Vern Anastasio is coming in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. chair members of the board council. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yeah, it's Vern Anastasio. A. N. A. S. T. A. S. I. O. On behalf of Ms. Jameera Kennedy, who is the principal of the owning entity.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
um um or vice chair has a few questions for you good afternoon afternoon have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes okay and you have a referral
so uh do you waive the reading of your referral and stipulate to its accuracy
i do all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case thanks very much
5325 kershaw street is an application for a group home for
uh young female youth young girls through dhs we're looking for ages 14 to 18
five to six girls in the house no more than two girls per bedroom
Let me show you. This is the general layout of the property in question.
And then I want to show you some photos that will better illustrate.
It's a fully renovated single-family home in a residential block.
There's rear existing access and dedicated off-street parking through the rear.
There's a finished basement that is going to be for additional interior common space and a full bath.
Also, rear access to the property from the rear.
Here's the first floor living area, kitchen, stairway, and rear deck.
Living room, dining room, kitchen.
We have additional second floor living areas and main bath.
We move all of this into evidence.
There will be, there's not going to be any live-ins, but there will be three shifts around the clock of staff.
And their primary goal is to have a safe, clean, nurturing environment for these girls.
As I said, three shifts around the clock, there'll be also training and nurturing as far as life skills, homework, workforce readiness, conflict resolution,
doctor's appointment transportation, therapy transportation, and they'll also, the staff will also work closely with DHS.
Of course, this wouldn't be occupied until a certificate of occupancy was, in fact, secured.
This is a family endeavor, and what I'm going to do is stop sharing this right now and talk to you about who's going to actually be operating.
We're going to start with Jabrera Kennedy, who is a registered nurse specializing in psychiatric and acute care.
She's worked for Children's Hospital, Brooklyn Behavioral Hospital, Jefferson and Duck Toursdale, and Bucks, Einstein Medical Center.
and she has a degree, Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Holy Family.
She does patient care and assessment, acute care, and pharmacology.
I'll get you the next one.
Zakiya Relaford, in fact, is the director, is going to be the director of the facility.
She is a licensed social worker, specializing in behavioral health and patient care experience.
Social worker, specializing in behavioral health and patient care experience in both hospitals, community health, and psychiatric settings.
She has a graduate degree from Widener University with a master in social work.
We've been doing this for quite a long time, working both at Temple University Hospital and Fairmount Behavioral Health System.
And we submitted this separate as an amendment to my exhibits already.
And she also has experience in victims of child abuse.
I just have one more.
Who the owner of the LLC is Jameera Kennedy.
She also has extensive experience with the Miracle Hands Home Network.
She is the owner and the administrator of home health care, providing services for several years now, since 2023.
And prior to that, working at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital.
One more. We had an RCO meeting.
We just recently received, there was a, I think a vote in support and a couple that weren't there were wasn't very well attended. They did suggest that we.
Canvas the immediate area, and so I am going to.
Get that up for you now, just bear with me.
I have a letter of opposition here, right?
Yep, there was only 5 people that showed up at the RCO meeting. None of them were 8 to 1 vote.
The 1, I saw was 4 to 1, but okay, we have more than a dozen immediate neighbors. 1 of the concerns was that there was no immediate neighbor participation.
So, my clients went door to door and got more than a dozen immediate neighbors on Kershaw street itself who support.
And some of them said they've been there 10 years, 40 years, 50 years, 68 years, longtime residents of the block who love the love, the renovation that was done and look forward to having these girls be part of the community.
And with that, I'd like to call Jameera Kennedy to the stand to adopt my testimony.
Jameera should be coming in now
my apartment
hello hi good afternoon everyone sorry could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer. Of course. My name is Jameera Kennedy, J-A-M-I-R-A, Kennedy, K-E-N-N-E-D-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes.
Counsel? Thank you. Ms. Kennedy, did you hear my presentation to the board?
I did. Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge? Yes, sir. Do you adopt it as
your own testimony? Yes. Okay. I just asked you to stick around in the event that there are some
questions from the board okay questions from the board i have a question about the um pipeline for
your your tenants and participants uh where are the youth being referred from department of human
services with the city of philadelphia so are they getting like placed here um and then what's the
What's the average tenure of most tenants?
I'll defer to Ms. Kennedy with that.
Hi, ma'am.
Could you repeat that question for me, please?
I was asking what's the average tenure, and then are they being placed from DHS where, like, they're going to get an automatic placement, or are you getting referrals where then you have to review and vet them?
Yeah, so we'll be referrals specifically from DHS. Also, when it comes to the young girls, typically we will not be extending stay for youths over the age of 18, just because we won't be involved in that program. But it will pretty much be between the ages of 14 and 18, like Mr. Anastasio said.
So it's your, Ms. Kennedy, just for a point of clarity, it's your expectation that the girls
miss kennedy just for point of clarity it's your expectation that um the girls will be there for
four years at a time yes sir okay and then um are they going to the local high school for the
property address or are they going to continue going to whatever school they may already be
enrolled in and then commuting well oh i'm sorry go ahead no please do i i don't know the answer
to that so please the nearest high school to us will be i believe that's overbrook high school
now that these youths are not uh what do you call it registered in a certain school
it will be closest to the home um if they're already at a specific school we do have
transportation to take them to those um neighboring schools wherever you know dhs
state that they they need to need to be at yes so your your staff or whoever you're working with
your team is going to take them from home to school every day not i wouldn't say every day
but that is an option we are close to many uh uh scepter transit lines where the address is
so i'm pretty sure they're they're well old enough to be able to take public transportation
and event but um yes our transportation will always will also be a source as well okay and
then um just because these are you know they're teenagers um i think the question is that question
i have is just like what's your what are your sort of rules and how do you plan to sort of run the
household like what are what are what are the expectations that you will have for just like
basic living for the are they doing their own cooking are they helping with cleaning
or is your staff managing that?
The programming is chore-based, so everyone is going to have a list of chores to do in the
house before and after school. Of course, there's going to be zero tolerance of drug and alcohol
use, and there'll be lots of conflict resolution training as part of the programming there.
And of course, I think I said curfew. If I didn't, of course, there'll be a curfew.
And is the curfew different than the city's already established curfew?
I don't.
That's a good question.
I think it's in alignment with the city's official curfew.
If not, it'll be actually sooner than that on weekends.
Especially for the 14 year olds.
Yeah, I think my question is more like, I think, you know, certainly the number of youth here could be in a family.
So it's not that it's like a overburden on the property itself, but I think this is a, it's a population that obviously at times neighbors have concerns about. And I think that's where sort of just understanding like the structure and what the home life and the regimen of the staff is.
because that seems to be the thing that varies when we talk to different purveyors of these types
of homes seems to really make the difference and this is a mid-block property so just like
understanding what's the plan to sort of integrate them into the overall neighborhood
and then what are the provisions should issues arise like how are they with neighbors or
how are those going to be handled by the operators yeah like it's talked about the
The tour based program, when my client and I discussed it, if they don't do certain things around the house, or if they do things that, of course, argue with a neighbor or something like that, they lose privileges.
And one of those privileges is being able to leave the house outside of going to school. So that's one thing.
The other thing is that Ms. Kennedy has talked about, and we mentioned this at the RCO meeting, that the youth would be involved in block activities, working with the block captain, working with the residents on the block, which is something many of the older residents who have been there 40, 50, 60 years seem to have appreciated.
Okay. And then just a clarity, because I know you all said that they wouldn't be invited to stay after they turn 18. If a youth that's staying in the program, if she turns 18 before she completes her senior year of high school, or she turns 19 in her senior year of high school, do you all allow them to stay at least until they finish that academic year?
Yes. Our staff social worker will be working with their advocate at DHS to ensure that they get through senior year of high school and graduation before off-boarding.
And what does off-boarding mean? You just kick them out? Like, what do you do?
No. That's a great question, and I anticipated that question.
Ms. Kennedy, can you explain what the off-border would mean here, the process through which you would work with the DHS?
Yes, of course. So basically, the whole program is just getting these young girls ready for the world after 18.
Yes, of course. So basically the whole program is just getting these young people.
So, yes, it will be staying in contact with their DA, with their case manager, helping them be enrolled in college,
helping them get the tools they need to go out, go out and have different jobs of their choice.
housing, of course, and pretty much things of all that nature.
And your folks will be working with the DHS social workers to make those landings soft and as comfortable as possible, correct?
Exactly, yes.
Are there any other programs that are available for youth that are aging out of this care that you can tap into?
I'm just thinking, you know, I have a lot of 18, 19 year olds that are still living at home. You know what I mean? Are coming back home. So.
Ms. Kennedy, are you aware of any programs that post 18 that you can connect with?
Right now, other than therapy services, we, again, we don't, you know, we're hoping to understand where these young girls come from, their mental health and things like that.
so therapy is one of the main sources for us when it comes to them um miss kennedy the question was
are there organizations that deal with young young women after their 18th birthday that you
and dhs could connect with oh not at this time i'm starting to understand the question not at this time
but um again we we are open to learning different things and in other places where we can help these
girls out the the last question i have is you you mentioned that there were three um staff members
that would be part of this oh no there'll be more than that for sure i just yeah i just gave you the
three principles okay uh who yeah uh ms kennedy who's the owner of the uh of the ll the company
uh who has a background in in home health care and caregiving okay the director who is the uh
licensed social worker with a master's in social work from wider university has been doing that for quite a long time. And then the registered nurse who will be on on the team at in order to make sure that the care is given it in a correct way.
There will be other secondary often. How often will these folks be at the site on site?
There will be Miss Kennedy can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's going to be 3 shifts.
So there'll be people there at all times, man. I'm saying 1 of these 1 of these principles that you mentioned. Yeah, there'll be 3. there's 3 principles. There'll be 1 of them and each shift.
Okay. Okay.
All right. And I didn't hear how many, how many girls are we talking about here? Well, up to 6, but it's probably going to be more, more like 5.
Okay, and no more than 2 per bedroom.
Okay, and how many bedrooms?
three there may be more bedrooms but there'll be three operating as bedrooms
okay and how many bathrooms miss kennedy how many baths is in the building
yeah we have two full bathrooms and one half bathroom thank you okay and then um uh there's
to be a sitting room area some area where they can gather and what have you there's two levels
of common space the the lower level basement which is a walkout basement from the rear and fully
you know fully finished beautifully appointed and then the living the first floor which is
your traditional philadelphia row home style living room dining room kitchen okay and then
um there's outdoor space there's a rear deck there's a rear deck okay and then uh what about
um meals how are we handling those family style preparation uh staff and the um and the residents
would would be part of not only making the meal but sharing the meal and that'll be part of the
chore based sort of programming that there'll be a rotation as far as probably one or two girls at
a time would assist in the preparation of the meals. Okay and then okay so and where is the staff
going to be? Is there a space set aside for them? Yes, there's a work area. Ms. Kennedy can you
want to speak about that more the uh the room that has the their desk printer and all that
Yes, of course. So, like Mr. Anastasio said, we do have a fully renovated basement, which includes one of the full bathrooms and a full-size bedroom. That bedroom will be used as an office for all of the staff or any staff that's on shift at that time.
yes of course so like mr anastasio said we do have a
For administrative work and things like that.
thank you actually one last question so if something happens off-site but related to one
of the residents what's the protocols in place um like all the girls gonna have cell phones are
they supposed to call uh there's a practical reason i'm asking this because you said that
they would be uh sort of traveling from this location i think like most up the routes for
this location do happen to go through some of the more dangerous intersections of public
transportation um in the city and so like there's almost no local school or like youth typical place
that youth would travel that doesn't kind of have to go through some of the testier areas of west
philly so i just want to know like given that also uh you know these are women who are you know
coming to you from a referral system because of having difficult uh previous lives what's going
to be the protocol for them around safety when they're traveling well there is inside of the home
yep there's emergency response system uh that they have prepared uh each student each child
woman would get that but of course be armed with a cell phone uh and there to call back to the house
if in fact there's an emergency or a crisis. And of course, our social worker will be working with
the DHS social worker to address whatever safety or crisis issue that may arise.
One of the good things about this particular team is that they are used to dealing with
uh those types of emergencies having worked and uh lots of experience in hospital the
university of pennsylvania children's hospital and shriners okay um i have a question about just uh
the the various um concerns from the rco about you know the experience and doing this type of work
the impact on the community and the neighborhood i mean at the block um can you address those
issues i do see that the adjacent houses it looks like from the petition that they
they both signed on 23 and 27. that's correct um but yes could you just address the rco's concerns
yeah i think i think you know i think the rco's concerns are quite legitimate you know they uh
they they don't know this block very well uh and they had some general concerns about as they would
have any or any group home like this uh they want to make sure that it's going to be you know well
run uh and and that the immediate neighbors are embracing it uh subsequent to that we've been able
to uh of course get more than a dozen immediate neighbors to support uh and i think part and
parcel because combined there's over 40 years of experience uh just in the three principles of of
acute care psych psychological care and counseling for youth um and and others you know adults as
So, you know, I moved those 3 resumes into evidence for a reason. I think it's very important that this board understands and, you know, the general public, you know, understands the RCO understands that these are, this is not a fly by night sort of thing.
These are women 3 women with lots of experience.
Questions from our attorney.
No questions at this time, your comments from the virtual audience.
i see noise planning commission nina solomonic with the planning commission
n-i-n-a-s-o-l-o-m-o-n-i-c do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends no change the rm1 residential
multi-family zoning at this location the proposed use should have no detrimental impact beyond what
might ordinarily be expected planning commission recommends the board grant the requested special