Tag Archives: sarah kazadi

Building Futures In East Harlem

Posted on by

In East Harlem, youth violence, especially gun-related crimes, have been a hot topic of conversation for the past several months. From the broad daylight shooting on 122nd Street and Third Avenue in late September to the many deadly gang-related shootings this summer, the violence among youth has put the neighborhood on edge.

YAPH has been on 118th Street for nearly 33 years. (Photo: Sarah M. Kazadi)

Violence among youth is nothing new, but the recent surge in youth gun-related crimes have shed new light on the issue. From local elected officials implementing task forces to non-profit organizations focusing on youth initiatives, the community is taking various approaches to grappling with this pertinent issue.

One of those youth-focused organizations is East Harlem-based Youth Action Programs & Homes, Inc, part of YouthBuild Americorps. For nearly 33 years, the organization has used construction and community development projects to give youth members practical skills and leadership abilities, as well as presenting an alternative to the streets. Most of the young people in the program come without high-school diplomas and earn a GED at the completion of the 10-month course. All around East Harlem, the program’s youth members have helped build various affordable housing developments and buildings, keeping busy and out of the evident trouble that permeates the streets they work on daily.

Below is staff member Jacqueline Mason-Francis, speaking about YAPH and its role in the East Harlem community.

About Youth Action Programs & Homes, Inc. by smkazadi

The Corner

Posted on by

Spend 10 minutes on the corner of 124th Street and Lexington Avenue and you’ll get a quick glimpse into two longstanding issues in East Harlem: drug addiction and homelessness.

Jose Gonzalez sorts through his bag of recyclable items. (Photo: Sarah M. Kazadi)

There are seven recycling machines stretched along the wall of the Rainbow clothing store on the corner, offering money in exchange for aluminum, plastic and glass. The most common visitors of the recycling engine, also known as a redemption center, are either homeless or living in local shelters, says manager Auto Ferril, and many of them are either still on drugs or recovering drug addicts. Ferril opens the center at 6 o’clock every morning. In some cases, the change his visitors earn in exchange for digging through garbage for recyclable materials is their only income.

Continue reading →

Dear Social Media Diary,

Posted on by

I used Facebook more than Twitter for this assignment, since I just created a Twitter account and my audience there isn’t as large as my Facebook one. For my “question blog promotion” posts, instead of promoting my blog, I promoted my latest article. I felt that my question blog post was a bit dated and I’d already promoted it and received significant feedback. This article, which was about long-standing East Harlem small business owners struggling to hold on to their shops amidst higher property values and a changing community, spurred some conversation on Facebook. It was also tweeted by Welcome To Harlem, a wordpress blog, even though I only tweeted it once.

For my survey research, I might have been too vague in the questions I posed, because I didn’t get much feedback. I tried once, hoping that my humor would get some responses but it didn’t really work out that way:

Then tried again, trying to focus more on Harlemites:

…But still, not much feedback.

My survey is going to be on Harlem’s shopping scene, being that the neighborhood has gone through mass changes expected to make it more shopper friendly and boost the area’s economic outlook. I want to see if people are actually beginning to shop here, and figure out what they shop in Harlem for. The first step is to get out there and speak to people, and this survey could help if it’s done right. Judging by my few responses, I have a lot of work to do in order to make this survey interesting enough for people to want to chime in.