Community-led programs fill gaps for Philadelphia students

About three years ago, Mekia Elizabeth Matthews was gifted a community space by a neighbor. She decided to turn it into an afterschool space for the children in her neighborhood. 

She lives in Harmony Hill, the neighborhood surrounding Fernhill park in Southwest Germantown and the after school program is called the Harmony Home Team. The program is pay what you wish and relies mostly on the “radical acts of generosity” from neighbors. 

The program uses a gift economy model where they accept “time, value, and treasure.” If neighbors want to volunteer to work with the kids they have to volunteer a minimum of an hour of their time. 

Matthews also runs a cafe that is worked by the teenagers in the neighborhood that also goes toward funding the afterschool program. Harmony Home Team is also in communication with the schools in and surrounding the Harmony Hill neighborhood to ensure students success. 

“The schools come to our events and we go to theirs,” said Matthews. “With the permission of the parent, I show up for the kids when the parents cannot.” 

Although many after school programs in Philadelphia don’t share the same pay as you wish model, they’ve all taken a considerable hit due to lack of federal funding.  Many afterschool programs have had to find other avenues to fund the programs that enrich the children they serve. 

According to the After School Alliance, about 9 in 10 parents say their children felt more connected to their school after joining an afterschool program. Additionally, programs saw an increase in self-regulation, self-awareness, self esteem, and mental health.

From 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., three nights a week, children seven and up come to the space to do homework, collaborative improv, and other activities based on the lesson of the week. There are three groups: 5th grade and below, sixth to eighth grade, and high schoolers. 

“Sometimes it feels very magical because we’ll be talking about wanting trees for the outdoor space and then all of sudden parks and rec will say they have five extra trees,” said Matthews. “We take the love your neighbor, love your neighborhood, love your park model to the level of embodiment.” 

Community-Centered Out Of School Time

Last summer the Trump administration withheld more than seven billion dollars in crucial funding for afterschool programs. The administration later released about one million dollars of that needed funding but the damage was already done. ​​

This left Pennsylvania with a more than $200 million dollar deficit in its funding for K-12 education. 

But many out of school time programs have still persevered despite this lack of federal funding. One program called Saturdays at Key, a once-a-month Saturday program at Francis Scott Key Elementary School in South Philly promotes the school as a community resource.  

Families in the neighborhood can come and utilize the library for free access to Wi-Fi and printers, teacher facilitated workshops for critical resources or just arts and crafts, and a chance to speak with Bilingual staff. 

“It was important to me when I became principal to invite families into the school and elders,” said Dr. Pauline Cheung, Principal at Francis Scott Key Elementary at last week’s Need in Deed Educational Equity Forum. “ because I grew up thinking that my mother’s wisdom and elders wisdom was not needed in a school setting.” 

According to Gabby Cepeda, Program Coordinator for Saturdays at Key, Cheung was able to use $20,000 she was awarded by the Christian R. and Mary Lindback Foundation’s award for Distinguished Principals and Teachers. Her award was matched by the Neubauer Family Foundation. 

This money was used to renovate the library Saturdays at Key is held in. Both Cheung and An Nguyen, a school-based teacher at Francis Scott Key Elementary, have applied for additional funds from the school district to run Saturdays at Key. 

In contrast, one program in Baltimore called Family League shares a similar model to Harmony Home Team. They are mostly funded through the city of Baltimore but through this, the city prioritizes funding community organizations that are willing to host out of school time programming for kids in the city. 

The community also gives input on funding through the Community Advisory Board. 

Solutions from the State

Other afterschool programs in Philadelphia have recently received $11 million combined from the state for funding for afterschool programs. These grants are provided by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to be dispersed over the next two years. 

Amongst them the Philly afterschool programs are After School Activities Partners, Girls on the Run Philadelphia, Highway Mission Tabernacle, Philadelphia Education Fund, Niche Clinic, TreeHouse Books, First Hand Program at the University City Sciences Center, and ESF Dream Camp Foundation. 

ESF Dream Camp foundation received $250,000 for afterschool and summer camp violence prevention, leadership training, and homework support. The program offers afterschool activities to five Philadelphia Catholic schools: St. Francis Cabrini, St. Rose of Lima, S. Raymond, St. Veronica, and St. Martin of Tours. 

Parents also pay an additional five dollars a day to keep their children enrolled in ESF Dream Camp afterschool programming. 

“One thing I would love to see in the future is for families and children to be able to choose,” said Dave McDonough, Managing Director of ESF Dream Camp Foundation. “Right now they all cycle through the same five or six activities over the course of a week. It would promote the most autonomy and interest, therefore motivation and engagement.” 

Governor Shapiro’s recent budget address proposes $151 million dollars for Philadelphia schools. A budget that will leave gaps in early learning initiatives and school districts budgets.

School District of Philadelphia Proposes Closures of 20 Schools 

Although the State and Philadelphia community members are finding other means to fund their schools and afterschool programs, the School District of Philadelphia may be thwarting their efforts with their new facilities plan. 

Late last month the School District of Philadelphia released its 10-year plan to close 20 schools, merge six and modernize 159 schools in the city. The plan prioritizes merging elementary schools and middle schools, anchoring neighborhood high schools as centers of their communities, and expanding access to criteria based and CTE schools. 

In a city council hearing on February 17th, the school district superintendent Tony Watlington and school board president Reginald Streater insisted that the plan is “equitable” and would give students a better chance to succeed.

But they were met with grievances both from city council and the public. Many of the council members expressed that the facilities plan seems rushed and expressed their concerns overcrowding as a result, and unsafe travelling situations for students who might have to leave their neighborhoods to get to school.  

 “I firmly believe that if you create the conditions you are responsible for the results,” said Councilwoman Cindy Bass of District 8. “What you’re doing here is fundamentally breaking down public education for our children in this city.”