South Philly Review

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“Dysfunctional families lead to dysfunctional communities,” A. Rahim Islam said Monday at Charles Y. Audenried Sr. High School, 3301 Tasker St.

Fed up with both, the president and CEO of Universal Companies, 800 S. 15th St., united with community leaders and elected officials to celebrate the organization’s receipt of a $500,000 Promise Neighborhoods Initiative grant that will enable Islam and Universal’s founder, Kenny Gamble, to enhance the academic, aesthetic, communal and economic identities of Grays Ferry and Point Breeze.

Audenried’s auditorium served as the location for the 90-minute explanation of Universal’s desire to engender pride in the communities, which the Philadelphia City Planning Commission in September 2009 recertified as blighted and needing revitalization.

“These areas have many challenges,” Islam said.

With Census Bureau and School District of Philadelphia statistics guiding him, Islam revealed that 15 to 17 percent unemployment levels dog the two sections, whose combined population hovers around 55,000 residents, as does a dropout rate approaching 60 percent.

“This is not a sustainable model,” he said of the neighborhoods’ enduring battles with broken homes, criminal activity and joblessness.

The United States Department of Education received 339 proposals for assistance in ending all of the contributors to poverty. Selecting only 21, the department notified Islam and Gamble Sept. 21, giving the pair a year to present a viable plan to rejuvenate the turf.

To make this year’s Sept. 30 deadline, Universal is joining with Diversified Community Services, 1529 S. 22nd St.; the Grays Ferry Partnership; the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition, 1444 Point Breeze Ave.; the Point Breeze Performing Arts Center, 1717 Point Breeze Ave.; and the School District of Philadelphia.

“We have a rare chance to change the lives of our children and youth, their families and our community for the better, forever,” Jim Helman, of the Grays Ferry Partnership, which unites seven Grays Ferry neighborhood associations, said.

Enacting change will involve four interrelated work groups for the planning area that Islam and Gamble dubbed PointGrays Connections. Collectively, the groups address the cradle-to-career model that the two wish to offer the area’s residents.

“We have to pick the African-American community up off its knees,” Gamble said.

To give it an erect posture, Universal will use Diversified to monitor its early childhood education group. Foundations Inc., a Moorestown, N.J.-based nonprofit, will lead the career development group for children in grades pre-K through high school. The family development social services component will fall to Diversified, and Universal will head the community and economic development aspect.

“We have to realize that education prevents atrocities,” Islam said. “We have a substandard America and must change our culture. It will not be an easy task by any means.”

The cradle-to-career package of health and social services and improved schools will target the communities’ 10 learning institutions: James Alcorn, 1500 S. 32nd St.; Chester A. Arthur, 2000 Catharine St.; George W. Childs, 1599 Wharton St.; Stephen Girard, 1800 Snyder Ave.; Delaphaine McDaniel, 1801 S. 22nd St.; Smith Academics Plus, 1900 Wharton St.; Edwin M. Stanton, 901 S. 17th St.; Universal Charter, 801 S. 15th St.; Edwin H. Vare, 2100 S. 24th St.; and Audenried.

Citing his education, state Rep. Kenyatta Johnson spoke of working aggressively to improve educational outcomes among his constituents.

“This is the type of initiative that inspires me to continue to work hard to push my neighborhood forward,” the lifelong Point Breeze resident said.

Islam and Gamble submitted their application in June, hoping to secure a portion of the $10 million possible through President Barack Obama’s Promise Neighborhood Planning grants, which derive from the Harlem Children’s Zone Project that began in 1997.

Geoffrey Canada, the project’s president and CEO, inspired Obama during his presidential campaign to offer similar assistance to suffering communities. By the end of this year, Canada hopes to have served 10,000 children. Islam and Gamble have the task of helping about 7,000 youngsters.