Resolution 110769

..Title Also naming Haverford Avenue from Fifty-second Street to Fifty-eighth Street "Geneva Black Way." ..Body WHEREAS, Mrs. Geneva Black has been a pillar in her community in the Haddington section of West Philadelphia for more than forty years; and WHEREAS, In 1970, Mrs. Black joined the Haddington Leadership Organization serving as its Housing Coordinator where she helped seniors secure housing and public assistance benefits. In a recent interview she explained, "At that time, they needed a social worker to get into the homes to help people meet the criteria to get a grant or loan and most of the peoples' home I went into were elderly..."; and WHEREAS, Her passion for the job and her honest concern for the people she served, endeared her to the Haddington community. "I would walk the streets and I gained the trust of the people, got the confidence of the people, because they would always see me in the neighborhood and got to know who I was. And when I helped a couple of people, the word got around," she says.; and WHEREAS, In 1972, Mrs. Black became Executive Director of the Haddington Leadership Organization which at that time had just three employees. But Mrs. Black's work caught the attention of City policy makers including former Mayor Bill Green who provided her the assistance of a grant writer to help her secure funding; and WHEREAS, Mrs. Black said, "Eventually in 1975, we became funded by the Philadelphia Corporation for the Aging, and that's when I founded the program and we named it Haddington Multi-Services for Older Adults (HMSOA). Our first funding was $145,000 to provide sixty meals a day to seniors, along with some social services,"; and WHEREAS, In 1985, Haddington Multi-Services for Older Adults assumed the responsibilities of the In-home Support unit from another agency and grew quickly thereafter. Now HMSOA has a full time staff of 25 people and an annual budget topping $1,000,000.; and WHEREAS, The Organization's work now includes providing information and referral services, counseling, benefits and entitlement information, legal services, food, education, transportation and case management; and WHEREAS, Mrs. Black's work and its impact on the Haddington community and the City of Philadelphia warrants the recognition and appreciation of this Council and the City at large; now therefore, be it, RESOLVED, That Haverford Avenue from Fifty-second Street to Fifty-eighth Street, also be named, "Geneva Black Way"; and FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented as a Sincere Expression of City Council's Recognition and Appreciation. ..End