborhoods," said Schwartz, who wrote a book about what is known as "net activism."

Former Mayor John F. Street helped subsidize PhillyBlocks for most of his eight years in office. But last month, Schwartz learned that the city's newly named Division of Technology had axed his contract.

The move comes as PhillyBlocks is about to hold its annual meeting, on Sept. 27, with neighborhood activists and city officials at the Convention Center. That meeting won't be affected, he said.

"All administrations want to do their own thing. That's not unusual," Schwartz said. Still, he said: "We are hoping we can work this out. This is not over." - Marcia Gelbart

Nutter gets academic

The administration is keeping the details under wraps until Thursday, when the mayor plans a major address on education. But Nutter's chief education officer, Lori Schorr, said the group of presidents agreed to meet with the administration every six months.

"It was a very good meeting. They were unbelievably receptive and positive. One of them said they couldn't remember ever being asked to come down to City Hall," Schorr said.

A few of the region's most influential university presidents were not in attendance.

Drexel University President Constantine Papadakis was vacationing in Crete, Schorr said, and University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann sent a representative in her stead. Of course, Penn doesn't exactly have a sky-high dropout rate. - Patrick Kerkstra