Edgardo Aponte sleeps most nights in the parking lot of a Kensington Save-A-Lot. When he has money, he’ll share a room with as many as five other men in a nearby rowhouse. He’s been homeless for several years and like most of the people who share the supermarket lot, he’s Latino, originally from Puerto Rico….
La mayoría de la noches Edgardo Aponte duerme en el estacionamiento de un supermercado de Kensington. Cuando le llega el dinero, comparte una habitación con otros cinco en una casa del área. Edgardo ha sido mendigo por varios años y como la mayoría de las personas que pasan la noche en ese supermercado, no tiene…
*Correction: Esperanza is not affiliated with Esperanza Health Center and has not taken any part into the construction of its new campus.* What does asset-based community development look like? While some groups opt to focus on bricks and mortar, as scholars like John “Jody” Kretzmann and John McKnighthave argued for decades, strong asset-based development really comes…
Esperanza, the local nonprofit serving the North Philadelphia neighborhood’s Hispanic community, renovated and officially reopened the former school’s building in November after it sat vacant for more than a decade. Now dubbed the Roberto Clemente Homes, it contains 38 affordable housing units and 5,000 square feet of commercial space. The $18 million project is a marker of the…
By M. Thomas Ridington ’78, MA ’81, PhD The national conversation on poverty identifies place as a powerful determinant for accessing the American dream. A zip code is a key factor in establishing the opportunities available for most people and portends their futures. It’s not surprising then that academic, business and nonprofit leaders are coalescing around mobility as a…
2018 was a great year for Esperanza and its fight to protect and enhance Hunting Park’s environment. In April, we hosted the first-ever bilingual (English/Spanish) PHS Tree Tenders training with the participation of 45 people, mostly community residents. This year alone, we planted 54 street trees and plan to plant many more in years to…
Esperanza’s Housing and Economic Development division received a scale-tipping $450,000 renewal grant from Wells Fargo last week. The money will help support resident-driven community development projects and initiatives in Hunting Park, in addition to beautifying the North Philadelphia area. The grant builds on previous 2012 funding and will help Esperanza complete its Hunting Park 2022…
Nuevo proyecto por parte de funcionarios de Filadelfia promete mejorar el estilo de vida y seguridad de una comunidad al norte de la ciudad.
In the life cycle of a building, a few years’ time can mean the difference between being at the center of a community and falling into disrepair and blight. That was the case with the towering former pantyhose factory that housed Roberto Clemente Middle School in Hunting Park. In 1994, the public school closed. In…
Chess coach Gabrielle Moshier of the Philadelphia Chess Society told CLO that the experience was particularly meaningful for her girls from Esperanza High School and Middle School in Philly, pictured above. The top finisher from her program, Daiana Espindola, placed fourth in the Under 18 and most of her students gained rating points.
