
Joseph and Dorothea Jenkins (right) listen as Penn Memory Center intern Tobi Akindoju presents the results of his research at the University of Pennsylvania last summer.
Joseph Jenkins was skeptical when he heard the Penn Memory Center was conducting research in his neighborhood.
A retired SEPTA employee living in West Philadelphia, he had spent his fair share of time participating in other organizations’ surveys and questionnaires about his community without ever seeing a result.
There was the bus station shelter he wanted to see installed on a nearby street corner.
No action.
Then there was that meeting at White Rock Baptist Church, where city officials made promise after promise about other improvements to the city.
No action.
“They never do anything,” he said. “Every time we have a meeting like this, nothing ever happens.”