NFL News

One Yard. One Block. One Community at a Time.

One Yard. One Block. One Community at a Time.


Lamar Bustion grew up in the Mill Creek section of West Philadelphia. His family has had the same house in that neighborhood for four generations, nearly a century. He went to elementary school at Our Mother of Sorrows/St. Ignatius, attended Roman Catholic High School, and earned his degree from Saint Joseph’s University.

And yet, when he learned about a job opportunity at ACHIEVEability, a nonprofit based near his family’s home in West Philadelphia that seeks to dismantle the cycle of poverty, Bustion thought to himself, “Never heard of it.”

“I did a lot of research and I was like this little organization is making a lot of positive moves in West Philadelphia. And I never heard of them, which is weird,” said Bustion, who worked for ACHIEVEability for two years before joining the Eagles’ marketing team in 2023.

During his job interview, Bustion mentioned that to ACHIEVEability’s Deputy Director Carly Maurer, who wasn’t surprised.

“Yeah, that’s a lot of people’s first impressions,” Maurer responded.

On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Eagles announced the launch of the next phase of the A Fan of Change campaign to spotlight those unheralded organizations, like ACHIEVEability, that are making small wins each and every day even though those achievements don’t always generate headlines. ACHIEVEability was one of nine nonprofits recognized for its impact on the city by the team with a grant from the Eagles Social Justice Fund. Established in 2018, the program has provided area-based organizations with more than $2.3 million in funding.

“Our job was to help in various ways, whether that would be giving people access to higher education, giving people access to steady housing for single parents, or helping people pursue home ownership,” Bustion said. “There are various ways to break the cycle of poverty or learn about financial education and that is what ACHIEVEability really tries to push in our community.”

Jamila Harris-Morrison had a similar experience as Bustion when she first saw an ad on craigslist for a social worker position at ACHIEVEability in 2006. Raised on 57th and Wynnefield streets in West Philadelphia, Harris-Morrison attended Samuel Gompers Elementary School then earned a scholarship to Friends Central High School through the Wynnefield Residents Association. Her family’s household income was $22,000. She was attending high school classes with students who lived just a few blocks from her, but might…

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