I’m making my way across Norris Square in West Kensington, past the United Presbyterian Church banner proclaiming “Immigrants and Refugees Welcome,” around the towering oak tree on which is painted a Puerto Rican flag dating from the 1960s, and through the playground. I step into the foyer of the Norris Square Neighborhood Project (NSNP) and Valerie Martinez, her cap at a jaunty angle, steps forward. Valerie is operations manager at NSNP, and her roots run deep in the neighborhood. Her parents came separately from Puerto Rico and met in the Bronx, where she was born. In 1976, the family moved to the Norris Square neighborhood. When Valerie was seven years old, her mother enrolled her in the NSNP.

  The organization’s mission is “to promote positive change through youth education, community leadership, green spaces, the arts, and celebration of Latino culture.” Programs are designed to connect generations and show citizens of all ages how to be change-makers. After-school youth programs include Semillas del Futuro, which builds job and life skills (e.g. healthy eating, exercise) for 14- to 20-year-olds, and the Youth Advisory Council, which participates in NSNP planning and decision-making. The Raíces de Cambio (Roots of Change) year-round program employs kids part-time while teaching them about food justice and career paths.

  Valerie gestures toward the square as we take seats in an art-filled room lined with paints, easels and assorted creative supplies. “It used to be known as Needle Park,” she said. Now there are benches, a playscape, basketball courts and—very recently—lighting. “My mom worked here at NSNP for 20 years,” Valerie says. “She invented all these art projects and organized fashion shows for the kids. She was known throughout the city for her creativity.”

  Valerie had her first child at age 15; at the same time her mother, Neida, was pregnant with her sister. “My mother is my hero. The support she gave me then, and always, has made me a strong woman.” Valerie has two sons and a daughter who is becoming a Philadelphia police officer, and four grandchildren.

  Valerie and her peers bloomed under the tutelage of NSNP counselors. “I mean, we were in tents! We went canoeing, whitewater rafting. That’s how I discovered my love of the outdoors. We had to pick a meditation tree and spend long periods meditating there. We’d set goals in the morning and discuss progress at day’s end.”

  NSNP used to offer programs for elementary- and middle-school students, but now focuses on the older children. It’s harder to do these trips with high-schoolers; some have part-time jobs, but also they’re easily bored without electronics. The art programs are popular, however. “They come here to fulfill the Philadelphia high-school requirement for community service (30 hours/month). We give them tools for self-expression and a space to be themselves.” I glance over at a row of McIntosh Apple computers and a rack of newly printed T-shirts. The kids also make candles, soaps, perfumed oils and lip balm—all project-based learning activities, which are required by many funders of after-school programs.

  “Our kids call themselves the Misfits.” Valerie raises her thick, dark eyebrows for emphasis: “I tell them, ‘Be who you are.’ In the end, they don’t want to leave.”

  Valerie worked with children for 19 years in the Philadelphia school system as a supportive services assistant (SSA). An SSA moves among schools, assigned where the need is greatest, often to special-needs classrooms. “It got hard,” she says softly, looking down at the table. “We had a sixth grader who was dying of cancer. He was able to spend six months with his peers, going to classes.” I mention that burnout is a hazard of some professions, for example emergency-room staff. Valerie nods. “A 12-year-old girl confided in me that her uncle was committing incest with her. She would only talk to me. That was difficult.”

  When an NSNP position as assistant to the executive director opened up in 2010, Valerie pursued it. Within two months, she was operations manager. The organization’s six gardens have a special place in her heart. Iris Brown, the former garden and cultural coordinator for NSNP, was instrumental in starting the garden movement around Norris Square, first with Raices (meaning origin or root) in 1982, followed by a collection of garden spaces called Las Parcelas (the parcels) and others. They accentuate Puerto Rican culture and identity, with areas for pig roasts, dancing and crafts, and include a 1940s-style casita as a tribute to Brown. “Las Parcelas is my serenity in the city,” say Valerie. An African-themed garden called Colobo celebrates the African roots of Puerto Ricans and includes “story huts.” The original women activists now call themselves Grupo Motivos.   

  “You have to take ownership of what’s in your community,” says Valerie. “Here, we replaced trash-strewn vacant lots with beautiful green spaces, unique found objects, and hand-crafted wood furniture.” We have been strolling from garden to garden, and now I pause at a message painted on a planter near the NSNP center: “The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.” Who could disagree with that? Those who seek common ground while celebrating the differences in our city’s great “melting pot”—amid racial, economic, political, and other tensions—are the true heroes in every community. •