Honoring and recognizing The MAAFA Redemption Project and its Executive Director, Rev. Marshall Hatch Jr., for creating a safe, healing, and disciplined pathway for young men to reimagine themselves as leaders and change agents-work that reflects the same fight for opportunity, safety, and dignity championed in Philadelphia's neighborhoods.

Honoring and recognizing The MAAFA Redemption Project and its Executive Director, Rev. Marshall Hatch Jr., for creating a safe, healing, and disciplined pathway for young men to reimagine themselves as leaders and change agents-work that reflects the same fight for opportunity, safety, and dignity championed in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods . WHEREAS, The Council of the City of Philadelphia recognizes that too many communities-here in Philadelphia and across the country-are forced to confront the daily impacts of violence, disinvestment, and limited opportunity, and that real public safety requires prevention, healing, and clear pathways to employment, stability, and purpose; and WHEREAS, The MAAFA Redemption Project is a faith-based, residential institute in West Garfield Park, Chicago, that supports emerging adult men of color through housing, workforce training, character and spiritual development, and wrap-around social services, using community and structure to support personal transformation; and WHEREAS, As a ministry of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, MAAFA educates and empowers Black youth and young adults by providing a safe and healing environment and engaging them in a “Sankofa movement” rooted in the belief that communities are restored when individuals are given the tools and support to restore themselves; and WHEREAS, MAAFA’s model centers accountability and growth by investing in the whole person-mind, body, and spirit while pairing intensive mento…