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STEPHANIE MICHEL & NORTH 5TH REVITALIZATION PROJECT
STEPHANIE MICHEL
DIRECTOR,
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Stephanie Michel is the Director of the North 5th Street Revitalization Project and Chair of the Olney Advisory Board. These are groups of people dedicated to maintaining and enhancing the Philadelphia community known as Olney. This low to moderate income neighborhood in North Philadelphia is the most linguistically diverse zip code in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Sadly, Olney’s outward reputation includes crime, disrepair, and trash on the street. But Stephanie, who has lived in this community since the age of 12, knows that Olney is made up of wonderful people just trying to make ends meet —people who know the power of diversity. But Olney needs help to maintain its pride in order to fend off the forces of gentrification, or forces that could take Olney into despair. Stephanie, and the team she leads, have selflessly committed themselves to this community, accepting that it is a very slow process offering little acknowledgment. They support Olney because its residents are as important as any others in the City of Philadelphia. On behalf of all those who advocate for Olney, Stephanie is deserving of One Step Away’s 2019 Champion for Social Justice award. Stephanie Michel is a resident of Lawncrest, a community just East of Olney. She is the daughter of Haitian immigrants who came to the United States in the late 1970’s settling in the Crown Heights Section of Brooklyn. As a young child she learned the value of living in a diverse community. “I lived in Brooklyn until 12; my parents moved to Philadelphia because of high living costs in New York and that was a time when many Haitians were moving to Philadelphia. It was a hard move for me, but Olney brought me comfort because of the diversity. I’ve always been around people who look different from me. I’m more comfortable and I love learning different languages, learning about different food and cultures; growing up in Brooklyn that’s what you saw — there were Mexicans, Guatemalans, and Africans all on the same block; I was used to that throughout my life. It was that background that brought me to the North 5th Street Revitalization Project.” After earning a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Sociology at Albright College in Reading PA, Stephanie worked in nonprofits before becoming a kindergarten teacher. But wanting to help people one-on-one made her return to nonprofits: “A position at the North 5th Street Revitalization Project was available and because I grew up in Olney I wanted to see if this would be for me. I was hired under AmeriCorps VISTA for a year of service; after a year I was hired as the Program Coordinator and then promoted to Assistant Director a year later; I became Co-Director and then Director in 2017.” The North 5th Street Revitalization Project started in 2006 when a business owner saw the community declining. North 5th Street was dirty, a lot of businesses were closing: “I gathered together business owners, stakeholders, and residents who lived in the community as a steering committee; this led to funding by Philadelphia’s Commerce Department to enhance the commercial corridor of Olney’s North 5th Street.”
The North 5th Street Revitalization Project has four objectives — Stephanie explains: 1. Cleaning and Street-scape:
“We have two awesome guys who clean the streets and sidewalks of North 5th Street seven days a week, and that’s the bread and butter of what we do to enhance community pride. People want to live somewhere that looks clean; we’ve been cleaning for ten years and people are just starting to realize the impact and why it’s important; residents and business owners are now thanking us; parents can walk their kids to daycare without having to step over piles of trash.” 2. Public Safety: “We work with the 35th Police District to keep North 5th Street as safe as possible; we help business owners get security cameras and provide information about how business owners can keep their places safe.” 3. Business Assistance: “We work one-on-one with owners to improve store fronts, to get new lights and windows, to provide help filling out business forms and paying bills, to explain how changes in laws might affect their business plans – we’re like social workers for businesses.” 4. Community: “This is my favorite part — we’re trying to get residents to see the beauty of where they live and why diversity matters; we send that message though community events like the
Olney Winter Festival, Open Mike
Night and the Olney Youth Arts
Festival.”
The home of the North 5th Street Revitalization Project — the center of activities to strengthen Olney and the meeting place of the Advisory Board.
© 2018 TGoldmanPhotography
Stephanie is Chair of the Advisory Board, formerly the steering committee: “In 2015 we developed a ten-year strategic plan with stakeholders from the community.” The underpinning of their effort in Olney is to preserve diversity: “Diversity is our strongest asset — we use it as the flag we wave because Olney is so linguistically diverse with more than thirty languages spoken in the local schools. We have Sub-Saharan African, Vietnamese, Chinese, Haitian, Korean.”
But the current political winds are saying if you don’t look like me, get out of here —
Make America White Again: “Olney is the antidote to racist thinking. People from outside should come visit Olney and maybe they would see things differently. We have different cultures that all get along; if you speak to most Olney residents, they’re proud of the diversity.
A man who lived in the neighborhood for thirty years stopped into the office to share stories about how his kids had friends from so many cultures, and he thought that’s what made his kids successful. In the Advisory Board when Trump became President, we knew we had to maintain this safe place where cultures can mix and it’s okay. We accept everyone and we love everybody — this is how America should look. Olney is portrayed in the news as a negative place, but as far as the intrinsic makeup of the community, it’s a welcoming feel-good place where not everyone is the same and that’s the strength of diversity.”
What do you get personally from doing this work? “I know in my heart of hearts that this is a beautiful community. My personal goal is to maintain the identity of the community because there are a lot of outside factors that we can’t control — gentrification has already started to take place in other parts of the city. I go back to Brooklyn and it’s not the same place as when I grew up there in the 90’s — it’s a completely different neighborhood. House prices have skyrocketed, I don’t want to see that happen here. One thing I say to myself every day is that Olney deserves the very best, the best that I have to offer.”
You are a very capable person who could easily get a fancier job —
are you giving anything up to do this work in Olney? “I give up free time mostly and definitely income. I work between 60-70 hours — even when I take a vacation I’m still working; but I don’t see this as a sacrifice because it comes with the job. I can say that this job makes me feel whole — it makes me happy that we’re doing things to make Olney a better place. When I walk down the street and talk to residents who appreciate the clean streets, that feels good.” If the dream of Olney is diversity, what’s the nightmare? “Rich people coming in and just capitalizing on the assets that are here in a malicious way. That’s what happened in other parts of the city like building expensive condos. We need to support the people who are here and maintain our identity, and we must maintain community pride — these are our main goals.” Does the community understand what you’re trying to do? “Some people do but not everyone or even enough. We work in a community that is low-moderate income and people are just trying to survive, which makes our job a little bit harder. People aren’t worried about the grand scheme of economics, community development, community pride… People see our events and it excites them, but after that moment they’re just worried about making dinner for their kids or how they’re going to pay their next bill. This initiative is being done for them without them being aware; it’s going to take time — hopefully ten years from now people will get it!”
But what keeps you going? “Olney can seem discouraging if people only focus on the negative, but we choose to celebrate the mini wins and that’s what gives us hope and inspires us to keep going!” Words of a true champion: “There are a couple of girls I’ve watched grow up; I do this for people like them so they can be proud of where they live. Not only do their moms have businesses here but this is where they live — this is their world — they don’t get outside of Olney. When all you hear on the news is people getting shot and all things negative, I’m working to give them hope — to give them light — to give them a place to be proud of.”
Photo essay of Stephanie Michel by Ted Goldman of TGoldmanPhotography. Pictured left Stephanie leads Christmas carols on a tram ride between festival locations during the Olney Winter Festival.
RESOURCE COORDINATOR,
RHD FASST/CONNECTIONS, STATION HOUSE MEN’S SHELTER
As a resource coordinator for Resources for Human Development’s FaSST/Connections program, Marybeth Taylor provides mental healthcare management. Her office is located at Station House, one of Center City’s men’s homeless shelters. Her caseload consists of 22-26 people who are referred by the shelter and other referrals from partnering agencies focused on helping the homeless, including the Office for Homeless Services. When she takes on a client, each case much be assessed individually because each situation is so unique, and the needs are different. Once their needs are assessed, which commonly includes a lot of mental health treatment, they can be supported as they transition into housing opportunities that Marybeth helps coordinate. She also commonly helps coordinate medical treatment and school. The role that Marybeth plays is one of the most complicated in her organization. Each day she engages with individuals and families coming directly off the streets with very complex needs. They are also a highly vulnerable population, and they need help navigating a complex system that is broken and could affect anyone. “There are a lot of discriminatory practices.” One of Marybeth’s best qualities is her desire to learn and seek out any new knowledge to help the clients she provides services to. She is known for showing compassion every day and is committed to show the importance housing has for a person experiencing homelessness. In addition to her job, Marybeth also volunteers to help individuals in need. When volunteer opportunities arise, she is first to sign up. These things include providing a meal or conversation to the homeless, as well as packaging materials for needle exchanges and safe injection sites. Marybeth keeps an open mind when it comes to issues like local needle exchanges, but she also tackles volunteer roles that are much more complex, including joining and leading groups around national efforts to drive public policy and funding for homeless populations, or presenting on best practices we do in Philadelphia at national conferences. Those who wish to help the homeless can begin with “trying to remember to focus on giving people the respect they deserve and viewing them as equal. People are very quick to judge. They focus in on what choices that person has made as the exclusive reason they are homeless. While that does play a role so does economic opportunities, access to housing, and racism.” The next step would be volunteering. Connect with an organization that provides services to the homeless. “Choose an organization that reaches out in a way that means something to them.” Vote, and get involved in community organizations that improve the community as a whole.” Marybeth also recommends paying attention to legislature that would affect issues involving affordable housing. And to support the right councilpersons because “policies are really important.”
TOGETHER, WE CAN End homelessness
Everybody deserves a place to call home. From shelters and safe havens to supportive housing and nationally-renowned case management services, Resources for Human Development helps people of all abilities attain and maintain their own housing. RHD is a national leader in pioneering innovative strategies to support people as they work to break they cycle of homelessness. RHD founded One Step Away in 2009 as a voice of advocacy and social justice, and as an innovative way to solve gaps in social services that would help people achieve self-sufficiency. A national human services nonprofit with the broadest possible service mission, RHD supports tens of thousands of people each year in caring and effective services addressing intellectual disabilities, behavioral health, homelessness, addiction recovery and much more.
