VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 WWW.GERMANTOWNNEWS.ORG SUMMER 2012

Local District Defies Murder Rate in CityBy Andrew Small

While homicides across the city have increased this

year, Philadelphia’s 14th Police District, which serves North Germantown and West Oak Lane, has seen half as many homicides compared to this time last year. Capt. Joel Dales revealed at a a Town Hall meeting that the district has seen three homicides this year compared to the six his district had seen by this time last year. As of April 1, citywide homi-cide data indicates 87 homicides this year compared with 83 homi-cides at this date in 2011. Murders have decreased by almost 21.9 percent since 2007. The 14th District had 28 murders total last year, closely followed by nearby Germantown’s 39th District, which had 27 murders, and the 35th District, which had 22 murders. Dales explained the best way the community helps is by paying attention to their neighbors and children.

Nearly a hundred kids were waiting recently for a fight after school between gangs called the Cool Kids and Brickyard Mafia. Police were ready to break up the scene because parents had contacted them. Upon Dales’ mention of a homicide this year at a bar, other residents brought up the issue of nuisance bars contributing to the problem. The woman, who requested to remain anonymous because she is a witness in an ongoing case, responded that shutting down a bar is harder than one would think. “You need to find weapons, drugs or have an aggravated as-sault or homicide,” she said. “I need to have you on my team,” Dales replied. “What’s amazing is even with shootings, it is difficult to get a bar shut down. We work with the DA’s office on these problem bars a lot, but they can challenge in court.” Dales described meeting with abar owner who was attracting the

“wrong crowd.” He worked with the bar owner to implement secu-rity measures and changes. Dales added that the district provides witness protec-tion. Police Officer Sabra Johnson, who works with victims’ assis-tance, outlined some of the other services provided by the Crime Victims Compensation Program. Victoria Greene, the founder of Every Murder Is Real, helps com-munity members with the victim’s compensation form and other services. She said she is frustrated by the way the media handle reporting homicide. “We don’t hear the stories behind it,” Greene said. “We see the faces, if we see that. We get the numbers, the statistics, but we don’t know the story of that person. We don’t hear what that person was like or about. We don’t hear about their family. It’s treated like a object. You know, okay, this is murder 204 this year. That type of tone, ‘Oh, we’ve had another homicide.’ It’s like the humanity is lost.” Peter Miller, who owns RIP T-Shirt Gallery & Varieties at 12 W. Chelten Ave., said he sees lost humanity every day at his busi-ness. His business designs memorabilia including T-shirts, lockets and mugs. His store relo-cated to the commercial corridor six months ago after having been at the Chelten Avenue strip mall for 14 years. Miller said his store is based on the idea that “all their loved ones have left is a picture. They have that memory and we make these products so that they can carry and wear that memory.” As Miller told the stories be-hind his display items, he realized

Capt. Joel Dales discussed crime prevention strategies with local residents.

every person on a T-shirt or locket had been a victim of a homicide in the city. The 46-year-old im-migrant from West Africa said he plans to graduate this semester from Lincoln University with an undergraduate degree in systems management. He said he wants to move on from his business to help address social problems.

Note to ReadersWelcome to The German-

town News, the first printed edition of stories from Temple University’s Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab. More stories about your neighborhood can be seen on the Web at www.germantownnews.org, with a Facebook page for your comments and the ability to publicize activities, events and meetings. The newspaper is a pro-duction of www.philadel-phianeighborhoods.com, where stories can be found about underserved and un-derreported neighborhoods throughout the city. If you have any comments, would like to propose a story, write one yourself or adver-tise in the newspaper, please contact Christopher Harper, the co-managing editor, at charper@temple.edu.

Copyright 2012

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By Amanda DiLoreto and Kelsey Doenges

Loretta Tate spoke about the programs aimed to help children and women.

The Lucien Crump Gallery Art Education Resource Center,

located at 6380 Germantown Ave., was founded during the mid-1970s by Lucien Crump. Since his death, his wife Loretta Tate has taken over the center. In 2008, the center became a not-for-profit organization to keep her husband’s legacy. The mission of this resource center is for youth and women to help build self esteem through art. “We use art to build positive self concepts,” Tate said. The founder was always compassionate to-wards these two groups. There-fore, two programs have been created in order to help youth and women with issues they may be experiencing. Art from the Heart was created in order for women to express their emotions through paintings and drawings that they may not

and drawings that they may not be able to express verbally. Art from the Heart with Photography/Videog-raphy is the children’s program, which targets youth who may be experiencing grief or loss. This after-school program for chil-dren runs from October until June. “What is said here stays here because it is important for them to build trust in us,” Tate said. Many of these children have angerissues, so it is essential that the children feel secure with Tate and the two other volunteers.

By Marchelle Roberts and Tiffany Mercer-Robbins

program and has watched it grow into a place where eight students each year can come to learn, cook and all eat through “Dinner for Eight.” “We started out having pizza and chicken… and it just killed me because I wanted to see them eat something that was good for them, so we decided we needed to cook,” Miller said. Now, students create healthy meals that include baked chicken, vegetable soups and spinach salads loaded with carrots and tomatoes. Miller shops at the local Acme grocery store, using the after-school program’s budget to purchase the foods and supplies that the students will need for the night. From herbs to vegetables, Miller introduces the students to something new every week. Before food preparation however, the students bring in published restaurant reviews to llearn how to describe foods and how to decipher the different types of courses. Miller said that one of the best aspects of the program is the bond that everyone forms, including what she described as genuine respect and affection.

Dinner for some Philadelphia teens may come from corner

stores or fast food restaurants, but the First United Methodist Church of Germantown aims to diversify the young person’s palette. Every Monday evening, the church, through its after school program, holds a dining session called “Dinner for Eight.” The program started out as a way for ninth-graders at German-town High School to have dinner after completing homework as-signments, but quickly took off as a small culinary arts program. After-school program volunteer Donna Miller helped create the

Students prepared a garden salad for the “Dinner for Eight.”

Dow Chemical Brings Science to Schools Throughout Philadelphia

Resource Center Helps Children and Women

Local Church StartsCulinary Programin Germantown

By Kimmy FlandersAs Philadelphia schools face a budget deficit this year, The

Dow Chemical Co. is giving some schools the opportunity to expand their math and science programs. Scientists and research managers from Dow announced to a classroom full of students and faculty at the John L. Kinsey Elementary School, located at 6501 Limekiln Pike in West Oak Lane, that they would be receiving an $850.50 check to fund interactive science activities in the classroom. Kinsey Elementary is among 14 Philadelphia schools to receive these grants. The program, which is run by the Philadelphia Math and Science Coalition of the Philadelphia Education Fund, aims to increase students involve-ment in science and math. Research from the Math and Science Coalition shows that if students do not become involved with math and science during el-ementary school, they may neverinterested at all. Barbara Del Duke, the public affairs manager

for Dow, explained her company’s reasoning behind the grant. “Dow’s committed to further-ing education and during that

providing support to teachers. We have a host of 100 scientists that through the course of the entire year visit many classrooms across the region,” Del Duke said. The John L. Kinsey School will

use the grant to explore the ef-fects of ultraviolet rays on the skin and eyes. Mary Cullen, the seventh-grade math and science

teacher commented on the purpose andimportance of this grant. “The title of the grant was ‘UV Radiation: Friend or Foe?’ Every-body needs to be struck by the sun

for our skin and it’s bad for our eyes,” Cullen said. “I want them to learn that they need sunlight, and I also want them to understand that they should take care of their skin.” Carl J. Coker, the Dow leader for Global Environmental Reme-diation, said, “We make products that go into things like agricultural chemicals to grow corn, to kill weeds; we make chemicals that will go into the consumer industry, shampoos and plastic bottles; we do things like solar panels and acrylics that go into paint.” The company prides itself on promoting interest in students grades K-8. Cullen explained the benefits of getting students interested at a young age. “The most important thing is to teach them the process of any kind of an exploration,” he said. “Teach them to ask a question, do research about that question, do some ex-periments and make observations, and draw conclusions from what they’ve done or seen.”

Mary Cullen held her check from the Dow Chemical Company.

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SUMMER 2012

Mount Airy GroupProvides Options forEducational Choices By Kris KittsAs a non-profit organization,

Mount Airy Learning Tree’s (MALT) educational services are not intended to bring any large profit. MALT Executive Director Jonna Naylor explained the fees attached to each of the organization’s approximately 250 seasonal classes facilitate its ability to continue offering its services. “The goal of Mount Airy Learning Tree is to make enough money to keep he catalogue coming out,” she said.“We cover our expenses for the current season, then make sure we can keep doing what we’re doing.” MALT is part of Mount Airy Community Services Corp., a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization functioning as a “financial umbrella” for seven institutions located in Northwest Philadelphia. It also provides grants to startup non-profits, which may apply to join the corporation as a fully fledged organization.

members, reducing overall individual costs. According to the Internal Revenue Service, organizations wishing to file for tax exemption as non-profit organizations under section 501(c) 3 of the Internal Revenue Code must prove they are charitable, they do not intend to attempt to influence any political competition and their earnings will in no way benefit any private interest, shareholder, investor or person. Naylor noted she considers MALT a “true non-profit” organization, explaining the organization strives to maintain its affordability for as many members of the community as possible. She added the organization has only raised its course fees once in the past and that only recently did they increase the cost of $19 courses to $20. “Oftentimes we allow people to do things they may not otherwise get a chance to do,” she said. “Keeping things affordable ensures we can keep that happening.” The Mount Airy Learning Tree is located at 6601 Greene St.

Religious Group Helps People FindNew OpportunitiesBy Amanda DiLoreto and Kelsey Doenges

Impacting Your World Christian Center, located at 5507 German-

town Ave., was where numerous local residents came together to listen to the word of God and to find a message of hope. Church members’ faces glistened from ear to ear, friendly faces were seen in every direction and uplifting mes-sages were being preached in the welcoming atmosphere. IYWCC has been around for 17 years and was founded by a Temple graduate, Pastor Ray Barnard. What started as 11 people inside Ray’s home has grown tremendously over the years. “This is church, this is not religion. I love this church and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else,” said Andrea Cherry. The Germantown resident and pa-rishioner for years claimed she was nobody before she found this church. The mission is simple. “We’re here to help people and allow them to understand principles regarding God’s plan for life,” Ray explained. Members congregated outside in the chilly weather as the service came to an end. “This is a fantastic church. I’ve learned how to walk in the word of God. I have no debt because I’ve followed the word, so many blessings,” Minister Dorris Fletcher said. In addition to the Sunday church services, Ray spoke about the wide range of classes available to members and to the general public. The classes range from financial management to having a successful marriage. IYWCC has programs for children, youth and senior citizens.

Center Promotes Positive Aging Through Dance and Other Programs By Marchelle Roberts and Tiffany Mercer-Robbins

“Dance has always knocked down

boundaries to me.”--Program director Brandon Johnson

The Philadelphia Corporation for Aging funds many senior

citizen centers throughout Phila-delphia, but only one in German-town. But the center has become a place where seniors gather all the time.

Located at 5818 Germantown Ave., Center in the Park is a center that provides supportive services and activities that strive to enhance the personal growth of Philadelphia’s aging population. The center has been able to use positive aging pro-gramming to keep the elderly physically active and involved in their communities. Program director Brannon Johnson said that the many options give seniors a sense of normality in their lives. “[The seniors] come here for activities, they come here to

to work out and then they go out. They schedule their days just like [one] would at work,” Johnson said. Center in the Park has over 3,000 active members, aged 50

and older, who participate in activities and programs from yoga, Zumba and belly dancing to diabe-tes and chronic disease self-management. The programs offered by Center in the Park are based on building stronger and healthier bodies, creating a posi-tive state of mind and ensuring the aging enjoy a better quality

of life. All members are provided assistance with health screenings, mental health therapy and also have access to an on-site exercise therapist. “Center in the Park has over

100 different classes and activities that we run on a daily basis. We also have several different departments. We have our in-home department for mem-bers that cannot get out of their homes, we’re an energy center for

people who need assistance with their energy, gas, electric, et cetera. We then have our center services department for people that are coming [to the center] and want to partake in [positive aging],” Johnson said. Mildred Wilson-Brown has been a member of Center in the Park for 15 years.

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Naylor and an intern count money from a recent fundraiser.

Naylor referred to the firm as an incubator, explaining it has had a role in cultivating a number of successful non-profit organizations. The Mount Airy Community Services Corp.’s website explains the institute’s function as an umbrella, noting it allows the fees applied to 501(c) 3 organizations so the corporation to be spread among each subsidiary group. Doing so permits each organiza-tion to avoid fees that would be applied to their own group upon registration, instead permitting them to split annual ccosts among Members attended a recent service.

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SUMMER 2012

Former Inmate Inspires with His Art By Kimmy Flanders

Jeffrey Glenn Reese held one of his pastel works Piano Man.

Some of Reese’s artwork.

younger boomer who wants different things. We have a program for all of these different generations” Johnson said. For the older seniors, many of whom are home-bound, Center in the Park provides in-home servic-es. The In Home Support program was designed to give assistance to the elderly that continue to live in their homes independently. Members in this program are able to receive delivered meals and a senior companion. The senior companion is an adult who volunteers to assist the elderly in their homes with daily tasks and errands. Center in the Park is able to service more than 6,000 seniors in the Northwest Philadelphia area, catering to the needs expressed by members. “I would say that [all of our programs are very beneficial]. I cannot pick out one thing that is more important. Our model is actually three circles that are inter-locked because they are all important… and they all do some-thing and one without the other [makes the whole thing kind of fall apart]. Mind, body and soul. All of these things need to be maintained,” Johnson said.

Senior Programscontinued from page 3

giving people an alternative other than drug use. Reese travels to different schools to teach his tal-ents, and some of his most famous works are his portrait of Eartha Kitt, which sold for $12,000 at the Bellevue Hotel in Philadel-phia, and his line drawings, which he became famous for. Reese uses pure gold, silver and copper markers to create his line drawings, and he employs a method called baked pastel to create other artworks, a process that involves embedding the pastel colors onto the paper with heat and overlaying the materials with more vibrant colors. Reese has also used art to reach out to the community by doing fundraisers and auctioning off vari-ous pieces of his artwork to non-profit organizations. Besides art, Reese also does poetry and writes short stories and essays. “Art saved my life, poetry as well. I want to be able to leave a legacy of art, poetry, short stories and essays to pass on to the next generation,” Reese said.

1989 for attempted burglary, but he did not let this deter him from In fact, he used his 16 months in the Greene Correctional Facility as a catapult to start his career. “When I got incarcerated, I got real ambitious to paint,” Reese said. Fortunately for him, the Greene Correctional Facility had an art program that allowed him to use his skills. “I got there and this jail was specifically geared towards artists. It inspired me,” Reese added.While incarcerated, Reese began creating pencil graphite drawings of celebrities and jazz musicians, and art gave Reese the ability to re-enter society as a changed man. “When I got out of jail, I had opportunities to perform for cer-tain venues,” he said. While in prison, Reese receiv-ed honorable mention in an art competition. After his release, he was asked to be a judge for that very same contest merely seven to eight months after rejoining society. Currently, Reese devotes his time to helping those less privileged. “I’m a former homeless per-son from New YorkCity; now I help individuals that have drug is-sues, I do workshops with them.I teach an art class entitled ‘Drawing From the Right Side of the Brain,’” Reese said. The hour-long class is con-structed to activate the right sideof the brain by using art and

Jeffrey Glenn Reese, who lives in Mount Airy, began his

career as a young graffiti artist in New York City. Now he is an internationally known artist and an inspiration to many. As an 11-year-old boy, Reese used graffiti as his muse. “I loved doing graffiti and writing my name on the walls in New York City,” said Reese, who noted that he used to travel through the city with his friends and spray his nickname, Torch, on the subway and the walls during the 1970s. Reese’s life took a negative turn when he was incarcerated in

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“We have classes like Journey’s Way, it’s more like a mental health class. They used to have a fashion show and I used to model in it, but I just basically do line danc-ing. I do line dancing, so I figured ballroom dancing would be real exciting,”Wilson-Brown said. Although ballroom dancing is a relatively new activity at Center in the Park, the class already has more than 15 participants. “Dance has always knocked down boundaries to me. It’s always been something that no matter who you are or where you are in your life, it’s something that can unify a people. Dancing has always been a cornerstone of Center in the Park,” Johnson said. According to the Pro-posed Zoning Code & Older Philadelphians June 2011 report, Philadelphia has the highest proportion of older persons (60+) of any of the 10 largest cities in the United States. Center in the Park has to be able to cater to the various generations of seniors who come to the center. “We have our members that have aged in place that are older and we have the

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SUMMER 2012

Woman Helps Others After Son Was Murdered By Andrew Small

Every Murder Is Real founder Victoria Greene took time to

recall the 15th anniversary of the murder of her son, Emir Greene. Greene and her eldest daughter, Chantay Love, ttypically take the day off, to honor the memory of the man for whom their organiza-tion gets its acronym, EMIR. Upon arriving at their Victim Assistance Center on the 5200 block of Germantown Avenue for our interview, Love, co-founder and program director of the or-ganization, received a call from a client about a navigating the legal system. Healing a community with a high rate of homicides is a never-ending battle for Greene and Love’s organization. Emir was 20 when he was murdered on March 26, 1997, on the 5200 Block of Rubicam Street in Germantown. Greene said she felt suicidal and later homicidal toward her son’s murderer. She credited the now-defunct Grief Assistance Program through the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office with saving her life. She hasmodeled her non-profit organization’s programs on her experience. “Every week that I attended the group, I saw more and more parents come in who had lost their children to homicide,” Greene said. “That’s when I realized that in this city of Philadelphia, almost every day someone is murdered.” Greene said sharing stories with the group made her realize “the importance of co-vic-tims of having support to get them through one of the someone.” Greene first held a major conference on drug-related homicide in 1999 at Rosemont College. She invited people who assisted her family, including the district attorney and the judge who worked on her son’s case. The panel also included homicide detectives and grief counselors to answer questions about the aftermath of a homicide. Greene held another conference at Temple University in 2001. As a drug-and-alcohol counselor for the Philadelphia County prison system, Greene created her non-profit counseling center in 2008 to

Victoria Greene looked at a mural of her son, Emir Greene.

resolution. Greene’s experience has informed education about the criminal justice system, navigation through the legal system and assistance with crime victims’ compensation forms. After her son’s murder, Greene learned he was dealing drugs. Love said her brother should be re-membered for more than his death. Love said. He was an artist who loved to draw and to help people. Senior citizens told her mother after his death that he visited them in their nursing home. Love recalled Emir bringing boys with no father to the barbershop. She said although she eels guilty about doing more to prevent her brother

“I realized that in this city of Philadelphia al-

most every day someone is murdered.”

--Victoria Greenethat the issue is over. “The person has been murdered. You can’t bring them back. “You caught the perpetrator, now they’re in prison, most of the time for the rest of their lives. It’s over,” Greene said. “But it’s not over for the family, it’s not over for the friends and it’s not over for the community. These people are traumatized. They’re grieving and for the most part, they don’t get the assistance that they need to heal.” She said one of the most difficult aspects of counseling is “there still is a stigma around counseling, that counseling is for

crazy people.” Her organization proposes healthy ways to address the symptoms, providing an alternative to the drug and alcohol use she wit-nessed in the prison system. Greene said she is fortunate to have the ability to separate her feelings about what happened with her son when she is working with a family. “Oth-erwise, I couldn’t be effective. I’m just able to do that,” she said. “It’s a God-given talent that I am able to do that.” Greene said she is conscious of taking care of herself physi-cally and emotionally. “It is painful work. I am sit-ting with people and their pain and witnessing their pain, being there with them while they’re in pain, but I call it a privilege to be able to do that because it’s healing.”

Phildelphia Neighborhoods publishes a variety of

websites on your neighborhood and others. You can find local information about Germantown, Strawberry Mansion, Brewery-town, Fairhill, Hunting Park and West Philly by going to www.philadelphianeighborhoods.com. Readers will find a variety of interesting topics from some 30 neighborhoods throughout the city. Please let us know what you think about our print edition and our website by contact-ing charper@tenple.edu. Also, please let us know about local events and whether you would be interested in writing for the website or the monthly paper.

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educate and assist her community in understanding and healing the trauma associated with losing a loved one or community member. The assistance center provides free services such as grief support groups for all ages and conflict

from becoming susceptible to the peer pressureof the streets she was not the one who pulled the trigger.” Greene said a common mis-conception about murder is that once the perpetrator is

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SUMMER 2012

Organzation Helps Local Youth Reach Educational Goals By Marchelle Roberts

esteem and a dream deep down to go to college,” Abdulla said. Outside of the classroom, programs like High Step Beacon are able to help students socialize while building character. Levi Joynes Jr., music develop-ment coordinator at the German-town High Step Program, said he has been able to watch the youth grow within the arts. “My job basically is to get the students to develop their craft, not just musically, but I think overall for life,” Joynes said. Julie Swarts has been working with EducationWorks as the director of development and mar-keting for almost two years. She said that although the organi-zation strives to provide life-en-riching programs, there are some burdens that get in the way. “Most dollars come through government grants that are highly restricted. We are working on de-veloping other funding sources,but it is a long slow process, espe-cially in a time of economic chal-lenge. When the for-profit com-munity catches cold, the nonprofit community catches pneumonia. Usually we recover two years after the for-profits,” Swarts said.

EducationWorks is a nonprofit organization that serves urban

youth in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. One of the Philadelphia branches is located at 3149 Germantown Ave. and provides the youth of the city with in-school and out-of-schoolprograms that encourage education and foster community citizenship. Through partnerships with community organizations, schools and families, Education-Works is able to reach more than 20,000 urban students each year. The extensive programming that EducationWorks provides is able to influence students’ lives in the classroom. As reported by EducationWorks, with regard to the 2008-09 school year, 68 percent of students in elemen-tary school or above made grade improvements in their reading and math classes. Germantown High School freshman class president and Germantown High Step Beacon participator, Jihad Taylor,

is ome student who reflects Edu-cationWorks’ influence on school grades. “I’m the ninth-grade president and you have to maintain a good grade, B level or A level, but I strive for an A. If I fall into the B category, that’s not going to hurt me. It’s only going to make me better and make me want to strive more,” Taylor said.

AisahaAbdulla graduated from Audenreid High School and received a full scholarship to La Salle University in 2009. Her aspirations for higher education

were initiated through the Beacon Center in her high school. Now, as an EducationWorks volunteer, Abdulla encourages other urban youth to value education and the services that EducationWorks provides. “All I want in life is for the youth of Philadelphia to value education as much as I do. I want them to believe in education and

its endless possibilities. Seriously, what [is] the big deal with getting good grades? I want them to be confident in their educational abilities. I want them to have self

Hugh Dixon (second from left) smiled with program participants.

Furniture Workshop Helps People Create a ‘Masterpiece’By Kelsey Doenges

A bookcase is usually the piece of furniture that people

reserve to display the items they are proud of: diplomas, trophies, vacation pictures and even books. The shelves of a bookcase provide a place for almost anything and everything. For the students of Philadelphia Furniture Workshop, located on 5212 Pulaski Ave. in Germantown, the bookcase itself is their trophy. Why? Because they spent seven weeks making it, learning how to use the machinery to cut down the wood and piece it together. Suddenly, furniture that is typically reserved for giving a home feel and style has its own story to tell. Colleen Daniels, a former student of the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop, said she

remembers walking into the first day of class feeling rather uneasy and uncertain. But over time that all went away, as she became more acquainted with the materials and machinery thanks to the help of Alan Turner and Mario Rodriguez, the founders and instructors of the workshop. “To come out of a class and bring something home that I personally made and had difficul-ties with, fixing my mistakes, and learning from them, is really a great feeling,” Daniels said. Turner and Rodriguez established Philadelphia Furniture Workshop in the spring of 2005. Turner was a lawyer, teaching basic woodworking classes at an adult night-school program. Rodriguez was a former professor in the Restoration Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. At the time, the department was being phased out, and Rodriguez was soon in need of a job. Turner had always hoped to

find a building equipped with power tools and quality workbenches, and therefore, creating the Workshop was the perfect opportunity for a collaboration. The two complement each other--Rodri-guez being the right brain guy working on design and Turner the left brain handling all the business and technical aspects of the school. “We are really proud of Philadelphia Furniture Workshop. We built this business primarily in a recession and it’s supporting two families,” Turner said. The mission of the school is simple. Having a roster of people varying in age and skill levels, the school aims to assist its students with personal development. “We like to see students develop a self-critical eye to where they will no longer accept mediocrity in their own work. Where they push the bar higher for themselves and then achieve that,” Turner said. This is the exact feeling that

was evoked in former student Daniels once she left the workshop with her masterpiece. “By the time you get to the end, it’s easy to forget where you’ve come from but actually being able to look back and say, these are the cuts I had made and this is the order in which it all got put together. You know, I made every part of this [and] that’s a great feeling,” Daniels said.

Students met for their first of seven classes where they learned how to make a bookcase.

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SUMMER 2012

Local Organization Offers Hope for Victims of Drugs and HomelessnessBy Marchelle Roberts and Tiffany Mercer-Robbins

In The State of Homelessness in America 2012, The National

Alliance to End Homelessness reported that in Philadelphia and surrounding metropolitan areas, there are more than 11,000 home-less living on the streets and in shelters. Dignity Housing is a nonprofit organization staffing 17 employees located in the Germantown neighborhood that helps homeless Philadelphia resi-dents receive affordable housing and live stable lives. Created by homeless people in Philadelphia during the late 1980s, Dignity Housing (Dignity) is made up of more than 60 differ-ent apartments that are for partici-pants to live in while in the pro-gram. These housing units are pro-vided by the Philadelphia Housing Authority through rental income and give participants the opportunity to become residents. There are different branches of Dignity and the status of the people in need determines which branch they become a resident of. Dignity Housing (the initial branch) is for families and provides case workers who assist residents with receiving permanent homes, which last for two years. Dignity II aids single-mother residents in escaping domestic abuse and substance abuse and lasts up to two years. Dignity III focuses on ensuring that families are assisted with planning budgets. All of the different branches of Dignity provide residents with programs to help them back into mainstream society. These programs range from HIV/AIDS treatment and addiction rehabili-tation to assistance with physical disabilities and mental illness. In partnership with these pro-grams, some outside organizations are used for further assistance. The program joined forces with The Family Services Providers Net-work and The Advocacy Coalition for Homeless Families to promote effective support and create re-sources for homeless families.

Marion Smith is a resident at Dignity Housing.

“We offer two-year transi-tional housing and longer-term housing up to five years. We also provide comprehensive supportive services including individualized case manage-ment. We have an after-school program at one of our sites, we organize workshops and activities for residents and we recently opened a computer lab for residents and the community to utilize,” said Vanessa Tercero, director of development for Dignity Housing. The organization previously tried to implement an additional program called Future Homes. This program would have helped residents with home owner-ship and required residents to be sober, go through a financial screening process, find employ-ment and maintain a clean crimi-nal record. Future Homes was not able to be sustained within Dignity. “We had to put the program on hold due to limited funding and not having enough participants who qualify for home ownership. We may con-sider it again sometime in the future,” Tercero said. Dignity is funded through

government programs, indivi al contributions and grants from private foundations. “The most economic environment we are challenged with doing more with less. We have experienced many cuts in our government funding over the years and we work hard to fund-raise,” Tercero said. Originally known as the Com-mittee for Dignity and Fairness for the Homeless Housing Develop-ment, Inc., Dignity has serviced more than 2,000 families in the Philadelphia area. Marion Smith, a former soldier and resident in Dignity, has fought addiction and is now on his way to opening his own catering business. “These people have just opened their arms. Whatever I need to further myself in my treatment… they work with me,” Smith said. He has also had the opportunity to achieve smaller goals like obtain-ing a driver’s license and volunteering with local organiza-tions. “Marion truly represents what Dignity is all about. He came into the program facing many challenges including homeless-ness, but he is now on his way to a stable life. He has taken advantage of all the support the program of-

fers and utilized them to stabi-lize his life. He is on the path to success,” Tercero said.Tercero started working at Dignity as a part-time grant writer and de-velopment assistant before she took her current position. She has worked with Dignity for 12 years, striving to end homeless-ness in the city. Tercero also worked as direc-tor of social services where she had the opportunity to connect with the residents. “I loved interacting directly with the residents. It was grati-fying to see them achieve their goals and move beyond homelessness and poverty,” Tercero said. In its January 2012 report, the National Alliance to end Home-lessness stated that “homeless-ness is basically caused by the inability of people to pay for housing; thus it is impacted by both income and the affordabil-ity of available housing.” Dignity is a part of Phila-delphia’s 10-year plan to end homelessness in the city. Dig-nity Housing helps alleviate the burden of expensive living and provides Philadelphia’s home-less with assistance in bettering their lives. “The mission is to break the cycle of homelessness by providing housing and compre-hensive supportive services to homeless individuals and fami-lies in the city of Philadelphia,” Tercero said.

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WWW.GERMANTOWNNEWS.ORG

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SUMMER 2012

Maplewood Studios Brings Music to GermantownBy Kelsey Doenges

Maplewood Music Studio, located on 47 West Maple-

wood Mall, is set up much like an apartment. If you open the first door to your left, you walk down and narrow hallway, which eventually opens up into a living room. The room is filled with only the necessities – a baby grand piano sits in the corner and shelves full of sheet music. The reason why this place resembles a home is simple. Owner and founder of the music school Rich Rudin used to live here. Established in 1980, the school proudly serves the musicians of Germantown and Chestnut Hill. It was built with the hopes of creating a hub for students to collaborate or at least be exposed to all the joys that music can bring. Maplewood Music Studio provides a place for students to bang on the drums, strum a guitar, sound a trumpet, sing their hearts out and even more. “One of the most exciting things that I remember about school is the first time I walked into the music building,” said Rudin as he reminisced over his college days at Temple University. While studying composition, concentrating in piano, he remem-bered walking in and hearing a variety of music coming from all these different rooms and he was simply overwhelmed with the wall of sound. “I heard people practicing every instrument imaginable, all different kinds of stuff, and that was really a big thrill,” Rudin said. Those influences made him think there was one thing he disliked when teaching piano–it’s solitary. The teacher meets with the student, the student practices by themselves and then they meet with the teacher again. That’s it. During his college years, Rudin realized he loved interacting with musicians all the time. “So I got to thinking and I decided that maybe it would be a good idea to find a place where people could come to me and I could find some other teachers to teach as well,” Rudin said.

Originally, it was one tiny room in Rudin’s apartment, but it eventually took over the entire building, with each room devoted to a different instrument. There’s a home for drummers all the way on the third floor, a space for singers on the second and a living room where a baby grand takes up the majority of the space. Rudin has also recently expanded to an entirely different part of the city,

opening up a Maplewood Music Studio in Chestnut Hill. Sandra Day has been teaching voice at Maplewood since 1990. Although she teaches at numerous locations, she said she finds this space to be one of the best. “For students, I think it’s nice because when they come into the school they can hear the other lessons going on as they walk down the hall,” Day said.

“I heard people practicing every instrument imaginable,

all different kinds of stuff, and that was really a big thrill.”

--Piano teacher Rich Rudin

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Rich Rudin is the founder of Maplewood Music Studios,

One student, Vivienne Samuels, has been taking les-sons with Day for 12 years. “I will tell you that it is a great stress reliever for me. It is therapy, something that I totally need. It’s just for me,” Samuel said. While building the studio business for the past 32 years, Rudin has accepted the challenge of transforming stubborn students into well-rounded musicians. Once, he had a student who refused to read sheet music and despite her dogged determination not to learn piano, she finally gave in to a trick Rudin con-ceived. “I wrote it down and I gave it to her and she was all excited. She said, ‘Oh! Play it for me.’ I said, ‘No, that’s not part of the present. It’s just your piece of music. If you want to hear it, you have to learn it. It’s up to you.” All of these years of teaching have allowed Rudin to build a sense of identity in the musical community. By serving around 185 students of all different ages and interests, the Maplewood Music Studio is what Rudin envisioned back in 1980.