One day Shelly Yanoff came into the office with pneumonia. When the region’s legendary children’s advocate stepped through the doorway of Public Citizens for Children Youth (PCCY) pale and sweating, at first, her staff stared at her in disbelief. But we should not have—because one thing you can believe about Shelly Yanoff is that she lives to improve life’s chances for children.

But after 26 years as executive director of PCCY, Yanoff is retiring. Surrounded by hundreds of well-wishers at her retirement party at Moore College of Art recently, she said, “It’s clear the work is not done. But step by step, we can and will make it better.”

I first met Yanoff  in the early ’90s when I was a Philadelphia Daily Newseducation reporter. This was in the years of Constance Clayton, Rotan Lee and Judge Doris Smith overseeing a desegregation suit stretching into its 20th year. Too many public schools, much like now, were unsafe, under-resourced and under-performing.

Yanoff always accepted my calls for comment. Under her watch, no news article, policy campaign or public education event occurred without citizens hearing its implications for the region’s children.

“She’s been out there at the very forefront of making us live up to our responsibility to future generations,” Congressman Chaka Fattah told the crowd at the retirement event.

Indeed, Yanoff was instrumental in the securing of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), providing free public bus rides to school for Philadelphia children, getting full-day kindergarten offered, and saving children from lead poisoning.

In 2005, I went to work for Yanoff, eventually becoming her Education Director. She knew how draining and frustrating the education advocacy work could be. Some days, watching the school district re-introduce another failing school policy reminded us of the movie “Groundhog Day”.

During a long state budget fight, Yanoff sent some staffers out of the office to an elementary school in South Philadelphia that was hosting a Freedom Schools summer camp.

The campers ended their day with rhythmic, spirited, high-energy chants about justice and self-pride. Pretty soon, I was tapping my foot. I left there with the students’ chants ringing in my ears and enough energy to keep fighting for the education funding those students’ schools needed.

Many people have stories about  Yanoff and her work. Former mayor W. Wilson Goode assured the crowd at the event that Yanoff was “causing trouble” for policy makers long before she took the helm at PCCY. “The lives of children and the future of children is much better because of Shelly Yanoff,” he said.

Former governor Edward Rendell sent statements to the retirement party that perhaps best concluded what we’ve learned from Yanoff: “All of us have to get engaged.”

I’m not sure how Yanoff will spend her retirement. But I know she’ll continue believing in her refrain to all of us: “Do what you can for kids.”

Liberty City Press – December 18, 2012 – 在线阅读文章