Allentown, Pennsylvania, is trying to move beyond its industrial past — without leaving anyone behind.
on the principle of “Radical Welcome,” a philosophy that guides his work at Promise Neighborhoods. At its core, it means no one is considered throwaway, no one beyond the need for compassion, care, respect and inclusion — and that, particularly when it comes to marginalized communities, everyone’s experience should be considered equally in crafting ways to ensure a community’s health and well-being.
QB, a Promise Neighborhoods volunteer, demonstrates handwashing techniques in a video posted to Facebook. One of Batts’ goals with Promise Neighborhoods was to reveal to its formerly incarcerated participants how the skills they had cultivated on the streets could translate beyond that context, helping them to see how those same attributes qualified them to be leaders, entrepreneurs, managers, counselors. The opportunity to receive such intensive mentorship is what drew Rivera to the organization not long after his release last August.
At that time, he was trying very hard to keep his world small, he said, so he wouldn’t get overwhelmed after so much time on the inside. It scared him too much to think beyond graduation. Instead, Rivera focused on the immediate: on homework, on his volunteer work at Promise Neighborhoods. He was also deeply involved in Allentown’s recovery community.
“I attend meetings to remind myself of the damage I have done,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of drug dealers say we do what we do for our kids, but we’re driving the cars, wearing the clothes and going to the club — nothing we do is for them. When I sit on the other side, I can see how I hurt other people’s children, how I was taking food from their mouths, their parents’ ability to pay rent.”At a weekly Narcotics Anonymous meeting, Rivera reflects on what he has learned from his past mistakes.
Keify McNear was recruited to serve as a"credible messenger" for Promise Neighborhoods, someone who could act as a trusted figure to broker peace and calm. McNear, a second-generation gang member, has focused on channeling his leadership skills into business and politics. Most of the men assembled professed very little trust in or engagement with any of the Democratic candidates. One young man, who was working as an intern for Batts, announced he would have voted for the first time if Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders were the nominee. Simpson, who runs Promise Neighborhoods’ youth violence prevention program, confessed to voting for Trump.
At the time he had gone inside, Allentown still lagged conspicuously behind its neighboring sister cities in the Lehigh Valley, where revitalization efforts designed to bridge the old and new economies had been more obvious, etched into their downtowns in the form of elaborate developments, entertainment complexes, arts venues built from old Bethlehem Steel plants, casino complexes, new manufacturing “incubation” parks.
Yes, there were jobs in the new restaurants that had begun to pop up downtown, but they were not places where most of the people from the nearby neighborhood could afford to eat.Totals for African American and Asian residents include people of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity. Source: US Census Bureau After a series of shootings last summer, developer J.B. Reilly agreed to take a walking tour with Promise Neighborhoods to understand how communities of color weren't benefiting equally from Allentown’s revival.It was Keify McNear who came up with the idea of giving Reilly a neighborhood tour.
His fears proved unfounded. People were just slow to trickle in, and soon the space was packed. McNear stepped up to address the group. Pas Simpson noted that there were several rival gang members present, all milling together, joking, sipping chardonnay and holding plates of canapés. “Be honest, have you ever been in a room with this many gang members?” he asked. “Would you even know?”
Suddenly, with Reilly’s interest in what they were doing, the folks from Promise Neighborhoods were finding themselves included in larger conversations that they’d felt they had struggled to be in before, Batts said. And he was using that leverage to include more people from the community in those conversations, too.
That same day, police were investigating the shooting death of an 18-year-old that had occurred just a few blocks away. The group from Promise Neighborhoods had mobilized, sending the credible messengers to knock on doors to calm and reassure and to gather information that could help them intervene and keep things from possibly escalating.
Balloons and candles marked the spot, the candle flames struggling in the wind. The youth's name, we would learn, was Elijaah Rodriguez. Winston’s, a West Indian restaurant on North 7th Street, was a popular lunchtime hangout before the virus. “This isn’t about blaming and shaming,” Batts said. “Dr. Joy DeGruy said America’s pathology is her denial of race and racism. We’re talking about acknowledgment and atonement. The reason we can do the work we’re doing is we say, ‘We harmed this community and we’re here to repair it.’”
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