Musical actions create change in community

The Resolve Tour, brought to Tree House Books by Temple’s Invisible Children, brings awareness.

Temple’s Invisible Children organization has teamed up with Resolve, a nonprofit advocacy group whose mission is to stop the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda.

Resolve is hitting the road for the Resolve Tour, featuring former Temple artist and activist Koji, on a 10-week tour visiting more than 30 states to spread awareness. Today, the Resolve Tour will visit Tree House Books, located at 1430 W. Susquehanna Ave. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the event starts at 7 p.m. Admission is $5 for Temple students and $7 for non-students.

The Resolve Tour will present music, film and activism in a way that’s different from other activist meetings.

“Brian, a representative from Resolve, shows a video clip and discusses his personal story about his passion for advocating against the LRA,” said Whitney DiTaranto, the vice president of Temple Invisible Children. “Then, Koji and some other local artists sing, followed by the majority of people’s favorite part – discussion.”

This is not only an opportunity for people to come out and learn more about what Resolve does and the pressing issues in Africa, but the event also focuses on issues affecting the community.

The motto for the Resolve Tour is to “connect, collaborate [and] create change.”

The discussion part of the event is a time for people to speak out on the issues affecting one’s community.

“Community is the main theme here,” Koji said. “We as individuals have value, and bringing people together to get loud on an issue brings about answers.”

This event is a time for people to connect with one another, presents opportunities to collaborate on future projects and ultimately make change.

When touring Arkansas, Koji mentioned how two individuals, who were working on separate homelessness projects, met at the event during the discussion part and now have embarked on a bigger project together.

“This is what the Resolve Tour provides – a place where people are meeting, connecting and starting new projects,” he said.” It’s a place for everyone – artist, activist or anyone. ”

As a Temple alumnus, Koji said he is excited to be back in Philly and to perform. He relates to his audience by singing about relevant issues that his generation faces and discusses how the issues Resolve advocates for relate to the underlying message in his music – the value of human life.

“Everyone can relate to this issue,” Koji said. “I talk about the type of person one is or wants to be and what’s that person’s mark in the world.”

Koji said he gives all the credit to his family for showing him how to have empathy and compassion for the world, which ultimately gives him the courage to go out and spread awareness.

Alise Hammond can be reached at alise.hammond@temple.edu.

Student shines light on N. Philly

Danielle Mancinelli has become a star volunteer at Tree House Books.

In 2005, Tree House Books, a nonprofit organization located at 1430 Susquehanna Ave., got its start as small, one-room center crammed with used books, a round table in the center and two or three kids wandering in at 3 p.m. a few days a week for help with their homework.   Since that time, though, the space in Temple’s own neighborhood has nearly doubled its size with about 18 additional children, summer programs, a magazine workshop, a monthly international night and even an organization at Temple dedicated to it.

Tree House Books, with all its funding coming from donations and grants, has developed quite a résumé in the last five years, leaving many to wonder how it all happened for the small nonprofit.

The explanation is neither simple nor short, but it boils down to the work of a few dedicated, longtime volunteers. Though Tree House’s volunteers throughout the years have come from all over, few kept coming back.

Danielle Mancinelli – who, like many visitors to Tree House, was led there by Temple – stayed and has become one of the organization’s most valued staff members.

Mancinelli, a senior English and political science major, started volunteering in the after-school homework help program her freshman year. The following year, she earned the Diamond Research Scholar award though Temple’s Honors department to use for a summer program at Tree House Books. The program came to fruition in the summer of 2009.

“That whole idea for the summer program was to do community education, to really engage the the kids in the neighborhood,” Mancinelli said. “A lot of times, I think there’s a certain stigma attached to being from North Philly, so we just wanted to really celebrate where they’re from and be like, ‘Look, there’s all these beautiful places here.’”

Mancinelli also became involved with other aspects of the development of Tree House in her time there, such as the Junior Staff Member program, which is for the leadership of local youth, ages 11 to 15. She is now the JSM coordinator, working at the head of the students who participate in the program.

“They’re at this age where they’re a little too old to be in tutoring time, but they’re not old enough to do upward bound or high school stuff,” Mancinelli said. “For me, I really see [the program] as a space for them to have open dialogue about things that are going on, but it’s also a leadership training program.

The way I explain anything that we do at Tree House, especially with the JSMs, is ‘creative experiment,’” she added.

Tree House Books’ JSMs, Mancinelli said, mentor younger children but also work on their own separate activities. This semester, JSMs are learning about the World War II era through reading related books, completing writing activities and participating in group discussions.

“What’s really great is there’s no worksheet or vocabulary to go along with it,” Mancinelli said. “They’re just sitting around a table having discussions and connecting [what they learn] to things in their lives critically and analytically, but without having the constraints of the classroom.”

Mancinelli also organizes field trips and dinners for the JSMs as rewards for their time and for exemplary efforts they’ve provided throughout the semester. In the past, they have visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Eastern State Penitentiary and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

During the 2009 summer camp, Mancinelli helped organize an interview with Democratic committeeman Sharif Street, North Philadelphia native and son of former mayor John Street, so local children could meet and ask him questions. The group also visited the Wagner Institute, located on West Montgomery Avenue, as well as murals in the community.

This semester, Mancinelli co-founded a student organization, Young Friends of Tree House Books, to help organizations focused on community work to get involved with Tree House.

Mancinelli said she continues to seek involvement with Tree House Books because of her passion for what the organization does.

“Kids are coming in there who, the first time they came in, wouldn’t even sit down and do their homework, and four months down the line, they’re sitting at an open mic, reading a poem they wrote,” Mancinelli said. “It’s totally transforming the way they see themselves, which is what’s most important to me, allowing kids to see the potential they have and giving them the space to really explore it.”

Carlene Majorino cans be reached at c.majorino@temple.edu.

Make a resolution to volunteer at Tree House Books this year

A short walk from Main Campus, Tree House Books presents students with new opportunities.

For some students, venturing off Main Campus can be unnerving, but the short trip to Tree House Books, at 1430 W. Susquehanna Ave., has been well worth it for some student-volunteers. Located between Broad and 15th streets, this local gem has been drawing in curious Temple students for the last few years with its mission to “grow and sustain a community of readers, writers and thinkers in North Central Philadelphia.”

And Tree House Books is more than a bookstore. It’s a place for local children of all ages to go to learn, evidenced through a number of Tree House’s programs – the most popular being Tutoring Time, which runs every Tuesday through Friday, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. During Tutoring Time, kids work on their homework, play games, eat healthy snacks and, of course, read.

Volunteers, made up mostly of Temple students, volunteer their time to the bookstore and the kids.
“As the only two paid staff members, Mike [Reid] and I rely on volunteers to make it from day to day,” said Executive Director Darcy Sebright.

Sebright handles behind-the-scenes work, like grant writing. Reid is the program coordinator, so he sets up Tutoring Time, Magazine Workshop, International Nights and more. Both staff members began years ago as volunteers: Sebright started in 2006, and Reid joined in 2008. But they aren’t the only ones who keep coming back.

“The moment I [first] entered Tree House Books, something just seemed to click,” said Danielle Mancinelli, a senior English and political science major who has been volunteering at Tree House since she was a freshman.

Mancinelli became an intern and a vital part of the nonprofit’s structure. She has helped implement a number of successful programs, such as the Tree Shade Summer Program, in which Mancinelli, Sebright and Reid, along with volunteers Hali Baumstein, Liz Earnshaw and Lauren Macaluso, guided some neighborhood kids through art projects and writing exercises and took them on a number of field trips. Campers were able to meet the son of former mayor John Street, Shareef Street, and interviewed him about growing up in North Central Philadelphia. With the help of the staff and volunteers, the students created a podcast, which is available for listening at the Tree House Web site.

“I had never spent much time in North Philly, and I felt like I learned so much about the neighborhood and the kids living there,” said Baumstein, a junior creative writing major at Hamilton University.

“I also enjoyed helping the kids do things they wouldn’t normally get to do, like interview people, go on field trips and create everything from podcasts to elaborate art projects. I saw a lot of kids really come out of their shells and try new things which was so cool, especially when they happened to find something they were really good at,” said Baumstein, who lives in the suburbs and commutes every day to volunteer at Tree House.

So why do volunteers keep coming back to Tree House? Recent Temple grad sStar Bocasan, who now serves on the Board of Directors for Tree House, said she loves making a difference through her involvement with Tree House and seeing progress in the children as they learn.

“What I like most about volunteering at Tree House is that I get to work in an environment where my ideas matter,” Bocasan said. “It’s a place where you can come up with creative ideas and have the opportunity to develop them into something that can benefit the community.”

Rebecca Bleznak can be reached at rebecca.bleznak@temple.edu.

Tree House Books turns a new page

Not too far from Temple lies a small bookstore that makes a large impact within the North Philadelphia community. In an effort that began five years ago to revitalize a once-booming Susquehanna Avenue, the idea for a used bookstore was created, and Tree House Books was born.

While it is known to sell African-American and children’s books, Tree House also produces a biannual community magazine titled The Ave.

“The magazine is one of our core programs,” said Darcy Sebright, the executive director of Tree House Books. “For about a year and a half, we’ve met every Wednesday evening.”

Every week, community members of all ages come together to attend workshops where they write their contributions to The Ave. The magazine is named The Ave because of the bookstore’s location on Susquehanna Avenue. It is distributed free of charge throughout the neighborhood.

“Some kids come here for tutoring, and they choose to come back [for the magazine workshop],” Sebright said. “It’s so counter-cultural to what other kids are doing. It surprises me every time.”

Darren Brown, 13, has been working with Tree House for several years.

He said the magazine is an important aspect of the community.

“You can see the hidden talents of the neighborhood kids, and if the people are feeling something, they can express it in art,” Brown said.

Tree House Books is a nonprofit organization that offers services including tutoring, junior staff member and summer programs.

“We gave away as many books as we sold last year,” Sebright said. “The things we do here, other bookstores aren’t doing.”

The mission of Tree House Books is “to grow and sustain a community of readers, writers and thinkers in North Central Philadelphia.”

Youth who attend Tree House Books do a lot of “thinking” while engaging in chess, music, gardening and most recently, theater art.

The bookstore’s playhouse area is used to show movies and present open mic performances. Temple theater students have practiced in the playhouse for their productions.

Stephanie Cryor, a sophomore theater major, volunteers twice a week at the bookstore, helping youth with homework and playing theater games with them.

“They have been excited to participate,” Cryor said. “Tree House has a positive energy to it, which I think the community needs.”

Cryor appreciates Tree House’s desire to promote creativity in the community. She plans to help some of the junior staff members create their own works to perform at Tree House Books.

Core volunteer staff member Star Bocasan said Tree House is unique because of all the different people who work and attend the bookstore.

“It’s an interesting dynamic,” Bocasan said. “I think the bookstore is helpful for the kids and for us because it helps us to know the community we are in.”

In addition to adult volunteers, there are at least seven junior staff members who also lend their hands to the efforts of Tree House after school and on the weekends.

On Saturdays, the bookstore can see as many as 30 locals in attendance at workshops.

Sebright describes the junior staff members as voices for peers and younger kids.

Nyseem Smith, 14, is a local junior staff member who assists in tutoring children, maintaining the store and contributing to The Ave. However, Smith claims that his favorite aspect of working at the bookstore is taking on the role of a mentor.

“When someone is having a bad day, I talk to them,” he said. “That’s my favorite thing to do.”

To become a junior staff member, students must successfully complete an application and interview process. Junior staff members help out during the week.

Dr. Eli Goldblatt, an English professor at Temple, also works with Tree House Books through New City Writing: Institute for the Study of Literature, Literacy and Culture, a program that develops connections between the Temple writing program and neighborhood centers and projects.

Sebright and Goldblatt would like for Tree House Books to be able to provide more programs for adults that are relevant to the concerns of the community.

Last year, in the aftermath Sgt. Patrick McDonald’s murder at 17th and Colorado streets, just a few blocks away from Tree House Books, the store held a program that brought residents from the community together to discuss the violence in the area.

“People needed a place to come and talk about these things,” Goldblatt said. “If we could help develop the voice of the community addressing violence, I think we would have done something.”

Program Coordinator Michael Reid said by working with the materials that they have and creating something good, the bookstore is a metaphor for life.

“Considering the circumstances that a lot of students in this community come from,” Reid said, “they are more equipped to handle life problems because [of their experiences at Tree House Books].”

Keisha Frazier can be reached at keisha.frazier@temple.edu.