I work at Joseph’s House, a new overnight homeless shelter in Camden. It is based on a homeless cafe model used in Philly. It’s a pretty simple, bare bones operation- we do not provide beds (hence no need of state licensing), but provide a safe haven for 45 men and women  from the cold and streets outside. A little restoration of human dignity, a little help finding a job, apartment, drug rehab, some one to talk to, play a chess or card game. Some dinner, some breakfast. We opened a second site this year in Fairview- that was closed down after only 20 days because of neighborhood protest. Now our downtown location (as well as the day shelter New Visions) is under threat of closing by the city. The motives are clearly political albeit unclear- whether its expansion of Cooper in that direction, the new med school being built around the corner, the city desiring to provide less services to not attract ‘that kinda people’, or just good old fashioned fear of poor people. Philadelphia’s homelessness has dramatically fallen in recent years because of their network of solid shelters, which Joseph’s House is trying to start on this side of the Delaware. But aparrently Dana Redd thinks if you close your eyes and ignore the homeless they just arent there.

Here’s the three articles written about Joseph’s House in order of most recently. All three are terribly inaccurate in details (the name of our organization, the issue of licensing, etc).

Courier- Post, Feb 6 2012– “Camden Shifting Stance on Homeless”

http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120206/NEWS01/302060013/Camden-shifting-stance-homeless

Courier- Post, Jan 30 2012– ”Church’s Warming Station Put on Hold”

http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120130/NEWS01/301300013/Church-s-warming-station-homeless-put-hold

Courier- Post, Jan 14 2012– ”Homeless Mission Raises Concerns”

http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120115/NEWS01/301150050/Homeless-mission-raises-concerns

 

Here’s a short video from a TED talk about how the internet filters information we take in based on who we are. Instead of the internet broadening the information we take in, it narrows it down based on our interests and clicks on links. TED is a set of conferences with the purpose of creating conversation around “ideas worth spreading”. The topics are many but focus on TED (technology, entertainment, design). Past speakers have been Bill Gates, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Larry Page, Malcolm Gladwell, y mas.

TED talk- ”What Google and Facebook are Hiding From the World’- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOE1HFEL8XA&sns=fb

TED website for more talks: http://www.ted.com/

 

 

This past week a group of 10 youth and staff from Hopeworks have been in Mexico on a service trip!  They are in Cuernavaca Mexico serving with the group VAMOS, and its the second trip to the area. The first was last August with just three youth, and this trip has expanded to several more.  Hundreds of students have come to Desales to serve in Camden, and these young adults from Camden are traveling all the way to Mexico to serve there and broaden their knowledge and experience of life outside Camden.

Courier Post article: “Camden Group Heads To Mexico To Offer Help” http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120112/NEWS01/301120021?fb_ref=artsharetop&fb_source=profile_oneline

Philly.com Article: “Camden Youth Helping Children Poorer Than Them” http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/camden_flow/137128793.html

Video of Trip from August 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81HRXZjLXvg

A&A Soft Pretzel Baking Company is a 4th Generation bakery on 32nd Street in the Cramer Hill neighborhood in Camden– who knew!? In 2010 A&A  was awarded First Prize in the “Battle of the Soft Pretzels” for the best pretzel topping. The event was held in Philadelphia at the Independence Center. A&A was established in the 1920′s in Philly but moved to Camden in 1976, hardly a decade that businesses chose to move into Camden. When it came to Camden, A&A was on Stevens street but now resides in its current building on 32nd.

Check out a little history on them- http://www.dvrbs.com/camden/CamdenNJ-A&ASoftPretzel.htm

And their Facebook Page- http://www.facebook.com/aasoftpretzels?sk=wall

 

 

Here’s a short but neat article about Camden High’s recent success in basketball, reminding students and families of a past time when their basketball program was as thriving and successful as Camden itself.

Link to Article at bottom-

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Camden Showing Signs of Old Magic”- http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/high_school/new_jersey/20120114_Camden_showing_signs_of_old_magic.html

Capitalism allows for an amazing flow of money. Globalization can be credited with bringing wealth to many worldwide that were previously poor.  The American Industrial Revolution in the mid/late 1800′s produced prosperity concentrated in the hands of a few previously not seen before. Fortunately for us, they felt it their civic duty to give back, and donated huge amounts of their wealth to create libraries, theatres, preserve historical sites, etc. For example, the restoration of the Colonial Williamsburg area was started by Rockefeller money.

This short article gives diagrams to show how modern philanthropists like Bill Gates have donated billions to health issues in the developing world and made a huge difference.

Article: http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-infographic-2012-1

 

There’s alot of things Camden City cannot afford, or rather, the city decides with the money it has what it can and cannot afford. Generally police officers aren’t on the chopping block when it comes to budget cuts, but it happened here last January. Now the talks continue about integrating Camden city cops into a County wide police force. It would mean several things: the current city cops would all be laid off, and 49% of them could be rehired into the County force. Their previous pay would be cut in half of whatever they previously made. Since the County is a new employer, if someone was working towards retirement, that clock starts over again. Those are the negatives, the benefits would be- a potential increase in the amount of cops on the streets since they are paid less and is part of a larger force, and its more affordable for the City. It seems however to be an example of taking the road less desirable because of tight finances, which is a shame when it comes to policing. With too few cops, most of their duties are reactive- reacting to crimes and incidents, instead of reactive- preventing crime. You can take your pick which route is better, here’s two articles on the issue:

“Regional Force Gains Ground in Camden County”- http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20111228/NEWS01/312280025/Regional-police-force-gains-ground-Camden-County

“City Council Urges Officials to Advance Plan for County Force”- http://articles.philly.com/2011-12-28/news/30565451_1_county-force-police-force-police-officers

In a recent effort to minimize the number of firearms in the city, the police are implementing a buyback of guns in exchange for $100 to the supermarket Pathmark. The dropoffs are ‘no questions asked’ and there are 5 locations in the city. With less cops, Camden saw 30% more shooting incidents than last year, and aggravated assaults with a firearm are up 45% over 2010. As it turns out, 57 guns of various sizes were dropped off at the different sites. Each gun off the street or from a home means there’s less chance of a violent crime. The last initiative of this kind in the city was done in the 90′s.

Link to Courier Post Article: http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20111228/NEWS01/312280019/Gun-swap-food-start-today

“Camden Program Collects 57 Guns”: http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20111229/NEWS01/312290030/Camden-program-collects-57-guns

 

The first week of December in Camden saw  alot of violence and alot of community protest against it. People are fed up. The Police do a good job with the short numbers they have, but its not enough because well, they need more numbers. Here’s a short video of a rally at the foot of city hall last  week-

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J-_tv_DBkM

Editorial on more cops needed: http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20111204/OPINION03/312040005/Wake-up-Camden-needs-cops-now

Bon Jovi’s Soul Foundation has donated to several nonprofits in Camden- to Hopeworks, St Joe’s Carpenters Society, Heart of Camden, and Joseph’s House where I work! He donates mostly to housing projects and programs that fight homelessness. The Soul Foundation’s donation to Joseph’s House last year enabled us to stay open for the month of April. Here’s a short article about Heart of Camden honoring him at their banquet recently: http://articles.philly.com/2011-12-01/news/30463345_1_housing-projects-jon-bon-jovi-rain-garden

Plus- I got to meet him when he visited the Hopeworks Crib last fall, and he’s cool and surprisingly down to earth. Except when he wore his sunglasses inside. On a cloudy day.