Our History

Founded in 1989 and incorporated in 1991 by Reverend Dr. Herbert H. Lusk, II , People for People, Inc. (PFP), a 501 (c)(3), not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation, has continuously made enormous progress in the development and revitalization of the North Central Philadelphia community and the lives of its residents and stakeholders by providing education, mentoring, entrepreneurship and property renewal.

The majority of the children and families we serve are predominately low-income African-Americans, more than half of whom live in single-parent family groups. Most are renters. A significant number reside in the West Poplar Apartments, the Richard Allen Homes, and throughout the Francisville and Fairmount communities.

PFP’s mission is to break the repetitive, generational cycle of poverty in the lives of local residents by providing them with what they need to abandon welfare dependency, crime, drugs and hopelessness and to create new, financially stable, self-sustaining lives for themselves and their families.

PFP provides support services to residents in need and makes connections between distressed neighborhoods, concerned leadership and available resources. Its goals include enhancing micro-enterprise development and community revitalization by offering education for all ages, as well as providing individual counseling, job skills assessment and training combined with employer matching services, all of which lead to the rejuvenation of individual lives in the area, one person at a time. In addition, substantial strides have and will continue to take place in the acquisition of land and housing suitable for renovation, in order to increase the number of affordable living options and to create new businesses which will, in turn, bring more jobs to the Francisville / Fairmount communities surrounding People for People, Inc.

People for People, Inc. confronts the challenges of its surrounding community through a holistic approach that brings quality education and social services to and fosters personal responsibility of all generations. The PFP Early Childhood Development Center, the PFP Charter School, the EARN Center and the PFP Institute are all founded on the principle that change in the community as a whole must begin and develop at every age and educational level in order to create a continuum of life practices that will pass to each successive generation. PFP understands that the neighborhood in which it stands is an organic whole, each component of which affects the others around it. So while PFP provides opportunities for adults to catch up on lost educational growth of the past, it also addresses the need to bring solid education to even the youngest community members so that they will be equipped to live healthy lives and contribute to the overall prosperity of the community as they become adults and raise their own children and families. All of this has been made possible over the years by the support of community partners from the metropolitan Philadelphia area who not only have provided the fiscal fuel needed to move programs and services forward, but also the wisdom, expertise and in-kind gifts which have contributed to making People for People what it is today. People for People stands as a testimony to what can be accomplished in a city inspired by one man’s vision, enabled by community effort, and energized by continual success.

We seek to help children, adults, and families to become self-sufficient, productive members of the community and bring our organizational motto to life. People for People, Inc.: Together, WE Change Lives!