The Northeast EPIC Stakeholders Group met at Aria Health, Frankford last Thursday April 29th. A good summary can be found by John Loftus at the Northeast Times online.
EPIC Stakeholders Groups have been operating throughout the city and there had been one for Northeast Philadelphia, but it apparently was not terribly active. CORA was asked to become the group running the NE Philly section. The agency decided, in conjunction with the city to focus initially on Frankford and Northwood due to our longstanding CORA-Neumann program at Adams & Orthodox.
So what is an EPIC Stakeholder group? From the DHS web site:
Community EPIC Stakeholder Groups are made up of individuals who live and/or work in a community and are actively involved in the continued development of that community including eradicating challenges to school attendance and performance. Recognizing that truancy is generally a symptom of other problems occurring for the family such as of poverty, lack of family cohesion, child abuse/neglect, community violence and/or behavioral and physical health problems, stakeholder groups are committed to addressing challenges facing the community.
In the meeting last week, mayor Nutter had agreed to attend but had to make an unexpected trip to Washington, so Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Everett Gillison attended in his stead. His address was to be on the issue of the recent flash mob incidents however he touched upon a wide range of issues related to crime and community. The video is about six minutes. He is a very good speaker and gets into prisoners reentry and policing strategy as well as the flash mob problem.
If you would like further information on the Northeast EPIC Stakeholders group you may contact:
