Tag: frankford cdc

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Frankford CDC Day of Career Shadowing with Frankford High Students

This past week, the Frankford CDC had the pleasure of hosting two Frankford High students as part of a job shadowing program being run through the 9th grade academy and the Student Success Center. We tried to give them a taste of the working world as best we could, the fun and the not-so-fun. They helped us fold copies of the February edition of the Frankford Gazette, and also got to head to City Hall with us to attend a press conference with the Mayor.
 
One of our favorite things at the CDC is meeting and becoming friends with Frankford residents of all ages, and we especially love opportunities to engage young folks in our community. We hope the Frankford High students we spent the day with gained more than just a better understanding of the working world and what it means to operate in an office setting; we hope through our conversations with them, and through their excellent questions, they gained a new appreciation for Frankford, and for trying one’s best to do for others and be a constructive and active participant in one’s community. After all, we know that we learned a lot from them.

Our special thanks to Frankford High, and to the students we had the pleasure of spending the day with!

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Frankford CDC Board Meeting 1/19/12

Michelle Feldman, Tracy O'Drain, Dan Lodise

The annual public board meeting of the Frankford Community Development Corporation was held at Aria Health on January 19th.  The meeting provides and opportunity for residents to come out to talk with the CDC about past accomplishments and future plans.

The board is presently made up of: Marie DeLany (President), Dan Lodise (Vice President), Patricia Miller (SEPTA), Terence McSherry (NET), Michael O’Brien (resident), Mike Galdi (Century 21 Realty), Herb Frayer (S&A Cleaners), Santo Caruso (Aria Health), Faye Allen (SPIN) and Fernando Torres (Mark My Flesh).  In addition Tracy O’Drain is the Managing Director.  Michell Feldman  is Corridor Manager and Special Events Coordinator.  Lisa DeMore is the Bookkeeper.

Some highlights:

  • Significant progress in social media and marketing – The CDC has a revamped and useful web site and is a prominent Frankford resource on Facebook.
  • The CDC is working closely with the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation to get people working.
  • Has recruited new business (A Cupcake Wonderland and Philly Love Bar to the Globe)  to Frankford and assisted existing businesses (Avenue Shoes, Denbys, Gilberts, Just Good Scents, Quickie Mart, Simply Flawless).
  • Raised the profile of Frankford with some significant special events like the Second Saturday festivals.
  • Began work on the 4600 block of Frankford Avenue project.  Impact Services under an existing contract with the city will begin work this year on those improvements.
  • New computer lab via PhillyRising came this month.

Dan Lodise announced at the end of the meeting that he will be stepping down as Vice President.  The board has room for several more members and I believe we need more residents on the board.  There were two exceptional people at the meeting who were interested in possibly joining.  I hope they do. Both are business women in Frankford.  Just the people we need.

Tracy and Michelle did a great Power Point presentation at the meeting that I recorded for my notes but it is so detailed I am including it below for your information if you care to see some of the details.

It works best in full screen and pause it at each slide if you need time to read them.

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New Computer Center to Open in Frankford

You may have noticed on our event calendar an item about the new computer center.  The Frankford CDC has been working closely with PhillyRising toward providing the community with a computer center that would be open to the public.  The details have been worked out and the equipment is being installed this week at the Frankford CDC office at Griscom and Harrison Streets.  Mayor Nutter will be there on Friday at noon for the ribbon cutting ceremony.

This service is badly needed in a community where the majority of the residents do not have access to the internet.  The library is the only other public location where people can go to do job searches or type a resume.  There will be an ample number of workstations available.  The hours of availability have yet to be worked out and an announcement will be published when it is finalized.

The CDC is scheduled to host a free FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)  and tax filing workshop on February 26, 2012 in the new computer center.