Los Brothers Barber Shop is just like ordinary barber shops…sort of.

The shop lies on the corner of Fifth and Hunting Park, rectangular in shape, like a box.  It holds seven chairs, split on two adjacent walls, a barber manning each one. Clad in blue smocks, the barbers check their work in the mirrors that …

In Hunting Park, a neighborhood known for drugs, police officers Matt Dydak and John Teetz claim the majority of the people involved in these criminal activities actually come from outside of the neighborhood.

“It’s a shame for the people that live here. A lot of the people that come down here are drug addicts from nice neighborhoods. They’ll buy their drugs here, shoot up here, throw their needle on the ground and leave. They do not care about this neighborhood, they do not live here,” said Dydak, 26, who has partnered with Teetz for most of their three …

Greg Bucceroni sat down in his office chair and insisted he describe where his life’s path has led him. In the 1970s, Bucceroni was a juvenile delinquent in the Brooklyn and Manhattan. “I was very violent as a kid, and some of the people I associated with were the real life gangsters from the movie ‘GoodFellas,’” he said. As a runaway youth, he would steal, would be the eyes and ears of prostitution rings and would loot various stores across southern New Jersey, New York City and Philadelphia. He told the story no hesitation and …

Arty Elgart claims that if you ask the people who live near his automotive business what he sells they would have no clue. But Elgart is no stranger to the residents who live around 10th and Butler Streets in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia.

His familiar face is one the community knows is trustworthy and caring. When he drives through the streets, he is always greeted by people who are outside of their houses.  They know him as “Mr. Arty,” and they consider him a friend. Elgart’s automotive wholesale distribution warehouse, Robert Elgart & Sons, has been in …

Officer Raul Ortiz looked like a man completely comfortable in his profession and at ease with his surroundings. As we began our drive through one of the busiest districts in the city, one of the few that has their own radio band, it was only a short amount of time before my feeling of excitement was stomped upon by one of slight fear. “I’m going to take you to the hot areas,” Ortiz said with a smirk.
Truancy and dropping out plague the schools across Philadelphia and those in Hunting Park are no exception. Safety, …

“Be persistent,” is the motto that 24-year-old Marquita Irby lives by. She offers this motto to anyone who asks her for advice regarding obtaining affordable housing. Irby’s path to owning her own home was long and stressful. But now it seems it was well worth her effort. “It took me four years to get this house. I called the Office of Housing and Community Development like 50-million times, I would walk to the building every week, I even went to every seminar. Now my family can be happy,” said Irby, fighting to hold back the tears that started …

Deep in the heart of Hunting Park is new hope. Reporters Cassandra Kramer and Jenna Brizek give you an inside look at Nueva Esperanza and the Open Borders Project. 
Follow the links below to learn more.
Nueva Esperanza: A Tie That Binds a Community
Proyecto Sin Fronteras: The Open Borders Project

Nueva Esperanza isn’t the only organization in Hunting Park that offers services to the Latino community. Proyecto Sin Fronteras operates out of two, humble row homes on the 3500 block of North Sixth Street. 

The center runs many different types of programs, such as English classes, computer technology courses and an after-school youth program.  Select the video below to get an inside look at the differences people are making in one English class at Proyecto Sin Fronteras.

 

la versión española

Por Jenna Brizek

Nueva Esperanza no es la única organización de Hunting Park que ofrece los servicios a la …

“Nueva Esperanza,” directly translated, means “New Hope” in Spanish. For 20 years, Nueva Esperanza has been giving hope to the Hunting Park community in North Philadelphia. 

Founded in 1987, The Hispanic Clergy of Philadelphia started this empowerment center, wanting to address serious issues, such as poverty and crime, within the Latino community.   As the needs of the neighborhood grew, Nueva Esperanza matched those needs with new services and structures.

Christina Morales has worked for Nueva Esperanza for four years. 

…

On the second-floor of North Philadelphia’s, Deliverance Evangelistic Church, class is set to begin. The Center for Urban Theological Studies (CUTS), leases nine classrooms from the massive church, but typically only uses four. It’s just before 5:30, on this Thursday evening in early April, as men and women exit the floor’s lone elevator and retreat into their respective classes. Some come directly from work donning slacks and dress shirts, while others are casually dressed in blue jeans and hooded sweaters. Most are African-Americans in their 40s and 50s, and from Philadelphia. The classes about to start have no more …