African Community Learning Program founder semifinalist in Wharton startup challenge

Walk down into Aminata Sy’s West Philadelphia basement, and you’ll see color  splashed on the walls. There are self-portraits and large, red suns drawn in crayon, as well as maps of Africa highlighting the different countries of the continent.

Sy, originally from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and later Senegal, runs the African Community Learning Program (ACLP) in the basement of her home. She welcomes and teaches first- through eighth-graders from African countries as diverse as Sudan, Nigeria and Burkina Faso  about their culture and background. About a dozen students arrive each day after school for instruction and guidance from Sy and her volunteers.

Africans make up 7 percent of Philadelphia’s immigrant population, and a large, burgeoning community lives in Southwest Philadelphia.

ACLP is a semifinalist in the overall competition for the Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship Startup Challenge and a finalist in the social-impact category. On Thursday, Sy, who is also an international relations student at the University of Pennsylvania, pitched her program with hopes of winning the $10,000 prize. Should she win, she would  use the funds to expand her program or restructure it into possibly an English as a second language program, both for her students and their parents. The winners will be announced Friday.

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Dominique “Peak” Johnson is a North Philadelphia journalist. He is one of the founding editors of the North Philly Metropolis. Currently he freelances for WHYY, Billy Penn and Citywide Stories. Click here to learn more about Peak.