Temple University has a long-standing history of providing a variety of programs, events and initiatives to support and uplift our North Philadelphia neighborhood. This story is one example of many that illustrates the work we do in our community. 

Within the Temple University Police Department (TUPD) is a small four-person team called the External Relations Unit. While their colleagues focus on ensuring that the Temple campus and surrounding community is safe each day, the External Relations Unit invests its energy into ensuring the future of North Philadelphia is a safer one. 

Established and directed by Monica Hankins-Padilla, a former Temple University police sergeant, the External Relations Unit believes the most direct route to permanently enhancing community safety is through youth, especially those considered to be at-risk. She considers children to be at-risk when they have been exposed to abuse, neglect or illegal substances; are in danger of dropping out of school; or are not developing the knowledge and skills necessary to become successful adults. “Research shows that at-risk kids struggle with complex issues and scenarios that are brought on by peers, family members and difficult social environments,” said Hankins-Padilla.  

She explained that, in response to these complex issues, at-risk youth sometimes turn towards criminal activity out of desperation and as a method of last resort. But if these young people had training in leadership, conflict resolution and critical thinking along with a support system, they would be much more likely to stay on track in school and be better equipped to address difficult life situations when they arise. 

It was this thinking that led Hankins-Padilla and her team to focus most of their efforts on developing community programming that targets and supports at-risk youth in North Philadelphia. Their goal was to not only proactively reduce violence in the future but to also reduce the astronomically high number of incarcerated Philadelphia teenagers. According to data collected from the city of Philadelphia, Philadelphia has the highest youth incarceration rate out of all the counties in Pennsylvania. In addition, African American youth in Philadelphia are 5.7 times more likely than white youth to be incarcerated according to No Kids in Prison, a nonprofit focused on ending youth incarceration in America. 

Hankins-Padilla and her team want to change these statistics starting in North Philadelphia. The External Relations Unit’s unofficial motto has become “there’s a chance in a choice,” meaning that when at-risk youth know they have options and support they are much more likely to thrive. 

“We believe that through nonconfrontational, student-appealing enrichment programs, students and officers can create a bond that will ultimately change the dynamic in disadvantaged areas of Philadelphia,” Hankins-Padilla said.  

In the 12 years the External Relations Unit has existed, it has developed a dozen programs that provide a variety of experiences and opportunities to young people in North Philadelphia. Their programs focus on fostering a joy of learning, an understanding of constructive interpersonal communication skills, a curiosity to explore a variety of career paths and a sense of family. Hankins-Padilla also acknowledges that their work would not be possible without the generous financial support of Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit focused on supporting families of first responders. 

After years of success, these programs have become the basis for a new kind of community policing model that Hankins-Padilla now wants to share with other police departments across the country. She’s part of a team at Temple University that received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to develop programming that aims to reduce violence in American cities.

Here are the 12 programs that the External Relations Unit currently provides to the North Philadelphia community. 

1. Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program 

Offered at: St. Malachy Catholic School, Paul Laurence Dunbar School, Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School, and George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science 

Managed by: Officer Leroy Wimberly 

The Gang Resistance Education and Training program, also known as G.R.E.A.T., is a gang and violence prevention program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice that has been building relationships between police departments and communities both nationally and internationally for nearly 30 years. Once a week, Officer Wimberly visits each classroom from kindergarten to eighth grade to build students’ awareness of gang violence and how to address situations that may come up in their lives.

2. Reading and book donation program 

Offered at: St. Malachy Catholic School 

Managed by: Officers Gloria West and Elijah Lewis 

Officers West and Lewis spend an hour every week reading to each of the first and second grade classes at St. Malachy Catholic School. After they finish reading, they have a lively and playful conversation with the students about what they read to encourage the children’s enthusiasm for reading and apply the meaningful messages from the stories to their own lives. 

TUPD is also part of the Police Youth Alliance Program run by Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation. As participants in this program, the department regularly donates books to their literacy program. In turn, the program donates these books to St. Malachy Catholic School students and other local schools at the end of the school year to promote reading during the summer holiday. 

3. Gardening program 

Offered at: St. Malachy Catholic School, (expanding soon to) Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School  

Managed by: Officer Gloria West 

This yearlong gardening program teaches students up to the fifth grade about life cycles, the environment and where our food comes from. Each season comes with its own curriculum. They learn about seeding and growing techniques in the winter, plant and tend the garden in the spring, pick and prune the plants in the summer, and in the fall grow their final crops and prepare the garden beds for winter. 

4. Coding program 

Offered at: St. Malachy Catholic School, (expanding soon to) Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School  

Managed by: Officer Leroy Wimberly  

Hankins-Padilla and Officer Wimberly understand that there are many lucrative opportunities in STEM fields but a significant shortage of people of color in the industry. They want to instill excitement and a foundational understanding of software coding in their students so they would be encouraged to continue to pursue it in college. This program is led by Temple students studying computer science and offered to the sixth, seventh and eighth grades at St. Malachy Catholic School. In the last few years, the number of girls who have opted to join this program has outpaced the boys.  

5. Bike safety program 

Offered at: Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School, Martin Luther King Recreation Center and Amos Recreation Center 

Managed by: Officers Leroy Wimberly and Gloria West 

This six-week program teaches bike safety to children between the ages of 7 and 13 at Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School, Martin Luther King Recreation Center and Amos Recreation Center. Students learn how to bike safely on urban streets and how to maintain and care for a bicycle. At the end of the program, every child goes home with a new bike that they built side-by-side with one of the officers running the program. 

6. Urban Bike Team 

Students come from: Paul Laurence Dunbar School, Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School, Dobbins Technical High School, George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science, Frederick Douglass Mastery Charter School, Wissahickon Charter School 

Managed by: Officers Leroy Wimberly, Gary Price and Jonathan Woodson  

The long-standing success of the bike safety program inspired Hankins-Padilla to also establish an extension of that program: the Urban Bike Team. Made up of young people between the ages of 11 and 15 from a variety of schools in North Philadelphia, this group receives a bike kit at the beginning of the program and builds their own bikes with the help of officers Wimberly, Price and Woodson. The group then meets two times a week from March through July. Each meeting includes a bike ride through North Philadelphia to promote exercise and fitness and then ends with a group meeting on Temple’s campus. The group meetings focus on life skills development and career exploration. On a given day the group may be discussing conflict resolution skills or hosting a guest speaker who explains their career and gets the team excited about similar career options. In 2022, the team participated in the 30-mile route of The Ben to the Shore Bike Tour, a fundraiser for the families of fallen police officers. This year, the group plans to bike the whole 60-mile route. 

The success of this Urban Bike Team is gaining attention. They received a $100,000 donation in 2022 from an anonymous donor who saw the positive impact the program was having on the community and wanted to support its’ expansion to include more students. The Philadelphia 76ers also showed up at a local community awareness-raising event for the team to demonstrate their support for the program.  

7. Social media literacy program 

Offered at: St. Malachy Catholic School, Paul Laurence Dunbar School and Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School 

Managed by: Officer Leroy Wimberly 

Once a year, each grade at St. Malachy Catholic School, Paul Laurence Dunbar School and Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School receives a social media workshop that is tailored to their respective age groups. Officer Wimberly teaches students how to safely navigate the digital landscape and includes information on cyberbullying, illegal online activities, identifying and preventing contact with predators, and more. 

8. Human trafficking program 

Offered at: St. Malachy Catholic School, Paul Laurence Dunbar School and Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School 

Managed by: Officer Leroy Wimberly 

Once a year, Officer Wimberly gives a schoolwide workshop to the high school students at St. Malachy Catholic School, Paul Laurence Dunbar School and Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School. He teaches students about consent, dating violence, recognizing signs of abuse and how social media can be used for human trafficking recruitment. He also demonstrates some self-defense skills and provides guidance on how to reduce opportunities for victimization. 

9. Crew rowing program 

Offered at: Officer Leroy Wimberly  

Managed by: Officer Leroy Wimberly and Temple Rowing Team 

In partnership with the Temple rowing team, Temple rowers will host North Philadelphia youth on Temple’s campus to demonstrate the mechanics of rowing and get them excited about the sport. Children who express an interest in the sport will join Temple Rowing’s summer camp for Philadelphia youth. Students who excel in the summer camp will be encouraged to join the Philadelphia Rowing Team and can develop themselves as competitive athletes in the sport. 

10. Urban Cowboys Horseback Riding Program 

Offered at: St. Malachy Catholic School, Paul Laurence Dunbar School and Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School 

Managed by: Officers Leroy Wimberly and Jonathan Woodson 

The Urban Cowboys Horseback Riding Program was an activity that TUPD offered to North Philadelphia youth many years ago in an unofficial capacity. Hankins-Padilla is bringing it back now and expanding its reach. Fletcher Street Stables and Philadelphia Urban Riding Academy will each host 16 North Philadelphia youth in their summer programs. The children will learn to ride and care for horses and will also learn about discipline, respect and conflict resolution. 

11. Youth running program 

Offered at: St. Malachy Catholic School and George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science 

Inspired by: Sergeant Christopher Fitzgerald 

Managed by: Officer Seth Green 

Sergeant Christopher Fitzgerald, a member of TUPD who was shot and killed in the line of duty, was an avid runner and loved to share his passion with others. He approached the External Relations Unit with the idea of creating a youth running club that would not only encourage fitness but also instill lessons on stamina, perseverance, goal setting and teamwork. He also believed that encouraging youth to take up running and run alongside police officers could help bring awareness the senseless gun violence impacting the North Philadelphia community and reduce the role that young people played in it. 

This year, the External Relations Unit will launch their inaugural running group in honor of Sergeant Fitzgerald. The running group will include children from the sixth to 12th grades and their goal will be to participate in the Broad Street Run, a 10-mile run through the heart of Philadelphia. 

12. College Settlement Camp partnership 

Offered at: St. Malachy Catholic School and George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science 

Managed by: Officers Ellijah Lewis, Damon Mitchell, David Austin, Leroy Wimberly

This is a day and overnight summer camp located in Horsham, Pennsylvania, that is offered for free to youth of all ages from Philadelphia. Hankins-Padilla and TUPD’s External Relations Unit provide free transportation to the camp for North Philadelphia youth and run training sessions on interpersonal communication and bike safety for the campers. TUPD officers also lead scenic bike rides through Horsham and, last year, donated 25 bicycles to the camp. 

Interested in volunteering in one of these programs? The External Relations Unit is always looking for Temple faculty, staff and students willing to volunteer their time and have fun! Reach out to Monica Hankins-Padilla at monica.hankins@temple.edu for more information.

You can also learn more about the work Temple University does in the North Philadelphia community through this list of community engagement stories!