I'm from North Central Philadelphia, born at 10th and Cumberland. I'm 28 years old, and graduated from Olney High and pursued 9 months with the Thompson Insitute of Electricity. I'm well-known in my community. I'm a great father to my children Karon Jr., 3 years, and Kaydyn Smith, 3 months. When it comes to understanding and being a friend, I'm your guy. I bring an open-minded attitude and speak with a strong voice for the people who need the truth.
I can bring mind, body, and soul to the cause as a result of falling victim myself to the criminal justice system. I've been in the system for 15 years, and am now trying to turn that all around. I joined the Co-op in August 2014 because people like me needed the help that the co-op produces. The co-op replenishes, revives, and recuperates people with wounded histories. It speaks for itself: co-operation. We listen to and care for people in re-entry to comprehend their particular situations, and the challenges they face every day. We help by connecting them to expungement services and different resources. One of my roles is to get this information to the people who don't realize the help is right in their backyard. I become a human bullhorn to get the word out. I understand issues that take place in poverty, but know that together we can stop the cycle. |
I'm Faith Bartley. I graduated from Northeast High School in Philadelphia in 1983 and spent six years in the U.S. Army Reserve. After leaving the reserve, I experienced years of difficulties with drug addiction, and was in and out of the prison system due to these circumstances. Since 2009 I've abstained from drugs, and now I'm pursuing a new way of living with the People's Paper Co-op.
When I returned from prison, I found few resources, and I faced multiple difficulties as a result, including unemployment, discrimination, and difficulty receiving benefits. Through my work with the PPC, I want to become a resource, and to feed my community the information and support a woman might need after being incarcerated. The Co-op provides a way for me to express myself in an artistic manner and helps me to do what I do best — helping others. I'm very pleased to be a part of the People's Paper Co-op. Not only is it beneficial to me, but to my community as well. I'm looking forward to being one strong voice in my community and be pro-active as I can, with the hope of making this a better community and world someday, one day. |
I've been a community advocate in North Philadelphia for 15 years. I'm a former U.S. marine and I have tunnel vision when it comes to achieving goals. Now 38, I've been a self-motivated entrepreneur since 14 and have helped to start several for and non-profit businesses. I learned responsibility very early as an only child of a single mother. My mother took me to college with her; her strength and independence inspired me when I became a single parent to my daughter at age 20.
I network on a multitude of levels to provide life-improving information to my community. My purpose is to become an architect of accomplishments: to empower, motivate, inspire, and help my community to reach obtainable goals. I joined the PPC because it's empowering to my community, and that's what I'm about. I've never been incarcerated myself for a variety of reasons: my mother taught me about the system, and I experienced being on the side of the law as a Marine. But as a black man in our neighborhood, I'm frequently harassed. I've had handcuffs on me and been "taken for a ride". But in that ride, I'm advocating for myself, showing that I understand the legal system and refusing to be intimidated. I wore a uniform, so I understand that a police officer is just an individual person who put on a uniform this morning. Being harassed and degraded makes me fight to educate other community members about the system and to address its injustices. I bring my independent advocacy and my connection to the neighborhood to the organization. My role at the co-op is getting the information about what we do out to the community. I know a lot of people who could go far with just a little bit of information — I'm trying to provide that piece of the puzzle which will make their success complete. |
I grew up at 11th and Cumberland in the high rises, and attended Ben Franklin High School. I have four kids, ages 11, 9, 7 and 1. I've been around here for 30 years. It's not a bad community, it just needs structure. I'm a people person and a good role model, with strong attention to detail. I like my brain to storm differently — I'm always thinking.
I first entered the criminal justice system when I was 17, and I've been on probation for 10 years. Expungement made a big difference for me. I had 19 different charges that I wasn't convicted of, but they were sitting on my record. It's made a big difference in my life — it saved me a ton of money and enabled me to beat all of my charges. Now I'm trying to walk the cracks, hoping the ice doesn't break. Karon invited me to join the co-op. People ask me what I do, and I say, it's a job, but it's also art and helping people expunge their records. It's 3-in-one. Most of all, we help people the best we can. My area of expertise in the co-op is making the paper, from pulping to pressing, to making books and cards, I do it all. This year I'm excited about showing progress and lifting the co-op off the ground. |