Mr. Nasir sees himself as an entrepreneur, in the sense of developing ideas, concepts, and businesses in the African-American community. Before moving here in 1998, he took a serious long look at Philadelphia, especially north Philadelphia, and found it to be a very fertile ground to develop business ideas.

When periodically visiting Philadelphia, it was Mr. Nasir’s friends who had influenced him to come and take that “long look” at the Philadelphia area. His business sense predates himself as far back to his great grandfather at the turn of the nineteenth century, who at first started as a businessman in north Jersey and then the New York area. “So its kind of a natural genetic calling to be independent and to be able to establish self-reliance to develop concepts that would work within a neighborhood,” he adds.

Cookies and Cream, once a shoe repair shop and then a television repair shop, held within it four stores that gave Mr. Nasir the opportunity to implement the idea of the ice cream shop. Just having the knowledge of knowing how to take on such a big project, it took Mr. Nasir only a year to complete his shop. “I’ve done concepts before that have been close to this,” he says, looking the ice cream shop over. “I’ve been in business quite nationally maybe for the last thirty-five years of my life. I’ve done café’s, restaurants, health food stores; but bringing life back into this place inspired so many people in this community.”

Before Cookies and Cream, there were other long forgotten buildings that Mr. Nasir had wanted to nourish back to health. The idea was to establish businesses that would impact the mind of youth that are fore runners in developing the strength of any community, unfortunately Mr. Nasir’s dream was put to rest when these buildings were knocked down and rehabilitated into new housing by the non-profit organization, Project H.O.M.E.

“Housing is good, but if you can’t give a young person a chance to make honest money, then we’re just fooling ourselves.”

Two gentlemen, bakers within the community, wanted to have a shop to educate youth about baking; another would have been a specialty shop own and operated by a young lady, there was also interest in using one of the buildings as a sneaker or sports ware shop. Lastly, a type of community relations building where police would have the opportunity and vice-versa for the community to interact with each other was also an idea.

“I was trying to express to the folks at Project H.O.M.E. that if we were to marry these concepts and ideas along with others residential and community life, that this is how you bring back a community. The overall idea was to take these buildings, which are now gone, to install in the minds of youth that you can become a business owner from the muscle, from the ground up”.

Three years ago, former President Bill Clinton and rock star, Jon Bon Jovi, joined together to announce Project H.O.M.E.’s Phase V Homeownership Project. The project is a unique partnership between Project H.O.M.E., Habitat for Humanity, the Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation, and Saturn. The project focused on renovating fifteen row houses in the 1800 and 1900 blocks of North 23rd St. into energy efficient homes containing ‘Energy Star’ appliances. In order for the renovation process to take place for the new homes, the buildings Mr. Nasir wished he could save, had to be taken down.

“Some of us in the community were not invited,” says Mr. Nasir, recalling the day filled crowded streets and secret service at every corner. “Some of us might have been invited because we lived on the block and I think that was the only strength some of us had”.

With the youth, who may do their older siblings bidding, Mr. Nasir personally made an approach to them mentioning to one particular fellow that the act that he was carrying was unhealthy. The youth of Mr. Nasir’s community, despite differences, are all looking for one thing which seems to be attention. With Cookies and Cream they often have a place to go and talk to someone who cares about the things they do. “There are some [youth] that come and tell me they’re looking for a job and I reply by saying that’s good. Will often sit on the bench, talk, and have an ice cream cone.”

(Peak Johnson, Student Vanguard)

Pretty soon it will be hard for some schools in the Philadelphia area to say that they’ve been around since the very beginning, especially since most of them, like William Penn, are being closed down. These schools, in the end, might become new charter schools or possibly just an empty shell of their former selves.Recently Thomas M. Pierce Elementary school, located at 23rd and Cambria, celebrated its 100-year anniversary on February 27, 2009. The celebration was filled with food, fun, and a host of teachers who have been teaching at Pierce for years.

“When I first came here, they still had kerosene lights on the walls,” joked Ms. Jones, a former employee at Pierce, “that’s how long I’ve been around.”

Mrs. Sonja Tucker, T.M. Pierce’s school counselor has been so for nearly twenty-one years, but has been a part of Pierce for nearly twenty-four. Mrs. Tucker started out as a pre-kindergarten head start teacher from 1985-1988. “What this means to me, is just as our principal was saying earlier, a celebration of years of learning. A lot of children have passed through this threshold and we have quite a few success stories. I feel proud and happy to be part of the staff and school.”

“This year the T.M. Pierce Elementary School family celebrates 100 years of existence, during which it has continually distinguished itself as a leading educational institution in the Central Region and School District of Philadelphia.” Stated the school’s principal, Terrel Paris. “The years ahead will provide continuing opportunities for teachers, students, parents, and concerned citizens of the community to perpetuate the magnificence of this outstanding elementary school in the forefront of the District’s progress.”

(Peak Johnson, Student Vanguard)

The Man of the Hour: Mr. Wade Jackson

By Peak Johnson

It seems that everyone that I meet is more interesting than the next or has contributed to this community in some way, Ms. Shelli Pennick Howard, Ms. Denise Wade, Mr. Nasir, and Officer Gee. I cannot see, when finishing one edition of the NPM that when I begin the next one I have trouble figuring out what to write about or who to interview. I was invited to a race about three months ago where not only did I see Isaiah and Icsum Smith, (two teens that attend the Honickman Learning Center Comcast Technology Labs Teen program) race, but where I also spotted Mr. Wade Jackson. While racing, Mr. Wade of course didn’t have time to say much, but after the race I ran over to him knowing that this would be my next interviewee.

PJ: How long have you lived in the North Philadelphia region?

WJ: Forty-Five years.

PJ: Have you seen any changes?

WJ: A lot of changes, I’ve seen it change from bad to worse, but with this building here [Honickman Learning Center Comcast Technology Labs] it could be a lot better because this building can save a lot of these kids lives and these kids around here are good kids, but they are just led astray into the wrong direction. Some of their father’s might be dead or incarcerated and they don’t have anybody to grab them by the arm and show them love.  Another thing was that there was always something to do when I was coming up even during the gang wars. We had PALS. We had roller skating around at St. Elizabeth.  There was so much to do. Downtown had penny arcades. There were movie theaters. But now all of that is gone and there’s nothing for the kids to do, so they’re caught up in the streets and it’s sad.

PJ: What do you think of the teenagers that roam the streets? If they were given the chance to come here do you think that the center would help them out?

WJ: Of course, the center helps everyone out. If I had my way I would have ninety percent of these teenagers in this neighborhood right in this building because they need it. Some of them are afraid because they can’t read or can’t write, but when I talk to them I tell them don’t worry about it because you can get tutored and learn the basics and then you can go from your GED to getting into basic computers and keep going up and up.

PJ: What do you think of the new developments that are happening around here, like the projects that Mr. Nasir is working on.

WJ: I like what’s going on, I like what Sister Mary Scullion is doing with the houses. I’m just hoping that some of these other houses that are condemned on these other blocks can also get rebuild. A lot of things that are going on around here is good. I just hope that the people that live around here stay here and don’t get flushed out of the neighborhood.

PJ: What was it like before the center even came about?

WJ: Chaos, but thanks to Sister Mary Scullion and the people who put this project here together its helping a lot of people. Its helping people of all ages, because of the after school program, the K-6 program, and the adult program, the tutoring, so it’s helping a lot of people in different ways. It especially helped my wife who graduated Administration Specialist, my other son Courtney just started coming here and he’s here getting his GED. I’m proud of my son and he’s twenty years old, there’s no age to education.

PJ: Could you tell us what you do here at the center?

WJ: I’m a volunteer, I’m on the advisory board, I put the flyers out, anything anybody need me to do out in different areas, regarding  putting things up I do that. I’ve been doing it for the longest now.

PJ: Could you explain to us what racing means to you.

WJ: Racing means a lot, first thing is that it relieves a lot of stress, and it’s good for your health. Its good competition for whatever you’re trying to go for. Now me, I’ve been running for a while, but my goal is to be the best, be number one, and to beat the Kenyans. I believe in number one, not number two.  

PJ: How did you get into the sport?

WJ: Well I use to run along time ago and if I would have known the talent that I have now, I would have been running for years and years. But now I realize the gifts that I have, the gifts that God gave me, so I’m going to use them.

PJ: Could you tell us about the race that you were in a few months ago?

WJ: The Jefferson run, it was a thirteen mile run and it was about eleven thousand people there in the race, I mean they had kids there also. I finished in about an hour and forty-six minutes. I feel good about it, but I’m not satisfied with it. I think I can do better next year, God’s will.  It was for a good cause and I had fun. There was no violence and I’m around all different cultures who all had fun. My goal for 2007 is to run four races. I want to run the ten mile Broad street run, I want to run the five mile Valley Green run, and I want to do Race for a Cure again, and I want to Run the Jefferson run on September 16, 2007. To be honest, I want to be beat the Kenyans, but whatever happens happens, but I would like to set better numbers than this year.

PJ: What does your son think of you racing, does he want to get into it also?

WJ: My son Nicholas, believe it or not he has it, he’s gifted, but by him being so young he’s not really motivated to run. I did a 100yard dash in sixty seconds and he nearly beat me and he’s only eleven years old. He’s faster than fast. If he were to let me train him and mold him now he would have a chance. Even when he plays football as a wide receiver he blows everybody away. Not only that, but he’s a smart kid too, and he’s real good at math, he says he wants to be like Bill Gates but I tell him he can be better.  

PJ: Could you tell us where you train at?

WJ: I train at home, also I go to Temple track and I run there in the summer time. I go up to Valley Green and go and run up the trails, hills, and mountains up there. And I train at the Bellevue Hotel.  

PJ: What schools do your sons attend?

WJ: Nicholas right now goes to William Dick. Courtney is out of school. I’m working on getting Nicholas out of William Dick, I don’t like it period. He’s too smart for William Dick, but we’re working on getting him out of there, both me and his mother.

PJ: Does Nicholas like William Dick?

WJ: No, he’s too smart to be in there and I don’t like how they treat people over there. Some of the teachers don’t do what they are supposed to be doing. If you’re a teacher making all that money then you can’t be scared of kids. You have to help the kids. Some of teachers do and some of them don’t, but Nicholas will be out of there in a matter of time. This center is a nice outlet for him because he gets to use computers and he likes computers.

PJ: Where did you attend school?

WJ: Roman Catholic High School.

PJ: What do you think about the state of education in Philadelphia?

WJ: It stinks because the teachers are scared of the students and getting an education is not like it was when I was going to school. When the kids know that they can get over the teacher because they are scared of them, it’s a lost cause. Back then, teachers didn’t play they would get right with you, but a lot of them are scared now and it seems that the cloths, jewelry, and cars are more important to students than an education. But kids don’t realize without an education you have no future.

PJ: How important do you think education is?

WJ: Education is the key to life. You need it. You need to learn until the day you die because you’ll learn something new everyday. For example, Bill Gates is the richest man in the world but he’s still learning.

As he requested, here is the second article I wrote about Mr. Wade in the North Philly Metropolis, when he began to really voice his concerns about the unfortunate violence in Philadelphia.

A few words from Mr. Wade Jackson

Transcribed by Peak Johnson

Hello, my name is Wade Jackson, I was featured in an interview in the State of Education issue of the North Philly Metropolis and the topic that I would like to talk about today is drawn to all the millionaires and billionaires of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I take my hats off to you for all the good deeds you have done for charities, but I feel as though that you’re not doing enough as far as all of the poor communities throughout Philadelphia. We have a lot of crime that shouldn’t be happening, I know with the youth that it’s basically a lack of education, but they need things to do too. For example, all of these abandon houses throughout Philadelphia, why don’t ya’ll take these houses and turn them into something like, a reading school, an art school, a religious school, and on and on as far as education. Because you have some kids who cannot afford catholic school, their parents are poor, so you can put these kinds of things in the neighborhood so they can learn.

And this could be a tax write off, like you do your charities because Center City as I know it, all of those condos are being built for you, the only thing that you all are doing are building condos, showing that the rich is for the rich. Center City is nothing but a camouflage, because when all of the people from around the world come for their tours in Philly where do they go? But they don’t come down to the deep part of Philly to see the city, why? Because they know we are poor in these sections, it’s dirty in these sections and it embarrassing to you rich folk.

Why not take the kids that are in these poor communities and pay them every two weeks to keep their neighborhoods clean, their alley ways, this could go all year long and all of Philadelphia could be clean because the Center City district does a great job. The workers do a great job cleaning up Center City as you can see, so I would like to see that happening in the poor sections.

Everyone whose building condos and building those new houses down at Girard avenue, I would like too see all of you down at the convention center and have a meeting about spreading your money throughout Philadelphia. I want to bring up a person that I love very dearly and she’s a great woman and she’s not a millionaire, her name is Sister Mary Scullion and she lives in the heart of North Philly on the 1900 block of North Judson Street. She took the Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs and got it built from the ground with all these education courses, after school programs, computer courses, she has it all and she has people with a lot of money, millionaires, to invest. This building has saved some of the youth that are out here lives from not going to jail or being dead.

If she can pull this together in this poor community, why can’t you millionaires and billionaires do this throughout Philadelphia, you should learn from her. She’s not trying to get condos built downtown for the rich, she believes in helping the poor people because that’s where the real help is needed. You can write checks with a certain sum like its nothing, but it’s rough in the ghetto, you probably never really lived in the ghetto or really work a hard day in your life, you don’t know what its like to scrub floors and wash windows, you don’t know what it’s about because you have nothing, but money.

I’m glad you give to charities, but the poor communities need your help and Center City could be really clean through you, again take some of these houses and turn them into something that the youth can use or work in, you’ll still be making money and its still a tax write off for you.  Have you ever thought of that?

Sure this is a poor community, sure you live in a rich community, but it’s bad in a way because the poor are forgotten about. Look at King Midas for example, money was his God, but when he died his money stayed behind. God designed this world in different ways for you to be a millionaire, for it to be poor people, middle class people, and people like millionaires and billionaires, but the poor communities need your help. Sure, Bill Cosby got an education and gave to charities, but when did he come onto our corners and talk to these kids with guns and drugs and said I’m going to take some of these houses around and make some things happen to help you, he never did it.

 Learn from Sister Mary Scullion and all of the achievements that she has done with help from other people, even Jon Bon Jovi donated money to help with the housing developments that are happening for low income people that hardly have anything. I’d like you all to have a meeting at the convention center and let Sister Mary be at the table, maybe she can teach all of you something.

The key to the crime is not lock everybody up and putting them in jail because if we put all of the young generation in jail, its going to be the little kids and the seniors living out in the street. Why is all the crime going on because the youth have nothing to do. All of you are taking it away, you’re letting these poor communities go down and letting Center City go up and before you know it only the rich will be allowed there to shop because from what I’m seeing the poor people are slowly getting flushed out, it shouldn’t be that way. We should all live as one.

All of you should come out to these poor communities to sit down and talk to these people about what you’re going to do to make it better so that crime will go down, but make something happen with all of these houses that are vacant, so they can have something to do. If you can keep Center City clean, why not the poor sections? I hear people downtown say all the time, boy Center City is clean, but if only they knew the truth of how all of you camouflage the whole thing, if only they knew.

 It use to be that when people who were incarcerated before they came home had a job waiting, but that was stopped and I don’t think it’s fair. I feel as though that when you’ve been incarcerated it that there  should be a job available for you when you come home like it use to be so they can come out working, so they won’t have to get in trouble when they come out when trying to feed their families.

See, a lot of you who are rich have never been through something like that and you never will because you have so much money to throw away that it’s unbelievable. Look at Bill Gates whose a millionaire, he’s giving away from millions and millions and I commend him for that, it shows that he’s not selfish. But I know it’s a lot of selfish millionaires out there just for self and when its time for you to leave this earth your millions is still going to be here. But are you doing what God has asked you instead of giving to charities, that’s something to think about. That’s why God put you on this earth, to help people because the same why you got your millions God can take it back, you might soon be in a poor community, that’s something to think about. Just because you’re millionaire does not make you’re better than anyone else.

So you millionaires and billionaires take the first step and help the poor communities. Revitalize some of these houses, do something for the homeless and give them a chance. People have turned their backs on them and slammed the door in their faces, but not Sister Mary. Her door is always open, she’ll give the last off her back to make sure someone has something to wear to stay warm, that’s the kind of person she is and I love her and I’d do anything in the world for her because she’s a great, great, great women and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

Because you have millions, don’t make you better than anybody else and trust me because when God does come we will all be judged, do you know where you’re going when judgment day comes? Your money can’t go with you, just remember that.

Thank you.

After this informative outlook on our neighborhood, Mr. Wade prepared for another one of his brutal races, here’s what he had to say about it.

I just recently ran the Broad street run, Sunday May 6, 2007, it was 17, 833 people that ran that race. It started at Broad and Olney and all they way to the navy yard and that was a very brutal long run. I did the race in one hour and 16 minutes in one second and we were getting it in. Before the race, I had a chance to talk to the Kenyans when they were warming up at Central high school and I asked them how they ran and everything and they replied by telling me about the ten thousand altitude that they run. And they say that Americans don’t have anywhere where we can run the altitude at except maybe Valley Green. They’re the best in the world and my goal is to beat the best, to be the best you have to beat the best, and I’m not going to rest until I beat the best unless my leg fall off while I’m running. You had people of all ages running out there and everyone was getting down there and having fun, it was a peaceful run and we were all like family.

We’d like to give a huge apology to Mr. Wade, in the last interview it stated that he ran 100 yard dash in 60 seconds, Mr. Wade is much quicker than that, he actually runs a 100 yard dash in 16 seconds.

Check out issue 10 where this and other great articles were first published, or you can read the previous articles about Wade Jackson by going to the Mr. Wade page.

On February 27, 2009, in a heated conversation about the issue of police deaths versus civilian deaths, the term “…punk ass cop” was mentioned in reference to the death of Officer Pawlowski. The young man who said this has a right to upset, but he was out of line. Anyone who can go out each day and put their life on the line, not knowing if they are coming back, deserves some kind of respect.

I’ve never had a negative encounter with a police officer and it is for this reason that some might say that I do not understand where they are coming from. True, though sometimes I believe that it is all how you portray yourself, example such as walking down the street with your pants sagging and cursing loudly for no reason at all.

This article entitled, Understanding the police, gave me a chance to see down and talk to a real officer of the 23rd district. At the time I had not realize how deep I could have gone into article, maybe next time, nevertheless this was and still remains one of my favorite interviews.

Editor’s Note: If a little blurry (sorry still new to this) you can see the entire hip hop issue as clear as a whistle at The North Philly Metropolis page.

The idea of reposting some of my most highlighted articles that appeared in the North Philly Metropolis came to me when visiting the innovative thinker, Damon C. Williams website. I didn’t think I was able to this at first, but after fooling around with Quark Express and with some help from Steve Bozzone it happened.

A lot of things that are presently happening in Philadelphia almost relates to some of the articles that I worked on in the past. With this article, done by myself, Anthony Phillips, and Fatima Thomas, we look into the mayoral race of 2007.

 Not too long ago, two months ago to be exact, our dear Mayor of Philadelphia attempted to close down certain libraries throughout our city in order to save money. However, not everyone felt that he was doing the right thing even though he believed it to be the only choice he could make at such a serious time. Angry Philadelphians met Nutter head on and combated him to the bitter end on this issue until it was resolved and resolved it was. Mr. Wade Jackson is just one of the outraged citizens within our city and these are his words.

To Mayor Michael Nutter,

Mr. Nutter, in my opinion, for your first year as Mayor of Philadelphia, you have failed. Some of the things that you promised to do as our mayor you really didn’t do and it seems to me that you are trying to hurt the poor African American, whites, and Hispanic communities. For a mayor who is supposed to be about education and preaches to the youth about getting off of the corner, you sure do have a funny way of showing it by attempting to shut down libraries in certain parts of the city. There are a lot of families who cannot afford books or a computer for their children and with the libraries, they have a chance to utilize what is there in order to get school work done, obtaining a good job, or beginning a lifelong career.

If you were able to shut down the libraries, what would Philadelphians do? If you were put in this predicament Michael Nutter and your Mayor was attempting to shut down your neighborhood library, something that your daughter depended on, what would you do?  I believe that you are abusing your authority in the wrong way, an example not only being the libraries, but also the Mummers, who have been here a lot longer than you or me. I can’t forget to mention the swimming pools that you are closing, leaving kids with only one option to stay cool, the fire hydrant.

To me, you just want to be on television all of the time instead of going into the poor communities around Philadelphia to see what is needed. You don’t even check on senior citizens to see how they are doing, or take a McDonalds bag to the homeless, yet you want everyone’s votes. When are you going to come into these poor communities Mayor Nutter and ask, “What is it that I can do to make things better for you?”

It seems that your main concern is yourself and violence. We need a mayor who will care for the poor communities in Philadelphia. Furthermore, you actually remind of George W. Bush, he ruined our country, and now you are destroying our city.

Thank you

 Peak Johnson, The Student Vanguard, Staff Writer

This is a different kind of twist for me since with the NPM I wrote things revolving around youth, which I still do for a group known as Parent Partners, but not running around and doing a hundred things feels about right. Another bonus is that some of my associates and readers from the NPM actually switched over to the Vanguard to read my writing, that feels good, so in a way I did bring a lot to the table.

I have met with the staff of the Vanguard, they are very cool, and even was invited to an awards ceremony where I received a very nice award. The Manager editor, Kevin, I see some of myself in. Like me, he is doing the jobs of a few while trying to get others to write, after meeting him all I could say to myself was “I won’t let you down Kevin.”

“Well, that’s unheard of.” remarked a friend of mine as I told him the unfortunate news.

You know I never really pictured myself leaving the NPM on such a negative note, actually I never really pictured myself actually leaving because I knew I would always stay connected with the paper in some way.  I was one of the founding editors for the Metropolis , not yet  a seasoned journalist, but just two years ago I was a teenager who knew what others in my age range were looking for in a newspaper. Since being with the paper when it was just a small magazine and hanging onto it during the highs and lows my assumption was that I brought a lot to the table, guess I was wrong.

Though as I told my superviser, unexpectedly, she was only giving me more of a reason to leave the paper and by doing so she demonstrated what really mattered, the end result. Not how much time it took to lay out the paper, edit articles, collect boxes, call advertisers, etc. Though this had been apparent from the begining and I just chose not to see it, it did does not matter what goes in the paper or what the editor goes through, just as long as it gets done. This probably exists in a lot of work places.

The problem with the health edition of the North Philly Metropolis  was that, in my opinion the themes of the articles did not get as much attention as they should have, they were not as focoused as in past issues. I also felt that the instructor was not doing all that she could have done with the teens in terms of getting them excited about journalism. From watching all of the past editors/instructors dealing with the NPM, more of their time and committment was given to their students and the paper, it not only meant something to me and the others but to them as well.

My thought is that to get a teenager involved in journalism, which means only writing and reading to them, you have to let them know that their writng is and will be read by people in the community: friends, siblings, family, schools, etc. When teaching the fundamentals of writing make it interesting, bring in people who write for a living and get paid for it, not just adults but other teens as well. Introduce them to MTV’s The Paper …this show is funny, serious, heartbreaking, and because its from MTV might get teens excited to watch.

Myself and the instructor never really got a chance to meet and talk about anything. It was either by email, a few minutes after work, or during work. With the 12th issue it was nothing to really worry about since most of the writing had been gathered from the summer plus wrting from the forthcoming Fall school year, making a pretty solid issue that could be put together. With the current issue that was being worked on at the time some articles were too short which left a lot of space, some didn’t make sense,  and some looked to be a little plagerized. I took contributing articles, my own writing and beefed up the paper, the instructor didn’t like that and even sent my a rather rude email.

After taking my articles out of the unpublished paper and handing it off  to her, the last words she said were, “Peak, you’re an idiot.” I was surprised and really didn’t know what to say but left it alone, its a new year, and I have to move on.  

Mr. Wade and I first met when I was writer/editor for the North Philly Metropolis teen newspaper. Mr. Wade had come to my office in the summer of 2006 wanting his views and concerns about the city of Philadelphia heard. I agreed to interview Mr. Wade for what soon became a series of articles appearing in every other issue of the NPM. Within this article I decided to switch things up a bit and instead of interviewing Mr. Wade, give him a chance to share his ideals and suggestions about the violence that inhabits Philadelphia.

 My name is Mr. Wade Jackson and I have a few things to say on how we can stop the violence in Philadelphia. I have a solution that will bring the violence down, but it will take participation from everyone including Moms In Charge, Moms Against Guns, Men United, Block Captains, Ex-offenders, former gang members, the commissioner, and Mayor Michael Nutter.

Locking up and throwing away the key is not the answer to prevent violence. My solution is that throughout the city of Philadelphia instead of thinking negative about the young generation that went astray; let’s turn this negative thinking into positive. Everyone, take one male or female that is going toward the wrong direction under your wing and reach out to them like they are one of your own. Show them what they are missing in life, show them how important education is, and take them to different places. Everybody must work together as one; we are the answer to the violence, not jail.

Michael Nutter since you are about education and want the violence to slow down, are you willing to take a teen under your wing and guide them in the right direction? You are the mayor of Philadelphia; you can set the biggest example by letting Philadelphians see you do this. I am asking everyone to reach out and take a chance with youth because we are losing them either in jail or to the grave. They deserve a chance, let’s give it to them. Reach out to them and show them love.  If God can forgive, so can we.

Everybody throughout the city of Philadelphia step up to the plate, it will be a big change for our lives. We must remember not all families have both parents. Even with both parents some children still don’t get love and that can definitely lead them in the wrong direction. We are all supposed to be as one, love each other as one no matter what color you may be.

Another solution for people who are ex-offenders and don’t have jobs, one thing that could be done is to create outside jobs such as, cleaning graffiti off of walls, painting buildings, washing windows, and landscaping. I know a lot of companies don’t want to take a chance with a person who has a record, but just give them a chance. I believe that a lot of outside jobs will be a success, there is nothing like getting a paycheck for doing honest work.

Michael Nutter this is another idea for you to think about, since you want to help people on parole and ex-offenders. Instead of millions of dollars going toward unnecessary things for our city they could go towards those who do need jobs.

Thank you.

(Peak Johnson, The Student Vanguard)