The Philadelphia Field Project (PYF) is an experiment in the integration of teaching, research, and service at The Pennsylvania State University. Each summer a group of Penn State undergraduates live, study, and work for several weeks in a ‘poor neighborhood’ of West Philadelphia. One part of service comes from volunteer work and the other part of service comes from generating new knowledge related to some aspect of problems faced by the community. The social theory upon which the project is founded claims that contrary to common understanding, poverty is not an economic problem, and therefore has no economic solution. An exclusive search for economic solutions blinds us from seeing non-traditional resources that do exist in so-called ‘poor neighborhoods.’ My research focuses particularly urban poverty and youth within Philadelphia. It argues that youth living in areas of urban poverty in Philadelphia should be seen as a non-traditional resource for recognizing and improving the community and social conditions.
Theories of youth development stress the importance of initiatives that involve youth people in meaningful community service activities. Through service, youth are empowered to take personal responsibility, take charge, acknowledge the needs of their community, and invest their time and abilities within the community and its people. Not only does the community benefit, the youth people grow and develop personally, learn about their community, and acquire new skills. It is my hypothesis that, over time, youth participating in service learning and community service can be instrumental in helping to overcome urban poverty in Philadelphia.
The research was conducted over a period of several weeks when I lived in an inner-city neighborhood in West Philadelphia with the Philadelphia Field Project group. The research methods consist primarily of structured interviews and the personal observations I made about the community, poverty, and youth, while living in the neighborhood. My research describes several projects, organizations, and their leaders in Philadelphia which have addressed community issues through youth activities, participation, and initiative. Key components of a successful program are identified as criteria for evaluating their impact and potential in alleviating urban poverty in Philadelphia. Each evaluated program demonstrated strengths in many of the key areas yet each could benefit from improvements on some aspects. IT is important to recognize the efforts and potentials of these programs. This research information may assist them in improving their organization and in becoming a model for other programs involving youth in community service and service learning. It is believed that successful organizations can play an integral role in empowering youth to be non-traditional resources in fighting poverty in their communities.
