
Becoming Empowered Neighbors That name was created around 1990 from the acronym BEN. (Ben has been my nickname since birth.) It resulted from the frequent inquiries from other males in the neighborhood about who I was - as I walked around picking up litter and interacting with (while providing positive role modeling for) the dozens of unsupervised children on our block: "You FBI? CIA? PO-LEECE?" I always responded, "No, I'm Ben." Other than these unemployed males, usually sitting on a porch drinking beer out of a bottle hidden inside a brown paper bag, there seldom were any other adults visible on our block with whom one could interact on a daily basis. There were always 30 to 50 children playing all over the sidewalks, alleys and street but seldom any adults - especially the adults responsible for the safety of those unsupervised children.

Becoming Empowered Neighbors

That name was created around 1990 from the acronym BEN. (Ben has been my nickname since birth.) It resulted from the frequent inquiries from other males in the neighborhood about who I was - as I walked around picking up litter and interacting with (while providing positive role modeling for) the dozens of unsupervised children on our block:

"You FBI? CIA? PO-LEECE?"

I always responded, "No, I'm Ben."

Other than these unemployed males, usually sitting on a porch drinking beer out of a bottle hidden inside a brown paper bag, there seldom were any other adults visible on our block with whom one could interact on a daily basis. There were always 30 to 50 children playing all over the sidewalks, alleys and street but seldom any adults - especially the adults responsible for the safety of those unsupervised children.