Shailen Vines, Xavier Farrow & Ayat Muhammad in period costume after training to become docents for the Bethel Trail.
Bob Welsh, Jump Street’s impressive executive director, wasn’t always at the helm of a top-notch non-profit that provides creative opportunities for youth and adults. Back in the day, he was just an ordinary city resident who was unhappy about what he saw happening in the city school’s music programs.
“Music education was really in terrible shape,” he said. “Not that the teachers weren’t great, there were just not many resources.”
Wanting to do something about it, he came up with the idea of starting an instrument donation program.
“I went to Mayor Reed to see what he thought, and he basically told me I have lots of energy and good ideas but no clue how to execute. He told me that I needed to go out and find some agencies that do this kind of work and find out how this work gets done. It was the best advice I ever got.”
Welsh found a kindred spirit in Metro Arts, where he was able to learn about non-profit management and how to write grants. One of the grants that he got allowed him to start the fledgling “Gift of Music Program.” Welsh served as a volunteer, a board member and then was hired as executive director of Metro Arts. A year later, in 2000, the organization changed its name to Jump Street.
Now, Jump Street is a thriving organization providing multiple programs for youth, teens and the community at large. It operates a facility on N. Cameron Street that includes the Thrive Art and Fitness Center for Seniors, teaching and rehearsal space, arts business incubator/office space, gallery space and administrative offices.
The following is a spotlight on three of Jump Street’s programs.
The Gift of Music
The Gift of Music is Jump Street’s oldest program. Through the program, band and orchestral instruments are collected, restored and distributed to students interested in learning to play an instrument. It’s not the first time that organizations have collected instruments, but Welsh has come up with some ideas that have streamlined the process.
“We decided not to get involved with trying to determine if individuals qualify for an instrument,” Welsh said. “Instead, we qualify programs.”
Accordingly, Jump Street works with 40 or 50 schools, community organizations or churches.
“They let us know what they need, and then they take responsibility for determining which students should get the instruments,” he said.
Repair of the instruments is done in local repair shops and typically costs about $100.
“In a former life, I repaired instruments, so that helps,” said Welsh. “So that’s one place that we have a leg up because I can identify what will probably get out into the field.”
Welsh says that he has a rule of thumb that, if the repair is more than one-third of the value of the instrument, check with him. If it doesn’t, the shop can just go ahead. “That saves time and cost,” he said.
During the 12 years of the program, Jump Street has refurbished and distributed around 500 instruments in the Harrisburg region, but the program expanded several years ago and now operates in four other cities. “All across the state, we’re probably pushing towards a distribution of 5,000,” Welsh said.
Jump Street accepts instrument donations at its offices in Harrisburg or at any area Classic Cleaners.
AND Magazine
One of Jump Street’s major literary projects is the publication of a magazine for teens written exclusively by teenaged journalists.
AND Magazine (which stands for “A New Diversion”) has been in publication for seven years and, since its inception, has had about 150,000 readers. The magazine was conceived as a way to provide opportunities for regional teens to participate in all phases of the magazine publishing process, including writing, editing, graphic design, photograph and marketing.
“Most magazines [geared towards teens] are people our age writing what we think and what wisdom we can offer to teens,” said Welsh. “It occurred to me that it might be more interesting to mentor young writers or just be with them to facilitate their own process.”
So far, the project has involved around 100 dedicated writers and about 100 more who may have contributed one or two stories, poems or photographs. One of the magazine’s most famous graduates, and its first editor, is Annie Stone, who is now editor of teen books with Harlequin. Many other students also have benefited from working on the magazine by being able to include stories they have written in their college portfolios. Welsh notes that the literary work of AND Magazine writers has helped them to net scholarships to many prestigious schools, such as Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania and Shippensburg University.
Every year, the project attracts a core of roughly half-a-dozen students from local school districts, many of whom travel to Jump Street’s offices on a daily basis as part of their school’s senior project programs, during a free period or after school. Working together as a team gives these students an opportunity to learn to work with people who have different backgrounds and skills.
“We may have a Harrisburg High School student sitting next to a Boiling Springs student so, for the first week or two, they may as well be from different galaxies,” said Welsh. “They won’t know very much about where each other is living, but it’s personally been a joy for me to watch those barriers dissolve—and they almost always do.”
Jump Street staff also goes out to schools to work with groups of students, tasking them to create pieces around a particular editorial thread, such as young people’s attitude towards voting during election time. Teens also can contribute work remotely on their own or through their teacher, counselor, community organizations or probation officer.
“Some of the most interesting work in one issue was from a kid in lock-up,” said Welsh. “He actually received a small scholarship from what he submitted to AND Magazine while incarcerated.”
The Speak Team
Besides its regular staff, Jump Street pulls in other professionals to help develop and facilitate creative projects for area teens.
Currently Lenwood Sloan, an actor, playwright, director and self-described “catalytic agent,” is the lead resident artist. Under the direction of Jump Street, he spent this past school year heading up an intensive theater lab program at Susquehanna Township High School, where students learned everything from basic acting skills to set design, lighting and make-up. The theater lab is part of the high school’s new School of the Performing Arts, which also focuses on the visual arts and fashion.
When some of the students asked to continue working with Sloan during the summer months, Welsh created a program that trained the students to be historical actors and docents in Harrisburg. Modeled after a decade-old tourism model called the “Past Players,” the young members of the “Speak Team” were trained to portray civilians and military personnel from the 19th century and went out as an ensemble to the city’s historical places such as the train station, the Capitol building and the Broad Street Market. There, they engaged tourists and school groups with renditions of period stories, poetry, dances and songs.
“They were scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays to appear in different places,” said Welsh. “They would start at the market and stroll through a scripted batch of locations while another Past Player might be going in the opposite direction. The two teams might meet up in the Capitol, one heading north and one heading south. It was very, very well received.“
At times, group members portrayed composite or generic people of the era, but, more often, they reenacted actual Pennsylvanians that they had studied. The message was mostly focused on African American history, which is where Sloan’s professional experience lies. In a typical day, passersby would be able to hear stories of the Underground Railroad and African American life during war and Jim Crow. The goal was to get history to come out of the books and celebrate the lives of people in Pennsylvania who made a change, one person at a time, one neighborhood at a time.
During the inaugural year of the “Speak Team,” members of the ensemble received more than 100 hours of training. In addition to learning historic songs, stories, poetry and dances, they took elocution lessons and received tips on how to adopt mid-19th century postures.
“The cool thing for the kids is that they are working with a total pro,” said Welsh. “Lenwood Sloan is a treasure. We are lucky he hangs out with us.”
Moving forward, Jump Street is looking towards continuing to serve the community.
“Much of our success has been based on assessing needs in our sector,” says Welsh. “Then we train up our staff in certain responsive skill sets and take reasonable risks to grow toward the opportunities. “
Welsh says that he’s sure that Jump Street can meet any challenge that the community throws at them. “I have one of the best non-profit staffs around,” he said.
To learn more about Jump Street, visit www.jumpstreet.org.
Could it be karma? Or perhaps coincidence? Or maybe just foresight and good planning.
