Michelle Simmons founded Why Not Prosper 21 years ago after returning home from prison. The group operates three residential facilities in Philadelphia. In the past year, they started holding peace walks every two weeks with the goal of drawing people into their Germantown command center.
Some days, Sylvester Cooper, spends seven consecutive days at work, cooking and serving breakfast, lunch and dinner to the men at Ready, Willing and Able on Bainbridge Street. Cooper, 55, is a kitchen supervisor at RWA but