Portraits for The BURG: 2020
"In the coldest months, Hari Chakra pulls up to his spot on N. 3rd Street, between Locust and Cranberry streets, and places a single flower on top of his van. He was taught this trick for days like this—really cold ones. After awhile, he will check on the flower, seeing if it has frozen. He handed me today’s test flower, prompting me to feel the petals. If it felt stiff, he would have to keep the bulk of his flowers in the van for the day." (Maddie Conley for The BURG)
"Five days a week, Chakra drives about an hour from his home in Port Royal to pick up flowers from a wholesaler to bring to the city." (Maddie Conley for The BURG)
March, 2020
“Though the idea of “Black Mermaids” originated from that moment in Puerto Rico, the idea goes much deeper than that. Mallory thought of her ancestors who were enslaved and forced on to boats and away from their homelands. What if those who jumped or were thrown overboard then became mermaids?
“So, this reimagining of life after death and linking it to modern day, and all the things that were made to destroy us and yet we still persevere,” she said. “We even turn what is absolute madness in our lives into something that is magical.” (Yaasmeen Piper for The BURG)
Court Appointed Special Advocates: Lori Serratelli
July, 2020
"There are some 400 children in the Dauphin County foster care system. They may find themselves in front of a judge with an attorney they just met and an unfamiliar caseworker, already traumatized in a system that is overwhelmed.
But these children now have a supporter in Court Appointed Special Advocates of Dauphin County (CASA).
“The CASA brings consistency and constancy of commitment,” and stays with a child through their foster care journey, said Lori Serratelli, a former Dauphin County judge now in private practice." (Susan Ryder for The BURG)
Court Appointed Special Advocates: Wanda Heise
July, 2020
"CASA volunteer Wanda Heise described an advocate’s role in the program as seeing “that all the pieces come together in the puzzle and make the outcome as good as possible for these kids.” (Susan Ryder for The BURG)
African American Developers: Tarik Casteel
June, 2020
"In Harrisburg’s Allison Hill, Tarik Casteel is building TLC Cornerstone Renewal, with 50 affordable apartments and townhouses and a community center near N. 15th and Walnut streets.
“I picked that area because it’s one of the worst areas in the city,” said Casteel. “I’m from the community, born and raised in Harrisburg, and I wanted to show that this can happen if you want it to.”
Casteel is president of TLC Construction & Renovations, and its nonprofit arm, TLC Work-Based Training Program. The nonprofit trains such hard-to-place people as veterans and the formerly incarcerated, hiring them for projects on the construction side.
“When you’re using these same people in the community, it gives them a sense of pride because they helped build where they live,” said Casteel. “When people take pride in where they live and pay taxes, they’re not going to tear up where they live because they’ve got skin in the game.”
In 2018, Casteel and his aunt, Juanita Edrington-Grant, imprinted the city landscape with the Harrisburg Uptown Building (HUB) with apartments for homeless veterans, plus the adjacent HUB Veteran Housing Campus. It’s about taking the reins and ensuring that the builders who build and the people who benefit “look like me,” he said." (M. Diane McCormick for The BURG)
African American Developers: LeRon McCoy & Ryan Sanders
June, 2020
"Down in Midtown, Sanders is part of the team behind the planned creation of Jackson Square on N. 6th Street. The partnership, which includes NFL veterans and brothers LeRon and LeSean McCoy, looked at that row of deteriorating buildings with deep roots in Harrisburg’s African-American history—including Jackson House, a Green Book-listed rooming house that hosted legends of jazz and sports—and saw “a great opportunity to preserve culture and history.” (M. Diane McCormick for The BURG)
African American Developers: Corey Dupree
June, 2020
"...at the top of Allison Hill, Garry Gilliam, Jr., is a partner with Corey Dupree, DeZwaan Dubois and Jordan Hill in The Bridge, a venture planning inner-city eco-villages, starting with the McDevitt campus. The idea emerged, in part, from the time Gilliam, Dupree and Dubois spent as students on the comprehensive Milton Hershey School campus, where they knew that the basics of housing, food, education and security were assured." (M. Diane McCormick for The BURG)
August, 2020
“If you’ve visited a Little Amps location, you know the vibe.
It’s modern and hip, with exposed brick walls, yet quirky, as you might just find a plastic dinosaur on a windowsill. The brand is somewhere between trendy and a trendsetter.
Peter Leonard is a visionary behind Little Amps—the products, the brand and the in-store atmosphere. Now, he’s also the chief executive officer.
“I think my personality and presence have shaped a lot of what we’ve become,” Leonard said. “I try to keep thinking about what’s the next best thing. We don’t like to be boring.”
For eight years, Leonard has worked at Little Amps, starting out as a barista and working his way up to part owner and now majority owner.” (Maddie Conley for The BURG)