About WMAN

West Mt. Airy Neighbors had founders with the vision to see racial integration of the neighborhood as a benefit to the whole community, rather than a threat. This history of the organization is necessarily brief.

This year – 1999 – marks the 40^th year that WMAN has worked to preserve and enhance our richly diverse urban community, but the origins of WMAN go back even further, to 1953. In that year, religious and lay leaders of the Unitarian Society of Germantown, Germantown Jewish Centre and Episcopal Church formed the Church Community Relations Council of Pelham. They drafted a statement of moral principle, This We Believe About Our Neighborhood, held discussions within and among congregations, in homes and religious institutions, spoke out to promote a positive attitude toward change and prepared guidelines to eliminate panic-induced flight of white residents. The same year, the Allens Lane Art Center, an outgrowth of the Henry Home and School Association, was founded to bring people of different races together through the arts. The Center was envisioned as a way to reduce racial tension at the school.

In 1954, a group calling itself "West Mt. Airy Neighbors" met at the Germantown Jewish Centre, elected officers and drafted a three-plank program aimed at the development of a "truly integrated" neighborhood. This group concentrated on finding as many "like-minded" people on as many blocks as possible within the area bounded by Ellet Street, Wayne Avenue and the railroad. This group cooperated with the Church Community Relations Council. Both organizations held joint meetings that included both African-American and Caucasian residents.

In 1958, WMAN was organized as an umbrella group, a central organization with clout, to speak on behalf of all of West Mt. Airy. It was founded by George Schermer and an inter-racial core group of 50 families drawn from activists in the earlier organizations. Schermer delineated structure, purpose, boundaries, committees, tasks and even committee membership.

On January 13, 1959, a public organizational meeting was held with Schermer and Henry Churchill as speakers, and 300 people in attendance.

This was a period characterized by bold thinking, bold action and public relations savvy. Efforts went into developing a system of committees and actions that could control external pressures toward racial transition. Block-busting, the practice by unscrupulous realtors of persuading white homeowners to sell quickly, and usually at a loss, by appealing to the fear that minority groups will move into the neighborhood, causing property values to decline, and then reselling the property at inflated prices, was prevented in West Mt. Airy because WMAN’s role as a clearinghouse for real estate practices. WMAN’s agenda stressed the positive aspects of the community, emphasizing how desirable a neighborhood it was for both African-American and white residents. A list of the original committees and their mandates and actions shows the focus of the organization.

• Schools & Education -- Concerned about racial balance. Presented School District with a city-wide plan for integrated schools, including integrated faculty.

• Membership -- Used mailings and phone calls, personal house-to-house visits, block meetings and publicity. Membership grew from 300 in 1959 to 700 in 1965, and included 31% of owner-occupied residences.

• Zoning and Planning -- A watchdog to examine every request for a variance. Also set policy and planned for action.

• Real Estate Survey -- Identified problem properties and found practical solutions.

• Real Estate Practices -- Monitored advertising, soliciting and sales pressure. Established code of ethics for real estate agents, including use and number of sale signs and sold signs.

• Public Relations -- Sold the neighborhood through creative marketing:

  • Sent promotional brochures to prospective buyers

  • Community-wide Open House to show quality and variety of housing

  • United Nations Delegates Weekend

  • International Students Weekend

  • Community Service Awards to focus attention on positive aspects and reward allies, i.e., Chernock, Allens Lane Art Center, 14^th Police District

  • Position organization to receive favorable recognition, i.e., Brotherhood Week Award

  • Press releases on public issues (often controversial) to mobilize public opinion

  • Outreach to other communities -- Panel of Philadelphians

By 1965, West Mt. Airy had achieved stability and WMAN efforts turned toward improving the quality of internal community life. WMAN became a clearinghouse of ideas and projects that were left to the local block organizations to accept, modify or reject.

New activities included:

• Walk ’n Talk -- a series of neighborhood block parties

• Mt. Airy Day -- in cooperation with East Mt. Airy Neighbors (EMAN)

• New Neighbors Tea -- an annual event for new residents

• Speakers Bureau -- outreach to other communities

• Community Services Corp. -- started WMAN’s Childrens' Program, Toddlers & Twos and After School Program

• Local School promotion -- Acquired "Deseg Money" for Henry and Houston Schools, sponsored Open House events at schools, published pamphlet on area schools

• Participated in zoning remapping projects with EMAN

• Established Ned Wolf Park at Ellet and McCallum Streets

• Operated Landlord/Tenant Project

• Planted over 200 trees on Germantown Avenue

• Planning and Market Study of Germantown Avenue

• Annual Clean Up Day

• Responsible for renovation of three train stations

• Published Welcome to Mt. Airy brochure

• Established Mt. Airy Historical Awareness Committee, which published booklet entitled Mt. Airy in Philadelphia: A Pioneering Community

Since 1980, WMAN has cooperated with EMAN to establish the following organizations:

• Mt. Airy Village Development Corporation (Now known as Mt. Airy USA, or MAUSA)

• Mt. Airy Learning Tree -- a variety of classes offered to the community at inexpensive prices to suit many interests, from cooking to dancing to cheap travel to managing finances to music to meditation to intellectual interests. Teachers are sometimes our neighbors.

• Mt. Airy Times Express newspaper (now independent)

• Beautification Committee

• Schools Committee

• Youth Services Committee

The joint WMAN/EMAN Historical Awareness Committee has:

• Published historical calendars in 1981 and 1982.

• Put Mt. Airy’s section of Germantown Avenue on the National Register of Historical Places in 1987

• Supported research and tours of Pelham and former Gowen Estate 1986-1988

• Published Mt. Airy Bibliography 1991, 1994, 1998

• Sponsored Pelham Centennial Celebration 1993