By Robert Powers on
Earlier this month rocker Jon Bon Jovi, standing alongside former President Bill Clinton, announced the proposed renovation and rebuilding of fifteen abandoned row houses in North Central Philadelphia.
The newly refurbished homes are to be part of the charitable initiative “Phase V Homeownership Project”, which will work to provide affordable and environmentally-friendly quality housing to first-time homeowners that might otherwise go homeless.
The project represents the flagship initiative of the newly formed Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation and involves the efforts of Saturn, Habitat For Humanity, and Project HOME as cooperating partners.
The Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation will finance the project with Saturn who is also ensuring that the homes are eco-friendly, Habitat for Humanity will oversee construction of the homes, and Project HOME will assist prospective homeowners with the training of skills required of homeownership.
Bon Jovi, who was also recently made Habitat for Humanity’s first ever Habitat Ambassador, has himself pledged $450,000 to the project.
“It is my sincere and heartfelt desire not to let neighborhoods deteriorate any further,” he said during a press conference to mark the start of the project.
In May of this year Bon Jovi was given the HELP Heroes Award by HELP USA, a charitable organization that works to assist the country’s homeless, during a tribute dinner that also honored director Martin Scorsese. More recently, he was presented with the City of Brotherly Love Award by Philadelphia mayor John F. Street.
“It gives me great joy,” Bon Jovi has said of doing work for charity, “There’s just too many haves and have-nots in the country.”
Copyright © 2006 Look to the Stars
