Is this the end for Berean Institute?

The Berean Institute, a North Philadelphia landmark that has provided vocational and business education to African-Americans for 109 years, could go out of business as early as Friday, its board chairman said last night.

In addition, the state is evicting the school from the building it has occupied since 1973.

Former Common Pleas Judge John Braxton, chairman of Berean's trustee board, said the school lost $1.4 million in state funding recently and also has been struggling to deal with accreditation problems.

But Berean supporters - determined not to see the school close without a fight - are calling for a rally at the school at noon Thursday.

"One way or another, we must save this institution from extinction," said Paul Randleman, a former president of the school's alumni group.

"We've lost so much in the city of Philadelphia with our institutions, not only learning [institutions], but entertainment as well. And here we have another one on the chopping block."

It has been a rocky year for Berean, located on Girard Avenue, at 19th Street, Braxton added.

First, the school, once well-known for its cosmetology, court reporting, data processing and stenography programs, was informed last November that it had lost its accreditation.

Then, in the state's most recent education budget just signed by Gov. Rendell, Berean lost all of its $1.4 million in state funding for the current fiscal year.

The school received its first charter from the state in 1904, the year it also received a grant of $10,000.

Braxton said the funding for 2008-09 was cut because of the accreditation problems. A call placed to the governor's press office last evening was not returned.

Braxton said the school lost accreditation because it did not have enough paying students to keep it financially stable.

But he said a new management team began in December to try to regain accreditation.

In fact, according to Berean's Web site, a new round of classes in cosmetology and barbering was scheduled to begin just yesterday - the same day supporters of Berean e-mailed fliers to city officials and others as a "Call to Action" to "Save Berean Institute."

Other classes were scheduled to begin this September.

City Councilman Darrell L. Clarke, who grew up in North Philadelphia, said he just saw the flier yesterday after hearing rumors of problems there over the last week.

But Clarke said he didn't know until yesterday that his friend former State Rep. Andrew Carn, the most recent Berean executive director, has apparently been ousted.

Carn could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Braxton was contacted by phone as he traveled by train from Washington to Philadelphia late yesterday.

On July 7, Braxton said state officials gave Berean 30 days to vacate the building that it has leased from the state for more than 30 years. But Braxton said the school doors may close Friday because there isn't enough money to pay the institute's employees.

Initially, Braxton said,the plan was for the state to turn the building over to Berean over the next couple of years. But Braxton hinted an economic upturn in North Philadelphia property values could be a factor in the school's fate.

"Our neighbor right across the street to the north is Girard College, to the east is St. Joseph's Prep and to the south we have all the burgeoning and growing Fairmount area," Braxton said.

Berean Institute was founded in 1899 by the Rev. Dr. Matthew Anderson, the pastor of Berean Presbyterian Church, who dreamed of opening a school to provide black people, especially new arrivals from the segregated South, with the vocational and business skills needed to improve their lives.

He wanted them to be able to move up from jobs as day laborers into skilled employment or business ownership.

In later years, African-Americans continued to flock to the school, but members of other ethnic groups also joined its rolls.

Randleman, who said he received certificates in cosmetology and barbering around 1986, circulated the fliers announcing the rally to save the school.

"We must raise our voice; we must stand up. We must make it be known that if there's anything that can be done to save [Berean], we must do it," Randleman said. *