Suffolk Lenadoon Interface Group

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Lisa's AMBIT Blog: Philly by Numbers

11th March 2010

Fifty

There is a 50% school dropout rate in Philadelphia. Only about 20% of young people go to college. I know this because every single project I have visited in the last two days has told me. To say there is a sense of purpose about fixing this problem would be an understatement. Philly is a city that took a hard look at what was going wrong, focused in on one of the root causes - young people not being allowed to fulfil their potential, and set about doing something about it.

Now it would be wrong to believe that fixing education is the way to fix all of the problems that a city like Philly or a place like Northern Ireland might face - but it's a good enough place to start. As is often the case, voluntary and community organisations have known about this problem for years. And then they got a mayor who listened to them, believed what they were saying and made school dropout and college qualifications two of his key priorities. The brilliantly named Mayor Nutter, knew he had no control over the policy or the delivery organisations that would need to work together to reach his goals of reducing drop outs by 50% and doubling the number of people who go to college during his term. So he used his office to raise the level of debate and bring all of the key players together. We visited the Philadelphia Youth Network, the organisation charged with making sure all of those players are working towards common agreed goals. Those of you who know me will know that I am interested in process as much as policy and I could have spent a whole day at PYN just getting under the skin of how they do what they do. The idea isn't new to us, we have more partnerships that you can shake a stick at, but this partnership works. I struck me that there are two main reasons for this. One is the politics. Everyone involved is working towards clear high level political targets. This work comes directly from the Mayor's office and everyone knows it.

I love that. I love it that they are simple, you-have-to start-somewhere type targets as opposed to trying to be all things to all people. That decision means that other groups with other equally important issues might be missing out in this administration and I am sure the Mayor gets flack for that. But that's real politics. All of the groups we met so far are working on programmes that aim to impact on the dropout rate and help young people get to college. None of the methods they are using will come as any great surprise to community based education providers in Northern Ireland but the support and importance attached to their work here is a world away from what we are used to.

The second success factor is the fact that proper resources have been given to the partnership charged with making all this work. There is an entire department in PYN set up to make sure the partnership and its subgroups have everything they need to do their work.

Three thousand (approx)

If the debate about school dropout is prolific in Philly then the same can be said about its murals. According to the government supported Mural Arts Programme there are around 3,000 of them in the city. They aren't sure of the exact number because back when the project began they got on with the painting and didn't think to keep a record of where they painted.

The project grew from one artists idea to try and help combat the graffiti problem in the city in the late eighties. Jane Golden now presides over a programme which involves thousands of residents per year in making art on the walls of parking lots, schools, government buildings, business premises and on community owned land. I don't profess to know much about art but I know what I like and these pieces of public art are of a really high standard and the people who create them are justifiably very proud of them.

During our tour of the murals it transpired that Jeffery Donaldson also visit the project when he was at OFMdFM and we are wondering if it was the inspiration behind Reimaging Communities. Since our visit to the Mural Arts Programme I've been straining my neck out the bus window to catch glimpses of murals in all of the nooks and crannies of the city. I happen to have a wall in Belfast that could do with sprucing up - I wonder if Jane and her crew would be up for pimping my gable?