Bruce Baldwin, from southern Philadelphia, dedicates his life to helping neighbors on 7th Street

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) – You may never have heard his name, but Bruce Baldwin is a member of royalty on 7th Street in southern Philadelphia.

“We respect Mayor Kenney, but we consider (Baldwin) the Mayor of 7th Street,” Bernadette Wells, his longtime friend.

“Mayor” is a title that the 64-year-old man won with decades of work in his community, much of it through the Ford PAL Recreation Center

“He is a blessing because many people need someone in their lives to give them hope and love. He is there for them,” said officer Joseph Ellerby, assigned to the PAL center.

Since the pandemic, Baldwin has organized COVID-19 food gifts, testing for the neighborhood, and two weeks ago he gave 200 bikes and scooters to neighborhood kids.

Now synonymous with respect, his name used to cause fear in the neighborhood.

“Interestingly, when we were kids, we used to run away from him,” said Wells.

“I am made of the same fabric as other young people are on the streets,” said Baldwin, who is now president of the Seventh Street Community Civic Association.

He went in and out of prison for a decade, starting at age 17, but the tragedy changed his life.

“I was in state prison, I lost my younger brother to AIDS, HIV and I was not at home,” he said.

He started writing behind bars.

“When they stole our dignity and took us out of the house,” he said, reading one of his poems.

Writing became his outlet and how he processed his emotions. Now, it’s how he honors his neighbors. He wrote 4,000 poems, including one for each member of his community who dies.

“The hardest words I’ve ever said were saying goodbye to my baby,” he wrote of a 16-year-old girl who passed away in his neighborhood.

For 30 years, Baldwin’s entire work has focused on a few blocks from 7th Street, but his reach goes far beyond that because of all the people he has helped.

“The reason this community means so much to me is because I took a lot out of it initially. That was what happened. So I had to go back, ”he said.