February 9, 2024 • 30 mins
East Falls is a rapidly evolving neighborhood with vibrant new businesses, housing and recreational opportunities. To tell us more I speak to Michelle Feldman, Executive Director of East Falls Development Corporation. https://discovereastfalls.org/
If I asked you to guess the number one killer of children and teens – what would be your answer? Shocking but true - It’s gun violence. I speak to Scott Charles Trauma Outreach Manager at Temple University about a collaboration between local hospitals to raise awareness about gun safety. www.HospitalsTogether.com
https://www.templesafetynet.org/
Media portrayals of immigrants can perpetuate stereotypes and misinformation, influencing Americans' perceptions and attitudes toward immigrants. Negative stereotypes may contribute to fear, prejudice, and discrimination, making it difficult to foster empathy and understanding. That’s why bringing in a quarterly segment produced by the Welcoming Center and hosted by its CEO Anuj Gupta. The Center supports immigrants in achieving economic independence, integration and wellbeing. The feature is designed to build empathy and understanding across cultural divides. Anuj’s first guests are Yu Shan Chou who along with Karen Cervera started “Let’s Talk Philly” which offers conversation circles in person and virtually for immigrants to practice English with one another and build social connections.
https://www.letstalkphilly.org
https://welcomingcenter.org
If I asked you to guess the number one killer of children and teens – what would be your answer? Shocking but true - It’s gun violence. I speak to Scott Charles Trauma Outreach Manager at Temple University about a collaboration between local hospitals to raise awareness about gun safety. www.HospitalsTogether.com
https://www.templesafetynet.org/
Media portrayals of immigrants can perpetuate stereotypes and misinformation, influencing Americans' perceptions and attitudes toward immigrants. Negative stereotypes may contribute to fear, prejudice, and discrimination, making it difficult to foster empathy and understanding. That’s why bringing in a quarterly segment produced by the Welcoming Center and hosted by its CEO Anuj Gupta. The Center supports immigrants in achieving economic independence, integration and wellbeing. The feature is designed to build empathy and understanding across cultural divides. Anuj’s first guests are Yu Shan Chou who along with Karen Cervera started “Let’s Talk Philly” which offers conversation circles in person and virtually for immigrants to practice English with one another and build social connections.
https://www.letstalkphilly.org
https://welcomingcenter.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to what'sgoing on? A show about making a
difference in our lives and our communities. I'm Lorraine Ballard, morrel is a
ball connecting each auder through latis wehave in common, an all show the
richness of our givencers. That wasyou Shan Chu, who, along with
Karen Serveras started Let's Talk Philly,which offers conversation circles in person and virtually
(00:25):
for immigrants to practice English with oneanother and build social connections. They are
featured in a new segment from theWelcoming Center, which will air quarterly.
The feature is designed to build empathyand understanding across cultural divides. We'll also
talk about a campaign to reduce gunviolence among children and young adults. First,
every day almost I drive up RidgeAvenue, and over the many years,
(00:49):
I've seen such a transformation along RidgeAvenue, in particular in that stretch
known as East Falls. So we'regoing to do a little deep dive into
that neighborhood to talk about what's beenhappening with it, what are some of
the new developments occurring, and whatpeople need to know about East Falls to
tell us all about it. MichelleFeldman, She's director of East Falls Development
(01:11):
Corporation and so well, first ofall, welcome and it's great to see
you. We had a connection previouslywhen you were executive director of Philadelphia More
Beautiful and now you are the directorof East Falls Development Corporation. So let's
begin by talking about what is EastFalls? Where's it located. Well,
(01:32):
first of all, thank you somuch for having me. It's great to
see you as always, and Itruly appreciate all you do to help spread
the word about all of the good, positive things going on in the city.
So East Falls is this really specialneighborhood in northwest Philadelphia. So we
have Roxboro, mannionk and Germantown,I'm on Area, Chestnut Hill all bias,
but East Falls has its own sortof special in my opinion, it's
(01:57):
its own special flavor which makes ita really great place to live, work,
play. As they say, we'reright by the Scoogle River, which
is amazing, so we have alot of wonderful parkland and recreation nearby.
But what we do at the EastFalls Development Corporation is work with and try
to support, promote and recruit newsmall businesses to the area. So we're
(02:21):
laser focus on hyper local economic developmentin the neighborhood. Yeah. You know,
as I mentioned, I drive upReach Avenue all the time and have
seen tremendous change, and especially latelyit seems as though it's accelerated with more
new businesses coming in for people totake advantage of. Tell us a little
(02:42):
bit more about who's coming in.What's the nature of the kinds of businesses
that are locating in East Falls.Yeah, so I think it's a really
exciting time throughout the city, ofcourse, but also in East Falls we
have a number of new commercial spacesthat will be opening up in the next
year, so stay two ouned forsome additional new businesses that will be moving
in. You know, I don'tthink I can make any announcements on that
(03:06):
quite yet, but there are someexciting developments in the works there. But
we also have some wonderful businesses thathave been in East Falls for for many,
many years, from fitness and yogawe were just talking about before we
started to record all the way throughexperiences things like East Falls glass Works,
(03:27):
the rock Gym so you can gorock climbing in East Falls, and we
just discovered a wonderful business that actuallydoes hula hoop lessons, circus arts,
so you know, super fun.And then we also have some great bars
and restaurants. So Billy Murphy's IrishSaloon is a neighborhood staple and stalwart.
There's gonna be a new Tacorea thathe's opening up nearby on Midville Avenue.
(03:51):
So folks are really excited about aboutthe new Takorea in Riva, which is
a wonderful pizza place right on theriver. Amazing the bus. So lots
of lots of opportunity to do recreatingon the river and then go grab something
to eat or hula hooping or rockclimbing and then go grab something to eat.
Yeah. Yeah, that's really cool. It's in a very unique and
(04:13):
interesting location because it is so adjacentto the Schoogol River and let's talk about
the Schoogle River and East Falls.Tell us what's happening with that. Yeah,
So it is both I think theneighborhood's greatest asset and in some ways
a challenge with flooding. Right.Yeah, so about two years ago now
(04:33):
our organization, along with some amazingneighborhood partners, was a true true neighborhood
effort opened up a new boat launchcalled the East Falls River, landing on
the forty four hundred block of KellyDrive. So it's an access point straight
into the river for non motorized boating, fishing, paddling, recreation of all
kinds. So William Penn helped withthat. PA fish and boat and of
(04:56):
course parks and recreation at the citylevel all helped make that project what it
is. So we see that asa great way for folks to come come
to East Falls, see it asa destination, come get out on the
river, explore, enjoy then thenatural beauty of the city and of East
Falls. At the same time,we know that flooding, I mean especially
even over the last couple of weekswhere yeah, I mean parts of Kelli
(05:20):
Drive were underwater exactly exactly. Andthen of course two years ago we had
Hurricane Ida, where it was reallya tough tough time, and not just
for East Falls of course for Maniocand other parts of the city as well.
So we are actually proudly working withthe Maniac Development Corporation and the city.
(05:41):
Many city agencies are helping us outwith us as well on a flood
mitigation and preparation study. We expectthat that will be wrapped up by summer
of this year, and then we'llbe able to work with our city partners,
our state and federal partners, aswell as the Maniac Development Corporation on
hopefully some strategies to help mitigate someof the damage that occurs during these flooding
events, which we know are unfortunatelyjust going to be and become more often
(06:06):
and more violent global warming. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
No, I've noticed that because Iused to live in many young and
certainly living in Manny you guy droveup Kelly Drive a lot as well,
and it seems pretty much inevitable thatit gets flooded several times a year.
But certainly now more than ever,we've been getting a whole lot of rain
(06:30):
and that becomes very disruptive. Howfar during a Hurricane Ida did the water?
Did it get up to Ridge Avenue? It? Did it? Did?
I have video of the water rightup in front of the bus right
at Ridge in Midvale, which Idon't think you know, in my sort
of talking to folks has happened inany kind of recent memory. Yeah,
yeah, water all the way upit was. It was quite something.
(06:53):
Yeah, we took a look atthat and said, what can we do
here? There are a number ofresidents living on Ridge Avenue stretch of Ridge,
just as well as a number ofour wonderful businesses, and so we
can't have a thriving neighborhood and athriving commercial court or without working on that
issue. Absolutely well. I'm gladto see that there is some progress being
(07:13):
made and figuring out a way tomitigate the flooding, because it's only going
to get worse, as we know, because of all the crazy weather changes
in global warming. This been happening. Now. Someone who's from Philadelphia but
not that neighborhood or from out oftown and would like to know more about
everything that East Falls has to offer, is there a place you can go?
(07:36):
Absolutely so, I'll name a coupleof places. One our website discover
Eastfalls dot org. And then weare on Instagram and our handle is discover
East Falls. And actually you cango straight to our business structory where you
can filter by type of business.So if you're looking for fitness, you
can filter there. If you're lookingfor coffee shops, you have two wonderful
(07:59):
coffee shops Vaulton Vine on Midvale,thunder Mug Cafe on Ridge Avenue, and
vault Vine also does amazing floral sothey're also known for their florals too.
Fitness Beauty Fit Strong is a wonderfulfitness studio. One of many wonderful fitness
opportunities in the area, and thatis Discover Eastfalls dot org backslash businesses and
it's actually at Google Maps. Youcan sort of click and see and hopefully
(08:22):
plan your day in Easet Falls alittle bit that way too, because you
can sort of see the dots onthe map and say, oh, I
can do this here and then walkover here. Yeah. No, that's
great because certainly the adjacency to KellyDrive and Martin Luther King Drive. I
know that I often walk or runalong those trails there. It would be
(08:43):
just a hop, skip and ajump to run over and get some thunder
coffee, yes, Thundermud Cafe,thunder Mud Cafe, Yes, that's right,
and then maybe get a yoga classand a blow some glass so exactly
exactly or that as well and rockclimb. Yeah. So there's so much
to do and we always love puttinga focus on neighborhoods, because I think
(09:03):
the thing that's so amazing about Philadelphiais that it is, in fact a
city of neighborhoods, and sometimes wedon't go outside of our comfort zone and
check out all the incredible richness thatare that's available in other neighborhoods. So
it's really wonderful to hear East Fallshas so much going on and for those
(09:24):
who are looking for fun things todo, fun places to shop or recreate
or be creative, then East Fallsshould be a destination. What is that
website? One more time, discoverEastfalls dot org. Fantastic. Well,
we look forward to having you comeback and tell us more about the developments
happening in East Falls as they evolve. East Falls very cool neighborhood. And
(09:48):
Michelle Feldman is the director of EastFalls Development Corporation. Thank you so much,
Thank you so much for having me. With firearms remaining the leading cause
of injury and death in children,the nation's largest regional collaboration of health systems
(10:13):
representing fifty nine hospitals in Philadelphia,Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware, and southern New
Jersey, is kicking off the yearwith a PSA campaign, a public service
campaign that encourages a community approach toprotecting children from unlocked guns. It is
called it Doesn't Kill to Ask,and joining us right now to tell us
(10:33):
all about it is Scott Charles,Trauma Outreach manager at Temple University Hospital.
Well, Scott tell us, thisis such a shocking statistic to me that
firearms is the leading cause. It'snot momps or the measles or anything else.
So they're flu or COVID, it'sfirearms. Tell us more. Thanks
(10:56):
Lorraine for first of all shining alight on this issue. The firearms are
in the leading cause of death forchildren and teenagers. I want to be
clear that that number includes teenagers upto nineteen, but it's not really surprising
when you think about the proliferation offirearms in this country in particular. One
of the goals of this initiative isto address the issue of unintentional firearm injury,
(11:20):
which is really a problem. Sowe have a lot of individuals who
have guns and their children know exactlywhere those guns are. There's something like,
you know, three hundred and seventyseven shootings, near four hundred shootings
every year from unintentional reasons, andall of This is so preventable. So
(11:41):
it's important for parents to lock uptheir guns in their own homes, but
it's also important for parents to knowthat the homes that they're sending their children
to have those firearms locked up.And that's really the motivation about behind this
campaign is making parents feel that theyhave the agency to add ask about how
those guns are stored and their children'splaymates homes. So in addition to making
(12:05):
sure that guns are stored safely,what exactly does that involve. Is it
like locking them up in a box, putting any kind of special gun guard?
Tell us more about yeah. Yeah, So in an ideal world,
you know, the most secure wayto secure a firearm and to keep kids
safe is to make sure that thegun is unloaded and separate from the ammunition,
(12:28):
and that both the gun and theammunition are stored separately in safes.
We also know that that sometimes costprohibitive for certain families that are struggling.
So one of the efforts that TempleUniversity Hospital has done for the last several
years is we distribute free gunlocks tofamilies so that they can safely secure those
(12:50):
guns. How do parents get ahold of these gunlocks. They can actually
go to our website, which istemplesafety net dot com and they can click
on the link for the safe betprogram, and there there's the opportunity for
them to request a free gun luckthat will send to their home, no
questions asked. Now, getting alittle more into detail about that, it
(13:11):
doesn't kill to ask. This campaignprovides not only the encouragement to be aware
of the importance of making sure thatyour guns are safely locked away, and
also letting parents know that they shouldask other parents that their kids homes they
visit also have that. But there'salso some tools and other resources. Can
(13:33):
you tell us more about that.We want parents to feel comfortable doing is
having those conversations and to think abouthow to talk to the family that they're
sending the kids over to visit.We give them some tools, some ideas
about how to ask these questions,how to talk to the family and bring
up this issue that can be difficultfor some folks. You know, in
(13:56):
many cases, this is really apolitical issue in some instances. So we
want to make sure though at theend of the day, that parents know
how to broach this and one ofthe things that I always mentioned if you
were sending your kid to a family'shome and your child had a peanut allergy,
you wouldn't hesitate to bring up thefact that your child has a peanut
allergy and ask what kind of foodsthat they might be indulging in. And
(14:20):
so similarly with guns, we wantthem to be able to broach the subject
and ask of their guns in thehome and how they're being stored. Now,
there is of course a website thatpeople can go to to get all
the information that we just talked about, and what is that website? Hospitalstogether
dot com is the collaborative and thereyou can find more information about this effort
(14:41):
fantastic and of course the work thatyou do. You're very, very active
and prominent in this area of providinggreater safety when it comes to gun violence.
And if people want to know aboutall the work that you do and
the resources that Temple University Hospital has, how do they find out more about
that? Thank you? They canabsolutely find that information by going to our
(15:05):
website at templesafety net dot org andthere they'll find information about our Cradle to
Grave program where we educate young peopleabout the medical realities of gun violence.
The safe bet program that we justtalked about, the Fighting Chance program where
we teach community members how to providefirst aid, and our Trauma Victim Advocacy
(15:26):
Program where we provide support to victimsof gun violence in Philadelphia. Scott Charles,
Trauma Outreach manager at Temple University Hospital, Thank you so much. Thank
you so much, Lorraine. Thisis Welcoming Works with me, President and
CEO of the Welcoming Center. Joinus as we spotlight the phenomenal economic and
(15:48):
social impact immigrants are making right herein Philadelphia. In each segment, we
will dive into the stories of community, culture, transformation, and resilience.
These stories are a celebration of immigrantswho are shaping not only bright futures for
themselves and their families, but abrighter future for their communities and for Philadelphia.
(16:10):
Our first guests Karen Severa and YushanChu, the founders of the award
winning Let's Talk Philly Conversation Circles.Karen, you, Shawn, welcome,
Hi, Hi, thank you forhaving this. You both find your way
to Philadelphia and you come to theWelcoming Center. You become participants in our
Immigrant Leadership Institute, and from thatyou catalyze. To start Let's Talk Philly.
(16:37):
We're going to come back to whatthe link is between maybe what you
experienced and the program, but let'sstart by just describing what is Let's Talk
Philly. Conversation circles. Yeah,so Let's Talk Philly is an autonomous and
volunteer led organization. I mean itwas born at the Welcoming Center but has
(17:00):
grown to be its own entity,and it's driven by immigrants and refugees who
are working together to build community,to build wellness, and to address those
integration barriers like professional, social,personal barriers through building language and leadership skills.
(17:23):
And we use a peer to peerlearning model, I mean we're learning
from each other. And also it'svery participatory. So what we do is
that we build on the knowledge andskills people are already bringing to the table
to create new knowledge, to createnew skills, and we foster a space
where everybody feels safe, everybody's voiceis heard, and they feel empowered.
(17:48):
The way it works is that wehave different groups who meet from eight to
ten participants meeting two times per week, and they are meeting to our situations.
So it's kind of like an intenseEnglish practice they have two facilitators who
are moderating and leading the conversations,and they really talk about everything that is
important to them. It can beculture, it can be the new life.
(18:11):
Here they share resources, they sharetheir skills, they share their background.
And also we have some conversation circlesthat are more target specific things like
career building. So these are conversationsthat are just specifically about career building.
And we do this for a periodof ten weeks and we have some events
(18:33):
in between. And you cha,maybe you can tell us how did the
two of you come together to formthis project. So, as Karen mentioned,
like we join on Immigrant Leadership Institute, the program at the Wecomiss Center,
and then the program is really forimmigrants to discover and to explore and
(18:55):
maybe the barriers or the challenges wehave when we move to Philadelphia and we
have to form a group. Sowe are grouped like dandenly. So in
the beginning we were a group offive, but our two left before pandemic
(19:15):
and another one left during pandemic.So Karen and I, you know,
just keep doing it. I thinkthe reason is because we want to we
are looking for the census of purposeand the belonging and independence. So from
the program we have to learn thebarriers and from our peers and from the
(19:38):
community, and then we focus onlanguage barrier, more specifically the speaking parts,
because we found it is the mostchallenging part immigrants have. Even we
have a good understanding in reading,writing, and listening, but when it
comes to speaking, it's always verychallenge. So we wanted to create the
(20:03):
initiative where we can support ourselves andothers, where people feel like Kara mentioned
Sef and understood while they are inthis learning process. Many immigrants, when
you hear their stories, not onlyis their journey to the United States a
challenge, but the process of settlingin and acclimating integrating into their new community
(20:32):
can be a challenge as well.And the challenge is isolation loneliness. It's
something that the Surgeon General the UnitedStates has proclaimed to be an epidemic amongst
Americans. In your own respective journeys, when you arrived here and Yushan,
you came from Taiwan, Karen fromMexico, did you experience loneliness or isolation
(20:55):
and what was that challenge? LikeI first arrived in the US in twenty
sixteen directly to Houston, Texas.I moved here with my husband, he
was studying in Houston at that moment. And honestly, when I first moved
to the US, I was veryexcited. You know. I always wanted
to see more of the world,experience other cultures, experience other ways of
(21:18):
living. So actually I came herevery excited. And you know, the
first months or weeks, they arelike what they call that honeymoon stage where
everything's nice, everything is speak youare getting to know the new place and
new people. But after a littlewhile, you pass that stage and you
start thinking about, okay, sonow what I'm going to be doing with
(21:41):
my life here, and that's whenreality hits you, and when all those
barriers kind of hit you in theface as well, like the English language,
for example. I learned English backhome, but coming here is very
different. You know, you havedifferent speeds, you have different accents.
So once you start really realizing alsoyour status, because I came as a
(22:04):
dependent, so that meant I couldn'twork or study full time. So all
those things started to hit you andyou start to realize what's going on.
So definitely I start from that momenton and not having my family and friends
close by. I really started tofeel that loneliness and that kind of isolation,
(22:27):
and especially in Houston, where everythingis so spread out that you would
need a car to get around,and I didn't know how to drive,
so I spent most of my timeat home. That was very, very
tough times for me. And you, Sean, did you experience a similar
journey. Yeah. So I ammuch older than most people I know,
(22:48):
and I do feel all love feelingof isolation. But that was because I
was very close to my family andthey were in Taiwan at that time,
and also during pandemic, it wasn'thelp. I was worried about myself and
my family because they were so closeto the place where the pandemic the outbreak
(23:11):
started. So the challenges I have, it's not only in terms of the
language barriers. It's also I couldn'tbring my family with me. Yeah,
would you say that, let's talkPhillies in the business of building confidence amongst
participants. I would say, likelast peeling was the response to learn things
(23:37):
and also to the impact of cognitingpandemic because at the light of time,
like immigrants were one of the mostimpact groups who experienced a highlighting sense of
isolation due to the lockdown. Theyhave to stay at home and we lowing
(23:59):
any opportunity to practice and learn Englishand also to meet with each other.
And the other hand is also theylose the opportunity to build social capital and
also to progress in their careers andalso to find out their learning paths.
(24:21):
So I think Karen mentioned we aremore like our participatory center. The program
really starts in earnest at the beginningof the pandemic. Is that correct?
Yeah, and we at that timein early twenty twenty, we are all
making this remarkable adjustment to virtual communications. Some of us, I would say,
(24:42):
were unsure of how well that wouldgo. Were you surprised by how
successful the program became, even ina fully virtual environment. Yeah, And
we usually said that also it waskind of like a blessing these guys,
because so the first idea was todo this in person. It was meant
(25:04):
to be a few workshops where wewould meet and try this idea out.
But then we all move to online. We have to adapt, and we
feel like one of the things thatmade less stockpili As success was being online
because we could reach even more peoplethat we were imagining that we would immigrants
(25:26):
join from all around, not justPhilly, not just the state, but
all around the country. We haveparticipants joining from different states and it gives
them an opportunity to keep practicing andbuild community even if they are far away.
A lot of immigrants they cannot accesscity programming because they cannot drive,
or they're just too far or evenyou know, we have a lot of
(25:48):
moms that usually cannot I mean theyhave to take care of their families,
so they don't have a lot oftime or space to join programs, and
they want to keep developing themselves.So it was an opportunity needed to reach
even more people who usually cannot accessprograms. And if somebody wants to become
a participant in let's talk feeling now, is it possible and is it still
(26:11):
fully virtual or do you also doit in person? Yes, So our
main conversation program session still remain onlinebecause we still want to engage, especially
like we have participants went back totheir country but they wanted to stay connected.
And also this is the way wecan have more space to hear like
(26:34):
voices from different places. But wedo try to organize like some in person
events when it comes to like awellness day, you know during pandemic,
like a lot of earth experience likemental wellness. So like one of our
elements in conversation circle is we dolike unlived in person wellness a day to
(26:56):
adjust some issue or some emotional willnesswe had. So the two of you
have done a remarkable job of buildinga new program from scratch during an extraordinary
difficult time, and you designed somethingthat not only is building social capital,
but responded to something that both ofyou experienced in your journeys here, which
(27:21):
was isolation and loneliness. What onelesson would you want leaders in Philadelphia,
active community members, anybody to knowabout your experience in creating let's talk Philly.
I think for us it is veryimportant to honor mutual collaborative leadership efforts
(27:45):
and give spest to others to expresstheir voices. Raila Lean speak for them.
And also it's very important to passmike to laws who can deliver the
message on their own. Like someof the various with Faster in Lostviti,
respect, empathy, resilient, culturalappreciation and hope. For us, it's
(28:12):
about connecting each other through the thingswe have in common and al show the
richness of our differensers. Yeah,and it's just like really recognizing that everyone
has something to bring to the table. Everyone has amazing stories that we need
(28:32):
to make the space for them totell them and work with them to create
a better place and a better cityfor everyone. Folks would like to find
out more and potentially join. Wherewould they go? We have our social
media like on Facebook and Instagram.Also we have our own website and when
we have the new cycle begin,we will share the fighters around like participants
(28:56):
and like partners. Actually, weare about to start our news cycle of
Nico Hot in March and now weare on the preparing process for information station
for participant and facilitators. Anyone cangoogle last sok Vidi and then they can
find us very easy. And whatis the Instagram handle and Facebook? The
(29:22):
Instagram is lestock Philly CC and Facebookis seless stock Piela as well, Karen
you Sean. I think both ofyou are doing amazing work and creating a
better city. Thank you for joiningus this morning. Thank you for having
us. You can listen to allof today's interviews by going to our station
website and typing in keyword community.You can also listen on the iHeartRadio app
(29:45):
Yywards Philadelphia Community Podcast. Follow meon Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard.
I'm Lorraine Ballard, Moral and Istand for service to our community and media
that empowers. What will you standfor? You've been listening to what's going
on, and thank you
Good morning, and welcome to what'sgoing on? A show about making a
difference in our lives and our communities. I'm Lorraine Ballard, morrel is a
ball connecting each auder through latis wehave in common, an all show the
richness of our givencers. That wasyou Shan Chu, who, along with
Karen Serveras started Let's Talk Philly,which offers conversation circles in person and virtually
(00:25):
for immigrants to practice English with oneanother and build social connections. They are
featured in a new segment from theWelcoming Center, which will air quarterly.
The feature is designed to build empathyand understanding across cultural divides. We'll also
talk about a campaign to reduce gunviolence among children and young adults. First,
every day almost I drive up RidgeAvenue, and over the many years,
(00:49):
I've seen such a transformation along RidgeAvenue, in particular in that stretch
known as East Falls. So we'regoing to do a little deep dive into
that neighborhood to talk about what's beenhappening with it, what are some of
the new developments occurring, and whatpeople need to know about East Falls to
tell us all about it. MichelleFeldman, She's director of East Falls Development
(01:11):
Corporation and so well, first ofall, welcome and it's great to see
you. We had a connection previouslywhen you were executive director of Philadelphia More
Beautiful and now you are the directorof East Falls Development Corporation. So let's
begin by talking about what is EastFalls? Where's it located. Well,
(01:32):
first of all, thank you somuch for having me. It's great to
see you as always, and Itruly appreciate all you do to help spread
the word about all of the good, positive things going on in the city.
So East Falls is this really specialneighborhood in northwest Philadelphia. So we
have Roxboro, mannionk and Germantown,I'm on Area, Chestnut Hill all bias,
but East Falls has its own sortof special in my opinion, it's
(01:57):
its own special flavor which makes ita really great place to live, work,
play. As they say, we'reright by the Scoogle River, which
is amazing, so we have alot of wonderful parkland and recreation nearby.
But what we do at the EastFalls Development Corporation is work with and try
to support, promote and recruit newsmall businesses to the area. So we're
(02:21):
laser focus on hyper local economic developmentin the neighborhood. Yeah. You know,
as I mentioned, I drive upReach Avenue all the time and have
seen tremendous change, and especially latelyit seems as though it's accelerated with more
new businesses coming in for people totake advantage of. Tell us a little
(02:42):
bit more about who's coming in.What's the nature of the kinds of businesses
that are locating in East Falls.Yeah, so I think it's a really
exciting time throughout the city, ofcourse, but also in East Falls we
have a number of new commercial spacesthat will be opening up in the next
year, so stay two ouned forsome additional new businesses that will be moving
in. You know, I don'tthink I can make any announcements on that
(03:06):
quite yet, but there are someexciting developments in the works there. But
we also have some wonderful businesses thathave been in East Falls for for many,
many years, from fitness and yogawe were just talking about before we
started to record all the way throughexperiences things like East Falls glass Works,
(03:27):
the rock Gym so you can gorock climbing in East Falls, and we
just discovered a wonderful business that actuallydoes hula hoop lessons, circus arts,
so you know, super fun.And then we also have some great bars
and restaurants. So Billy Murphy's IrishSaloon is a neighborhood staple and stalwart.
There's gonna be a new Tacorea thathe's opening up nearby on Midville Avenue.
(03:51):
So folks are really excited about aboutthe new Takorea in Riva, which is
a wonderful pizza place right on theriver. Amazing the bus. So lots
of lots of opportunity to do recreatingon the river and then go grab something
to eat or hula hooping or rockclimbing and then go grab something to eat.
Yeah. Yeah, that's really cool. It's in a very unique and
(04:13):
interesting location because it is so adjacentto the Schoogol River and let's talk about
the Schoogle River and East Falls.Tell us what's happening with that. Yeah,
So it is both I think theneighborhood's greatest asset and in some ways
a challenge with flooding. Right.Yeah, so about two years ago now
(04:33):
our organization, along with some amazingneighborhood partners, was a true true neighborhood
effort opened up a new boat launchcalled the East Falls River, landing on
the forty four hundred block of KellyDrive. So it's an access point straight
into the river for non motorized boating, fishing, paddling, recreation of all
kinds. So William Penn helped withthat. PA fish and boat and of
(04:56):
course parks and recreation at the citylevel all helped make that project what it
is. So we see that asa great way for folks to come come
to East Falls, see it asa destination, come get out on the
river, explore, enjoy then thenatural beauty of the city and of East
Falls. At the same time,we know that flooding, I mean especially
even over the last couple of weekswhere yeah, I mean parts of Kelli
(05:20):
Drive were underwater exactly exactly. Andthen of course two years ago we had
Hurricane Ida, where it was reallya tough tough time, and not just
for East Falls of course for Maniocand other parts of the city as well.
So we are actually proudly working withthe Maniac Development Corporation and the city.
(05:41):
Many city agencies are helping us outwith us as well on a flood
mitigation and preparation study. We expectthat that will be wrapped up by summer
of this year, and then we'llbe able to work with our city partners,
our state and federal partners, aswell as the Maniac Development Corporation on
hopefully some strategies to help mitigate someof the damage that occurs during these flooding
events, which we know are unfortunatelyjust going to be and become more often
(06:06):
and more violent global warming. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
No, I've noticed that because Iused to live in many young and
certainly living in Manny you guy droveup Kelly Drive a lot as well,
and it seems pretty much inevitable thatit gets flooded several times a year.
But certainly now more than ever,we've been getting a whole lot of rain
(06:30):
and that becomes very disruptive. Howfar during a Hurricane Ida did the water?
Did it get up to Ridge Avenue? It? Did it? Did?
I have video of the water rightup in front of the bus right
at Ridge in Midvale, which Idon't think you know, in my sort
of talking to folks has happened inany kind of recent memory. Yeah,
yeah, water all the way upit was. It was quite something.
(06:53):
Yeah, we took a look atthat and said, what can we do
here? There are a number ofresidents living on Ridge Avenue stretch of Ridge,
just as well as a number ofour wonderful businesses, and so we
can't have a thriving neighborhood and athriving commercial court or without working on that
issue. Absolutely well. I'm gladto see that there is some progress being
(07:13):
made and figuring out a way tomitigate the flooding, because it's only going
to get worse, as we know, because of all the crazy weather changes
in global warming. This been happening. Now. Someone who's from Philadelphia but
not that neighborhood or from out oftown and would like to know more about
everything that East Falls has to offer, is there a place you can go?
(07:36):
Absolutely so, I'll name a coupleof places. One our website discover
Eastfalls dot org. And then weare on Instagram and our handle is discover
East Falls. And actually you cango straight to our business structory where you
can filter by type of business.So if you're looking for fitness, you
can filter there. If you're lookingfor coffee shops, you have two wonderful
(07:59):
coffee shops Vaulton Vine on Midvale,thunder Mug Cafe on Ridge Avenue, and
vault Vine also does amazing floral sothey're also known for their florals too.
Fitness Beauty Fit Strong is a wonderfulfitness studio. One of many wonderful fitness
opportunities in the area, and thatis Discover Eastfalls dot org backslash businesses and
it's actually at Google Maps. Youcan sort of click and see and hopefully
(08:22):
plan your day in Easet Falls alittle bit that way too, because you
can sort of see the dots onthe map and say, oh, I
can do this here and then walkover here. Yeah. No, that's
great because certainly the adjacency to KellyDrive and Martin Luther King Drive. I
know that I often walk or runalong those trails there. It would be
(08:43):
just a hop, skip and ajump to run over and get some thunder
coffee, yes, Thundermud Cafe,thunder Mud Cafe, Yes, that's right,
and then maybe get a yoga classand a blow some glass so exactly
exactly or that as well and rockclimb. Yeah. So there's so much
to do and we always love puttinga focus on neighborhoods, because I think
(09:03):
the thing that's so amazing about Philadelphiais that it is, in fact a
city of neighborhoods, and sometimes wedon't go outside of our comfort zone and
check out all the incredible richness thatare that's available in other neighborhoods. So
it's really wonderful to hear East Fallshas so much going on and for those
(09:24):
who are looking for fun things todo, fun places to shop or recreate
or be creative, then East Fallsshould be a destination. What is that
website? One more time, discoverEastfalls dot org. Fantastic. Well,
we look forward to having you comeback and tell us more about the developments
happening in East Falls as they evolve. East Falls very cool neighborhood. And
(09:48):
Michelle Feldman is the director of EastFalls Development Corporation. Thank you so much,
Thank you so much for having me. With firearms remaining the leading cause
of injury and death in children,the nation's largest regional collaboration of health systems
(10:13):
representing fifty nine hospitals in Philadelphia,Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware, and southern New
Jersey, is kicking off the yearwith a PSA campaign, a public service
campaign that encourages a community approach toprotecting children from unlocked guns. It is
called it Doesn't Kill to Ask,and joining us right now to tell us
(10:33):
all about it is Scott Charles,Trauma Outreach manager at Temple University Hospital.
Well, Scott tell us, thisis such a shocking statistic to me that
firearms is the leading cause. It'snot momps or the measles or anything else.
So they're flu or COVID, it'sfirearms. Tell us more. Thanks
(10:56):
Lorraine for first of all shining alight on this issue. The firearms are
in the leading cause of death forchildren and teenagers. I want to be
clear that that number includes teenagers upto nineteen, but it's not really surprising
when you think about the proliferation offirearms in this country in particular. One
of the goals of this initiative isto address the issue of unintentional firearm injury,
(11:20):
which is really a problem. Sowe have a lot of individuals who
have guns and their children know exactlywhere those guns are. There's something like,
you know, three hundred and seventyseven shootings, near four hundred shootings
every year from unintentional reasons, andall of This is so preventable. So
(11:41):
it's important for parents to lock uptheir guns in their own homes, but
it's also important for parents to knowthat the homes that they're sending their children
to have those firearms locked up.And that's really the motivation about behind this
campaign is making parents feel that theyhave the agency to add ask about how
those guns are stored and their children'splaymates homes. So in addition to making
(12:05):
sure that guns are stored safely,what exactly does that involve. Is it
like locking them up in a box, putting any kind of special gun guard?
Tell us more about yeah. Yeah, So in an ideal world,
you know, the most secure wayto secure a firearm and to keep kids
safe is to make sure that thegun is unloaded and separate from the ammunition,
(12:28):
and that both the gun and theammunition are stored separately in safes.
We also know that that sometimes costprohibitive for certain families that are struggling.
So one of the efforts that TempleUniversity Hospital has done for the last several
years is we distribute free gunlocks tofamilies so that they can safely secure those
(12:50):
guns. How do parents get ahold of these gunlocks. They can actually
go to our website, which istemplesafety net dot com and they can click
on the link for the safe betprogram, and there there's the opportunity for
them to request a free gun luckthat will send to their home, no
questions asked. Now, getting alittle more into detail about that, it
(13:11):
doesn't kill to ask. This campaignprovides not only the encouragement to be aware
of the importance of making sure thatyour guns are safely locked away, and
also letting parents know that they shouldask other parents that their kids homes they
visit also have that. But there'salso some tools and other resources. Can
(13:33):
you tell us more about that.We want parents to feel comfortable doing is
having those conversations and to think abouthow to talk to the family that they're
sending the kids over to visit.We give them some tools, some ideas
about how to ask these questions,how to talk to the family and bring
up this issue that can be difficultfor some folks. You know, in
(13:56):
many cases, this is really apolitical issue in some instances. So we
want to make sure though at theend of the day, that parents know
how to broach this and one ofthe things that I always mentioned if you
were sending your kid to a family'shome and your child had a peanut allergy,
you wouldn't hesitate to bring up thefact that your child has a peanut
allergy and ask what kind of foodsthat they might be indulging in. And
(14:20):
so similarly with guns, we wantthem to be able to broach the subject
and ask of their guns in thehome and how they're being stored. Now,
there is of course a website thatpeople can go to to get all
the information that we just talked about, and what is that website? Hospitalstogether
dot com is the collaborative and thereyou can find more information about this effort
(14:41):
fantastic and of course the work thatyou do. You're very, very active
and prominent in this area of providinggreater safety when it comes to gun violence.
And if people want to know aboutall the work that you do and
the resources that Temple University Hospital has, how do they find out more about
that? Thank you? They canabsolutely find that information by going to our
(15:05):
website at templesafety net dot org andthere they'll find information about our Cradle to
Grave program where we educate young peopleabout the medical realities of gun violence.
The safe bet program that we justtalked about, the Fighting Chance program where
we teach community members how to providefirst aid, and our Trauma Victim Advocacy
(15:26):
Program where we provide support to victimsof gun violence in Philadelphia. Scott Charles,
Trauma Outreach manager at Temple University Hospital, Thank you so much. Thank
you so much, Lorraine. Thisis Welcoming Works with me, President and
CEO of the Welcoming Center. Joinus as we spotlight the phenomenal economic and
(15:48):
social impact immigrants are making right herein Philadelphia. In each segment, we
will dive into the stories of community, culture, transformation, and resilience.
These stories are a celebration of immigrantswho are shaping not only bright futures for
themselves and their families, but abrighter future for their communities and for Philadelphia.
(16:10):
Our first guests Karen Severa and YushanChu, the founders of the award
winning Let's Talk Philly Conversation Circles.Karen, you, Shawn, welcome,
Hi, Hi, thank you forhaving this. You both find your way
to Philadelphia and you come to theWelcoming Center. You become participants in our
Immigrant Leadership Institute, and from thatyou catalyze. To start Let's Talk Philly.
(16:37):
We're going to come back to whatthe link is between maybe what you
experienced and the program, but let'sstart by just describing what is Let's Talk
Philly. Conversation circles. Yeah,so Let's Talk Philly is an autonomous and
volunteer led organization. I mean itwas born at the Welcoming Center but has
(17:00):
grown to be its own entity,and it's driven by immigrants and refugees who
are working together to build community,to build wellness, and to address those
integration barriers like professional, social,personal barriers through building language and leadership skills.
(17:23):
And we use a peer to peerlearning model, I mean we're learning
from each other. And also it'svery participatory. So what we do is
that we build on the knowledge andskills people are already bringing to the table
to create new knowledge, to createnew skills, and we foster a space
where everybody feels safe, everybody's voiceis heard, and they feel empowered.
(17:48):
The way it works is that wehave different groups who meet from eight to
ten participants meeting two times per week, and they are meeting to our situations.
So it's kind of like an intenseEnglish practice they have two facilitators who
are moderating and leading the conversations,and they really talk about everything that is
important to them. It can beculture, it can be the new life.
(18:11):
Here they share resources, they sharetheir skills, they share their background.
And also we have some conversation circlesthat are more target specific things like
career building. So these are conversationsthat are just specifically about career building.
And we do this for a periodof ten weeks and we have some events
(18:33):
in between. And you cha,maybe you can tell us how did the
two of you come together to formthis project. So, as Karen mentioned,
like we join on Immigrant Leadership Institute, the program at the Wecomiss Center,
and then the program is really forimmigrants to discover and to explore and
(18:55):
maybe the barriers or the challenges wehave when we move to Philadelphia and we
have to form a group. Sowe are grouped like dandenly. So in
the beginning we were a group offive, but our two left before pandemic
(19:15):
and another one left during pandemic.So Karen and I, you know,
just keep doing it. I thinkthe reason is because we want to we
are looking for the census of purposeand the belonging and independence. So from
the program we have to learn thebarriers and from our peers and from the
(19:38):
community, and then we focus onlanguage barrier, more specifically the speaking parts,
because we found it is the mostchallenging part immigrants have. Even we
have a good understanding in reading,writing, and listening, but when it
comes to speaking, it's always verychallenge. So we wanted to create the
(20:03):
initiative where we can support ourselves andothers, where people feel like Kara mentioned
Sef and understood while they are inthis learning process. Many immigrants, when
you hear their stories, not onlyis their journey to the United States a
challenge, but the process of settlingin and acclimating integrating into their new community
(20:32):
can be a challenge as well.And the challenge is isolation loneliness. It's
something that the Surgeon General the UnitedStates has proclaimed to be an epidemic amongst
Americans. In your own respective journeys, when you arrived here and Yushan,
you came from Taiwan, Karen fromMexico, did you experience loneliness or isolation
(20:55):
and what was that challenge? LikeI first arrived in the US in twenty
sixteen directly to Houston, Texas.I moved here with my husband, he
was studying in Houston at that moment. And honestly, when I first moved
to the US, I was veryexcited. You know. I always wanted
to see more of the world,experience other cultures, experience other ways of
(21:18):
living. So actually I came herevery excited. And you know, the
first months or weeks, they arelike what they call that honeymoon stage where
everything's nice, everything is speak youare getting to know the new place and
new people. But after a littlewhile, you pass that stage and you
start thinking about, okay, sonow what I'm going to be doing with
(21:41):
my life here, and that's whenreality hits you, and when all those
barriers kind of hit you in theface as well, like the English language,
for example. I learned English backhome, but coming here is very
different. You know, you havedifferent speeds, you have different accents.
So once you start really realizing alsoyour status, because I came as a
(22:04):
dependent, so that meant I couldn'twork or study full time. So all
those things started to hit you andyou start to realize what's going on.
So definitely I start from that momenton and not having my family and friends
close by. I really started tofeel that loneliness and that kind of isolation,
(22:27):
and especially in Houston, where everythingis so spread out that you would
need a car to get around,and I didn't know how to drive,
so I spent most of my timeat home. That was very, very
tough times for me. And you, Sean, did you experience a similar
journey. Yeah. So I ammuch older than most people I know,
(22:48):
and I do feel all love feelingof isolation. But that was because I
was very close to my family andthey were in Taiwan at that time,
and also during pandemic, it wasn'thelp. I was worried about myself and
my family because they were so closeto the place where the pandemic the outbreak
(23:11):
started. So the challenges I have, it's not only in terms of the
language barriers. It's also I couldn'tbring my family with me. Yeah,
would you say that, let's talkPhillies in the business of building confidence amongst
participants. I would say, likelast peeling was the response to learn things
(23:37):
and also to the impact of cognitingpandemic because at the light of time,
like immigrants were one of the mostimpact groups who experienced a highlighting sense of
isolation due to the lockdown. Theyhave to stay at home and we lowing
(23:59):
any opportunity to practice and learn Englishand also to meet with each other.
And the other hand is also theylose the opportunity to build social capital and
also to progress in their careers andalso to find out their learning paths.
(24:21):
So I think Karen mentioned we aremore like our participatory center. The program
really starts in earnest at the beginningof the pandemic. Is that correct?
Yeah, and we at that timein early twenty twenty, we are all
making this remarkable adjustment to virtual communications. Some of us, I would say,
(24:42):
were unsure of how well that wouldgo. Were you surprised by how
successful the program became, even ina fully virtual environment. Yeah, And
we usually said that also it waskind of like a blessing these guys,
because so the first idea was todo this in person. It was meant
(25:04):
to be a few workshops where wewould meet and try this idea out.
But then we all move to online. We have to adapt, and we
feel like one of the things thatmade less stockpili As success was being online
because we could reach even more peoplethat we were imagining that we would immigrants
(25:26):
join from all around, not justPhilly, not just the state, but
all around the country. We haveparticipants joining from different states and it gives
them an opportunity to keep practicing andbuild community even if they are far away.
A lot of immigrants they cannot accesscity programming because they cannot drive,
or they're just too far or evenyou know, we have a lot of
(25:48):
moms that usually cannot I mean theyhave to take care of their families,
so they don't have a lot oftime or space to join programs, and
they want to keep developing themselves.So it was an opportunity needed to reach
even more people who usually cannot accessprograms. And if somebody wants to become
a participant in let's talk feeling now, is it possible and is it still
(26:11):
fully virtual or do you also doit in person? Yes, So our
main conversation program session still remain onlinebecause we still want to engage, especially
like we have participants went back totheir country but they wanted to stay connected.
And also this is the way wecan have more space to hear like
(26:34):
voices from different places. But wedo try to organize like some in person
events when it comes to like awellness day, you know during pandemic,
like a lot of earth experience likemental wellness. So like one of our
elements in conversation circle is we dolike unlived in person wellness a day to
(26:56):
adjust some issue or some emotional willnesswe had. So the two of you
have done a remarkable job of buildinga new program from scratch during an extraordinary
difficult time, and you designed somethingthat not only is building social capital,
but responded to something that both ofyou experienced in your journeys here, which
(27:21):
was isolation and loneliness. What onelesson would you want leaders in Philadelphia,
active community members, anybody to knowabout your experience in creating let's talk Philly.
I think for us it is veryimportant to honor mutual collaborative leadership efforts
(27:45):
and give spest to others to expresstheir voices. Raila Lean speak for them.
And also it's very important to passmike to laws who can deliver the
message on their own. Like someof the various with Faster in Lostviti,
respect, empathy, resilient, culturalappreciation and hope. For us, it's
(28:12):
about connecting each other through the thingswe have in common and al show the
richness of our differensers. Yeah,and it's just like really recognizing that everyone
has something to bring to the table. Everyone has amazing stories that we need
(28:32):
to make the space for them totell them and work with them to create
a better place and a better cityfor everyone. Folks would like to find
out more and potentially join. Wherewould they go? We have our social
media like on Facebook and Instagram.Also we have our own website and when
we have the new cycle begin,we will share the fighters around like participants
(28:56):
and like partners. Actually, weare about to start our news cycle of
Nico Hot in March and now weare on the preparing process for information station
for participant and facilitators. Anyone cangoogle last sok Vidi and then they can
find us very easy. And whatis the Instagram handle and Facebook? The
(29:22):
Instagram is lestock Philly CC and Facebookis seless stock Piela as well, Karen
you Sean. I think both ofyou are doing amazing work and creating a
better city. Thank you for joiningus this morning. Thank you for having
us. You can listen to allof today's interviews by going to our station
website and typing in keyword community.You can also listen on the iHeartRadio app
(29:45):
Yywards Philadelphia Community Podcast. Follow meon Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard.
I'm Lorraine Ballard, Moral and Istand for service to our community and media
that empowers. What will you standfor? You've been listening to what's going
on, and thank you
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