Much like other ethnic groups that have called The Bronx home, the Irish have left an indelible mark on our borough.
While many often jump to stereotypes and often peg the Irish to St Patrick’s Day, they’re more than just a holiday, especially in The Bronx where they have left a living, breathing history of their journey in America.
Sure, legend has it that ‘green beer‘ was invented right here in The Bronx on St Patrick’s Day 1914 by Dr Thomas Hayes Curtis, a physician hailing from Ireland living in our borough who unveiled the green drink at a social club on 3rd Avenue and 163rd Street but there’s so much more to Irish history in The Bronx than that.
For example, did you know that things we take for granted in our borough were constructed by Irish laborers who arrived here in the 19th century?
The High Bridge, connecting Upper Manhattan with The Bronx, was constructed by Irish laborers and is New York City’s oldest standing bridge.
During the 1800s, many left Ireland in search for a better life for them and their families as they escaped the harsh conditions back home. A great number arrived in New York City and in parts of lower Westchester which would eventually become The Bronx.
These Irish laborers constructed the New York and Harlem Railroad as well as the Hudson River Railroad both of which, pre the COVID-19 pandemic, carried hundreds of thousands of daily commuters to and from their jobs.
Irish pride in Woodlawn is 365 days a year.
The landmarked High Bridge, New York City’s oldest standing bridge was also constructed by Irish laborers leaving yet another mark behind that we take for granted.
Long before Woodlawn Heights became the epicenter of Irish life in New York City, with its Irish grocery stores, butcher shops, pharmacies, and restaurants, they called the South Bronx home in neighborhoods like Melrose and Mott Haven.
The Emerald Isle Immigration Center on Katonah Avenue
“Beyond church grounds boys played in the streets — games like stick ball, hand ball, kick the can, pitching pennies, Johnny on the pony, and marbles. Girls played jacks, hopscotch and jump rope. Kids raised pigeons or flew kites on rooftops and raced gleefully through alleys and courtyards. Adults congregated and watched over neighborhoods from stoops and fire escapes. In summer, kids opened fire hydrants or flocked to sprinklers and wading ponds of nearby parks for relief from the sweltering heat. They rented bikes for 25 cents, jumped on a mobile merry-go-round for a few pennies, and sat on blanketed fire escapes after sundown to unwind in the cool night air. Villagers traversed Bronx Irish neighborhoods on trolleys for a nickel and children hitched on the back for a free ride. The downtrodden sang in courtyards and alleys for coins and bottle caps.
“Saturdays were scored by sounds of the Metropolitan Opera streaming from radios and reverberating through windows and alleyways of Bronx Irish neighborhoods. Holidays lured block parties and parades to crowd Bronx thoroughfares. The carnival set up once or twice a year by Jackson Avenue station, casting a nightly glow over the South Bronx. Small shops lined sidewalks and thrived on abundant foot traffic. The South Bronx portion of Westchester Avenue from Wales to 152nd featured Dolan’s Irish Food Store, Olympia Florist, Cushman’s Bakery, an ice cream parlor, a drugstore, a Jewish baker, a candy store and two newsstands.”
Change the names of the stores, prices, and a few other things and you’d still describe the South Bronx of today.
Perhaps the most famous Irish-American Bronxite is the late Mary Higgins Clark, who was born Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins, and was a prolific author with 51 books who was known as the ‘Queen of Suspense’.
Katonah Avenue, the heart of Woodlawn.
She is but one of many children of Ireland that has made not just the Irish but The Bronx proud.
Today, Woodlawn still remains the Irish capital of not just The Bronx but New York City despite being more mixed than it was even a decade ago.
All things change but history never does.
May you always have walls for the winds, A roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, Laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, And all your heart might desire.
Bronx resident Latanya DeVaughn organizes hundreds of donated books. Since launching Bronx Bound Books, she’s received over 20,000 books.
In just under two years since a Bronx woman announced her dreams to bring a mobile bookstore to our borough, Latanya DeVaughn is working hard to make it a reality as soon as next month.
When she announced her plans for Bronx Bound Books to a standing room only crowd back in May of 2019, the community immediately began supporting that dream not just through words but with actions.
Since then, DeVaughn has received well over 20,000 donations of books of which she’s already given away over 7,000 to local Bronx schools and at events. Bronx Bound Books has even created libraries for homeless shelters and they’ve done this without an official space or even their mobile bus.
DeVaughn enters the shuttle bus she purchased which will be transformed into Bronx Bound Books
They even were able to get 16 laptops to local high school girls through the Hey Girl Collective.
This past September, she also received a $20,000 grant from the Ford Foundation’s LISC Grant to help continue her work. With that, she was able to purchase a shuttle bus that she found on Craigslist that is now being transformed into Bronx Bound Books.
The seats have already been ripped out to make way for the future home of Bronx Bound Books
Working with architectural designer Hira Sabuhi, DeVaughn has been very intentional with her ideas for what the bus will look like which Welcome2TheBronx got an exclusive look at renderings and behind the scenes process.
And for those that know, they will immediately notice that the color scheme of the interior of the bus for Bronx Bound Books will follow the colors of the Bronx flag as DeVaughn is committed to making sure our borough is on full display in every aspect of the store.
Rendering by architectural designer, Hira Sabuhi, who’s working with Bronx Bound Books to transform the old shuttle into the borough’s first mobile bookstore.
Bronx Bound Books is just over halfway through their $10,000 fundraising goal and as of this writing they’re at $5,445. These funds will help to finish the work on the bus and hopefully launch on April 24th of this year which is also Indie Bookstore Day.
But the day also has another, deeper significance for her. It’s what would be her late grandmother’s 86th birthday, Felicita Villodas, who raised her from birth until she passed away when DeVaughn was only 19.
Latanya points out where different elements of Bronx Bound Books will be featured.
“My grandmother was a teacher at PS5x and she used to read to her friends who couldn’t read. She read leases, prescriptions, bills, and letters from loved ones”, DeVaughn said.
Opening on that day will honor her memory in a most special way for her.
Latanya stands outside her shuttle bus, soon to be home to Bronx Bound Books. The exterior will have some artwork going up soon as well.
Growing up, Latanya was also very much influenced by her aunt, Dora Villodas, another avid reader and retired postal worker. “She helped open my eyes to the world of reading” said DeVaughn during an interview with Welcome2TheBronx.
Bronx Bound Books will serve both as a mobile bookstore and a lending library and once up and running will start out operating on weekends at Riverdale Y Sunday Market and the James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center at DeWitt Clinton High School.
Latanya DeVaughn sits in the front of the bus that will soon travel The Bronx as our borough’s first mobile bookstore
DeVaughn is also working with local schools and organizations to determine what the needs are in specific neighborhoods so that she can make sure Bronx Bound Books also reaches those communities.
Decked in Bronx colors, this rendering by architectural designer, Hira Sabuhi, shows what the front of the bus will look like.
“Books are either a window or a mirror. I saw mostly “windows”. There weren’t a lot of “mirrors” growing up. That’s why I was so happy to meet and feature Esmeralda Santiago and her book, When I Was Puerto Rican“, DeVaughn said.
“One of our missions at Bronx Bound Books is to feature books that mirror the people in our diverse borough”, she added.
If you’re interested in helping this dream along, you can donate to the Bronx Bound Books fundraiser here or you can donate books at one of several upcoming days (see schedule below) or you can email them at bronxboundbooks@gmail.com to find out how to donate or how to collaborate for future events.
Despite traffic plummeting in 2020 across the country and major cities, including New York, our hometown was declared America’s most congested city.
A typical night on the Cross Bronx Expressway
Along with that not so lovely recognition, the Cross Bronx Expressway, aka America’s Parking Long, took third place as one of the most congested roads in the nation.
The report, issued by INRIX, a company that specializes in providing data and analytics such as traffic, took a look at traffic data in last year and found that despite traffic plummeting in downtowns across the country by 44% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdowns, New York City went from 4th in 2019 to the number 1 spot last year.
According to the data, New Yorkers lost 100 hours behind the wheel in 2020 despite a 28% drop in traffic compared to 2019.
And when you hop over to the Cross Bronx, particularly between the Bronx River Parkway and Washington Bridge (which last year was declared the 5th most dangerous spot in the nation), commuters lost 23 hours last year.
Usually bumper to bumper traffic on the Cross Bronx was virtually non-existent for a while during the beginning of the pandemic.
Most Bronxites who can avoid it, DO but some have no choice but to be stuck in the purgatory that is known as the Cross Bronx.
A lot of these traffic issues can be solved by providing BETTER Cross Bronx access like maybe creating a Cross Bronx Light rail which would lead to less traffic and LESS pollution.
Oh and if you really want to reduce pollution, we can also cap the Cross Bronx Expressway and create dozens of acres of new land for truly affordable housing, new open spaces, and re-stitch the neighborhoods that Robert Moses tore apart when he decided to plop down the nightmare roadway.
Now that the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 has been passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by President Biden on March 11, Bronx residents will start to be able to get some relief.
And although having been signed on Thursday, many Bronxites are already reporting deposits of the $1,400 stimulus checks into their accounts.
But what does the plan mean for The Bronx as a whole?
According to Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), an estimated 645,696 Bronx households will receive $1.611 billion in direct payments and is based on 2020 population data for the borough.
Individuals making up to $75,000 a year will receive $1,400 and eligible families will also receive $1,400 per child and adult dependent which can add up to $5,600 for an average family of four.
Also wrapped up into the bill is a much needed extension of the $300 weekly enhanced unemployment benefits which was set to expire tomorrow, March 14 but will now instead expire on September 6, 2021. This is far less than the initial $600 weekly unemployment benefit during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic which was cut in half for the second round to $300.
Lines at banks are now commonplace due to COVID-19 social distancing restrictions
We wrote last year that any stimulus relief needed to re-enact the $600 original weekly benefit to have any meaningful impact. Progressives in the Congress fought to raise it to $400 but ultimately they caved to pressures from centrist Democrats.
At the very least, unemployed Bronx residents do not have to worry anymore that their enhanced unemployment benefits will expire tomorrow and instead will be extended for another 6 months.
Considering that unemployment in The Bronx reached historic levels of 25% and in some areas even greater, this is some breathing room for many.
Speaking of unemployment, the bill also provides a waiver for the first $10,200 on unemployment benefits so you won’t have to pay taxes on that amount which is another huge relief for residents who at this point wouldn’t be able to pay the full tax bill on benefits received thus far.
Another aspect of the bill that can be transformative for lifting Bronx families and children out of poverty is the Child Tax Credit and the Child and Dependent Care Credit.
Both of these can potentially leave more money in low income families pockets where they belong by increasing the amount of childcare expenses subjected to the credit from 35% to 50%. That means a one child household can claim up to $8,000 in expenses for that child or dependent and up to $16,000 for multiple children or dependents.
The Child Tax Credit has also dramatic implications for Bronx families as the credit per child went from $2,000 to $3,000 for children and $3,600 for children 5 years old and younger. Given that the median income for The Bronx is barely above $22k a year, most families will get the full amounts which begin to phase out above $75,000 for single filers and $150,000 for joint filers.
All of this together will far exceed the estimated $1.6 billion Schumer reported should be coming into Bronx households which hopefully will begin to ameliorate the precarious financial situation any find themselves in as a result of the economic crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic.
We still need to pass Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, cancel student debt, provide real aid to renters and landlords as well as homeowners if we truly want to avert a crisis not to mention that the stimulus check should be a full $2,000 a month retroactive to the first on a monthly basis through the pandemic.
A year ago was the day the world changed forever as COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization as it rapidly spread across the globe.
For two months New York City was on edge because we knew it was a matter of when it would hit us and not if given the global nature of our city.
In The Bronx, many folks, myself included, were worried about how disproportionately the newly discovered disease would impact our borough given the fact that it was showing to aggressively attack individuals suffering from respiratory ailments, obesity, and other comorbidities—diseases which The Bronx is all too familiar with.
I took that as my cue to withdraw from my shared office space at The Hub and begin working from home again. Since mid February I had already begun to limit my time at the office and was avoiding physical contact with people including shaking of hands and hugging folks.
An empty Third Avenue at The Hub in March, 2020
I knew the coronavirus must have already been in circulation throughout the city and didn’t want to risk it.
A little over a week later, Governor Andrew Cuomo placed the state on “pause” resulting the closure of all non-essential businesses and urging New Yorkers to stay indoors to help stop the spread.
Walking through the streets of The Bronx and indeed New York City was eerie. It was a scene straight out of a sci-fi dystopian movie.
No traffic on the Major Deegan in late March 2020 during the beginning of the shutdown
Everything was closed, barely a soul on the streets could be found and you could walk in the middle of the street without worrying about a car running you down.
The only sounds you could hear were that of birds that were typically drowned out by the cacophony of city life.
And the sirens.
At first, the ambulances came and went but as the weeks progressed, they kept passing by with greater frequency and were almost ever present by the time we reached our peak in April.
By then, The Bronx had become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, something we knew would happen simply based on the poor health outcomes of our borough and decades of inequalities across all social spectrums.
For decades Bronx residents have had the highest rates of asthma, obesity, heart disease, diabetes in New York City and the state as well as some of the highest rates of compromised immune systems due to HIV. These rates are even amongst the highest in the nation and without a doubt contributed to the devastating toll of 4,954 that perished as a result.
To this day, our borough still has the highest death and hospitalization rates from COVID-19 and and second only to Staten Island in positive cases of the disease.
Usually bumper to bumper traffic on the Cross Bronx was virtually non-existent for a while during the beginning of the pandemic.
The fallout wasn’t just limited to the dead and the families left behind to pick up the pieces from their terrible losses but also an economic disaster.
Having already been the borough with the highest percentage of low income households, the hungriest borough, and the borough with the most residents facing eviction, as well as highest unemployment despite the lowest in decades, was yet another recipe for disaster for our borough.
As a result of the thousands who lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic by way of businesses forced close or simply couldn’t survive thanks to the inaction of congress, unemployment reached epic levels above 25%, something unseen since The Great Depression and perhaps even more severe than that era.
An empty 161st Street in the heart of the civic center of The Bronx in the middle of the week when normally thousands of pedestrians and cars travel through per hour
And despite a moratorium on evictions, The Bronx has the highest rate of evictions filed and once the moratorium is lifted, tens of thousands of residents are in peril of losing their homes if something is done to rescue them and landlords.
But even through the loss both economic and that of loved ones, Bronx residents continue to persevere for it’s what we do best.
Mutual aid networks have sprung up across the borough to make sure no one is left without food with every day Bronxites delivering or securing food for their communities.
Food bank lines wrap around blocks almost daily now, something never before seen in our borough since perhaps The Great Depression.
Food pantry lines became a commonplace sight in our borough.
A year later and businesses are still not open to capacity, restaurants have either shuttered or are on the brink of closing their doors as our government in congress has abandoned us without sufficient aid.
But we will survive, it’s what The Bronx does and it’s The Bronx way. We’ve been through the bad times before and got through it thanks to the resourcefulness of our community and its leaders.
A quiet Fordham Road in late March 2020
We have to continue to do for each other what no one else will do for us. It’s the only way to move forward without leaving anyone behind.
All these lives lost could have been prevented had we been given the resources needed to better health care or simply access period.
There’s no reason for our borough to have continued to be not just the poorest but also the unhealthiest for so long. Our elected officials knew what ailed and continues to ail us but they haven’t done much to move the needle along and instead we’re left, as per usual, to do the work ourselves with extremely limited resources and funding.
We need to continue to educate our communities on the importance of the available COVID-19 vaccines as The Bronx continues to lag behind all boroughs except Brooklyn in terms of vaccinations.
As of today only 9% of Bronx residents are fully vaccinated compared to 14% in Manhattan and at least 18% of Bronxites have gotten one dose versus Manhattan where 27% of the population have gotten one shot.
Equitable access remains an issue and it cannot remain so if we’re to make sure no one is left behind.
Let’s hope that a year from today the picture is much brighter.
The Bronx created it, the world adopted it, and now it’s heading to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
A break dancer in 2014 at Port Morris street festival
Breakdancing, born in the streets of the South Bronx almost 50 years ago, has been formally approved by the International Olympic Committee as an official Olympic sport.
These intrepid kids and young adults in the 1970s Bronx that birthed the global phenomenon that is hip hop could never have imagined that what they were doing not only would be copied and emulated by millions across the face of the planet but would continue in popularity for almost half a century.
And to see it reach the Olympics where the world unites in competition and knowing that this now recognized sport originated right here in our borough is a wonderful thing.
Not Manhattan, nor Brooklyn, or Queens and let alone Staten Island but the BOOGIE DOWN Bronx.
Breaking on the streets of Port Morris in the South Bronx back in 2014
2021 is a one of the most important election cycles in recent New York City history as we head to the polls in November to vote for a new mayor as well as replacements for two-thirds of the New York City council due to term limits.
THE CITY has asked us to partner with them to learn what matters most to you, the voter, and with voter turnout being the lowest in The Bronx of all of the NYC boroughs, it’s important for us to hear from you.
What do you want to know about the upcoming local NYC elections? Let’s talk about it!
Join THE CITY and Welcome2TheBronx for the Civic Newsroom, a wide-ranging effort to better understand what New Yorkers need and want to know as we enter a crucial local election season.
Voting signs at a polling site in the South Bronx
These elections will shape the future of our city and our neighborhoods, and we want to make sure more voters have the info they need to hit the polls to make the city work better for all of us.
To kick off this project, we’re holding a series of virtual meetings, including a virtual meeting in Mott Haven on March 6 at 2 p.m. We’d love for you to join us!
We’ll also have neighborhood-specific virtual meetings in Brownsville (Brooklyn) and Flushing (Queens), and a city-wide meeting.
Sign up here for the Mott Haven meeting on March 6 at 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
We’ll talk about who has power in our neighborhoods, why voting matters and why it’s sometimes hard to cast your vote. We’ll have more meetings leading up to the elections in June, too.
These meetings are discussion-based — we want to hear from you about your experiences with local elections, why you’re drawn to vote and why you’re maybe not.
You know your neighborhood best, and we want to know what questions you have about city government so we can shape the news we share about the election around what you want to know.
Once you sign up, we’ll send you the Zoom link to the Civic Newsroom the day of the event. If you have any questions, you can email us at civicnewsroom@thecity.nyc.
The Civic Newsroom is a project from THE CITY, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to hard hitting reporting that serves New Yorkers. Our goal is to better understand what information voters need ahead of the upcoming local elections. In addition to a series of virtual meetings, the Civic Newsroom will use stories, newsletters and explainers to encourage and inform more New Yorkers to participate in the electoral process.
Beginning tonight at 8PM Yankee Stadium will begin vaccinations 24 hours a day with the Johnson and Johnson 1-shot vaccine which was just approved for emergency use by the FDA over the weekend.
Bronx residents meeting the current eligibility requirements for the vaccine can make an appointment from 8PM to 7AM daily during which times the J&J vaccine will be administered.
This will increase vaccination capacity at the site which already was vaccinating over 2,000 people a day with the Pfizer 2-shot COVID-19 vaccine.
As with the initial program at the stadium, this is only open to Bronx residents.
If you’d like to make an appointment or help someone make their appointment, please go to the SOMOS website here or you can call 1-833-SOMOSNY.
MOTT HAVEN—Applications are now being accepted for brand new affordable apartments in Mott Haven via New York City’s housing lottery.
Located at 345 St Ann’s Avenue at E 142nd Street, Park Haven is a 10 story 178 unit brand new construction development for extremely low and low income residents with deep affordability for qualifying households making 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI).
Park Haven
In a rapidly gentrifying Mott Haven, this translates into rents that are not only truly affordable but rents that are well below the area median which are rare to find.
Beginning at the 30% AMI, this translates to residents making $14,915 to $23,880 a year can qualify for a studio renting for only $362 a month.
Monthly rents begin at $465 for a 1 bedroom, $569 for a 2 bedroom, and $650 for a 3 bedroom for those making 30% of the AMI which ranges from $18,789 to $42,300 depending on household size with rents increasing for those making 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80% of the AMI.
5% of units are set aside for applicants with mobility issues and 2% for those with visual or hearing impairments.
50% of units are set aside for applicants who live within Bronx Community Board 1 (you can enter your address here to see which community board you live in) and 5% of units are set aside for New York City employees.
Amenities include Laundry Room, Fitness Center, Community Room, Landscaped Terrace, LVT Floors, Security Cameras, Electric appliances, and Granite countertops with backsplash.
Typical 3 bedroom layout
For outdoor space, besides the private exterior areas at Park Haven, you have St Mary’s Park just up the block which is currently undergoing a $30+ million renovation.
Interested applicants should apply online here or you can request an application by mail by sending a self-addressed envelope to:
PARK HAVEN, P.O. BOX 316 BRONX, NY 10470
Just a reminder that you should ONLY apply once either by mail OR online and NOT both. Applying more than once per lottery may disqualify you.
Application deadline is April 26, 2021.
Also please note, DO NOT CONTACT WELCOME2THEBRONX REGARDING THIS OR ANY OTHER REAL ESTATE LISTING AS WE ARE NOT A REAL ESTATE COMPANY. WE’RE SIMPLY REPORTING THE NEWS.
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Sign up for their newsletters here: ckbe.at/newsletters
Meisha Ross Porter, who rose through the education department’s ranks as a teacher, principal, and executive superintendent, will become the first Black woman to lead the nation’s largest school system.
Her appointment comes after the surprise resignation of Chancellor Richard Carranza Friday morning and just 10 months before Mayor Bill de Blasio will leave office.
But even if Porter’s tenure may be brief, as a new mayor is likely to pick a new chancellor, she will not simply be turning out the lights on the remaining months of the mayor’s term.
Meisha Ross Porter, a veteran education department official, will be the first Black woman to lead New York City schools.; | Courtesy of the New York City Department of Education
She is inheriting a system that has been rocked by the coronavirus pandemic, and she will immediately face enormous responsibilities: determining how much in-person instruction schools can offer in the coming months, developing a plan to catch up students whose education has been derailed by the pandemic, and gaining buy-in from bitterly fractured communities of families and educators.
“I promise we’ll do everything to reopen schools, starting with high schools, we’re ready to go,” Porter said at a news conference, hinting that she may jumpstart reopening high school campuses, which have been shut down since November, even as elementary and middle schools have reopened.
“We’ll expand the learning opportunities and do more to address trauma and academic needs, because we know that that is very real.”
New York City Department of Education Chancellor Richard Carranza speaks at City Hall about the importance of mayoral control of the schools, March 7, 2019.
Porter is well respected among many of the city’s education leaders and known for building trust with parent leaders and principals, according to people who have worked with her. She also brings a deep understanding of the school system, a labyrinthine bureaucracy with roughly 150,000 employees and a $34 billion annual budget.
‘Someone Who Understands’
“For the first time in a number of chancellors, principals and superintendents are gonna feel like they have a friend, someone to talk to and someone who understands them,” said Richard Kahan, founder of Urban Assembly, a nonprofit that has created 23 public schools, and hired Porter for her first teaching job. “It hasn’t been that happy a place for principals for a long time.”
Raised in South Jamaica, Queens, Porter graduated from Queens Vocational and Technical High School, where she majored in plumbing.
Porter was about 17 and leading an anti-drug organization for teenagers when Kahan, then overseeing an urban planning effort for the Bronx, approached her to help his team craft policy ideas, he said.
Shortly after, Kahan tasked Porter with helping to plan Urban Assembly’s first school, Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice. When the school was established, Kahan hired Porter to oversee its outside partnerships, unaware that she was studying to teach. Porter was later brought in to teach at the school, rising several years later to principal.
She was able to build relationships with students quickly and often saw opportunities to connect their learning to real-world issues, according to David Banks, the school’s founding principal.
‘The kids adored her and they saw her as one of them.’
After a student commented on a cigarette advertisement that faced the school building, Porter pushed to incorporate lessons about the effects of smoking. She also encouraged a letter-writing campaign pressuring then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani to sign a bill that would ban advertisements for tobacco near school grounds, Banks said. Giuliani signed it into law, though it hit legal roadblocks.
“Those kids felt like they had something to do with it,” said Banks, who is now president of the Eagle Academy Foundation. “She’s not that traditional stuffy school leader. The kids adored her and they saw her as one of them.”
During a visit to the school when Porter was principal, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. recalled feeling struck by how she had students settle escalating disputes: They held a trial with student attorneys, a jury, and a judge.
Promotion Party Drew Fire
After 18 years at the school, she left her post as principal to become a regional superintendent for Bronx District 11. Three years later, in 2018, Carranza tapped her as one of his newly created executive superintendents, overseeing all Bronx schools.
Porter drew some criticism in 2019, when the schools watchdog received a complaint that she had enlisted subordinates to fundraise and organize a party to celebrate her promotion. The office later dropped its investigation.
Porter’s sense of what to prioritize when the pandemic hit exemplified her leadership style, according to principals and nonprofit leaders.
Luis Torres, principal of P.S. 55, said Porter helped bring to life his idea to create educational programming for children on public access television station BronxNet by rallying support among schools in the borough, so that teachers and administrators could create pre-recorded lessons for the program.
And when some students across the Bronx were still deviceless in January, Porter pushed elected leaders for help, said Torres, who said he has known and worked with Porter for 15 years. Torres said it helped fill the gap at his own school.
Meisha Ross Porter, left, helps distribute donated devices for remote learning this past January with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., center.
“Whatever it takes to get things done, this is what Meisha will do and I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” Torres said. “That’s why people appreciate her, because even though she was the executive superintendent, she gets her hands dirty, and she’s never forgotten where she came from.”
In another instance, Porter tapped New Visions for Public Schools, a nonprofit group that manages a network of district and charter schools, to help build out its data tools so that principals could better track whether students were failing to submit assignments in Google Classrooms or even whether they lacked devices for remote learning.
“She requested that we provide support and worked with us to make sure those supports complemented the greater work she was trying to do,” said Mark Dunetz, the president of New Visions. “She is somebody who is just very clear and effective.”
Lauded by Parents
Bronx parents have praised Porter as an ally. The New Settlement Parent Action Committee, or PAC, an advocacy group based in the South Bronx, got word in 2018 that the education department was setting up new teams to focus on equity issues in District 9.
The team’s goals targeted many of the same issues the committee had been focusing on for years: pushing for culturally relevant curriculum that reflects the borough’s diversity, discipline reform, and more.
PAC wanted to join the equity teams, to bring the perspectives and support of parents to the mix. But they ran into roadblocks and excuses about why they couldn’t. Until they reached out to Porter, who had recently been appointed executive superintendent.
“Meisha Ross Porter went to bat for us. She told the equity team we must be at the table — that there’s no equity team without us,” said Ronnette Summers, a parent advocate in District 9 for more than two decades.“She was just really, really receptive. Surprisingly receptive.”
Throughout the pandemic, parents and school officials on the equity teams have worked together to make sure students have internet connections and devices, with parents passing along the names and contact information of hard-to-reach families whenever officials ran into dead ends or struggled to learn the extent of the need.
‘She understands the needs of families in the city.’
Porter is a fixture at meetings and other events like town halls — a constant presence that Summers called “unheard of” in all her tenure as a parent advocate.
Aide Zainos, another member of PAC, said she is particularly appreciative of Porter’s help ensuring parents have school materials and meetings translated in their native language, whether that’s Spanish or African dialects.
“She understands the needs of families in the city,” Zainos said in Spanish, adding that the equity teams have included “all cultures and languages.”
De Blasio Looms Large
But Porter may not have a lot of runway to execute her own vision, especially as de Blasio’s propensity to micromanage his agency chiefs is well known. One factor in Carranza’s resignation, according to The New York Times, was growing tensions with the mayor about how to handle admissions to the city’s Gifted & Talented program.
At a press conference on Friday morning, Carranza left her with one piece of parting advice: “Do you, be you, lead with the heart that you’ve led in every one of the assignments that you’ve had in New York City.”
Summers credited the outgoing chancellor with helping Bronx parents advance issues important to them, even in the face of “pushback from some of the affluent places that weren’t ready to give up stuff.” Throughout his tenure, Carranza, who is Mexican-American, faced racist rhetoric while pushing for school diversity and anti-bias training for teachers.
Summers predicted that Porter will come up against some of the same challenges, but said the new chancellor won’t stand alone.
“There’s going to be a lot of pushback for her being a woman, and a woman of color. But I think she’s capable of taking that on,” Summers said. “We’re going to have her back.”
THE CITY is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.
This past Friday, the power of community and mutual aid was on full display at the Bronx Terminal Market. Hundreds of people lined up and waited in 40-degree weather to receive brand new winter coats handed out at a coat giveaway event organized by Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner of the 77th district, in partnership with the Bronx Terminal Market and New York Cares.
Amidst a pandemic that continues to wreak havoc on the nation’s economy, Bronx residents have experienced the worst symptoms of the virus.
And as vaccine efforts ramp up due to the Biden administrations push to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office, food insecurity, a burgeoning housing crisis and soaring unemployment rates are but a few of the most dominant side-effects Bronx residents are dealing with.
Events, such as Friday’s coat drive and a concurrent food drive just a few doors down, help to restore faith in a community that has endured the worst the pandemic had to offer.
Kendall Wright, a local resident, attended the giveaway to secure coats for her family members. Ms. Wright expressed her gratitude for the leaders of the community providing resources: “It’s really about the community helping each other out … Some people don’t have access to the necessary things that they need so it’s good to have individuals like a politician that’s giving this out to say that they care, that they’re concerned. It’s very helpful”
Edwin Guerrero stopped by the coat giveaway to secure coats to give to the porters in his building on 164th street and the Grand Concourse. Last week, Guerrero noticed that the porters’ coats appeared to be battered and unable to keep them warm during the recent frigid temperatures.
After realizing he had no coats to personally donate to the men, Guerrero serendipitously received robo-call voicemail from Assemblywoman Joyner’s office earlier this week alerting him of the coat giveaway.
James Godbold, a resident of a homeless shelter near the Bronx Terminal Market, volunteered at the coat giveaway. He helped out with crowd control and spread positive energy as he shared jokes with those waiting in line.
Godbold expressed that this pandemic has revealed just how much alike we all are as people across social and economic classes continue to suffer due to its impact. He added that we need to be show each other more compassion.
“You see somebody down, extend your arm and lift them up,” Godbold said.
About the author: Henry Danner is a NY state licensed Social Worker and visual storyteller. Using his camera as a tool to influence change, Henry wields the power of photojournalism and documentary photography to highlight poetic nature of everyday life, display the power of community and share stories that heal. Henry is a member of Columbia University Journalism School’s class of 2022
Now, according to reporting by WABC, there is $1 billion in unpaid rent in New York City as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis and although landlords are prevented from evicting people during this time period, that hasn’t stopped them from filing the necessary paperwork so that they can do so once the moratorium is lifted.
And nowhere is this looming crisis greater than The Bronx where almost 10,000 eviction notices have been filed, according to data compiled by the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, impacting tens of thousands of Bronxites.
Most of The Bronx is bright orange and red indicating the areas with high numbers of eviction filings /via WABC
The Bronx also has the most eviction filings by zip code with 10468, which covers Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights, and parts of Fordham Manor, Fordham Heights, and University Heights, leading the city with 1,001 filings.
Many of the zip codes in the West Bronx, covering neighborhoods like Highbridge, Morris Heights, and Morrisania, are also among the highest with eviction filings in the city an area that has historically already had some of the highest rates of rent burdened households and residents just one paycheck away from homelessness.
As with what we’ve seen with the COVID-19 pandemic, this housing crisis is also greatly impacting households of color than any other group.
WABC also reports that NYC’s lower income zip codes have five times more eviction filings than the wealthier parts of our city showing further how the pandemic has impacted these communities disproportionately.
This is clearly evident when you look at the map and you see areas that have a lower population of families of Blacks and Latinos, also have lower eviction filings. Although many of those areas tend to have more owner occupied homes, there are still a large portion of the population that are renters.
Zip codes covering areas like Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Throggs Neck, Country Club, Pelham Bay all have under 100 filings each and over on City Island, no eviction filings have been recorded.
This isn’t to say that homeowners aren’t hurting either as many are behind on mortgage payments, however, data on that specific area isn’t readily available.
Watch the news clip from WABC below and you can see how your zip code is doing by going here and using the interactive map.
