Editor’s Note: West Philly Local is proud to present the fourth in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Check Them That Do for more information, updates and additional photos.

Juanita Lewis Hatton / Photo by Lori Waselchuk.

Juanita Lewis Hatton leans over the thick black back-support belt, noisily adjusting the Velcro clasp. “Oh God!” she says. “I suffer with this back pain. It’s not as bad as yesterday, mind you,” she tells me.

Ms. Hatton was preparing to step outside and distribute her monthly newsletter door-to-door for the residents of the 3900 block of Poplar St, where she is the block captain. She lives on a street peppered with vacant lots, abandoned buildings and dilapidated homes. Yet the street has no visible trash and the grass in vacant lots is cut.

Hatton moved into her two-story row home on Poplar St. in 2009. Within the first week of moving in, she swept as if it was an obvious thing to do. The neighbors were intrigued. They questioned the 72-year-old grandmother to find out which government agency she worked for.

Hatton’s answer: “I don’t work for the city. I just don’t like livin’ around dirt!”

Hatton has been a block captain for over a total of 38 years. Most of those years she served her former block in Nicetown where she became known as the ‘Granny of Nicetown’. She rallied her neighbors to board up abandoned houses, organized neighborhood watches, planned summer festivals and flea markets, connected civic and health resources to the community and she spearheaded the rehabilitation of Nicetown Park on Germantown Avenue.

Hatton wrote lots of letters too. She wrote to President Bill Clinton for years to let him know what was going on in Philadelphia neighborhoods during the crack epidemic of the late 80’s and 90’s.  Her letters went unanswered until Clinton’s office called Hatton in 1997 to tell her that Clinton selected Nicetown to host his Summit For America’s Future.

She was prominent voice in her community, often quoted in local media, using folksy mottos like “It’s not about me, it’s about the children” or “It’s not a ‘I’ thing, it’s a ‘we’ thing.” – which she still says today.

Hatton continues to spread the ‘we thing’ through her newsletter, which she delivers monthly from April through December. The home-made publication shares information about block news, opportunities for children, news for senior citizens, and updates on city government because “Information disseminated makes a strong community,” Hatton preaches.

So Hatton strapped on a back support belt on a morning in order to distribute her newsletter. She continues despite the painful back, “I still got a lot of years of running to do to get this neighborhood straight for the children.”

To see Juanita Hatton in action on Poplar Street go to Them That Do.

–Lori Waselchuk