North Central Philadelphia: A bookstore brings support for a growing community

North Philadelphia's children are getting a burst of hope and creativity from their community non-profit used bookstore, Tree House Books. The main mission of Tree House Books is to "grow and sustain a community of readers, writers and thinkers,” and the bookstore offers a large variety of different programs that they like to refer to as “creative experiments” to offer to the community.

Danielle Mancinelli is the person to talk to if you have questions. Mancinelli has been a volunteer here for four years and now heads the JSM program, a leadership training program for 11-15 year olds as the program coordinator. She’s seen the space and organization change a lot from its inception, but it’s always kept the same fundamental goals and connections with the community. When asked about the years spent at Tree House Books, Mancinelli said, “It's just been really beautiful for me to see the growth in the organization and also the growth in the kids.”

Lauren Macaluso has been volunteering at Tree House Books for a year now and she now leads as the volunteer coordinator for the non-profit. When it comes to working with the volunteers, she says, “I love working with the volunteers here, because they learn just as much about themselves and the kids as the kids learn about themselves. It really is a learning experience for the volunteers just as much as it is for the kids.”

Tree House Books houses after school tutoring for near by schools Tuesday-Friday 3:00pm - 5:30pm and they also have fun-filled creative nights like open-mic nights and international night during which students and volunteers “travel” to different locations and learn about the different cultures of their journeys.





Naima Abdi and Tiffany Yoon, Group 33, North Central Philadelphia