PHL GC September Newsletter - Women's Connection

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TTN PHILADELPHIA GIVING CIRCLE

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

September, 2022

In America, we lose eight children and teenagers to gun violence every day. . .

The rise in gun violence, especially its effects on our children, can render us feeling powerless. We want to make a difference, but how? Knowledge helps open doors to solutions. It is in this spirit that we remind you of our upcoming online event entitled "GUN VIOLENCE & PHILADELPHIA'S CHILDREN - a public health crisis."

Our panel will deliver a robust, solutions-oriented dialogue. Experts, ranging from a member of city council, to leaders who operate nonprofits in troubled neighborhoods, and youth who have been affected by this crisis, will provide insight into how they work daily to tackle this crisis. Best practices, we believe, that can be customized to the needs of communities in Philadelphia and beyond.

Please join us on September 13th at 2pm, via Zoom to experience this important conversation. To learn more about the program and to register, click on the link below. Hope to see you there!

GUN VIOLENCE & PHILADELPHIA'S CHILDREN -

a Public Health Crisis

Tuesday, September 13th

2:00pm to 3:30pm

via Zoom

Nearly each day the Philadelphia media brings us new stories of gun violence. Too often these stories focus on our children, as victims, or describing the myriad of other consequences they face because of ongoing violence in their neighborhoods. No topic is more timely or urgent in Philadelphia at this time.

Join us SEP 13^thto hear from those who are trying to reduce gun violence and its consequences, as well as from young adults who live in communities that have been directly affected.

Helen Gym, City Councilmember and Advocate against Gun Violence, will moderate an expert panel as we delve into this topic and discuss what can be done to reduce the amount of gun violence we are seeing on our streets. We owe it to our children to be more informed.

To meet our panelists, click here.

So please mark your calendars! And --> click here <-- to be taken to the event page to register. Registration is $5.00.

---- This topic is too important to ignore ----

Mapping Philadelphia's Gun Violence CrisIs

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . There are so many shootings in Philadelphia that the Office of the Controller has created an interactive map. Click here to drill down and see the pockets of ongoing gun violence on our streets. The page lists the numbers of victims of gun violence but does not touch on all the lives that have been affected. Come, listen and learn on September 13th from those who are trying to make a difference in their own neighborhoods.

Year of the Child Campaign

We have less than four months to go in order to meet our $100,000 Year of the Child campaign goal. We thank so many of you who have already renewed your Giving Circle membership, and encourage those who haven’t to help us cross the finish line.

Here’s our progress to date: We have now raised $78,000, a remarkable achievement!

It’s a great time for new members to sign up as well. Tell your friends and family about us. Let them know that all funds raised this year will support vulnerable children in our cities, their lives further upended by the pandemic.

We also want to let you know that we are encouraging small, minority-led nonprofits, focussed on children, to apply for a grant. If you have any suggestions please let us know. Contact us at TTNPhiladelphiaGivingCircle@gmail.com.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Giving Circle Member

Each month we feature one of our own Giving Circle members "in the Spotlight." This is a great way to get to know your fellow Giving Circle members and to learn why being part of our Giving Circle is important to them.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Past Grant Recipients

In honor of our 10th Anniversary, each month we feature one of our past recipients. This month we are featuring the URBAN TREE CONNECTION to which we awarded a grant in 2020.

CHRISSA MERRON

Meet Chrissa Merron. Chrissa Merron’s professional career involved helping corporate groups and teams work better together. So it’s no wonder that she’s particularly interested in and impressed by the success of the Giving Circle, its leaders and members, in its mission to support women and children in Philadelphia.

Chrissa has long been inspired by the women of TTN. She was an early member of the Philadelphia chapter, jumping in quickly to serve on the local steering committee. She was interested in finding opportunities for members to give back to the community and spent several years as a liaison between the chapter and Rebuilding Together Philadelphia. Even before RTP became the recipient of a Giving Circle grant in 2017, Chrissa was organizing volunteer opportunities. Teams of TTN members would participate in “build days” by registering volunteers, serving coffee and lunch, and even lending their talents to gardening, painting and other home improvement efforts. This was an important involvement for Chrissa since she is a “jump in and do the work” kind of person. Working alongside the organizers and residents and getting to know them was as natural to her as breathing.

“Giving back to people has been a huge driver for me.” In her long career in Organizational Development, Chrissa worked with different departments in some of our largest hospital systems to improve coordination and create better harmony. Her goal was to create collaborative environments and build teamwork allowing employees to do their best work. Chrissa found this to be highly rewarding and continues to look for opportunities to help others be at their best.

The Urban Tree Connection (UTC) accomplishes in the Haddington neighborhood of West Philadelphia, nestled between 53rd and Wyalusing Avenue and 55th and Vine Street, what social networking sites will never be able to do. It connects people to gardening, farming, healthy food, healthy living, and new experiences, but most importantly it connects people to one another, to their community, one block captain at a time.

Since its founding in 1989, UTC has set out to turn its neighborhood green, transforming 27 abandoned lots into pocket parks, community gardens and educational spaces. In 2009, in response to the rise in food insecurity, UTC, together with three block captains, started Neighborhood Foods Farm, a fully functioning three-quarter acre urban farm. Last year the farm produced 4,430 pounds of sustainably grown vegetables which are distributed free each week to local residents.

Food insecurity, as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is when people don’t have access to enough food in a year to lead a healthy life. The root causes are poverty and racism. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, leaving in its wake layoffs and supply chain issues, food insecurity spiked in Philadelphia, revealing higher levels of food insecurity than the state and national figures of 8.9% and 11.8%, respectively.

In Philadelphia, according to 2020 data from Feeding America in Chicago, 15.8% of the city’s population (or about 250,000 people) experienced food insecurity, up from 14.4% in 2019. Among Philadelphia’s children, 30.9% (or more than 100,000) experienced food insecurity, up from 24.2% in 2019.

The pandemic caused UTC to shift gears with many of its programs, says UTC’s executive director Noelle Warford, especially on how it distributed the food grown on its farm. “We expected to make a certain amount of revenue from the farmers market,” says Noelle, “but things were getting harder. We were looking to raise money so that we could make the food shares that are distributed to residents free.”

It’s at this time that the Giving Circle gave $20,000 in 2020 to help support UTC’s new plan. UTC discontinued its farm stands and turned instead to its block captains to recruit residents who wanted to participate as members in its new food share program.

Chrissa’s most recent involvement with the Giving Circle was as a grant reviewer. She was especially impressed with SOWN – Supportive Older Women’s Network – which was a recent recipient of a GC grant. Their mission engages older people to help other older people. She calls the concept “ingenious” and fully in alignment with the philosophy of the Giving Circle which she describes as, “Here’s a hand. Take it and use it to further your work.”

Chrissa Merron has been offering her hand her entire life.

contributed by Susan Collins

To date, there are 45 to 50 residents who each week receive a free “share box” that’s overflowing with up to seven different seasonal vegetables from UTC’s urban farm. In return, those members are asked to participate in UTC’s programs, such as its workshops that are offered on a range of topics from food as medicine to compost-making, or volunteering in its community gardens.

At the heart of UTC’s mission are the people of Haddington. “Our work is rooted in the community,” says Noelle, pointing to the community’s involvement in deciding everything from what crops to grow on its urban farm to turning a vacant lot into a community farm. “We’ve worked closely with the block captains to identify the needs and what is most beneficial to the residents. We’re trying to uplift the leadership so they can decide for themselves how they want their community to be."'

Click here for their 2021 Annual Report. Click here for their Fall Farm Party and click here for their website.

contributed by Caroline Lacey