As the sweltering July heat baked the streets of Bed-Stuy Monday morning, mourners dressed in black and white filed out of Pleasant Grove Baptist behind the three-foot-long, cartoon-covered casket of one-year-old Davell Gardner, Jr, who was shot and killed in Brooklyn on July 12. The procession, led by Rev. Al Sharpton, spilled onto Fulton Street with a visible weariness; the weariness of a community wracked by death, facing another loss so horrific it is difficult to even comprehend. More →
The largest school system in the country is making a push to send its students back into the classroom — masks on, hand sanitizer readily available — as the coronavirus curve continues to flatten and the infection rate remains low across New York. More →
New York City tour guide Luke Miller misses taking people on subway rides. A born and bred New Yorker, it was one of his favorite job perks. “It started out when I was a kid, running around the underground. Now, my focus has always been doing it the way New Yorkers do it. Subway and foot.” More →
Davell Gardner Jr., the one-year-old boy who was shot and killed at a cookout on July 12, was laid to rest in Brooklyn yesterday, at a service presided over by Rev. Al Sharpton and Bishop Albert L. Jamison. In a somber ceremony, attended by members of the community and prominent New York politicians and public figures, speakers remembered the short life of Gardner, while calling for an end to gun violence in the community. More →
Samuel S. T. Pressman had wanted to build a food garden on the rooftop of his Clinton Hill apartment for years. The artist and sculptor had lived on a farm when he was younger and had studied Sustainable Environmental Systems at Pratt. But in a city with a “time is money” mentality, he never found the right moment to start his passion project. More →
Black and brown communities in Brooklyn face an inordinate concentration of food deserts, where people lack access to healthy, affordable grocery stores and other nutritious options. And the number of Americans who experience food insecurity is only expected to grow in the coming months, with low-income people of color to be hit hardest. More →
As tensions come to a head in Portland, Oregon, where federal agents in military garb are putting protesters into unmarked vehicles and tear-gassing demonstrators, people on the other side of the country are throwing support behind the protesters. On the heels of President Trump’s announcement that he may send these same federal officers–described by one Oregon senator as an “occupying army”— into other Democrat-run cities such as New York, many are standing in solidarity with those in Portland and reminding elected officials that the movement is showing no signs of stopping. More →
Three weeks ago, Carlos had an internship in finance lined up for the summer and was planning to channel years of social activism, beginning in middle school, into a job in impact investing. But as protesters flooded the streets of New York, the 21-year-old Dartmouth student declined his internship offer and headed out to join them. Read more at NY Mag…
Amidst the controversy surrounding the decision to cut $1 billion in funding from the NYPD, one thing went virtually unnoticed when the City Council passed a budget last month: Some $4.1 million was dedicated to “support people involved in the sex trade,” according to a line buried in the press release. More →
“The East Village has become unsafe,” tweeted @kernie_sanders in a message to Mayor Bill de Blasio in late June. “I have never seen such desperation.”
Already estimated at over 1,000 prior to Covid-19, the homeless population in the East Village and Lower East Side has only grown since the pandemic began. The Department of Homeless Services and the Coalition for the Homeless haven’t yet calculated a number, but hope to generate more data in the coming months. In the meantime, East Village residents have noticed an uptick in the number of unsheltered individuals. More →