Jeannine Kayembe

Posted on Mar 20, 2017

Jeannine Kayembe

Artist and executive director of Philadelphia Urban Creators, Jeannine Kayembe spoke with students this fall in a conversation hosted by the Office of Multiculturalism and Community Development. Ms. Kayembe was a teenager in 2010 when she and her friends started Urban Creators, an organization that helps transform neglected inner-city areas into safe and dynamic spaces. The group spent a year clearing a blighted, two-acre parcel in North Philadelphia of trash, pollutants and drug paraphernalia, and have since developed the land into a farm that has brought in nearly half a million dollars to fight food insecurity; it also offers work opportunities to at-risk neighbors and supports occupational training and violence prevention programs. The violent crime rate has plummeted in the neighborhood since the program began.

“The most effective way to do good work is to make sure the work you’re doing speaks to the things you love.”