Wharton class honors Rendell

A surprised Mayor Ed Rendell accepted an award yesterday for his dedication to the issue of homelessness in Philadelphia from the Homeless Education and Learning Program, a group of Wharton freshmen in the Management 100 program. The award was given as part of a seminar/luncheon in Bodek Lounge, attended by more than 20 faculty, students and parents. After receiving the honor, Rendell spoke about the lack of permanent solutions to homelessness, the need for more public support for long-term programs and the threat posed to such initiatives by pending Congressional welfare reform. Wharton freshman Timothy Ballard said the project was a learning experience for all involved. "At the beginning, none of us were that aware of the homeless problem in Philadelphia," Ballard said of his fellow organizers. "But as the project got on, we became more aware. We got to see how big the problem is." In addition to planning yesterday's seminar and awards presentation, the students also visited area shelters in an effort to assess for themselves the extent of homelessness in the city. The group's research was conducted with the aid of local organizations, including St. John's Hospice, the Office of Services for the Homeless & Adults and the Christ Mission homeless shelter for men. Social Work Professor Dennis Culhane began yesterday's lecture with an overview of the sociology of homelessness. Culhane is the creator of the Homeless Prevention Program, a community-based approach to solving the social problem. Awards were then presented to individuals whom the organizers considered advocates on behalf of the city's homeless. "Basically, [the ceremony] is to honor those who had made the community more aware of the problem," Ballard explained. In addition to Rendell, the other honorees included St. John's Hospice Administrator Brother Brandan Scully and Gloria Guard, executive director of the People's Emergency Center, Pennsylvania's oldest shelter for homeless women, children and teenage girls. Since Guard could not attend the presentation, fellow center official Susan Daly accepted the award on her behalf. Following the awards ceremony, organizers presented their group's work with the issue of homelessness in Philadelphia. To close the event, the students honored the Rev. Cleveland Dawson of Christ Mission. They presented him with a check for $850 for the shelter. The donations were the result of a semester's worth of fundraising by members of the Penn community. Wharton freshman Alison Dick summed up the semester's experience. "We all became much more genuinely concerned [about homelessness] than we originally were, where we were much more apathetic before," she said.