February 3, 2014

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THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF PENNSYLVANIA THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

REBUILDING JERSEY

WINGING IT >> BACK PAGE

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014

A Presidential ‘promise’ to improve West Philadelphia Experts question how President Barack Obama’s Promise Zone plans will improve Mantua BY JILL GOLUB Staff Writer

W

orking in Mantua, West Philadelphia — which is just a mile north of Penn’s campus — isn’t easy. Dorothy Dicks, a church administrator, has been approached by many women in need of help, be it because of poverty, drug abuse or physical abuse. Fifty-one percent of that section of Philadelphia, which is home to 35,315 residents, is in poverty. The unemployment rate for Mantua is 13.6 percent, which is twice the national unemployment rate as of December 2013. Dicks, who works for the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church of Philadelphia , said that change in the area is “well needed.” Right now, she tries to help the area by working with her small church to provide clothes, after-school programs and counseling to members in need. However, Dicks hopes that President Barack Obama’s P romise Zone desig nation for this section of Philadelphia will be the engine that restores Mantua to its former glory. Obama’s Promise Zone designation was first mentioned in February 2013 as a place-based approach to fighting poverty. Obama proposed to invest $750 million in impoverished communities to provide a tax incentive to secure private investments that will foster jobs and build homes. However, some experts question what will result from these Promise Zones. For Mantua, which is one of five areas across the country that received this designation, the Federal plan is to aid the zone with tax credits

Photos courtesy of Creative Commons Map courtesy of Stamen Design Graphic by Vivian Lee designed to encourage investment and job creation and reduce crime and school dropout rates. Drexel University has been involved with the neighborhood for years, helping with grant applications and running other programs, and was instrumental in helping write the application for the Promise Zone designation. Penn is currently not involved in working with Mantua under the Promise Zone designation. Lucy Kerman, Drexel’s vice provost of university and community partnerships , said that this designation will “bring more people, more partners to the table,” which

would lead to “more expertise and more hands on deck to help address the goals of the community.” While this designation will not bring new money to this area, Kerman is optimistic about the attention it will bring to the community, which will hopefully increase grant funding by both the government and other organizations. “What’s so gratifying for the partners is that [the Promise Zone designation] does recognize the depth of

SEE PROMISE ZONE PAGE 5

SLAP endorses Democrat John Hanger for Gov. BY LAUREN FEINER Staff Writer

Yolanda Chen/News Photo Editor

John Hanger talks to activist Desi Burnette and emcee Koby Murphy at an event in Center City. .

The Student Labor Action Project is going on the campaign trail. SLAP recently announced its endorsement of Democratic candidate and Penn Law graduate John Hanger for governor, citing his progressive stance on labor, education and environmental issues. “It is a rare movement for labor groups to engage in electoral politics,” SLAP member and College sophomore Clara Hendrickson said. “But the state of affairs [in Pennsylvania] … has just been so awful that it’s a very strategic moment to back this progressive candidate.”

Hanger is the only candidate in this election to have been in a union himself and is calling his campaign “the People’s Campaign.” He recognizes that “the only way to reduce income inequality is to support unions,” Hendrickson said. SLAP supports Hanger because of his commitment to creating more jobs — specifically well-paying green jobs, something he did as secretary of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. SLAP also supports Hanger’s plan to invest in public education by returning over $1 billion of funding cuts in this area. Part of SLAP’s goal with this campaign is to engage Penn students in

Columbia ‘breaks history’ BY FOLA ONIFADE Staff Writer Columbia University broke an Ivy League record previously held by Penn for highest capital raised in a fundraising campaign. Columbia raised a total of $6.1 billion — $1.8 billion more than Penn’s Making History Campaign, which raised $4.3 billion. “It’s really just a matter of timing,” Penn’s Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations John Zeller said, explaining that Columbia was originally scheduled to end its campaign last year, but it raised its goal and extended the time frame. Making History was a five-year campaign, while the Columbia Campaign lasted six years.

However, it looks like Columbia will not wear the crown for long. Harvard University launched The Harvard Campaign in 2013 with a goal of $6.5 billion. If successful, it will be the largest fundraising effort by any university in the United States, surpassing both Columbia and Stanford University, which raised 6.2 billion dollars between 2006-2011. According to Zeller, Penn is currently focusing on keeping its alumni engaged and involved as part of the Penn Compact 2020. “We spent a lot of time focusing on our nonfinancial objective, which was to make sure our alumni felt engaged with the institutions,” Zeller said. “There was an effort to reach out to young alumni and alumni in general, and that’s going to continue.” ■

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the greater Philadelphia community in a lasting way. “Most Penn students spend more than four years here in Philly,” Devan Spear, a College freshman and member of SLAP, said. “We have a responsibility to do more than just pass through.” On Saturday, the group joined several other activist groups from across Philadelphia for an event at the Arch Street Methodist Church in Center City, where the Point Breeze Organizing Committee officially endorsed Hanger’s campaign. The event was sponsored by Progressive Philly Rising , a new coalition of social justice groups like PBOC that are “committed to

putting front and center [the issues of] public education and economic inequality,” Dina Yarmus, a member of PPR and the emcee at the event, said. The event consisted of several speakers from many of the organizations in the coalition as well as prominent activists, including retired teacher and education activist Ron Whitehorne and labor activist Bill Fletcher Jr. The Media Mobilizing Project presented a video of the progress made by working people across the city throughout the past year. The event closed with PBOC’s endorsement of Hanger, and Hanger SEE SLAP PAGE 6

SEAHAWKS’ SUCCESS STORY

Nathaniel Chan/Assistant Photo Editor

Penn students watched Super Bowl XVIII last night at City Tap House. The Seattle Seahawks won over the Denver Broncos, 43 - 8, in New Jersey. Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed at the halftime show.

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