Ron's House Demo

Back in 2007 when Joshua first started working in Camden, New Jersey for CCOP, he initiated a "quick win" project with Father Jud and members of the St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church (where Alma was baptized) and School to take down a dilapidated and abandoned house that was being used for all sorts of crimes (remember the drug bags?) and was located just feet from the school.

Well, finally -- because this is how slow progress can be in a city like Camden -- the church and community had a major win this week with the demolition of the house!!!!  How exciting!

Just take a look at how bad the house was when Joshua started working on this project. Amazing!

Congratulations to Father Jud, the St Anthony Local Organizing Committee, Kate Goodman and the rest of the CCOP staff!!!

Update: The Move to the Lehigh Valley

Lots of people have been asking us how the move to the Lehigh Valley is going. Well, from my perspective, it is at a stand-still.  Here is the current state of things:

• We found and are under contract with a great house in Bethlehem.  The sale is contingent upon the sale of our own house.
• We have someone who has looked at our house three times and is interested in putting down an offer (or so says our agent) but no word yet.
• Joshua's last day of work at CCOP is this Saturday -- a BBQ to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the organization.
• Joshua's first day of work at CUNA is next Wednesday.
• We are not looking forward to his daily commute up to Allentown and how that will mean that he won't see Alma most days.  I think that Alma and I may go up there once a week so that we can have some time together.  Plus, I hear that Alma's skills as a receptionist are top-notch.
• We are appreciating South Philly in a new way.  Even the parts that we don't like seem charming these days, mostly because we know that we won't have to deal with them any more.  For example, yesterday at the park we saw a fight between two women.  Mid-fight, one lady pulled the other lady's tube top down and the local boys started chanting "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!"  We will miss this wacko place that we have called home. 
• We are excited to start a new adventure!  I'm especially excited to get to all the projects I've been putting off since we are showing this house (quilts! toys for Alma! dress-making!) and digging into a new house (a library! a craft room! painting walls! a yard for plants!).

We are hoping to have a grand closing day where we sell our house and purchase the new one.  Hopefully this will happen soon -- September 30th?  Then Joshua will only have to commute for one month and we have a vacation mid-month to break up the pressure.

Article in Inquirer about CCOP's Efforts

Mayor Redd: Tear Down These Walls
By Kevin Riordan
Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist

Best part of the article:
Camden mayors are traditionally wary of CCOP, particularly because of its independence and media savvy. That has been the pattern for more than 20 years. It's time for Redd to break that mold.

CCOP Sad News

It is with a heavy heart that I write this. Yesterday afternoon Br. Jerry Hudson, O.F.M, Franciscan Brother at St. Anthony of Padua in Cramer Hill went home to God.

The entire St. Anthony community, Br. Jerry’s family, and friends, are asking all of you to keep them in your prayers during this most challenging of times.

For those of you who had the blessing to know or work with Br. Jerry, you knew how his tough exterior and sarcastic nature where just a shell that housed one of the most loving and wonderful hearts that you could ever get to know. And yes, he would hit me for saying this.

Brother Jerry’s smile glowed…that is if you could get him to smile, but on those “rare” occasions you would see his entire face light up, revealing that big ol' heart inside. The best example of this is when Laura and I introduced him to Alma. When told Alma was in the room, he stopped in the middle of his sentence, turned away from us and scurried over to Alma. At this point his face was just one big smile, his eyes lit up, and he and Alma just cooed together for several minutes.

Over the past 3 years I had the opportunity to work closely with Br. Jerry and had seen that he lived and breathed his ministry and serving God’s people. He was a man of few words but his words spoke truth, justice, and love. He loved Camden and for the years he was here he worked hard to make it a brighter and happier place.

CCOP, our family and all of Camden will miss him.

--Joshua

(photo: Joshua and Brother Jerry clearing out growth in the backyard of "Ron's House" in September 2007)

Camden's Ugliest House Lives On and On

By Matt Katz
The Philadelphia Inquirer

Camden's ugliest abandoned house is still there, as ugly as ever.

Four months after a high-profile protest and promises by politicians to have it razed, the building on North 27th Street - winner of an "ugliest house" contest by a community group - is a reminder of the difficulty of progress in the nation's poorest city.

"Thinking about Camden's capacity to govern itself, this is a perfect example of how the capacity is still not there," concluded Brother Jerry Hudson of Camden Churches Organized for People, which organized the competition.

(For the full article, please visit the Philadelphia Inquirer.)

CCOP in The Economist

Camden's crisis

Ungovernable?
Nov 26th 2009 | CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY
From The Economist print edition

The state may have failed the city it took over

ROSA RAMIREZ is an active member of Camden Churches Organised for People (CCOP), a large and powerful civic group in Camden, New Jersey. She complains that rubbish is not collected. She worries about drug dealers hanging out on street corners and in the city’s many abandoned buildings. But when her daughter, who lives in the suburbs, begs her to leave, Ms Ramirez replies, “How can I leave? Camden needs me.” It does. Not enough people care about this city of 79,000 people that lies in the shadow of Philadelphia.

Hopes rose seven years ago, when the state took over the post-industrial city. The inept municipal government was struggling to provide even the most basic service. Poor management and lack of resources meant possibly waiting hours for police to respond to calls. Corruption was rampant: three former mayors ended up in jail. Camden was given $175m in bonds and loans and in return the state was given municipal authority over the city. The governor appointed a chief operating officer who could veto decisions made by the mayor and the city council. The state also took over the abysmal school district and, in 2005, the police department. Much of the money went to big urban development projects. The waterfront, with its fantastic views of the Philadelphia skyline, was given particular attention. Hospitals and universities in the area received money to expand and more than $1 billion was leveraged in private investments.

But the city’s districts, many blighted with abandoned buildings, did not get much cash. In the Cramer Hill district Brother Jerry Hudson of the St Anthony of Padua church talks about the run-down place next door to the parish school. Although the city had boarded it up, vandals routinely broke in. It became a den for drugs and prostitution. Though many such buildings have been demolished, Brother Jerry reckons there are just as many now as there were in 2002.

Camden had the highest crime rate in the country in 2008, according to CQ Press, with 2,333 violent crimes for every 100,000 people. The national average is 455. Camden spends $17,000 per child on education, yet only two thirds complete school. Two out of five people live below the poverty line. The Philadelphia Inquirer recently summed up a series on Camden by saying that “residents are just as poor today and just as likely to be murdered. They are just as unemployed…And the city is twice as reliant on state taxpayers as before.”

Little wonder then, that Chris Christie, the governor-elect of New Jersey, has called the state takeover a “failed experiment”. He hopes to return control to the city, perhaps even before the takeover expires in 2012. But not everyone feels the city is ready. One former chief operating officer predicted it would stay under state control until 2030. As there is no tax base to support city services, Camden would still have to depend on the state for funding. But New Jersey is struggling to balance its own books, and it is not alone: less state support can be expected all over the country, just when cities most need help. The National League of Cities has found that 88% of city finance officers are less able to meet fiscal needs this year.

But there is some good news. Crime is down 13% this year so far. Murders have fallen by 38%, while shootings are down 18%. Big construction projects at Rutgers University and Cooper University Hospital are under way. Tom Corcoran, the former head of the Cooper Ferry Development Association, thinks that if the city can lower crime and improve schools, it can turn around. He thinks the waterfront is key: the city has 15 miles of it, though only 10% is accessible to the public.

Ms Ramirez is typical. She thinks the state is doing a bad job, but she also worries that the city will fall apart without it. “It’s in Christie’s hands,” she says. “If he can figure it out, he would be a hero.”

Christie blasts city schools

By JIM WALSH • Courier-Post Staff • October 13, 2009

CAMDEN — Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie on Monday night blasted the city's school system as "obscene" and said its failed classrooms are to blame for Camden's dangerous streets.

In a speech here, Christie aimed much of his criticism at his Democratic opponent, saying the administration of Gov. Jon S. Corzine has taken "deep bows" for "half measures" in the impoverished city.

But Christie also targeted teachers unions for city school failures, saying their leaders "are feeling fat and they don't want change."

Christie said he'd improve education opportunities for city youth by offering more charter schools, introducing vouchers that would cover tuition payments at private schools and through unspecified "innovations."

"The failing schools must change or they must go extinct because we can't continue to fail your children," he said a meeting sponsored by the nonpartisan Camden Churches Organized for People. About 100 people turned out for the session at Sword of the Spirit Church.

(For the complete article, please see the Courier Post.)

U.S. block grant to take down Camden's most dilapidated

By Matthew Spolar, Inquirer Staff Writer

In August, an abandoned, crumbling home at 923 N. 27th St. was named the ugliest house in Camden's Cramer Hill neighborhood.

Now, thanks to a federal grant, its days are numbered.

The building took the crown in a contest that Camden Churches Organized for People conducted to bring urgency and publicity to the problem of abandoned houses. It was chosen from among 13 candidates by parishioners at participating churches.

The organization demanded it be torn down within 48 hours. At the time, Pat Keating, Camden's public works director, said a recent major demolition had left him with too little money to make that happen.

Late last month, however, $500,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funding was approved for demolitions in the city.

"That's the money I've been waiting for," Keating said.

He will use it to demolish 33 houses on the city's "imminent hazard" list: 12 throughout Cramer Hill and East and North Camden, 12 in South Camden, and 9 downtown.

On the list is 923 N. 27th St. and its decrepit next-door neighbor at 925.

"They're going to be in that first batch," Keating said.

The list is set for bidding by demolition contractors. The contracts would then require City Council approval.

"If that comes down, it'll be a big relief for all of us," said the Father William "Jud" Weiksnar, the pastor at St. Anthony of Padua Church, who spearheaded the contest won by 923.

But the contest should not end efforts to rid Camden of abandoned properties, he said.

"The reason for the ugly-house contest was to draw attention to a situation most people [in Camden] had become used to - living with dangerous or abandoned houses right next door," he said.

...

Keating said the building at 923 N. 27th St. would likely have been on the list of 33 even without the attention brought to it by the contest, but he still applauded the efforts of Camden Churches Organized for People.

"God bless them. I love that stuff," he said. "That's how you keep people engaged. You need these folks to do what they do."

(For the full article about this CCOP victory, please visit the Philadelphia Inquirer.)

NOTICE: Community Organizer Needed

Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP) is seeking a highly talented and motivated Community Organizer with a commitment to developing grassroots leaders and a passion for social justice. Community Organizers are responsible for providing training to low-and moderate-income congregation and neighborhood leaders to effectively organize to improve conditions in their neighborhoods, schools, and communities. CCOP has an excellent work environment – exciting, fast-paced, friendly, flexible, faithful, and challenging.

For more information, please visit Idealist.org

CCOP Mayoral Forum

Last night's mayoral forum went well. Even though a big storm blew through the area right before the event, at least 200 people showed up to hear the four mayoral candidates answer questions from the CCOP community.

Above is a photo of Rev. Anderson, the evenings moderator; below are the time keepers who ensured that candidate answers were not too long.

Camden candidates outline mayoral goals -- Courier Post article

Camden mayor candidates urge freedom from state rule -- Philadelphia Inquirer article

Corzine hears pleas to boost aid for Camden

September 16, 2009    Philadelphia Inquirer    by Matt Katz

Gov. Corzine sat with his hands clasped last night as a Camden minister asked hundreds of city residents to stand if their homes or churches were next to abandoned buildings.

Most of the crowd at St. Joseph's Pro Cathedral on Federal Street rose to their feet.

Then the Rev. Willie Anderson asked whether anyone had heard gunshots at night, and nearly everyone else stood up.

By the time Anderson had finished listing his concerns - broken infrastructure, dirty streets, inattentive officials, and poor education - all the residents were standing, clapping, or raising their hands to the ceiling.

The city's largest civic organization, Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP), last night made its third major public plea in a decade to try to exact more state assistance for Camden from a governor seven weeks from a tough reelection battle.

(For the full article, check out the Philadelphia Inquirer)

Community Garden Update

In May of this year, we wrote on this blog about the community garden which was being planted in the Camden lot across from St. Anthony of Padua Church and School that used to be an abandoned police substation. Well, we thought we should update you on that project with some photos.

The lot went from this:
To this:
To this beautiful garden that is feeding the community:

Police to address fears

By Deborah Hirsch • Courier-Post Staff • August 31, 2009

CAMDEN — Seeking to improve the relationship between law enforcement and the immigrant community, Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson and Camden Churches Organized for People will meet tonight to talk about crime prevention and victims' rights.

City and Latino community leaders say that illegal immigrants often do not report criminal activity or unfit housing conditions for fear that they will be reported to immigration enforcement officials. As a result, criminals and landlords have learned to take advantage of them.

(For the complete article, please see the Courier Post.)

'Ugliest house' still stands tall

Courier Post by Deborah Hirsch

CAMDEN — Cramer Hill resident Zoraida Gonzalez-Torres can't remember the last time someone lived in the burned-out rowhouse at 923 N. 27th St., just a few blocks from her home.

She guessed the two-story building has been vacant for at least 12 years. Last October, the city designated it an imminent hazard that should be demolished within 48 hours.

However, what's left of the home still stands today -- one of thousands of abandoned shells marring the city.

To Cramer Hill residents, this particular house is the worst of the worst eyesores in their neighborhood.

Thursday, Gonzalez-Torres and about 50 other residents crowned it the winner of an "Ugly Home" contest at a tongue-in-cheek ceremony they hope will spur real action. They shook tambourines, banged hand drums and waved cardboard cut-outs of bulldozers as community leaders covered part of the red siding with a banner proclaiming "Cramer Hill's Ugliest House of 2009."

"This could collapse any minute and affect anybody walking down the sidewalk," Gonzalez-Torres said. "This is not normal in any other community. Why is it normal in Camden? We need to make sure that something gets done."

Leaders from St. Anthony of Padua Parish and Camden Churches Organized for People started the ugly home contest last month to call attention to the problem. They photographed 13 of the neighborhood's nearly 200 abandoned buildings and distributed ballots to local churches and the Cramer Hill Community Development Corporation.

More than 300 votes were cast, about 30 percent of which put 923 N. 27th St. at the top of the list, said Father Jud Weiksnar of St. Anthony.

(For the complete article, please see the Courier Post.)

Ugliest House in Camden: The Winner is Revealed!

Today Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP), along with St. Anthony of Padua Church, celebrated the unveiling of the Ugliest House in Camden. A group of 65+ community members marched from the church to the house shown below, which has been vacant, abandoned and burned-out for at least twelve years. Individuals carried signs with bulldozers to show their feelings about what the city should do to the winner. Unfortunately, Camden is full of houses just like this one.After the big reveal of the competition's winner, the members of the community demolished this tasty cake!

Updated CCOP Website

LOOK AT THIS AWESOME WEBSITE!!! Really, go look at how snazzy that website is.

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And, while we are at it, a public television news report which includes CCOP: State control of Camden to expire in 2012

Ugliest-home contest focuses on city eyesores

By Deborah Hirsch • Courier-Post Staff • July 29, 2009

CAMDEN — Call it an anti-beauty contest.

St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Cramer Hill is asking residents to vote for the neighborhood's ugliest home.

Earlier this month, Father Jud Weiksnar and staff from Camden Churches Organized for People photographed 13 of the most notorious eyesores in the neighborhood, all believed to be abandoned. They pasted the full-page prints on the doorway to the church with signs asking parishioners to cast their vote inside. Ballots were also distributed to other churches and the Cramer Hill Community Development Corp.

"It was just a tongue-in-cheek thing to try and get the city to start doing something with these abandoned homes," said Brother Jerry Hudson, of St. Anthony's.

That's been a perennial issue for the impoverished city. Stephen Singer, executive director of CAMConnect, estimated that the city has between 4,000 and 8,000 abandoned homes.

(For the complete article, please see the Courier Post.)

Ugly-house contest aims to draw attention to Camden's vacant-property problem

By JASON NARK
Philadelphia Daily News

It was built by one of South Jersey's founding families and once served as a station on the Underground Railroad. Nowadays the large, brick colonial at 22nd Street and Wayne Avenue in Camden's Cramer Hill section is just plain ugly, a local church group says.

But just how ugly is the vacant, 210-year-old Samuel Cooper house, compared to the thousands of other abandoned homes in Camden?

Cooper's house is among 13 of Cramer Hill's most burned, battered and broken-down homes designated by the Camden Churches Organized for People to compete in the first Cramer Hill Ugly Home Contest, which will culminate next month when votes are tallied.

(For the complete article, please see the Philadelphia Daily News.)

Make care available to those in need

By WILLIE ANDERSON and JEFFREY BRENNER • For the Courier-Post • July 5, 2009

This month, as Congress releases preliminary versions of health care reform legislation, families around the country are watching anxiously hoping that reform actually translates into better, more affordable and accessible coverage.

We both are working to improve health care in New Jersey -- one of us as a health care provider and the other as a clergy leader engaged in community organizing with Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP) -- and we both regularly hear from families about their struggles to afford health care. Many have no coverage and others have bare-bones plans that don't cover the care they need and come with high out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, co-pays and steep premiums. High costs are leading families to delay care that they need, especially in these difficult economic times.

CCOP leader and Camden resident Zoraida Gonzalez-Torres is facing this very situation. Both she and her husband are retired and have a five-year limit of benefits. She is dealing with a variety of health conditions that require long-term medication including arthritis, chronic stomach issues and glaucoma. She needs to see the eye doctor every three months, and each visit now costs $200. When her husband recently retired, they were offered a chance to maintain their insurance through COBRA at a cost of $927 per month, which they could not afford.

She recently told us, "We're looking at options right now and there aren't any good ones out there. I'm due for a mammogram, colonoscopy, an upper GI exam and follow-up for the arthritis. Thank God my husband's health is good."

While the momentum on health reform is a cause for much hope, it is crucial to remind policymakers that legislation won't work unless it addresses the number one reason people don't get the care they need: it is too expensive for everyday Americans.

The PICO National Network has been working with New Jersey Consumer Voices for Coverage to identify what families can really afford to pay for health care. They will be releasing a report next week based on family budget data collected from more than 600 families across the state. The sobering headlines are that most New Jersey families have expenses that outstrip their income, and concerns over cost are leading too many families to delay getting the health care they need.

And so it is particularly worrisome that the U.S. Senate, in its effort to reduce the overall cost of legislation, is considering reducing subsidies for low- and moderate-income families. Health reform will not succeed if it fails to make coverage accessible and affordable for everyone. That message must continue to be heard, even as special interest groups pressure Congress to scale back and water down the scope of reform.

Of course, people need both affordable and quality health coverage. Too many insurance plans currently exclude important health care services (prescriptions, mental health coverage, etc.) and have low lifetime benefit limits. Therefore, the legislation should also grant a comprehensive set of benefits that cover the care people need and deserve.

While there will be up-front costs associated with making these changes, the American people know that this investment will pay off over the long-term, with more families able to purchase quality coverage and able to afford to access care to stay healthy and prevent costlier illness in the future.

As New Jersey's congressional delegation weighs in on health care reform legislation this summer, we hope that key architects such as U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone and Rob Andrews will champion the issue of affordability. Otherwise, we'll miss the mark of providing quality care to everyone.

Program to fix up homes in last phase

By Deborah Hirsh • Courier-Post Staff • May 16, 2009

State, local and church officials Friday announced the third and final phase of a program that grants forgivable loans to Camden residents looking to fix up their places.

The Camden Home Improvement Program, also known as CHIP, offers eligible homeowners up to $20,000 in loans to fix their homes. Priority is given to repairs that affect the safety of residents, such as rewiring a faulty electrical system. However, grants can also be awarded for fixing basic systems, preventing deterioration and enhancing the exterior facade. If the homeowners stay in their home for five years, the entire loan is forgiven. They can sell the home before that, but must repay all or part of the loan depending on how many years they stay.

The idea originated from Camden Churches Organized for People and Concerned Black Clergy, who said the state's $175 million economic recovery plan had not done enough to improve the city's neighborhoods.

Since the program first launched in December 2006, more than 130 homes have been rehabilitated and dozens more are in progress.

An additional 83 are expected to be rehabbed in this final phase. Homeowners in Fairview, Morgan Village, Parkside, Lanning Square, Central Waterfront, Cooper Grant and downtown will now be eligible to apply.

State agencies anticipate eventually giving out $8 million to up to 300 homeowners across the city. Of that money, $5 million comes from the Camden Economic Recovery Board, $2.5 million from the Department of Community Affairs and $500,000 from the city of Camden.
Gloucester City contractor Munawar Bashir, 44, said the program has not only helped homeowners but also kept him and other local businesses afloat.

Bashir said it wasn't long after he and his brother started their company in 2005 that projects began to slow down. Sometimes, he said, people would hire them and then they didn't have the money to pay for the job.

"It's cold winter and no jobs, I'm just crazy running around," he remembered. "I lost everything, house and car."

He heard about the CHIP program in 2007 and applied to be one of their designated contractors. If not for those projects, he said, "I would have lost everything."

On Friday, he and two employees put siding on an East Camden home, one of about 35 grant projects they've worked on so far. Bashir estimated that 90 percent of their jobs come from CHIP.

If there were enough money to meet the high demand for the grants, contractors would have even more projects. Aida Figueroa, who manages the project through Cooper's Ferry, said she has a wait list of more than 250 people who applied for the second phase of the program but weren't able to get funding.

Church leaders said they hope to find a way to continue the program because helping residents improve their homes can trigger a domino effect throughout the neighborhood, increasing depressed property values.

"That one that stands out has encouraged some of the other people on the block to fix up their houses, too, at least on the outside," said the Rev. Willie Anderson, of the Gateway neighborhood.

The program "definitely needs to be done again," he said. "We've got a lot of working poor that's doing all they can just to stay in their homes and pay their taxes. They just don't have the money for a new roof or a heating system."