The crime-ridden and poverty-stricken South Philadelphia neighborhood of Grays Ferry is one that doesn't often find itself mentioned in the local news media--unless that news is decidedly negative. But recently, the residents of both Grays Ferry and its next-door South Philly neighborhood, Point Breeze, found themselves the recipients of $1 million in community revitalization funds that will be distributed by
Universal Companies, the nonprofit CDC founded by the legendary music producer
Kenny Gamble.
Half of that money came from the
U.S. Department of Education's Promise Neighborhoods Initiative, which aims to help community leaders put a definitive end to extreme poverty in inner-city neighborhoods by promoting what's known as a "cradle-to-career" educational plan. The grant's matching half came from the
William Penn Foundation and other groups.
Universal was one of only 21 nonprofit and educational groups to receive the Promise Neighborhoods planning grant, which was inspired by the work of the
Harlem Children's Zone organization. According to both Gamble and A. Rahim Islam, the president and CEO of Universal Companies, a good portion of the grant money will be used on various education reform initiatives.
Universal has until Sept. 30 to prepare a revitalization plan for the two neighborhoods, and in an effort to successfully achieve that goal, they've partnered with a wide range of other neighborhood associations.
"The children who are coming to school today are coming to school with a ton of issues, unlike we've ever seen, really, in modern times," says Islam, in a video about Universal and its work. "And so it's not enough to just think that these kids are going to overcome this dysfunction because you send them to school. So our goal is to reach out into the neighborhoods and try to fix some of the things that are ailing."
Source: Universal Companies
Writer: Dan Eldridge
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