Yvonne Haskins, a force of nature and beloved activist who was dedicated to community advocacy in Mt. Airy, Germantown, and throughout Philadelphia, died Sept. 29 of metastatic breast cancer. She was 88.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe taught us to be fearless, to challenge our elected representatives, push them to do the work of their constituents, and recognize that we, as voters, are empowered because we are the ones who put them in elected office,\u201d said Garlen Capita, president of the executive committee of the Germantown United Community Development Corporation (CDC). \u201cWe have lost a giant, and her shoes are too big to fill. She left a void, but she also left a powerful legacy and something to aspire to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haskins became a Philadelphia police officer in 1964 and served under Frank Rizzo, who allowed her to become the first woman police officer to have a fixed shift and attend college full-time as well. She graduated from Temple University in 1968.<\/p>\n
Haskins also worked at the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission, where she proposed a new police\/community relations unit. Her next role was as a criminal justice administrator, with positions as the regional director of the Governor\u2019s Justice Commission and head of the Philadelphia office of the Pennsylvania Parole Board.<\/p>\n
She grew up in Georgia and enrolled at Spelman College at age 16 in 1954, but two years later, left the college and moved to Philadelphia with her parents.<\/p>\n
In 1986, Haskins graduated from Temple\u2019s law school and was hired by the Schnader, Harrison, Segal and Lewis law firm. She eventually transferred to Ballard Spahr, later becoming Camden\u2019s city attorney.<\/p>\n
Haskins married her first husband Walter Booker at 19, and had two sons before divorcing. She later married Harold Haskins, an activist and an administrator at the University of Pennsylvania, and the couple welcomed daughter Kristin.<\/p>\n
When Haskins moved to Mt. Airy in 1971, she was hired as the second executive director of West Mt. Airy Neighbors. This would not be the only community organization in which she was involved, as Haskins would go on to help found the Germantown United CDC in 2011 and become a board member of the Mt. Airy Business Improvement District (BID).<\/p>\n
At the Mt. Airy BID, Haskins, an avid gardener, helped launch the organization\u2019s pocket park project, beautifying Germantown Avenue by converting neglected lots into green spaces. According to Janis Risch, executive director of the Mt. Airy BID, Haskins added sedum plants from her own mother\u2019s garden that had been cultivated for decades. Haskins would water the gardens herself, even on hot summer days.<\/p>\n
She also convinced Ken Weinstein, a real estate developer and fellow member of the Mt. Airy BID\u2019s executive committee, to support the project and get a formal arrangement with SEPTA to expand the planting beds and install benches at the bus depot at Westview Avenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad that my wife, Judy, and I were able to spend time with Yvonne\u201d on Sept. 25, Weinstein said. \u201cShe was as sharp and passionate as always, remembering details of a Germantown zoning matter that I had forgotten years ago. \u2026I often referred to her as \u2018good trouble\u2019 because she spoke truth to power and took action to make our neighborhood and world a better place to live, work, and enjoy. Yvonne was the perfect combination of passionate and effective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emaleigh Doley, former executive director of Germantown United CDC, said she \u201cquickly hit it off\u201d with Haskins when they first connected in 2011 through community improvement efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe challenged me to always do better,\u201d Doley said. \u201cThough she was serious, she made organizing fun, and there was always laughter. I will also never forget her smile and the twinkle she\u2019d get in her eye while strategizing or celebrating a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haskins was involved in countless advocacy efforts in Northwest Philadelphia, including saving the Germantown YWCA and redeveloping the Germantown Town Hall, investing in the Germantown and Chelten Avenue corridors, demanding the city and the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority take responsibility for the neglected Germantown Settlement properties, and supporting various candidates in local, state, and federal elections. In the spring, she hosted a fundraiser for state Rep. Chris Rabb\u2019s congressional campaign at her home in Germantown.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe always wanted to provide a space and a center for those to gather to strategize and come to her for advice,\u201d said her daughter, Kristin Haskins Simms. \u201c[My father, Harold, and mother] were like the nucleus of movements, no matter what it was. \u2026Even without my father, she continued that legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seth Anderson-Oberman, executive director of Reclaim Philadelphia, said he met Haskins the year before he ran for City Council in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe built a real friendship that also made room for plenty of spirited disagreement, too,\u201d Anderson-Oberman said. \u201cShe loved a good argument. I am grateful for every minute I got to spend with Yvonne. She was a tenacious fighter for a better, more just world. And she loved this community and its people with her full heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ann Doley, an activist and friend who has worked extensively on efforts to save the YWCA, said Haskins was a \u201csuperwoman\u201d who had \u201cthe fastest pen in Germantown,\u201d constantly sending letters to elected officials and others in power. Doley said the work Haskins did to prevent the YWCA from being demolished is \u201cher gift to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYvonne was my partner in \u2018good trouble,\u2019\u201d Doley told the Local. \u201cI\u2019m lost without her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renee Cunningham, executive director of Center in the Park in Germantown, met Haskins through her YWCA advocacy efforts, but had heard of her in the news beforehand.<\/p>\n
\u201cYvonne\u2019s body of work was impressive and imposing and she had the physicality to match \u2014 she was tall and poised, stylish and graceful,\u201d Cunningham wrote in a tribute. \u201cShe was eloquent and erudite but she did not mince words \u2014 her wit and tongue were both razor sharp. I was giddy anytime I saw the words \u2018Yvonne Haskins commented\u2026\u2019 What a treat to watch her cook! Back and forth \u2014 pointed without getting personal, factual yet impassioned. Sometimes I would screenshot her comments so I could read them again later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even as Haskins\u2019 health declined, she remained a committed activist.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in constant awe of her determination, strength, and resilience: testifying in court between aggressive chemo treatments, checking in on group strategy between rehab stints after surgeries,\u201d Cunningham wrote. \u201cLess than three weeks ago I had her on speakerphone on my cell, holding it up to the mic on my laptop, so she could participate in a community meeting from her hospital bed. She was indefatigable to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kristin Haskins Simms said she will remember her mother\u2019s humor, even in her last moments. Known as \u201cPeachy\u201d or \u201cPeaches\u201d in her family because of her Georgia upbringing, Haskins was funny \u201cto her last day on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve all been just regaling and laughing and crying, or repeating these stories,\u201d she said. \u201cShe was a force to be reckoned with, and she was somebody that when she spoke, you listened. You paid attention. She commanded a room.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Simms, the best way to honor Haskins is to \u201cnot be complacent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was always an advocate for voting, even when it\u2019s not a presidential or major election,\u201d she said. \u201cShe was from the generation of those who fought for civil rights. \u2026She lived through Jim Crow, and she saw what we were fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, filmmaker Michael Schweisheimer, recorded hours of personal interviews with Haskins for a future feature called \u201cExceptionally Ordinary.\u201d The documentary does not have a release date yet, but Simms said some footage will be played during Haskins\u2019 memorial service.<\/p>\n
The Mt. Airy BID recently announced that Trolley Car Park on the 6700 block of Germantown Avenue will be renamed \u201cYvonne Haskins Park\u201d and a \u201cGood Trouble\u201d plaque will be placed on one of the park\u2019s benches.<\/p>\n
Haskins is predeceased by her husband, Harold, and her two sons, Russell and Randall. She is survived by her daughter, Kristin (married to Harold Simms), grandson Quincy, and great-grandson Damien.<\/p>\n
A memorial service for Yvonne Haskins will be held at First United Methodist Church of Germantown (FUMCOG) on Nov. 7 at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n