Hope Partnership for Education hosted their first Hope Community Day—and also took their first step towards transforming a vacant lot last Saturday.
In 2014, the Community Design Collaborative wrapped up a design grant for Hope Partnership for Education, an independent middle school and adult education center serving Eastern North Philadelphia. Hope Partnership saw a vacant lot across from its school entrance as an opportunity to bring the surrounding Fairhill community together, and our design work primarily focused on how to transform the lot into a park for the community.
The community started the day with a green stormwater management workshop by the Philadelphia Water Department, followed by a cleanup of the vacant lot. Then it was time for face painting, a live DJ, and a surprise birthday cake for Sister Rose Martin, Hope Partnership’s executive director.
Syreeta Martin, event director, writes: “The community that we serve has often times struggled to hold on to a sense of hope, which was proven when one of our neighbors declared, ‘We don’t have a name. Just call us the Community of Lost Hope.’
“Since that very moment, we have worked to reveal the Face of Hope to our neighbors through our educational offerings. While our 90% graduation rate confirms that we are on the right track to revealing the Face of Hope in the minds of the children and adults that we serve, we believe that there is always more that can be done and as always: it takes a village.”
“With the dedicated help of our friends like Jim Butts and those at Philadelphia LISC, PerformRX, the Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM), the Community Design Collaborative, Temple University, the 22nd Police District and Youthbuild Philadelphia Charter School, we held the first-ever Hope Community Day.
“Many people told me they hope our Community Day celebration becomes a tradition going forward. I hope so too.
“Hope truly exists here and therefore, we are no longer the “Community of Lost Hope.” We have a name and it is the Hope Community.”
