(pop music) - Coming up next on, "You Oughta Know".

All aboard City cruise's newest edition to its fleet.

Plus, see how Morris Animal Refuge is caring and supporting the city's most vulnerable residents.

And you might want to dig out that old typewriter because what's old is new again.

(pop music) Welcome to "You Oughta Know," I'm Shirley Min.

In this digital world that we live in, it's hard to believe that the popularity of typewriters is soaring.

Come with me to Philly Typewriter where you can type on a machine, movie star Tom Hanks once typed on.

(orchestral music) Remember these?

Guess what?

Typewriters are back.

(typewriters clacking) - We're the largest typewriter shop in the world.

- [Shirley] Philly Typewriter has over 1300 typewriters and some of them are really old.

- [Billy] Everything we do in the showroom, it's machines from the early 1900s up to IBM's electrics.

- Bryan Kravitz co-owns Philly Typewriter with Bill Rhoda.

- Well, this is pretty amazing.

Walking in here every day and unlocking the door and realizing there's a 2000 square foot building in South Philly that's dedicated to typewriters.

- We primarily are a restoration shop.

We do sell typewriters and we have a full showroom of machines that have all been factory reset with a preservation element in mind.

They've all had a life.

They all have a soul and a story to tell.

- [Shirley] Like this Rheinmetall typewriter from 1953.

A gift from typewriter collector and Hollywood A-lister, Tom Hanks.

- This big box comes in.

- He opens it, he just starts laughing.

There's a Play Tone towel, Hank's film production company on top and then an emerald green envelope with a note in it from Hanks.

- And the letter talked about, "This is a gift for you.

"Do what you want with it.

"It's from my collection and this is yours."

- [Billy] He autographed the ribbon hood, ribbon cover on the machine.

A fantastic machine and a rare one at that.

- I just feel greatly honored that he has done this for us.

- Tom sends out typewriters around the world, to be accounted with that group that he decided to send machines out was really, really nice.

It's on display.

Come in and use it.

You know, everybody comes in and they're like, "Oh, I don't wanna touch it."

No type, type where Tom Hanks once typed, use the machine.

That's what typewriters are meant for.

They shouldn't just be display pieces.

- [Shirley] But the bigger story is how Philly typewriter came to be.

And this story starts almost 50 years ago when Bryan first started working as a typewriter mechanic specializing in IBM's Electrics.

- I did it for like next 15 years and then the typewriters became word processors, they became electronic and they no longer needed my skills.

And the business pretty much collapsed.

- [Shirley] Decades later, Bryan was asked to take a look at a friend's typewriter.

He fixed it up and thought maybe he can start doing repairs again.

So he set up at 4th in Bainbridge and repaired typewriters every Friday from 4:00 to 6:00 PM.

- When Bryan set up, people started coming out woodwork.

All of a sudden, "Oh my gosh, I remember my typewriter.

"Oh, I'll go and get my typewriter "in my attic or in my basement."

And he started getting very busy.

Typewriters never went away.

People who were still using typewriters kind of never stopped.

What went away was the mechanics.

And 2018 was kind of the first big boom.

- [Shirley] And then the pandemic happened.

- We thought, "Well, multimillion dollar companies are shuttering.

"Businesses are closing all over.

"We're probably not gonna survive this.

"It was a fun experiment.

"We'll see what happens."

And we were completely wrong.

In two months, our email was overloaded, the phone was off the hook.

That digital burnout caused people to say, "Oh my gosh, I've had enough."

- [Philly] The typewriter, it's mechanical.

It's just you and the machine working together, getting the thoughts outta your brain, through your fingertips, onto the top of the key onto the paper.

- [Shirley] In addition to restorations and repairs, Philly Typewriter is also out in the community through its Philadelphia Public Typewriter Program.

- What it's doing is putting typewriters in libraries, putting typewriters in schools.

- There's a lot of facets to what we're doing.

Six of us and two interns that are all trying to keep up with the demand and how we can continue to serve the community better through typewriter.

(typewriter clacking) - Bill and Bryan want you to use all of the machines, type up your Christmas cards and just hang out.

There's no charge because for them, Philly typewriter is all about community and access.

While a decision to change careers leads to the creation of Farmer Jawn, an organization focused on reconnecting urban communities of color with growing their own food.

(sprayer jiggling) - What you all working on, weeding?

- Yes.

- Oh, okay.

Yeah, that bed looks good.

You all can pull them out.

- A turnip?

- Yeah, that's a turnip.

- How you eat it?

- Roast it.

Some of the best things you'll ever have in your life.

(gentle music) January 2nd, 2018 is the day that I resigned from my job.

On the 22nd I was off to Martinique on a plane.

Five days later came back to Philadelphia with a general plan that I knew I was gonna be a farmer.

While in Martinique, my second Airbnb hosts were black farmers and they take me to their place where they are putting together boxes of all the fruits and vegetables that was picked that day.

And they allowed me to help.

And the reward of that for me was seeing their members come and pick up these boxes.

So when I got home and I'm like, "What are your next steps, Christa?

"The world is your oyster.

"You are invigorated now by agriculture "and you don't have a job."

And I said, "I want to grow herbs and turn them into tea "and then I want to grow food "and I want to have people come to me "to come pick up their food," just like I saw in Martinique.

So I literally took those two experiences and came back to Philadelphia and created two companies, two brands that embodied my experience.

Yeah, it's really surreal.

Like four years ago I was only in 24 square feet greenhouse, starting my growing journey, teaching myself how to farm and how to keep things alive after never touching soil day in my life.

So it's really cool to now be sitting on a 42 acre property of which we have five acres of, and still expanding and still making sure that we can get our mission of growing organic food as close to the city as possible.

(gentle music) - Because we have access to these five acres that are right outside the city of Philadelphia, there's enormous amount of activities and events and programming that we can have here at the farm.

We're really just getting started here.

There's a lot of buzz around like Farmer Jawn right now.

And we're looking to continue to generate that type of interest because it's really about what we can make happen.

- I really like stuff.

- [Brandon] Christa, her great tagline is agriculture is the culture.

And so we're looking for various different connection points to get people here.

(lawn mover starting) - [Christa] This is the original one acre of land that we've expanded on with the help of Power Corps, an amazing organization based in Philadelphia that's doing such great work.

Specifically the Trust Program.

They are people who are rehabilitating their lives and are doing so learning a skill in a trade of farming.

And that means so much to be able to share this with them.

Yeah, like so that leaf behind you, that's arugula.

Try it, take a piece of that and eat it.

- Oh yeah, that's the stuff in the salad.

- Yeah, all right and it is good on top of a pizza.

Especially because they look just like me and I get to be representation for them that success is possible even when you're putting your hands in soil.

Something that black people are very traumatized by and we don't even know it.

We don't even talk about it, but it's important to.

So I just love that they enjoy coming out here every week to be of assistance to us and really help us get this thing off the ground.

(birds chirping) - Ooh.

Damn!

At first I was kind of nervous 'cause you know, I'm an outside kid, I don't have friends much.

I stay in the house with my mother a lot.

I started coming outside more, me and my friends from here, we started going around to neighborhoods and started helping communities plants like strawberries, onions, stuff like that.

- I love planting.

It's like taking care of a kid, for real.

You get to see it grow up to it's full potential.

I started in the beginning of April, so doing this since then, yeah, it taught me a lot.

And I really enjoy it every day.

(helpers laughing) (gentle music) - There we go.

- We have about eight people right now with us who are just starting off to be our entrepreneur cohort is what we call it.

And they're taking the time every day, coming to the farm to learn how to plant seed, how to use their time effectively, make the connections with different resources that we have to offer.

- Our goal here is to build a beautiful herb garden to supply some of the other cohort members with fresh herbs for their agribusinesses.

We are all budding farmers, but we're also business owners.

And so I have a juice business amongst other things called Modest Manna.

And I want to source from Grade A farmers to supply my juices with fresh produce.

I also am learning sustainable practices with materials for things like head wraps that I'm wearing now, that is also a part of my business.

- All right, so we're gonna talk about personal food safety, and I just wanna make sure you're giving the best to your community.

If someone gets sick after eating our produce that not only affects your farm but affects everyone.

- [Brandon] They're also working with Christa one-on-one for three hours at a time to develop their business plans.

We really think of this as like an incubator for jump starting black and brown businesses, but also everybody's businesses as well, so that people have access to learn how to grow their own food and also supply their communities with fresh healthy food as well.

- Knowing where your actual food comes from, like the person who who grew it and raised it is is key.

So if you want to grow your own food, that's great, but at the very least, you can know who your farmer is.

And that's me in this really lush community of urban farmers that are developing an uprising in Philadelphia right now.

(gentle music) - [Shirley] Joyel Crawford is a career coach who provides more than guidance on job searches.

She's giving her clients the tools to own and chart their courses to their professional futures.

Joyel, welcome to "You Oughta Know".

- Thank you for having me, Shirley.

- I'm so glad you're here.

And I find it interesting because a career coach is more than just someone who helps you find a job.

- Indeed, indeed.

It's more than that.

It's someone to build confidence if you're having an interview.

It's somebody who can help you find your voice and speak up.

I always like to say, "When you raise your voice, "you raise your value."

So having the confidence to using your voice to get what you want and where you need to go in your career.

Delegation, all things, they call them soft skills, but I call them hard power skills and ways to grow your career and be the best leader you can be.

- You really are rooting people on.

- Oh, absolutely.

- Like a coach for a sports team.

- Absolutely.

But coaches, you never see a coach get on the field and play the game for you.

So I'm not going with you to the interview.

I may be your wing-woman if you are networking and I can give you some tips, but that's as far as I'll go.

- Well, fall is traditionally a good time to be looking for a job.

So what advice do you have for job seekers?

- Well definitely get your resume tightened up.

Make sure that's right and tight.

And I would also suggest that if you wanna prep for your interviews that the night before is never the right time to do that.

So make sure that you're preparing ahead of time, getting those scenarios locked down.

I also think that getting prepared and having things automated a little bit so that you're not doing all of the heavy lifting is also a great way to get prepared for a job search.

Having those job search engines, keywords looking for you in certain locations so you don't have to do all the heavy lifting.

- Are there telltale signs for when you should be moving on to something new?

- Okay, so there are a few, there's a few red flags, like huge red flags, like violations of law policy or safety where you don't feel psychologically or physically safe.

Those, that's a big tell that you should move.

Feeling like you just don't have any direction, like you, as much as you've tried to move forward in your career, that there's just, you're stuck and that there's just maybe you're hitting on a glass ceiling or, trying to to grow and develop and you're just not finding the resources there.

Another telltale sign could be crying before work, crying at work, crying after work, kicking the trash can when you come home after work, taking out all your frustrations on your loved ones, overly talking about how horrible your job is.

Those are key telltale signs.

I remember actually waking up, typing on my pillow.

I was sleep working and I thought that that should be a sign.

- Yeah, that sounds like a sign.

So what about folks who don't wanna leave their job but are looking to advance within their organization?

- If you wanna grow and bloom where you're planted, I think it's best to have an intrapreneurial mindset.

That means just being an internal consultant, thinking about ways that the organization can improve from almost like an outside in perspective.

Also volunteering to be like a subject matter expert or point of contact for certain things can help raise your visibility and get you to another level.

Or pitching projects that may be scary or out off the wall or provocative, something that will help drive the business forward.

It's always like, you've gotta think of your company or the organization that you work for, like Janet Jackson, like.

♪ What have you done for me lately?

♪ Right, so you've gotta think about like, if you're asking to do something or grow, you've got to think about how do you wanna grow and develop and how is it going to pay the organization back?

- And you can't be afraid to be your own brand ambassador.

- Exactly.

You have to campaign for your own career and that's really, really key.

And if you don't do that, if you're not the one that's raising, like I said, if you don't raise your voice, you don't raise your value.

So you've got really gotta get out there, put yourself out there as best as you can.

Even just speaking up in a meeting can be a way of growing and blooming where you're planted.

- Okay.

Is there a timeline that job seekers should kind of plot out or set aside for finding a job?

- I would say set aside an hour a day if you're gonna do it manually that way the negative Ned and Nancy's don't start gnawing at your brain and telling, "You can't do this, "you're not good for the job," so I say an hour at least a day, but you can always be looking and I think the fall timeframe is a nice place even though the market might be cooling because of interest rates and things of that nature going up.

But always look, there's seasonal work out there.

Also think about volunteer opportunities.

Hiring managers love passion and they love to see people take initiative to get the skills that they want to develop outside of job that they're working in currently.

So that's another opportunity to set that up.

Volunteer for something while you're looking outside, so you're building your skills and learning something new and putting it on your resume.

- Joyel, this is incredible advice.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Thanks.

- And if you are not able to book a session with Joyel, you can always pick up her book, "Show Your Ask!"

where books are sold.

Joyel, thank you.

- [Joyel] Thanks Shirley.

- Teachers are in high demand and the Relay Graduate School of Education is training those ready for a second career as educators.

- [Bianca] How many squares or circles do I need, Zanita?

- [Zanita] Two.

- Two.

- Oh shaded it.

- [Bianca] Two shaded in.

But how many total circles do I need to represent my mixed number, DJ?

- Three.

- Three.

Now we're getting it.

Light bulbs are going off.

It was an improper fraction.

I always wanted to be a teacher, but by the time I was getting my master's they were like, "Oh, well do you have a teaching certificate?"

And I was like, "Oh, I didn't know I needed that."

So it kind of got pushed to the wayside.

- [Shirley] Until 2021, when Bianca Nagy happens to see a flyer about Relay, a program for those interested in teaching, particularly those looking to start a second career.

And for the longtime fitness instructor and personal trainer, this seemed like fate stepping in.

- It was a huge change, obviously, learning all of the ins and outs of classroom management, of how to plan, of how to read curriculum standards, course standards, but they broke it down so that you could really understand it and really get a good handle on it.

- [Shirley] Relay is a two year master's program that puts an emphasis on hands-on in classroom experience.

- That first couple of months I just kind of observed and I got to know the class and then after that we started to incorporate myself more into the classroom.

- The only degree that we confer, so we're specialized in that way, is a Master of Arts and Teaching as opposed to a Master's of Education because the art of teaching you achieve through practice.

- [Shirley] Relay has 11 campuses nationwide.

Dana Davisson is the director of Relay's Delaware campus.

- [Dana] The residency specifically is a more gradual on ramp to teaching because the first year of the residency is spent with a highly effective mentor teacher that we call a Resident Advisor.

And that resident is learning alongside of and teaching alongside of that teacher the entire year.

And then the second year they would qualify for a lead teaching position for their own classroom.

- [Shirley] Dana says the support, guidance and constructive feedback Relay provides, sets it apart from other educator prep programs and reduces the risk of teacher burnout.

- Our faculty at Relay are teachers, we've been teachers in classrooms and now we are teachers of teachers.

So we get it.

There's so many challenges that new teachers face as simple as like, "How do I call the school nurse when a student is sick?

"What's the best way to get a hold of family members "to talk about students?"

These are things that if you're a lead teacher on day one, you're learning it as you go and it does cause more burnout because you're exhausted from doing it.

And so the retention rate in the residency at Delaware is 83%, whereas someone who's not going through the residency, they're jumping right into their own classroom on day one, their retention rate tends to be lower, about 60%.

So we're already seeing that the residency is paying off.

- [Shirley] Music to school districts ears, especially when there's a shortage of teachers nationwide.

Tuition for the two year residency is between 27 and $33,000, depending on the certifications you pursue.

But Dana says Relay residents are eligible for significant scholarships from AmeriCorps and through the state of Delaware.

- In 2017, our launch year, we had three residents, only three, (chuckles) and now our average enrollment in a year is between 15 and 20 residents.

Next year we're actually projecting about 30.

- [Shirley] For Bianca, it's a dream come true.

- When I see them get it, when I see that they have those light bulb moments and I know that it's from something that I deliver for them, of course it makes me feel like, "Yes, I get it."

Now I'm finally getting to be a teacher that I always wanted to be.

- As one of the country's first shelters, the Morris Animal Refuge continues to provide care and support to unwanted animals.

(puppy barks) - Our sole focus is on saving lives of every animal that we can.

We're founded in 1874 as a life-saving organization, and our mission is to provide high quality care, education and adoption with the goal of finding positive and humane outcomes for every animal in need.

(puppy barking) When we call ourselves an animal refuge, we talk about multiple species.

We typically, we're about 65% cats, we're about 30% dogs and 5%, if you name it, (chuckles) we've seen it, so.

We've had hamsters, chinchillas, ferrets, we've had lizards, we've had turtles, we've had parakeets, we've had African Great Parrots.

We've even gotten a call to rescue an alligator.

You can't come out yet, okay, buddy.

There are 50 animals in the shelter.

There may be 25 to 35 animals in foster care.

And once we get them tuned up, so they all get a medical exam, they get their vaccinations, they get spayed and neutered, if they need to be spayed or neutered, they get rabies vaccine and they get chipped.

Then the adoption process starts when they're ready to go.

And that sometimes, depending if it's a kitten or a puppy, that takes a really short time, if it's an older senior cat or an older senior dog, it may take, three, four, five, 10 weeks.

What I always love about this job, you're saving the lives of four-legged animals with everyone you save, there's a good chance you're saving a human just from a companion standpoint, whether it's loneliness or isolation or just a best friend.

(puppy barking) - City Cruises hopes you consider its newest edition, the Rendezvous for your next event.

- We've actually been operating the spirit of Philadelphia out of this waterfront for 39 years.

We operate in 17 ports throughout the US, Canada, and the UK, have over 130 vessels.

Our signature product really is our spirit vessels.

It is more of a casual product, buffet, entertainment with a live DJ, which is a lot of fun.

And then of course we have our charter yacht division as well, which the Rendezvous is part of.

She was part of our Boston Harbor cruises.

She had been up there for about two years.

We were looking for a larger charter vessel here in Philadelphia with a perfect fit.

So we brought her in and it's been great.

We do offer public cruises on 4th of July.

We will be offering a public cruise on New Year's Eve as well.

So no better way to ring in the new year again with the fantastic fireworks on Penn's Landing.

And then we will be offering some public cruises throughout the year as well as for Valentine's Day.

So the Rendezvous Charter Yacht offers events anywhere from two hours upwards of four to six hours.

So it all depends.

It's very customizable since it is your yacht, it's a great way to celebrate a special occasion, your wedding, what other better venue than your own charter yacht?

It's fantastic food made fresh here on board.

They can pick the menu, they can add hor d'oeuvres.

They can pick a bar package if they'd like.

- So these are the new glasses.

These are the ones they're gonna start doing all the private charters.

- I love it.

Andrew Rossbauer is our restaurant manager here on the Rendezvous.

He's a wonderful bartender, mixologist, and just really, really runs a very, very smooth event.

- We cater to whatever our guests desire.

One of the things that we do offer as a carving station, we offer buffets and we offer plate as well.

We do an assortment of desserts and then we put those out for the guests.

It's a full bar and a boat.

So it's the best kind of bar.

I've been in the industry for over 25 years and the commitment to the guest experience is, I think the strongest point that we have to offer here on the Rendezvous.

- We do cruise, so you get to experience the sites up and down the Delaware River.

Typically we stay around eight knots, which is about 10 miles per hour.

Doesn't sound very fast, but as you're out on the water, it does feel like you're going a little faster than that.

But she does go just north of the Ben Franklin Bridge, great skyline views north of Ben Franklin Bridge and then goes south to the Navy yard.

So it's about a two mile loop altogether.

- [Andrew] A happy guest is the most important part.

- And you don't wanna miss WHYY's upcoming show that introduces us to local mycophiles.

- I was compelled to study these organisms because I love them.

Even in all of the leaves in of plants are microscopic fungi that live inside of them.

- Whoa.

- One time we found this thing in the woods and it was covering the whole tree.

You know, and it goes on for 10 feet in either direction.

- You're always close to a mushroom.

They're everywhere.

If you start looking today, you'll find them today.

- [Shirley] You can catch, "Consider the Fungus" on Thursday, September 21st at 7:30 right here on TV12.

Okay, that is the show.

Thank you for spending your time with us.

Have a good night everyone.

Bye!

(pop music) (pop music continues)