Pennsylvania

Phil Baker

The Youth Alliance Pennsylvania Director
phil@theyouthalliance.com 

Phil Baker has served and inspired the emerging generations for the past 25 years in many different venues. His Master’s Degree work at Huntington University in Indiana has focused on the development of online programs in equipping those working with youth here in the US and around the globe.

“Receiving the ‘Friend of Education’ award from a local school district in 2010 epitomizes my aspirations to see communities come together to serve and inspire teens to greatness. I am amazed at the limitless potential that is realized when we come alongside teens right where they are at, help them see the seeds of destiny that are within, nurture their skills and giftings, and then release them into a hope-filled future!”

Phil has been married to Beth for over 25 years, and their greatest pride is in seeing their 4 children, now in High School and College, pursuing lives of tremendous passion and purpose. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in January of 2011 along with his 15 year old son, Josiah, to raise money to drill clean water wells in East Africa is one of those expressions of the heights Phil is willing go to significantly impact the lives of the emerging generations and beyond.

Programs & Events

Restart

Restart is an outreach for homeless men and women on the streets of Center City Philadelphia.

In February 2002 I began bringing food down to the men and women in Center City Philadelphia. I soon learned that these men and women were homeless not helpless. Through each personal story, I grew to understand that these were not bums, but children of God who were out of place. It did not take long to realize that the common factor for homelessness was not drugs, alcohol, and mental illness, but lack of a supportive family. I found that there were capable men who were wanted to work, but were unable to get jobs because they had no identification. It was a vicious cycle; they could not get ID because they didn’t have any ID.

Three years later, we now serve an outdoor meal every Monday afternoon at 4PM in front of downtown’s Free Library. We serve food and Christian love to 100-250 homeless and working poor, and provide the means to get proper state identification. While one food line forms for a buffet line of food, another line forms where men and women wait for help to get birth certificates and state ID’s. From all over the city, the homeless come for the state ID checks (written to state agencies) that will allow them to get jobs, into rehab, and to collect benefits. Thousands have come through the ID line and many more to get a warm meal. Though these men and women don’t always have strong family ties, we come together as a Christian family to serve the needs of the needy.

Adam Bruckner, Founder