27168022
Frank Sinatra, to paraphrase, said if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere. Vincent Thompson begs to differ. The born-and-raised Philadelphian believes if you can make here, you can make it anywhere.
"I’m a Philly kid through and through. I love pretzels and cheesesteaks. This is a wonderful city, America’s biggest small town," Thompson, of the 1200 block of South Juniper Street and the media relations manager for the School District of Philadelphia, said. "I have an invested interest in improving my city."
To kick off the 2009-10 school year, Thompson worked extensively with the communications team to organize the a Back-to-School Block Party Aug. 7. Hosted by the district and Radio One Philadelphia, he said the event served as a one-stop shop for answers students and parents had about the upcoming year. Each department, as well as community groups and organizations, had information tables set up at the district headquarters at 440 N. Broad St. Radio One had live broadcasts, while Thompson and his team organized all of the interviews.
It also was the official kickoff for the ’09-10 theme "Imagine Greatness," which reflects the district’s five-year plan to transform its public schools. The key concepts of Imagine 2014 include student success, quality choices, great staff, accountable adults and world-class operations.
Philadelphia is the nation’s eighth largest school district with about 163,000 students, 267 schools and 25,000 employees. As media relations manager, the 42-year-old works extensively with the press and is one of its official spokesmen. His responsibilities extend to working with officials to create messages and preparing speeches for Superintendent Dr. Arlene C. Ackerman and members of the School Reform Commission. He also is a problem-solver.
"If the media contacts me because a parent is upset or angry that they are having trouble providing a uniform for their child when they are enrolled in a school that requires a uniform, I am going to see what I can do to help that parent get a uniform for their child," Thompson said.
The job requires a year-round effort. When students and teachers are on summer vacation, Thompson is busy preparing for summer-enrichment programs and the next school year. His schedule doesn’t change much. Thompson said there is a slight lull in June, but the duties of dealing with the media never stops.
"One of the best parts of this job is when I get to go out to the schools and interact with the students, teachers and parents," Thompson, who handles the sports beat in which he organizes team information for media outlets, said.
He has held his current position since February 2008 after serving as deputy director of communications from ’03 to ’06. Thompson also dabbled in politics, starting in ’01 when he served as District Attorney Lynne Abraham’s campaign spokesman.
"I was recommended by a friend and then had an interview with Lynne," he said. "We had a really frank discussion about politics and the campaign. It was a good match and she hired me.
"She was being challenged in the Democratic primary by City Commissioner Alex Talmadge Jr. It was a heated and exciting primary."
He worked with the D.A. through November of that year on the Committee to Elect. Once Abraham was re-elected, the position was no longer needed.
It was his first of two stints in politics. In ’06, he served as chief of staff for Councilman-at-Large Juan Ramos, who lost his reelection bid in ’07.
"It was an incredible opportunity. I worked with Juan on his election campaign, but left to work for the school district. We kept in touch and when he had an opening for chief of staff he called and offered it to me," Thompson said.
Being the curious type, Thompson fittingly started out as a journalist.
"I wanted to know stuff, to question things. I wouldn’t take things for face value," he said. "My elementary school teacher told me to consider journalism, but I didn’t know what it was. I watched the news, but I didn’t know what a journalist actually did.
"I looked it up in the dictionary and the more I understood journalism I was like, ‘I can be paid to be nosy and ask questions?’"
After graduating from St. Joseph’s Prep in 1984, he enrolled at Ohio’s Marietta College, where he worked extensively as a student journalist.
"I really immersed myself into the community," he said of stints with his college’s radio and television stations.
After two years, and being homesick, he transferred to Temple University to continue his journalism studies. Two years later, he left without a degree to take a job with the Pennsylvania Radio Network, where he had interned.
"I have always been a person that liked to do the hands-on work. I wasn’t always as focused and committed as I am now. I didn’t spend enough time on the books, but before I die I will earn a formal degree," Thompson said.
He continued on his career path by working for the Philadelphia Tribune. He was given state Sen. Chaka Fattah’s Men Making a Difference Award in ’94 for being a positive black role model and earned best spot news coverage from the Philadelphia Achievement in Radio Awards a year later.
"I love journalism and I love journalists. It is a wonderful job, but as a person who was raised by two grandparents who are very active in their community, civic leaders in Germantown, I wanted to do more to help in the city," Thompson said.
He credits his work ethic to his genes.
"All of the good in me comes from them and all of the bad comes from me," Thompson said with a laugh.
At age 7, his mother Patricia Trusty passed away. With his parents divorced, Thompson said his father decided it would be better for him to be raised by maternal grandparents Anna Trusty and William McCann, who were already stressing the importance of education to younger kids in their community. Thompson now is passing those values on to his own sons, Vincent the 4th, 17, and William, 14.
"My boys know that I love them," Thompson said. "My first concern is them earning their college degrees. I want them to get theirs first before I put the pedal to the metal with my own degree."
Thompson makes it clear without wife Pamela Bridgeforth, a South Philadelphia High grad originally from Seventh and Jackson streets, he would not be who he is today. The couple met when he was working for a ticket agency and she was working at the American Music Theater’s main office as an employee. Thompson made daily trips there to pick up the mail.
"After working there for almost year, I got laid off and a few months later Pam called me and asked me out. I wasn’t too interested at first, but we kept talking and talking. And then we went on our first date and I haven’t left her since," Thompson said of his wife of 17 years. "I did the right thing when I asked her to marry me."
South Philly is proving to be a second romance for the new resident.
"I love the city period. I have a great block of neighbors and I do like my neighborhood. I have no intentions of leaving my house or the area," Thompson said.
