Through a blend of community activism and academic scholarship, Vernon Park’s Center in the Park played host to the partnership between the Friends for the Restoration of the Germantown YWCA Building and a group of students and staff from Bryn Mawr College on June 18. The college affiliates made the 30-minute trek eastbound on the hot summer day to share lunch with the activist group and discuss their joint project to share the deep, complicated history of the Germantown YWCA.

The Germantown Y has been the center of political discourse and discussion for what feels like forever for Germantown citizens. The building has been vacant for approximately two decades and has been stuck in development limbo since 2016 when the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority selected KBK Enterprises to revitalize the historic property. 

The building is now the focus of a heated legal battle wherein Ken Weinstein, a prominent local real estate developer, is leading a push to become the building’s new conservator under Act 135. This act aims to rejuvenate neglected and deteriorating properties.

Now, as the Friends of the Y advocate for and demand immediate and thorough remediation of the community pillar that is the Germantown YWCA, the vital next door neighbor of Vernon Park, they are joined by five students from Bryn Mawr. These students,  Isbah Ameer, Emma Dermansky, Nada Elshafey, Anna Nguyen, and Fiona Shen, are part of the Digital Scholarship Summer Fellows Program alongside the college’s Praxis Program that has been engaged with the Germantown community for over two years.

Senior associate director of the Praxis Program Liv Raddatz describes the Praxis program as community-engaged learning. “Praxis is an experiential, community-based learning program that integrates theory and practice through student engagement in active, relevant fieldwork that is integrated into academic courses,” she explained.

The Y’s history goes beyond the recent revitalization discourse, though. The building was a pillar of community in Germantown since 1914, where children would play, learn, and grow. This is the history the students of Bryn Mawr College hope to capture. 

To work on their digital project, the students have been looking to the guidance of those who lived in Germantown, grew up around the drastically changing environments and demographics, and attended the Y while it was still functioning. 

Senior digital scholarship specialist for Bryn Mawr College, Alice McGrath, noted the importance of the students finding guidance in the community when interviewed after the luncheon, saying,, “This visit was crucial because they got to meet and speak with some of the community stakeholders in this project and also get a sense of the spaces and the neighborhood their project engages with.”

The Friends of the Y has several members with deeply rooted connections and a thorough understanding of the spaces around Germantown, one being Barbara Dowdall. 

Dowdall grew up in Germantown and spent her entire life in the Philadelphia area as a teacher. Today, she advocates for providing the youth of Philadelphia to get the resources and extracurriculars they need, researches and teaches through the Germantown Historical Society, and actively speaks out alongside fellow members of the Friends for the Restoration of the Germantown YWCA Building. Dowdall remembers growing up at the Y and learning to swim there at nine years old.

Memories like these are among the many that were shared over lunch at the Center in the Park. 

The day began at the Center, graciously hosted by Center in the Park Executive Director Reneé Cunningham. The Friends of the Y shared the history and stories surrounding the Y building and other historical moments and areas around Germantown while the Bryn Mawr students asked questions. 

The students paid careful attention to the outpouring of information as they researched for their project. They intend to preserve Germantown’s rich history through an interactive website including digital representations of the buildings, architectural plans, an interactive timeline, and more. 

After lunch, the group moved to Germantown Historical Society, as students passed by notable murals and buildings along the way. The students got to meet with Historic Germantown Executive Director Tuomi Forrest who dug deeper into Germantown’s meaningful history and some of the gallery exhibits available to explore.

Rising sophomore Fiona Shen noted the sheer power of walking through Germantown, saying, “Seeing the YWCA building in person, its size and significance became more apparent, emphasizing how pictures aren’t enough to capture the real essence of a place. The YWCA was a central hub where people grew up, learned to swim, and connected with each other.”

Previous students and staff that were involved with the Praxis Program and Digital Scholarship Program at Bryn Mawr helped the Friends of the Y develop a community engagement survey that included questions about the future of the YWCA building. 

According to Ann Marie Doley, Friend of the Y Coordinator, the overwhelming majority surveyed were in favor of some sort of affordable housing; perfect in the midst of the gentrification of the area. Dowdall believes the building could be used for inexpensive, multi-generational housing, echoing the ideology of local activist and Gray Panthers founder, Maggie Kuhn, who believed in bringing the young and old together for social change. 

In addition to all the social and political aspects of Germantown’s narrative, Kuhn is one of several important characters in the story of the Y’s history that will be told through the creativity of the Bryn Mawr students. 

Rising junior computer science student Isbah Ameer summarized the project after the luncheon: "It was striking how many people love this building so much, and are so generous with their time and energy to teach us about it. How much care has gone into preserving its history by so many people and their willingness to have us come in and help us learn it is wonderful.”

Likewise, Shen expressed the importance of these stories as well as her excitement to tell them. “The visit made me realize even more how everyone has different ideas and perspectives,” she said. “We hope to utilize our website to express these opinions and feelings toward the Germantown YWCA in the best way possible.”