The West Philadelphia P
romise Neighborhood is a U.S. Department of Education funded grant to support "cradle-to-career" opportunities for children living or going to school in Belmont, Mantua, Mill Creek, Powelton Village, and West Powelton / Saunders Park. The program seeks to improve education, health, and economic success for children, their families and the community.
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Spotlight on Fab Youth Philly
Play Captains
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Rebecca Fabiano, President and Founder of
Fab Youth Philly
(FYP), always had a vision for building youth programs that engage, encourage, and create a space for positive development in teens. Her passion is driven by the belief that all young people deserve high-quality experiences both in educational and out-of-school settings. Founded in 2010, Fab Youth Philly’s three-pronged model supports youth-serving organizations, connects youth development professionals, and innovates original programming for children and teens.One of such programs is the
Play Captain Initiative
.
The Play Captain Initiative is a workforce and civic-engagement program for teens that fosters leadership, playful learning and facilitation to make the Play Streets and neighborhoods of Philadelphia more playful. There are over 600 Play Streets in Philadelphia (part of the Free Summer Meal Program and overseen by Parks & Recreation) that serve as a safe place for children to receive two free meals a day during the summer. This summer, FYP has hired and trained 23 teens (ages 15-19) to facilitate and play games with the neighborhood youth on Play Streets in Mantua, Mill Creek and Belmont. The project continues to slowly and steadily grow, and they’ve hired a total of 43 teens through various partnership, and will be placing other teens on play streets in Kensington & Hunting Park.
The teens develop a sense of self-worth and pride that they are having a positive impact in their neighborhood. “I love the ways in which the Play Captains grow in just the span of one week during training,” says Rebecca Fabiano. “They grow over the entire six -week program in significant ways. They push themselves, they bond with others, they come out of their shells; and the natural leaders make space for others to come out of their shell. For nearly all of them, this is their first job, so their confidence is exploding by the end of the summer.”
The work of the Play Captains is impactful on several levels. Ja'lah Robinson, a summer 2018 Play Captain in the Promise Neighborhood, fondly looks back to last year. "My favorite part of my summer job was making the kids happy and teaching them new things they did not know. Whatever they may not have known in July--they knew by August. And that made me excited!"
Fabiano successfully created a model that helps young adults flourish in today's world. “So many teens talk with pride about how it’s their job to play games with the children on the Play Streets in order to help reduce summer slide and go back to school on grade level," says Rebecca. "The teens really understand concepts like summer slide and playful learning and are able to apply them day to day on the Play Streets.”
This summer initiative expanded last year in a small pilot with
Action for Early Learning
to afterschool throughout the school year with support from the West Philly Promise Neighborhood. A small number of Play Captains were placed in two early childhood centers in the Promise Neighborhood. Fab Youth Philly plans to build upon what they learned last year and continue afterschool programming again this fall.
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Promise Neighborhood Data Corner
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Percentage of 3rd-12th graders reporting at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily:
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25%
School District of
Philadelphia
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31%
Living or going to
school in the Promise Neighborhood
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The Play Captains Initiative focuses on increased play and engagement in neighborhoods where teens lead the way.
(Data taken from the 2018 District Wide Survey)
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Updates from Community Partners
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AFEL Family Read-Along
On a bright and beautiful June Saturday,
Action for Early Learning
Family Ambassadors conducted a family read-along with more than 10 children. Led by AFEL Family Engagement Specialist Trae Pate, the children read books, flew kites, jumped rope and designed Father’s Day cards. Children received books to take home. Team AFEL is committed to promoting early literacy and building West Philadelphia children’s home libraries.
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AFEL Annual Family Survey
Are you a parent or guardian who resides in the 19104 zipcode? Are your children between the ages of 0-8 years old?
Keep an eye out for Action for Early Learning this month as they continue their annual Family Survey. Action for Early Learning is working towards making sure every child in the Promise Neighborhood is Kindergarten ready. Input from the community helps reach this goal. Every parent or guardian who participates will receive a $10 gift card.
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Summer Programs at the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships
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The summer programs at the
Dornsife Center
have kicked off to a great start! They are offering a wide range of programs this season from youth summer camps, nutrition and cooking workshops, gardening and harvesting days to career workshops and certification trainings. At the nutrition and cooking workshops and demonstrations, representatives from Drexel University’s
Eat.Right.Philly
program host interactive cooking workshops every other Thursday evening that focus on how to make cultural and delicious meals healthier, easier to prepare, and more affordable. Fresh produce from the Dornsife Center Community Garden (pictured) is sometimes used in the demonstrations and given to the residents participating in the classes. Every other Saturday, community members can attend the Dornsife Center Community Garden days and learn different gardening tips and tricks, help with garden maintenance, and take home bags of fresh vegetables.
At the career workshops, in the Beachell Family Learning Center, they promote Career Services and provide group-based workshops on fundamental job readiness skills. Topics vary from resume writing, online professional networking, to cover letters. Special guests include
West Philadelphia Skills Initiative
,
Philadelphia Youth Network
and
Career Link
who provide information sessions for their employment or training opportunities. All of the summer programs allow community members to explore a wide range of opportunities and resources available at the Dornsife Center.
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Lindy Center
The Lindy Center for Civic Engagement
hosted a drive to collect items for two community partners:
Our Closet
, an organization that provides clothing to vulnerable Philadelphians free of charge by way of pop-up clothing shops, and
Cradles to Crayons
, an organization providing free basic essentials to children living in homeless or low-income situations. The Lindy Center reported that the
Drexel community rallied together to donate
7,304
items for these two organizations!
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July Events in the Promise Zone:
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Eat Cafe is also home to the newest
Action for Early Learning
Book Depot! Stop by for a meal and grab a book with your family. Stay tuned for dates for the next Read-A-Long!
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Jeffrey spent the day on June 22 attending three community events with Promise Neighborhood team members: Victory over Violence, Men of Mill Creek Health Fair, and the Metropolitan Baptist Church Health and Wellness Fair. Promise Neighborhood's new outreach table and swag were on display at each event. The Promise Neighborhood is proud to support community events and inspire children to #pictureyourfuture.
Look out for Jeffrey and the Promise Neighborhood Team at the 16th District's Community Day on 7/19 and Lancaster Ave Jazz Fest on 7/20.
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Promise Neighborhood Welcomes Summer WorkReady Student
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Drexel University has made an ongoing commitment to work with teens and young adults from neighborhoods surrounding West Philadelphia as a way to build a talent pipeline and help shape the future of our workforce. To support this commitment, 40 intern positions have been hired through the WorkReady summer internship program, the citywide initiative managed by Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN), to help prepare young people for 21st century careers. The WorkReady program runs for 6 weeks during July and August and the Promise Neighborhood is fortunate to provide work experience to one local high school student this summer! Stay tuned for updates from our WorkReady intern throughout the summer.
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The Young Dragons Summer STEAM camp, funded partially by the Promise Neighborhood, is underway. The students spent week two "kickin' it" with the Sneaker Lab to learn about the design of shoes and absorbing shock to minimize injury. Our young makers are getting inspired!
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Calling All Teens!
It's not too early to think about next summer!
For those interested in
becoming a lifeguard
next summer, the city will start certification training in August. Click on the link for more info.
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Calling All 7th Graders!
Check out the The West Philadelphia YMCA for their 7th Grade Membership Initiative which provides FREE membership to current or rising 7th grade students!
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New Leadership in Two Promise Neighborhood Schools
Stay tuned for spotlights on two new principals in our upcoming newsletters. Morton McMichael and Martha Washington Elementary will both have new leadership for the upcoming school year. The Promise Neighborhood is honored to continue the work with both new principals.
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Promise Neighborhood is Hiring
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Learn More About Kindergarten Registration!
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Link includes resources, necessary forms, and provides step by step guidance for Kindergarten registration!
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Follow Us on Social Media!
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