UCCP brings YouthBuild to Penrose for MLK 2010

For the second year in a row, the UCCP used the MLK Day of Service as an opportunity to strengthen and improve our community partner and neighbor, Penrose Playground. This year, we were thrilled to partner with YouthBuild Charter School who brought their construction expertise, supplies and unrivaled energy and professionalism to the service day at the Penrose Recreation Center.

On January 18, 2010, students from YouthBuild Charter built custom shelves for the Penrose library, installed brand new cabinets in the kitchen, repained the walls, and put in beautiful french doors to separate the Rec Center's main space from the library room. The transformation was amazing!

The UCCP was especially happy to see other community partners take notice and invest energy into Penrose. Youth from Arthur Ashe Tennis and Education Center organized a clean-up in the area and students from the Temple Garden Club built raised beds. Other volunteers from Temple University and UCCP helped to paint the new shelves for the library. Temple University provided breakfast and water for the volunteers.

More Progress and Partnerships at Penrose Playground!

For over nineteen months the UCCP has been working in the community surrounding Temple’s campus. Most of the work has been centered on Penrose Playground, in an effort to bring more activities and resources to the community. Work in the community began this year on MLK Day of Service by coordinating over 120 volunteers to clean and paint the Rec center and organize the library and supplies at the Playground. The UCCP also coordinated and hosted an event to celebrate the inauguration of president Obama and in April, the UCCP helped coordinate 100 Hours of Power in partnership with City Year and Teens for Good. During the summer we helped community leaders plan the 24th Camac/Diamond annual reunion. With UCCP’s support, organizations like Starfinder, Drexel School of Medicine and the Department of Public Dental Health at Temple University donated their time and came to provide free HIV testing, dental health related information and soccer activities for children in the community.

This Fall, the UCCP ran activities for children on the after school program including Karate, Dance and Craft making. For the holidays, two of our interns serving as Penrose Ambassadors organized a very successful Toy Drive and donated all the toys to the Playground to celebrate the holidays. Currently the UCCP is partnering with YouthBuild Charter School to do some needed renovations at the Playground. These renovations would take place before and during MLK Day 2010. Stay tuned for more developments!

Penrose Playground Gets a Makeover!

The UCCP is proud to report that the 100 Hours of Power Service Marathon at Penrose Playground was an enormous success, thanks to the stellar coordination of City Year Greater Philadelphia, the fantastic support of Teens 4 Good, the overall infrastructure provided by Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education's Love2Serve Program and the tireless dedication of Mr. Eric Rudy from the Department of Recreation and Miss Ethel Cooper from the Penrose Advisory Council.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.....

The NEW Penrose Playground!

Some details from the mural:




Above: Liz Hanson, a UCCP intern, works with a child from
Penrose to paint a newspaper commemorating the historic voter
turnout in the 2008 presidential election. UCCP Leaders Corps members
Aaron Kennedy and Kianni Brooks trace a quote from Ghandi on the
Summer side of the Penrose Rec center.

For more for information, see the event coverage:

Temple Times:
UCCP paints Penrose in 100 Hours of Power

Temple News:
City Year brings ‘hours of power’ to campus

Teen Health Café Launches with Great Success!

The Teen Health Café is a youth-led initiative that aims to provide a safe haven for teens to interact, learn and become active in their communities. Located at Penrose Recreation Center (12th & Susquahannah), the Café also seeks to become a hub for other organizations that wish to serve youth and the community. As such, the Café will feature numerous events designed to attract youth and other community members to the Penrose Playground.

The first event took place on Friday February 13th. It featured a workshop on healthy relationships, led by a guest speaker from Women Against Abuse. The youth prepared games and other fun activities designed to encourage youth to socialize in a safe, welcoming and informative environment.

In support of the National Girls AIDS Awareness Day the Teen Health Café is partnering with St Christopher’s Hospital to host a workshop on HIV prevention with special conversation sessions for girls and boys. The event will take place on March 10th, from 4:30 to 6:30 at Temple University, in the Women's Studies Lounge, 8th floor of Anderson Hall, 1114 W. Berks St. The next Teen Health Café is scheduled for March 20th at Penrose Playground, 12th and Susquahannah, at 4:30pm.

The Teen Health Café emerged from a series of conversations between the UCCP, Temple faculty, Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education and Greater Philadelphia Federation of Settlements. Under the guidance and mentoring of UCCP staff and Temple students, youth participants from these organizations have been meeting weekly to develop the Teen Health Café. As part of their planning process, they met with students from the Fox School of Business at Temple to gain a better understanding of business plans and sustainable business practices, visited farmers’ markets, spoke with the vendors, conducted research on other similar initiatives, and identified possible funding sources.

For more information, contact Catalina Gonzalez at catalina.gonzalez@temple.edu.

MLK Day of Service and Inaguration Celebration at Penrose Playground!

On the morning of January 19th, we will be celebrating an exciting, ongoing partnership between Penrose Recreation Center and the UCCP, the Department of Recreation, the Greater Philadelphia Federation of Settlements, Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education and City Year of Greater Philadelphia. Supported by Temple University, the UCCP will coordinate Martin Luther King Day of Service at the Penrose Playground, organizing several work crews to clean, paint, sort books for a children's library and canvas the neighbhorhood with fliers about upcoming activities at Penrose.

In addition, we are thrilled to be supporting the Penrose Advisory Council's "Presidential Inauguration Celebration" on January 20th, which will feature a screening of the Inaguration Ceremony, a memorial to local residents that passed before the election and a presentation of the MLK 365 Calendar to engage volunteers in supporting the Rec Center all year round!

If you'd like to participate in one or both of the events, please share the fliers below and contact Johannah Bennett (former UCCP Leaders Corps member!) at johannah@temple.edu/215.487.9555 or
Catie Wolfgang at catiec@temple.edu/215.204.2007.