Former admin. gets spotlight for local work

Lucy Kerman --- who helped guide Penn's West Philadelphia initiatives for almost a decade -- -may have left the University President's Office, but her relationship with the West Philadelphia community hasn't ended.

In fact, it will be honored when she receives the Calvary Center 2006 Community Beacon Award Nov. 12.

The award recognizes Kerman's contributions to the community, which began in 1997, when the University faced a crucial time in its community relations, Calvary Center president Rick Kirk said. He added that her ability to relate to and communicate with the community made her a perfect fit.

But community members were not always initially receptive to some of the ideas put forth by Kerman and the University.

In particular, local residents seemed reluctant to embrace the Penn-Alexander School, fearing that it would only serve Penn families, Nancy Streim, associate dean of the Graduate School of Education, said in an e-mail, adding that Kerman was eventually able to get community support.

Though hired to work on a variety of initiatives as special projects coordinator for the Office of the President, Kerman focused her attention on West Philadelphia community programs during her tenure at Penn.

She left the Office of the President last July to become director of strategic initiatives at the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, which is made up of prominent city leaders.

The Calvary Center for Culture and Community, located at 48th Street and Baltimore Avenue, has offered the award for the past five years. Kirk said the center's board chose Kerman to receive their sixth annual Community Beacon Award to applaud her work at Penn, where "she was really a bridge between the community and the University."

Her projects include working with cooperative community greening program UC Green in its early years, organizing the equitable real-estate advocacy group Friends of 40th Street and helping to form a collaboration of local artists and art groups.

Kerman worked closely with the Penn-Alexander School, a charter school affiliated with the University, designing community education programs.

According to Kerman and her colleagues, much of her work ties into her ability to bring people together. For example, she first became involved with the Calvary Center when she hooked up the Curio Theatre Company and Lea Elementary School to create a Shakespeare festival.

"There is almost intrinsic value in working collectively, particularly for an institution like Penn that was so large," she said.

Kerman said that she tried to convince community members that the University was interested in working together toward a common goal.

"It was really valuable to work at the individual level, at the grass roots level, and to make it clear that the University took seriously its partnership," she said. "That it was one voice among many at the table and that the University was committed to listening to and to responding to community visions.

"You show that by staying the long course. It's not what you say, it's how you act."

Community members who worked with Kerman agreed.

Marni Sweet, executive director of the Parent-Infant Center, a childcare program located next to the Penn-Alexander School, said that Kerman worked to create community ownership of projects, fostering local pride.

Kerman remains at Penn as a senior consultant for the Fels Institute of Government. She still works with Friends of 40th Street as well as UC Green and hopes to revive her involvement in other West Philadelphia organizations, she said.

The greatest challenge now facing West Philadelphia and the University? Managing the economic growth of recent years, she says, and maintaining a mixed-income community with affordable housing and retail.

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