Students enrolled in some of the city’s largest universities and graduates from other surrounding colleges in the area have become their own bosses and have launched their own dreams and ventures into fruition. Many of these entrepreneurs still juggle the stresses of college but are mastering business and have plans to initiate change with their growing companies.

See more on the story at http://technical.ly/philly/2013/05/15/the-green-program/

With more colleges providing entrepreneurial programs for students, such as The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania’s undergraduate program, the University of Pennsylvania’s minor in engineering entrepreneurship and Drexel’s minor in entrepreneurship, along with competitions for students to launch their products, like PennApps, a student-run hackathon, students are increasing the opportunity to put their ideas in practice.

See more on the story at http://technical.ly/philly/2013/05/14/student-entrepreneurship-startups/

Tacony Commercial Revitalization

Tacony, like many other small working-class neighborhoods, is looking to bounce back from the economic recession that hampered business back in 2008. Tacony’s leadership sees the economic potential of the neighborhood as a vital piece for returning it back to relevance in Northeast Philadelphia.

The commercial future of Tacony lies on Torresdale Avenue. The area is the main business corridor of the neighborhood and it has felt the full blow of the economic downturn a few years ago. Tacony Corridor Manager Alex Balloon said he understands businesses on Torresdale Avenue have not fully bounced back.

“We went from about 107 retailers in our Tacony area to 77,” Balloon said. This drop in businesses has left a number of abandoned storefronts in the area which is crippling the businesses still in the area based on the concept of co-tenancy.

“If I’m a baker and I’m next to a butcher, we can both sell to the same customer,” Balloon explained. “If I’m next to a vacant building, I don’t have the opportunity to pick up that extra sale from someone who might be shopping at another store.”

The issues for Tacony’s business corridor go beyond business that are no longer there. The businesses that still call the area home are facing problems with connecting to customers in the neighborhood. Balloon said the changing demographics in the neighborhood is an obstacle that some business owners have yet to navigate.

Many of the businesses along Torresdale Avenue are long-standing specialty shops that operate a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. business model. This model is proving obsolete considering the younger families are moving into the neighborhood. Balloon admitted that an older shopper may be fine with such hours but for working families with young children, it simply will not work. “I’m working with those business owners to help them improve their business and to look for ways we can help grow business here in Tacony,” Balloon said.

The effort to strengthen the neighborhood’s business is an initiative called the Tacony Revitalization Project. One of the business owners that Balloon is working closely with is Mark Whited, the owner of Bull’s Eye Darts Supplies located on Torresdale Avenue. Whited brought his business to Tacony four years ago after opening in Frankford in 1997. Whited said location is a key factor for why he chose to move his business to Torresdale Avenue.

“This is a great place to do business,” Whited said. “It’s convenient to Center City. It’s close to I-95 and New Jersey so it’s easy to get to.”

Whited’s business is one of the businesses taking part in the revitalization project. He said he hopes the efforts will lead to improved business for himself as well as his fellow business owners. “If we improve the storefronts, maybe people will take a little more pride in the neighborhood,” Whited said. “Everyone seems to be excited about it and everyone seems to be cooperating and pulling together to make this thing work.”

Balloon cited design, counseling and promotion as the key elements to the plan. Small business counseling is available through this effort and the neighborhood is seeking to enhance promotion through initiatives like ShopTacony.com and the Hoagie Trail, which is a collaborative advertising campaign featuring three of Tacony’s best sandwich shops. This advertising led to a front page article in The Daily News.

The Hoagie Trail is one example of the attitude of current business owners in Tacony. The main objective is not competition. It is for all businesses to work together to strengthen Torresdale Avenue.

Tacony Revitalizing Community Through History and Culture

Tacony’s main corridor is experiencing a facelift in terms of business improvement, but there is also a community side to the story. These areas are not being ignored as Tacony’s leadership works to get business back on track.

Tacony Civic Association Vice President Joseph Sannutti pointed to the seldom referenced historical side of Tacony. “We have a historical side to Tacony,” Sannutti said. “We are in the process of placing plates on the historical homes while reaching out to the people who live in this area to let them know about the history of our neighborhood.”

Sannutti said he believes the key to revitalizing the community is to bring the residents together. “We’re trying to bring people together to have value for our neighborhood,” Sannutti said. The vice president also pointed to the goal of fostering a community that asks what the leadership can do for them and what they can do for Tacony.

Soundslide: Tacony Debuts First Friday Art Festival

Artist Joe Sannutti is the nephew of Tacony Civic Association Vice President Joseph Sannutti.

Holmesburg Looking Forward by Connecting to the Past

While Tacony has taken a business first approach to revitalizing the community, Holmesburg wants to reconnect with its past. The Pennypack Park area at Frankford and Solly avenues is a scenic destination in need of some attention in terms of beautification. The Holmesburg Bridge runs through this area of the park. The bridge, despite being named a historical site last year, has not been enough to get the full potential out of this area.

If you venture down to this area of the park, you will not see it filled, even on the nicest of days. Inaccessible walking areas, a currently locked parking lot and trash are a few of the current problems the park faces.

Holmesburg Civic Association President Rich Frizelll said he wants to see this area reach its full potential. “One of [the Holmesburg Civic Association’s] main focuses is reclaiming this park,” Frizell said. He also said he sees a ton of potential in the park and touched on the fact that individuals from out of town often come in and talk about how beautiful the area could be if properly tended to.

One obstacle to the aesthetic beauty of the area is a large rail that runs across the intersection of Frankford and Solly avenues and through the park. The rail is owned by Conrail, a freight corporation that operates in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The rail is rusted and unpainted which detracts from the area’s image. Holmesburg and Conrail had some contention regarding the bridge and the responsibility of painting it. Frizell is happy that a resolution has finally been reached, but it only came after persistence.

The Holmesburg Civic Association, with the help of Congressman Robert Brady. D-Pa., has made inroads with Conrail leadership. “[Congressman Brady] has got Conrail to agree to allow us to paint the bridge,” Frizell said. “They’re going to waive all the fees, registrations and insurance.” Conrail has agreed to let Holmesburg paint the rail if they can find the resources. “They’ve finally loosened up,” Frizell said.

Frizell said he holds a deep affection for the park that sits just three blocks away from his Holmesburg home. Frizell has made it a personal mission to make sure Holmesburg gets the help it needs to save its park.

What is Conrail?

Conrail is a company that provides freight services to customers and operates in Detroit, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Many Northeast Philadelphia residents and business owners are familiar with the company and its track which runs through parts of Tacony and Holmesburg. Conrail began operating in 1976.

Short dumping is a problem all over the city and has been a problem for years, but in Holmesburg it seems to be an issue that is bringing down the community.

Short dumping is the illegal act of disposing trash and debris on a street or vacant lot. With so many auto shops and other businesses in Holmesburg along State Road the area can be viewed as an industrial area. Industrial areas tend to be dark at night which allows for people to  dump their trash and other items.

One area in particular is the railroad tracks at James Street and Bleigh Avenue. There you can see trash, an amazing number of tires lying around and even a boat. So why isn’t it getting cleaned up? Who is responsible for this?

The railroad area with all the tire build up is owned by ConRail. Recently it has been notified of the problem and are looking into getting the mess cleaned up.

Steve Alper, owner of Alper Automotives, has his business right at the tracks and said he wishes it would get cleaned up. While he said he doesn’t think it effects customers coming in, he knows it doesn’t look appealing to customers. In regards to the neighborhood, he said it makes the community look worse.

Mike Rossetti, owner of Rossetti’s Auto Collision Services, who shares the same building with Alper declined to comment on the situation. Rossetti did comment that the dumping in that area is nothing new and has been a problem for years.

Nick Grigoras, president of World Auto Service, has his shop on Rhawn Street right along the train tracks and has had a problem with short dumping as well. Grigoras was warned by the city a few months ago because someone went and dumped close to 700 tires on his property over night.

“It cost me money to clean it up,” Grigoras said. “It looks bad for the neighborhood and it looks bad for my business.”

Since the tires were on his property, Grigoras had to pay to have them removed. He is currently working with an architect to build a wall so no one can dump anything on his property again.

“I had no fence,” Grigoras said. “It took me a long time to clean it up. Now I have to spend money to get a wall so people can’t get in.”

A representative from the office of U.S. Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pa., met with people from ConRail recently to get the area cleaned up. Another meeting is scheduled for mid-May.

“Regarding additional trash at the site ConRail said that it may have been dumped by a business located next to the site,” said Brady’s office in a statement. “ConRail will investigate whether or not the business was rented from ConRail.”

John Enright, a ConRail spokesperson, confirmed that ConRail is investigating to see whose property the tires are on. Enright said if they are ConRail’s property, then the company will clean up the site. The company is currently looking into finding the people responsible for the short dumping.

Rich Frizell, president of the Holmesburg Civic Association, said he is aware of the problem at James Street and Bleigh Avenue. Frizell said he is talking to one of the businesses about a possible solution.

“If we get cameras up there then maybe we can stop some of the dumping,” Frizell said. “It’s not that much money to take it and dump it legally.”

Alper has cameras on his building, but said they can’t see the people doing it because it’s so dark by the train tracks at night.

“If there was a street light there it would help,” Alper said. “You’d be able to see them. We can see the car coming around and dumping the stuff but we can’t see what kind of car it was because it’s dark. People might just see that it’s lit up and then they wouldn’t want to do it in the light.”

The Tacony CDC announced Tuesday the “SAFECAM” grant program will help qualified Torresdale Avenue business owners install security cameras that can be remotely accessed by the Philadelphia Police Department.

Besides short dumping, graffiti is also a major problem in Holmesburg and Tacony. With these areas being so dark at night it has allows for people to come and graffiti on the walls of businesses and other buildings.

Christina Nicoletti, vice president of the Tacony Town Watch, said she wants the graffiti problem to stop. Nicoletti works with the 15th District police department so it can control the graffiti problem in the area.

“The people that have gotten back there and graffiti won’t be tolerated,” Nicoletti said.

The 15th District was unable to comment on the issue because of the ongoing investigation.

Councilman Bobby Henon, D-6th, said short dumping and graffiti go hand in hand. He said he has noticed the graffiti problem is at its highest peak during the spring and summer months.

“It invites kids and people who think you’re already in a blighted neighborhood that’s already ruined so they graffiti,” Henon said. “It continues to be an issue. Where there’s short dumping, there’s graffiti.”

It seems that no matter who you talk to about the graffiti issue they always seem to praise the Community Life Improvement Programs. One of the programs is the Graffiti Abatement Team.

The Graffiti Abatement Team is a free service which comes out and removes graffiti on public and private properties in the city. Thomas Conway, deputy managing director of the Community Life Improvement Program, said graffiti can only be maintained.

“We will never be able to eliminate graffiti vandalism,” Conway said. “The best we can do is maintain it by removing it as soon as possible.”

Tacony ranks as one of the worst areas in the city in regards to graffiti issues, Conway said .

“Tacony has a bigger graffiti problem than Holmesburg,” Conway said. “We collect graffiti data by ZIP code and 19135 is in the top 10 graffiti removal ZIP codes in the city.”

Henon said a solution to short dumping and graffiti will take a community effort. He said he wants people to call him or the police if they see any of these illegal activities occurring instead of taking actions into their own hands.

“Tacony needs some tender loving care,” Henon said. “There are some parts in this city and in this district that could use a little TLC.”

The closures have affected neighborhoods throughout the city in a variety of ways. Some parents and students are trying to save their schools–worried about safety of their children and the economic impact on the individual neighborhoods. Businesses are concerned about how they will survive without student traffic. Nonprofits, which provide after-school programs, may have to shut their doors. Others have saved their schools.

Philadelphia Neighborhoods reporters have fanned out throughout the city to document the impact on the schools that have been closed, merged and saved from Cedar Park to University City.

You can find the special report here, with links to various stories.

A fax machine printed out a lunch order at George’s Pizza, located at Second Street and Girard Avenue in South Kensington. Employees did not take the order over the phone—they hadn’t even spoken to the customer.

Internet resources ranging from Facebook and Twitter to GrubHub and Yelp and even Lucky Ant are playing a role in how South Kensington businesses bring in more customers and develop. Sometimes business presence established online relates to how businesses become well-known in the community.

George’s Pizza uses GrubHub, an online food ordering service that lets customers decide their whole meal and even pay the bill. The service then sends the customer’s order to the restaurant—sometimes via fax—to complete for delivery or pickup.

“It’s a lot easier—because when you’re busy, you can’t go on the computer and check the orders out. It doesn’t work for us [like that],” said Maria Ofidis from George’s Pizza.

Ofidis said that GrubHub has steadily brought in new customers to her business and helped market George’s Pizza.

“They [GrubHub] do mainly the advertising for us, so they bring us [George’s Pizza] a lot of business,” she said.

The response to other social media strategies she has tried out for her business has been lukewarm.

“I haven’t gotten any response—you know, people telling me [that] we checked your Facebook,” Ofidis said. “Supposedly it’s a new way of communicating with others, but I’m not really fond of Facebook.”

George’s Pizza’s Facebook presence is also very small, with about 5 total posts and about a dozen followers.

Her other advertising method, distributing flyers door-to-door, also keeps customers interested. “I think most of our business comes through our advertising—flyers going door to door, not through Facebook.”

Another South Kensington business, El Cafeito at Third Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, has used Facebook to actually bring in a new group of customers and to target younger patrons.

“Your age demographic [college students]—everybody’s on Facebook or some type of social media—that’s how we reach out I guess,” said Hector Gomez, owner of this cozy café. He said that using Facebook especially was the main reason some customers came to El Cafeito.

“People have come in just from the photographs of the food that we post and the desserts,” Gomez said. “We’ve gotten real nice feedback.”

He said his business tries to post regularly, but is not very consistent. One of his employees primarily handles the social media account of the business. “She’s the one who has posted everything regularly.”

El Cafeito rarely uses other forms of advertising. “It’s all word-of-mouth when we’re basically trying to find the best way to [find customers],” Gomez said. He said he thinks that customers will either enjoy the food or they won’t—it’s the café’s quality that will decide if he keeps the new customers.

Gomez said that his business is also popular on Yelp, a reviewing website for businesses. “We’re on Yelp—we do really well on it.” However, Gomez said he had never heard of GrubHub before or considered using it.

Italian restaurant Trios Trattoria at Girard Avenue and Third Street also regularly gets customers from GrubHub. This business’s social media presence is evident with several hundred page likes and regular customer interaction.

Mariam Naeem said she liked the Trios Trattoria Facebook page after she had stopped in the area to buy a bicycle. The pizza from the Italian restaurant convinced her to connect on Facebook.

Some small businesses view Facebook pages as essential to attract new customers, but the rate of success varies along with how the resource is used.

South Kensington business Quince Fine Foods regularly posts on its Facebook page, especially explaining the daily food specials. Feedback is also strong from customers who interact explaining how much they enjoyed their experience at the business.

Social media also helped the Saint Benjamin Brewing Co. get the word out when it started planning the building of a new brewery in South Kensington.

With nearly 900 Facebook page likes, the company gets regular feedback on what residents want to see in the new bar and brewery that will open soon at Fifth Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue.

Owner Tim Patton also ran a fundraiser online through Lucky Ant to restore some historical details of the South Kensington building.

Lucky Ant has worked with other businesses including a local coffee roaster and the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym, primarily focusing its efforts on small, mom and pop stores.

The online fundraiser worked similar to a Kickstarter campaign with people making donations for causes they support. The goal was to raise $20,000 for Patton’s new brewery, which was achieved.

“I can’t really get exposure the way any other brewery or small business could…so it’s been pretty key,” Patton said. “I try to keep my events posted and pretty up to date so people can see what I’m doing.”

“I’ve gotten a lot of really great feedback on Facebook.”

One major, yet underexamined, issue in the publicly contentious process of closing schools is the psychological impact on young children.

More than half of the schools that are slated to close at the end of the school year are elementary schools. This will force many children to change schools. The change could have a significant impact on the development of these children psychologically, some experts contended.

Dr. Richard Irlando, a psychiatrist, said he believes that forcing these young children to change schools could potentially have huge ramifications. “There will be a definite impact on the way they behave and the way they perform in school,” Irlando said. “Most often when children act out in school they are doing so because of external factors.”

Irlando explained that during the time children are in elementary school they start to go through a period known as formative years. “During these years, children start to develop psychologically and any major traumatic event such as being forced to change school could greatly impact the psychological development of a child,” Irlando said.

Irlando explained that “the brain is not fully developed until 24 or 25. Specifically the cortex is not developed and it is one of the last parts of the brain to develop.” Irlando further said the cortex is responsible for many vital functions. The cortex is responsible for language, processing information and memory.

While some might question whether children will be affected psychologically, Irlando said he believes the answer is simple, “There is no debate,” Irlando said. “There is no question they will be impacted.” He explained that people of all ages would be affected by a change as big as this one. “The fact is that people regardless of their age are resistant to change once they know that a change is happening it is all about finding a way to best deal with the change,” Irlando said.

Linda Brockway, a social worker, is much less certain than Irlando about the psychological impact on the young children. “There’s no easy answer to the question of whether or not the kids will be impacted psychologically,” Brockway said. “It will depend on what goes on in the homes of these children. If their parents are there to help, then

I think there will be less of an impact.”

Brockway said she believes that some of the burden is on the faculty of the schools that are taking in students. “The faculty will have to vigilant and monitor the students closely and if they notice any behavior out of the ordinary, they will have to act quickly,” Brockway said.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 50 percent of children between the ages of 8 and 15 do not seek mental health services if they need it. Furthermore, the National Institute of Mental reports that only 37 percent of children with depression seek the necessary treatment.

Even though Brockway and Irlando disagree on the potential psychological impact of changing schools might have on the young children, they agree on one thing. Both agree that the amount of friends that transfer to the new school would have a tremendous impact on the transition. “If the child has a nice core group of friends in the new school, it will make the transition much easier,” Irlando said.

Brockway echoed that view.  “The friend situation in the new school will be key in aiding the transition,” she said.

In order to help aid in the transition of students moving out of the closed Alexander Wilson Elementary School, Maurice Jones is leading the transition program at Henry C. Lea Elementary. Lea Elementary is absorbing some students from Wilson, which will close at the end of the school year.

“Right now everybody in our school has a pen pal in Wilson,” Jones said. “We think the pen pal program will help the students get to know one another before they meet face to face.” However, the transition efforts do not stop there.

A picnic is scheduled to have the Wilson School students interact with Lea School students so they can start to get know each other beforethe first day of the next school year.

The Philadelphia School District was unavailable for comment.

Mayor Michael Nutter wanted to raise additional money for schools by implementing the Actual Value Initiative in 2012. Now the mayor says AVI will be revenue neutral.

“The city is not ready to implement [AVI]. It doesn’t have all the data,” said Doerte Smith, a longtime resident and voter of Graduate Hospital. “Luckily Councilman Johnson is right with his constituents.”

Schools are also a top priority for Councilman Kenyatta Johnson and his constituents. The E. M. Stanton Elementary School was slated to close in 2011. After the community mobilized to “Save Stanton,” Councilman Johnson asked the Goldenberg Group to adopt the school. The Goldenberg Foundation worked with Stanton’s School Advisory Council and local businesses to organize volunteers to paint the walls. Additional funds went to school supplies for low-income families.

“Due to the young people, and due to parent involvement, who really want to see their children enrolled in local schools, we have [Arthur] and [Stanton],” Smith said. “Two great schools! Finally! After all these years!”

Whether or not the city’s schools are great depends on whom you ask.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires schools receiving Title I funding to make Adequate Yearly Progress. AYP is based on standardized math and reading test scores. Failure to make AYP could result in conversion to a charter school, among other corrective action.

“Schools are making small progress. But to say there’s one definition of success, which is what No Child Left Behind is with AYP, I think that’s a false way to take the idea of improving schools,” Oscar Wang said. He teaches the Civics and Rhetoric enrichment program at Stanton.

Only 13 percent of the district’s schools made Adequate Yearly Progress. Most of the schools are facing corrective action, according to the District Report Card.

Stanton made Adequate Yearly Progress eight consecutive years. The Chester A. Arthur Elementary School made AYP three consecutive years. But, they both missed it in 2012, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

“We literally missed it by just a few students,” said Michael Franklin, who teaches math, science and a civil engineering club at Arthur.

Social policy overemphasizes smarts. It should focus on the early years. That’s when skill gaps emerge, which can be traced to adverse early environments, according to James Heckman’s Schools, Skills and Synapses. He is one of the nations top economists studying human development.

Early childhood programs benefit students in academic achievement and behavior. Better-trained caregivers and smaller child-to-staff ratios appear to offer more favorable results, according to the RAND Corporation.

The Christian Street YMCA Child Development Center provides an early childhood program that is rated through Keystone Stars. “[It] is a little tougher than being licensed,” said Executive Director Michele Stevenson. “There’s a lot more centers [and] the staff are hired different because they have to have degrees so that you’re getting a quality education.”

The Child Development Center offers scholarships to economically disadvantaged families and it invites parents to participate in their child’s classroom.

“Education doesn’t start at any one age. It starts when you’re born. Your parents are your first teachers,” Wang said.

Students with involved parents, regardless of family income, are more likely to earn higher grades and test scores, have better attendance and social skills and graduate, according to the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.

“As a charter school, we have a little bit of that advantage of somewhat self-selected parents in terms of being involved because they were at least involved and informed enough to submit an application for the lottery,” Jenny Hoedeman-Eiteljorg said. She is Independence Charter School’s Family and Community Partnerships Coordinator.

The closure of 23 schools will increase child-to-staff ratios. And converting schools into charters may not correct the educational gap. Many charter school’s employ non-highly qualified teachers. Universal Institute and Independence charter schools both missed Adequate Yearly Progress in 2012, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

“Because the scores of our special education students didn’t improve enough, we didn’t make AYP,” Hoedeman-Eiteljorg said. ”Luckily, as a charter school, we can immediately do things to address it. We added one and a half special education jobs in order to be able to give more attention to those students.”

“That’s another advantage of being a stand alone school. We get to make all the decisions ourselves on where we put the resources.”

Despite the many advantages of charter schools, all schools have the same needs.

“You have great schools of all kinds,” Wang said. “It’s not what the title of the school is. Everyone knows what should be in a good school. You need resources.”

Increasing taxes and struggling schools have Grad-Ho residents weighing their options.

“I have seen neighbors across the street from me move away because they needed to consider ‘where am I going to put my children when they are 5 and 6 years old?’” Smith said.

Despite receiving 60 percent of the city’s property tax revenue, the school district needs more money. Michael Franklin spent about $5,000 on his Arthur classroom over the past four years and sought support from the community to raise another $7,000. He encourages residents to get involved in programs like DonorsChoose.org and Friends of Chester Arthur.

“People [say] ‘the schools in Philadelphia suck. Why am I going to spend the money on taxes instead of moving out to the suburbs and getting a better schooling?’ Instead of moving, why not put that time and effort into helping make your neighborhood schools a place you would be willing to send your son or daughter?”

With the school closings, innovative approaches to traditional learning methods have entered into the system in an attempt to rekindle the vital relationship between students and their education. By specializing educational strategies, the new Olney High has been able to help tackle the various issues associated with the link between education and poverty, including attendance and literacy ratings.

The debate over charter schools, which are run by private organizations under the guidance of a public body, has been a heavily debated issue. Simply put, can profit-motivated organizations provide a better education than public institutions? The record is mixed.

The curriculum for the five Philadelphia ASPIRA schools has been designed to fit the needs of the school’s particular demographic or special learning needs. Because each charter is responsible for executing its own unique approach to education, finding a successful model has been a constant battle for the Philadelphia charter system.

According to 2012 data, 15 of the top performing high schools were charter schools, 12 were select admission district schools, nine were citywide admissions district schools and four were neighborhood district schools.

Most charters generally take two years to make an impact on student progress ratings once they are enrolled. For two students at Olney Charter, that impact came along with a sense of devotion to their education.

“Now that things are different, I want to be here. I realized that if I want a good life for myself, then I need to go to school,” said Frayby Peralta, a senior at the school.

Peralta attended the high school before its change and was one of a handful of original students picked by the lottery to attend in the following 2011 school year.

Peralta, who holds a Trojan ranking among his peers, has made a promise to himself to raise his GPA and continue to reach for his goal of becoming a U.S. marshal. Student leadership positions called Trojans were integrated into the school’s plan to enforce skills of leadership and respect in the student body. As a Trojan, Peralta is expected to help keep the hallways safe and clear during class transition and to set a positive example for his peers .

“The teachers meet like once a week and talk about students and who’s doing better and who’s not. My teachers picked me as a leader and that’s an honor,” said Peralta.

Peralta, who said that his English class with teacher Hannah Myers is one of his favorites, volunteered last June to assist the teacher with her class in the 2012-13 school year.

“My focus is to work with them and help develop them as people. Frayby is one of those students who has done a complete turnaround. He helps me with a lot in this class, he’s my right-hand man,” Myers said.

ASPIRA’s Director of Business Development Diana Dahl said that the increased security at the school was a major improvement to the student’s sense of safety.

“We hired 30 new safety team members and we provide each school with members on premise during school days. Students feel much safer coming to school now and I believe that’s one of the reasons the attendance has gone up,” said Dahl.

Peralta’s view on school safety, along with fellow classmate Joseph Marshall, showed similar signs of hope for Olney Charter.

“It was divided into East and West. So there was always fights between the two sides. If someone from the other side came over and saw me in a navy blue polo, they’d probably try to jump me,” said Peralta.

The schools previous divide created even more boundaries for students to create between one another, resulting in as little as 178 serious violent incidents in the 2009-2010 school year.

One school security guard said that even the approaches to student safety have been altered to better suit the school. The security staff members are taught to treat each student with respect while maintaining a safe learning environment.

“Nobody was safe before,” said Marshall,” I couldn’t walk down the hallway without getting punched or intimidated in some way.”

Marshall has been accepted into Shippensburg College for political science and attributed this success, in part, to the change of plan within the school. As a senior, Marshall has attended Olney just as long as Peralta.

“It’s been much better since ASPIRA took over. Kids are actually coming to class and learning something,” said Marshall.

Aside from student successes, the school has made progress in its mission to provide variety in experiences for it students, including rips to college campuses, ice-skating and an after-school fishing club contribute to the school’s added benefits of being a charter school.

The goal is to bring light to the issues that the community faces. The organization wants to empower the Colombian community, as well as all other Latinos, by focusing on the arts, culture and civic participation of all their home countries.

Leity Rodriguez, is the executive director of Acción Colombia. As one of the founders of the nonprofit, she strongly believes that they are building a new bridge for the way Latinos y Latinos in the tri-state area look at immigration.

“I think Acción Colombia benefits our community through the programs we have available. Particularly the classes we offer to prepare for the citizenship test. This organization is a way for all members of our community to learn, and have fun at the same time,” said Rodriguez.

The mission of the nonprofit is to reinforce the leadership in the Latino community of Philadelphia in order to engage members on important issues, as well as to show the diversity of their culture.

The programs that are offered by the organization, as well as the activities, focus on developing current information and the growth of the Latino community.

The main and most popular program is the citizenship class. The class is offered for those immigrants who hold a green card and are able to apply to be sworn into American citizenship.

Instructor Facundo Knight, an expert in the subject, teaches the class for a period of 10 weeks where the students learn everything from history, to their rights and duties as future citizens of the U.S. They also teach a course on labor law and immigration.

“Becoming a citizen will offer them a better life; A better possibility of getting a good job. They could even go to a university or institution to continue studying their previous careers. For these people and their families, the benefits of becoming a citizen are endless,” said Rodriguez.

Another program Acción Colombia offers is arts and culture. These activities are spread out through the year and focus on educating and entertaining both children and adults. The goal behind the activities the organization hosts is to provide a place where the Latino community can come together and strengthen their culture for everyone to see and enjoy.

They also sponsor tours and other activities that enhance the immigrant’s communities’ knowledge of the city of Philadelphia, as a platform for learning the history and culture of the U.S.

Adriana Mayor, a student at one of Acción Colombia’s programs, shared her opinion on the organization stating, “The programs the organization offers are important because they help you know stuff that you normally wouldn’t. Thanks to them I have more knowledge and know what my rights are!”

The civil engagement programs are other platforms Acción Colombia offers to their members. In collaboration with Newark’s Mobile Colombian Consulate, the nonprofit creates a medium for all Colombian residents in Philadelphia to organize papers or any other documentation.

They help with planning the event, and the logistics behind it. The goal of it is to save Colombians a trip to the Colombian Consulate in New York and a rough transportation cost there of $100 or more.

The nonprofit also organizes a Sweet and Savory Festival. Every December, it invites the entire Latino community to participate in a very traditional ritual. It involves lighting candles to welcome the Christmas spirit with the help of music, crafts, dances and traditional food from all of the different ethnicities in the community.

Lexlys Amador, who is a student at Acción Colombia’s citizenship preparation class, commented on the organization’s diversity. “This organization offers so much knowledge. It’s such a beautiful thing to learn about different cultures and also learn about the U.S.”

Acción Colombia’s founding goal is to reassure and give knowledge to the many immigrants who live in the tri-state area. Rodriguez said that the biggest success is to end the struggles and limitations the Latino community lives through everyday.

“This is my passion. I’ve been through it—not having my native language, and not knowing what’s happening around me. I want to help as much as I can,” said Rodriguez.

See a related story at Al Dia: An Immigrant Tells All.