COVER STORY .

The Oasis

Jerome Shabazz


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Published: Sep 23, 2009

By: Mark Stehle

When Jerome Shabazz sees a hair dryer, he sees a new way to teach about wind energy. As founder of the Overbrook Environmental Education Center, his vision for betterment begins along an industrial stretch of Lancaster Avenue where burned-out buildings and deserted industrial parks are common.

After years of visiting schools in Overbrook and taking kids on treks to learn about water testing and the local ecosystem, Shabazz, a former Water Department employee, created a space for neighbors to learn, too. The center features a green roof, water recycling, a wooded quarter-acre that now attracts birds and wildlife, outdoor labs, an indoor center and a campus under construction. For the first time this summer, OEEC hosted a summer camp where dozens of children learned about green technology, better nutrition habits and arts and enrichment skills from local scientists, journalists and dance instructors.

The center also has a food demonstration area for cooking classes, an art gallery, dance studio and coffee shop. Shabazz is working with Penn State to build a greenhouse where he'll teach locals to grow vegetables organically. He's also creating a series of enrichment classes for adults, as well as a peer-training program at two West Philadelphia high schools.

"We want to create a community space," says Shabazz, who with his wife and board of directors, have built the educational center on the site of a former building supply company. "We need to have a place where people can gather for the benefit of greater personal enrichment."

Honorable Mention: Sustainability and Environment

Patrick Starr
'VP of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council works to preserve open spaces. He helped envision and is helping implement the North Delaware and East Coast greenways.

Judy Wicks
Local White Dog Café/ White Dog Community Enterprises legend and co-founder of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies is working on a book about her life's work.

Pedal Co-op
The worker-run organization takes bike trailers everywhere, hauling recycling and compost, doing residential and small-business moving, delivering merchandise and packages.

Weavers Way
The pioneering farm/co-op/community-owned market is expanding to the former Caruso's Market in Chestnut Hill and letting its members in on the action.