PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia Department of Human Services is looking to add more resource centers where kids can go to be safe at night.
The department is currently accepting proposals for Community Evening Resource Centers, or CERC, from organizations interested in hosting and running them in the Central and Northwest police divisions.
City officials are looking to build on the two such centers that have been open since December.
“We’re really looking for organizations who have an existing footprint in those communities, who can partner with credible messengers in those areas — nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations,” said City Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson, who has been an advocate for the centers.
The proposals are due by May 9. The organizations chosen for the contracts would receive $650,000 in funding from DHS to run the CERC.
One is currently located at the Dixon House in South Philadelphia. The other is at the Community of Compassion CDC in Southwest Philadelphia.
Gilmore Richardson said they have combined to serve 150 young people so far. They are open from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., and kids can get a ride home when their activities for the night wrap up.
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Terrilynn Donnell, executive director of the Community of Compassion CDC, said they try to offer programs that get and hold kids’ attention.
“We do drone pilot training. We also have financial literacy [program] which we call Wealthy Geniuses. We’re putting together a photography class and a multi-media class for kids to learn filming,” Donnell said.
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Mentoring is also available. That is where Tyrone Sims steps in.
“My duty now is to return back some of the things that, as a young man, I destroyed when I was young, running wild and didn’t know what to do,” Sims said.
“To have someone like Tyrone is priceless,” Donnell added. “He really can relate to the youth. He relates to them so well, talks their language — he’s like a father figure to them.”
Sims, who goes by the nickname “Cakes” at the center, said a lot of what he does is making sure the kids know that he hears what they’re saying.
“I read between the lines and pick up what they’re going through just by listening to them, telling me what they’re facing today,” he said. “Right now, the topic is kids coming out afraid because there’s so much violence with the guns and the shootings spread out throughout the city.”
CERC applications can be found here.
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