Tag Archives: Queens

Jamaica soup kitchen battles recession with laughter

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For twenty years, the First Presbyterian Church has been serving dinner at its soup kitchen in Jamaica, Queens. Every Wednesday night, locals line up for baked chicken or macaroni, and recently, their numbers have been steadily increasing.

Reverend Patrick O’Connor estimates that attendance numbers are up about 20 percent from just a few months ago. But as the number of diners grow, the soup kitchen’s funding isn’t.

“As the demand increases, all the funding sources have gone in the opposite direction,” explained Reverend O’Connor. “Demand is outstripping resources, and we have to wonder – is there a breaking point?”

While times are tough, after spending a Wednesday afternoon with the soup kitchen volunteers, you wouldn’t know it. Each week, a group of five to 10 men and women gather in the back of the church and start cooking. Their laughter echoes throughout the building as their small stereo blares gospel music down the halls.

Instead of hearing worries or complaints, jokes fly as volunteers chop tomatoes and scrub pans. Although one of their busiest events – Thanksgiving – is just around the corner, they show no signs of concern that decreasing funds will impact their ability to deliver.

“We’ve never closed on a soup kitchen yet,” Jeanne Bryant, the soup kitchen team leader, said. “Our minister wouldn’t let us. It’s just not allowed.”

The road to…nowhere: employment and public transit in Jamaica

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In Europe, if all roads lead to Rome, in Queens, they all lead to Jamaica. Home to the Long Island Railroad, more than 200,000 passengers pass through Jamaica Station daily, where they can transfer to one of three subway lines or hop on their choice of 18 buses. Up to 360 buses drive along Archer Ave during peak times, according to the NYC Department of Transportation’s Jamaica Bus Improvement Study. And there’s the JFK AirTran.

Commuters wait for the Q11 in Jamaica Queens (photo by Jenny Marc)

But if all roads lead to Jamaica, they don’t seem to lead out. Lack of public transit within both Jamaica itself and the neighboring communities is one of the most common complaints among locals. Inconvenient routes and unreliable schedules make it harder to do just about everything – especially work.

At last month’s Jamaica public transit town hall, a meeting hosted by the non-profit organization Transportation Alternatives, attendees rattled of a list of problems. Last year’s discontinuation of several bus lines is still making transit tough, and the buses that are still there can’t seem to stay on schedule.

Wade McDonald listens to fellow commuters during a breakout session at the Jamaica Public Transit Town Hall. (photo by Jenny Marc)

“Public transportation is supposed to connect the business areas to the residential areas,” explained Michael Murphy, a Transportation Alternatives spokesman. “It’s pretty obvious that employment is more difficult when people can’t get to the jobs that are available.”

Given these tough economic times, people are likely to travel further and longer for the sake of a job. But does there ever come a point when the job is just too far? When getting there is simply too complicated? Take a few seconds to fill out this survey, and help figure out how public transportation is effecting not only unemployment, but employment as well.

 

Job hunting in Jamaica

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If unemployment is declining in Queens, you couldn’t tell from September’s Community District 12 meeting. Within moments of taking the podium, Economic Development Committee Chairperson Edith Thomas rattled off a list of stores that recently closed – two KFCs and a butcher shop on Baisly Blvd within a matter of weeks.

These losses not only contribute to local unemployment, but they also lead to outsourcing. As Thomas explained, new businesses slowly come in to the area, but instead of hiring locals,  they bring employees from other neighborhoods with them.


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But while locals can rely less on local businesses for employment opportunities, there’s one Jamaica establishment that will always have their back: the Queens Library on Merrick Blvd. Several years ago the library opened its Job Information Center, offering services and advice on job hunting.

“Our most popular program is learning how to write resumes,” explained Tara Lannen-Staton, outreach librarian for the New York City Connected Community Project.

In July, Jamaica’s job information center had almost 950 visits, a number that Lannen-Staton said has been steadily increasing. As people come in for job hunting advice, she said that the biggest mistake she sees is the size and scope of a person’s search.

“People often just look for jobs on the big websites, like Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com. They tend to presume that all jobs are listed there,” she explained. “I encourage a more targeted and systematic way to job search. Looking at specific industries and finding out what jobs are in those industries.”

Job searching is an art in and of itself. While many pitfalls can be made in the process, what do you think is the most common mistake job hunters are making today? And, more importantly, what can they do to fix it?