Note: all week we’ll be sharing reviews and events from Camden small businesses. If you have suggestions, reviews or more, let me know! I’m happy to post. 

Last week I had the honor to sit down with some incredible folks doing even more incredible work here in the city.  I was running out of work on Friday afternoon and was so excited 1) because of the amazing weather – I think it was in the mid-70s when I left work – and 2) because I was finally getting the chance to experience the Camden Store on Haddon Avenue.

In my community development mind, Haddon Avenue is one of the best commercial corridors in Camden. It’s home to Donkey’s Place (which has recently gotten some national credit and attention thanks to ABC), Corrine’s Place (an amazing soul food spot right across the street from Donkey’s), as well the Camden Store (posited ironically directly next to Corrine’s).  I got the opportunity to ride down Haddon Avenue and take in all of the business these places receive – day and night.  Now it’s not just the local businesses on Haddon that get my community developer excited, but also knowing that there is amazing grassroots and engagement work happening at the same time; it echoes a motto I’ve had (and heard) for quite some time in focusing both on lifting up buildings and people – the Camden Store is definitely doing the latter, and they’re doing it well.

I first heard about the Camden Store through Steve Danley and he connected me with the business owner, AJ Riggs. I got the privilege of meeting AJ and two of her colleagues who spoke with me for over an hour in the middle of their storefront about so many amazing topics – I felt like I was getting my own personal sermon, and I mean this in the best possible way because I could hear and sense so much of the passion in that room.

We started by discussing the monthly Good Vibes event that the Camden Store hosts – it’s an incredible youth-led event that takes place at the store on Haddon Ave, but the group is hoping to branch out to larger venues in coming months.  From what they’ve discussed about the amount of folks they draw in from month to month (anywhere between six to sixty people for a full three hours), they shouldn’t have any problem moving into larger places to host more attendees.  The Good Vibes event started in 2016 and focuses on providing youth in the city (the average age of the attendees is about 23 years old) a platform to express themselves in whatever way they see fit.  Some do spoken word poetry and rap, others art, some discuss politics or heavier issues that are weighing on their hearts and minds (like sex or suicide): “These young people want to be conscious…or (how do they say it now?) woke!”

AJ and her colleagues gave amazing perspective on the way that engagement has existed with youth historically as well as their sense of responsibility to do better than the generation before them and pour into Millennials and Generation Z.  “Our job isn’t to tell these kids what they need to do (like our parents did)…all we want to do is to have young folks understand what they believe…and pour into them without forcing it.”  From what I’ve seen in the city I have noticed an attachment to the youth of Camden, for many reasons, but to be honest this was the first notion where I started to see some matured sense of engagement come through.  One of the most sustainable forms of community development is this idea of ownership; if you can build enough capacity within a community to keep on developing after a consultant has left or a movement has died down, as long as the social capital is there, that community can continue to thrive.  I love the fact that Good Vibes and the Camden Store have taken on this approach of understanding with youth engagement. 

I wrote a post a few weeks ago (which some called heated but in a good way) about younger generations being today’s leaders and no longer being referred to as “tomorrow’s leaders” and this was confirmation of that understanding being taken seriously.  There was mention that this year, the Camden Store wanted to take the Good Vibes event to another level and focus on raising more leaders (the event also focuses on civic responsibility and voter registration movements as well).  Engagement with local government officials has been easier than expected in certain circles for the Camden Store where resources that could easily be utilized in the city have been left vacant or unattended, “We talked to Mayor Moran and he agreed with us before we even opened our mouths! … We’re re-learning how government works…[the community] isn’t helpless…we just need the resources and we need to know how to hold the government accountable.”

Candid footage of some of the talent we had at Good Vibes.?????

Posted by The Camden Store Presents: Good Vibes Open Mic on Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Aside from their amazing youth engagement work (including Good Vibes and the 100 Suits for 100 Men clothing initiative), the Camden Store is also available to the community at-large as a pop shop to promote small business.  For $65 a day between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm, anyone can use the storefront property on Haddon Avenue to promote their small business (a discount is offered for folks who want to use the store for multiple days).  When the shop isn’t being used for a small business, you can also buy some awesome merchandise from the store like hoodies in deep purple with gold-lettered phrases like ‘Made in Camden’ or a t-shirt labeled ‘CMD: Chasing My Dreamz.’ 

#goodvibes #openmic #thecamdenstore

Posted by The Camden Store Presents: Good Vibes Open Mic on Saturday, January 27, 2018

I’m looking forward to seeing how much further the Camden Store pushes the city’s youth, including myself, and I’m so excited and grateful for the opportunities they’re creating for people like me.

The next upcoming Good Vibes event will take place this Saturday evening at the Camden Store (1250 Haddon Avenue) starting at 7:00 pm.

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