Title
Honoring and expressing gratitude to Nicole Bartlett for her work helping grieving families cope with loss and mentoring young women in Philadelphia and across the country, on the occasion of Women’s History Month.
Body
WHEREAS, Nicole Bartlett was raised in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia by two amazing parents, Carol and the Late Pastor George E. Junious. Nicole graduated from Little Flower High School for Girls in 1993. Her family experienced an unimaginable tragedy when they lost her little brother, Ruffin Lassiter, to a car accident. Even as she worked through her grief, Nicole had to work to stay in school and paid her way through her last year by working at El Greco’s Pizza, where she had become a store manager at age 15; and
WHEREAS, Nicole’s dream was to attend New York University, but due to her parents' financial hardship, she was unable to. She enrolled at Community College of Philadelphia and worked at Roxborough Memorial Hospital as a Patient Service Associate to pay for her way through college, eventually graduating with an associate’s degree; and
WHEREAS, While always keeping God first, Nicole felt she had to do more. Nicole worked at InterAc Community and Woods Services administering care to people living with disabilities. She began at NCO Financial Systems in 1997 as a customer services representative, where she was promoted to Supervisor within a year and Project Manager the following year. At 25, she was the youngest Black woman to hold a Project Manager position at NCO. Nicole left NCO in 2006 to start daycare and childcare services. Nicole married her husband, Darren Bartlett, in 2007. Together, they started two more daycares; and
WHEREAS, Throughout it all, Nicole kept thinking about her experience of losing her brother Ruffin, and the terrible trauma her family struggled through without help or guidance. Nicole then attended Mercer County Community College and graduated in 2013 with Honors; she was presented with the Failla Memorial Achievement Award, Outstanding Leadership Award, and was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. She decided she wanted to start a funeral home that could help families navigate through grief and founded the Nicole M. Bartlett Funeral Home in 2018. Since opening, she has held free educational workshops for the community and career training including on contracting and electrical engineering. Nicole worked with Kendra Brooks to organize We Rally For Peace walks in North Philadelphia. And she offers free group grief support sessions, with a grief therapist on staff, for individuals and families, including care after the funeral to be a part of grieving families’ journeys; and
WHEREAS, Nicole fed families affected during the government shutdown and COVID pandemic. COVID restricted many families from having a traditional funeral service due to quarantine. Nicole implemented outdoor funeral services and live streaming, allowing families to have a non-traditional funeral service while complying with CDC Guidelines. Nicole and Darren converted a Mercedes Sprinter into a mobile interfaith Chapel, designed to help families financially, relieve pandemics and funeral home phobias stemming from COVID trauma, and abide religious restrictions, while allowing families the option to ride in the vehicle with their loved one. They have conducted services as far away as North Carolina. Nicole considers it her mission to help people cope with grief, and continues to mentor young people from Philadelphia, Georgia, Florida, Texas and across the country to help them open grief-centered women-run funeral homes in a male-dominated industry, now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby honors and expresses gratitude to Nicole Bartlett for her work helping grieving families cope with loss and mentoring young women in Philadelphia and across the country, on the occasion of Women’s History Month.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this Resolution be presented to Nicole Bartlett as an expression of the gratitude and admiration of the Council of the City of Philadelphia.
End