FGM, Mayor Street
open new curfew center

By Diane Villano-Prokop
Times Staff Writer

The city’s newest curfew center — designed to get youngsters off the streets late at night — opened in Frankford on April 26, with Mayor John Street making it official during a ceremony at the Frankford Group Ministry.
FGM, at 4620 Griscom St., had volunteered to be the site for the center, which serves the 15th Police District.
"We couldn’t find a better group to work with us," Street said of the coalition of Frankford churches. "They’ll care about the children, and make sure they’re treated with dignity and respect."
The center was among three that the mayor opened last week in the city’s Northeast, Northwest and Central police divisions. They brought the citywide number of curfew centers to six, and also positioned Street at the halfway point of his goal to open 12 of these facilities by summer.
The centers, an arm of Street’s anti-crime initiative, Operation Safer Streets, are staffed by city and private social-service workers, along with neighborhood volunteers. A police officer also is present.
Rather than pick up a curfew violator on the street and take him home, police will transport the youngster to the curfew center. After intake paperwork is completed, a staff member will call a parent or guardian, who must come to the center to get the child. If that adult cannot be located, the child will be turned over to the care of the city’s Department of Human Services.
The FGM center will operate from 9 at night to 6 in the morning on Thursdays and Sundays, and from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Curfew for children under age 13 is at 9 on weeknights during the school year and 9:30 on summer weeknights. On weekends, they have to be off the street by 10.
Street, who was joined at the ceremony by an entourage of local lawmakers, reiterated the theme he has delivered at previous community meetings.
"No good thing can happen to a child out after ten o’clock or eleven o’clock at night," he said, adding that the curfew center should benefit the neighborhood as well.
In addition to the Frankford center, the others are at the Dixon House, 1920 S. 20th St.; Presbyterian Children’s Village, 6517 Chester Ave.; Lighthouse Youth Services, 141 W. Somerset St., Nicetown; the Community Development Center, 4414 Germantown Ave.; and the Cecil B. Moore Recreation Center, 2551 N. 22nd St.
Since the opening of the first center at the Dixon House last July, juvenile shootings have dropped by 50 percent in the 1st district and 45 percent in the 17th district, the two police districts served by the center, authorities say.
Yvonne Downey, site director for the new Frankford location, said 15 volunteers have been to all the trainings, eight more have to get background clearances, and three people told her during the ceremony that they’d like to volunteer.
"We are especially looking for Spanish-speaking volunteers. We don’t want them to have to wait for a DHS interpreter to arrive," Downey said, referring to a Department of Human Services staff member.
Capt. Frank Bachmayer, commander of the 15th Police District, said children picked up for curfew violations will be escorted to the center, set up in the basement of the Frankford Group Ministry building. Their parents, upon arrival, will speak with social workers.
Ron George, a DHS project manager, is pleased to see the center finally come to fruition.
"We’ve been working on this since last October," he said. "I’m glad to see it open but would like to see a whole lot more volunteers."
FGM executive director Catherine Bowers is excited about the project.
"I’m excited about the staff. It’s a great crew. We want more," she said. "Once people find out what it’s like — there are a lot of unknowns about it — they’ll feel really good about it and see that it’s really valuable."
Bowers also presented the mayor with a gold volunteer shirt and invited him to drop by and volunteer any time he’d like.
Bowers related a story about driving home to Frankford late one night when she had to slam on the brakes as a little kid chased a football into the street. He made a face at her and then ran from the street.
Bowers was dismayed by the number of youngsters playing football on the street at such a late hour. Somebody ought to do something, she thought.
"Little did I know that I’d be one of the somebodies," Bowers said. ••
Reporter Diane Villano-Prokop can be reached at 215-354-3036 or dvillano@phillynews.com

The first weekend . . .

Police had some success last weekend at the new 15th district curfew center, according to district commander Capt. Frank Bachmayer.
The center, which officially opened on April 26 at Frankford Group Ministry, 4620 Griscom St., over the weekend took in a total of 47 children who had stayed out late enough to violate curfew. On Thursday night, police picked up 11 children; on Friday night, one; on Saturday night, 23; and Sunday night, 12.
Staffed by city and private social workers, along with community volunteers, it is the sixth curfew center opened across the city as part of Mayor John Street’s Operation Safer Streets initiative.
FGM executive director Catherine Bowers agreed the center got off to a good start during its inaugural weekend.
Bowers spent some time volunteering there each night Thursday through Sunday.
"We didn’t have any security or safety problems. The officers were really great," she said.
According to volunteer Nancy Doerr, the children were very angry and upset when they were brought in to the center but calmed down.
"The kids didn’t know about it. They didn’t know why they were being picked up," she said.
The reaction of parents was more mixed — some calm, some upset, according to Doerr.
Though some parents came as late as 6 a.m., all of the children were picked up and none had to be transported to the city’s Department of Human Services. ••