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On a balmy September day, the 1400 block of North Hollywood Street buzzed with student volunteers in blue T-shirts.

With support from Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia staffers, they spent hours demolishing the interiors of four vacant rowhouses. The nonprofit acquired the properties to rehab and sell to first-time homebuyers amid an affordable housing crisis.

“We’re taking it all back down to the studs to then bring it back to life,” CEO Corinne O’Connell said from the middle of the narrow Brewerytown block.

Habitat has a history of working with local students. This time, teens and young adults traveled to North Philadelphia as part of a new nationwide initiative inspired by Pope Leo XIV — a philanthropic venture launched this spring to expose students in the faith community to volunteering and the wider world.

It’s hoped the first-hand experience stays with them well into the future.

“I’m relentlessly optimistic that this is where change happens,” O’Connell said.

An effort driven by student volunteers

The properties on North Hollywood were effectively donated by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. They will be fully renovated over the next 18 months as part of the Pope Leo Village initiative, which expands on Habitat’s investment in the area.

The initiative also includes the rehabilitation of a triplex on North 17th Street and construction of a 19-unit multifamily development on a long-vacant lot at the corner of 19th Street and Montgomery Avenue near Sharswood. A groundbreaking ceremony is expected in the spring.

The 26 homes will be sold to households earning up to 80% of the area median income. That translates to $98,150 a year for a family of four.

For Kendal Moffitt, a senior at Liguori Academy in Kensington, helping families in need drives home two of his mother’s mantras.

“My mom just always told me it doesn’t matter how rich I become. Always give back to the community and don’t forget where you come from,” said Moffitt, who lives in North Philly and wants to pursue a career in construction.

Chelsea Park, a senior at Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School in Montgomery County, volunteers regularly, but she had never done any housing work. She called the experience in North Philadelphia “transformational,” saying it sparked an interest in seeking out more opportunities with Habitat.

“I was aware of some of the issues that people face in some of those areas, but just seeing it for yourself, standing in those locations and demoing houses and just being there with the community, really enlightens you and you’re able to get a better perspective of what is actually going on versus what you just see online,” Park said.

An experience with lasting impact

Experts say volunteer experiences like that have the power to open students’ eyes, as well as shape how they view the world around them.

Rev. Daniel Joyce, vice president of mission and ministry at Saint Joseph’s University, one of Habitat’s partners, said hands-on service projects can foster a kind of creativity in students.

“These kinds of engagements with Habitat and other organizations, where you’re working with the community and learning from the community, you come back with a much wider perspective on the different angles of the problems and therefore are challenged to be more creative about how solutions really happen in communities,” Joyce said.

“So folks come back with their own education and formation on being imaginative community partners and imaginative problem solvers,” he added.

What’s more, students with service experience tend to feel better equipped to find solutions to challenges. According to a Gallup poll released in March, 60% of those with service experience said they “can handle whatever comes their way.”

The same poll found that the majority of young people with service experience felt more prepared for their future careers.

These kinds of service projects can also put students on a path to being “professionals with a conscience,” said Tinamarie Stolz-Enríquez, who teaches a service learning class at St. Joe’s.

“That will look different for a doctor or a nurse, or an accountant or someone in business or a social worker, but they’re always putting the dignity of people first, they’re not going to abuse their power, they’re not going to put profits over people, and they’re going to be ethical and just in all the ways that they’re called to be,” Stolz-Enríquez said.

It’s the kind of message that would likely resonate with Pope Leo XIV, who has called caring for and serving others the “the supreme law” of human existence, which he said comes “prior to all society’s rules and gives them meaning.”

When completed, Pope Leo Village will serve 235 families across the country. The effort is being funded by an anonymous donor, who gave to all 20 Habitat affiliates after the pontiff, a Villanova alumnus, was elected last May.

Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series that explores the impact of creativity on student learning and success. WHYY and this series are supported by the Marrazzo Family Foundation, a foundation focused on fostering creativity in Philadelphia youth, which is led by Ellie and Jeffrey Marrazzo. WHYY News produces independent, fact-based news content for audiences in Greater Philadelphia, Delaware and South Jersey.