Editorial/Opinion ....................Pages 12,13 Education

Change of plans: Will the mayor switch up school policy post-COVID diagnosis?

By STEPHON JOHNSON

Amsterdam News Staff

Is New York City Mayor Eric Adams changing any COVID policies while quarantining for his diagnosis?

As of right now? No.

This past weekend, Adams tested positive for COVID19, the global infection whose decreasing number of cases have changed policies and opened much of the city back up for business. The number of cases has now increased.

“At this time, the mayor has no other symptoms, but he is already isolating and will be canceling all public events for the remainder of the week,” read a statement from the city. He is also going to immediately begin taking the antiviral medications offered for free to New York City residents and he encourages all New Yorkers eligible for these medications to take them as well.

“While he is isolating, he will continue to serve New Yorkers by working remotely.”

When the AmNews contacted Adams’ office for a direct comment, we were sent a link to a YouTube video of a recent news conference.

In early March, the mayor made wearing masks for 2- to 4-year-old children in daycare centers and schools optional. This came two weeks after making the same declaration for public school children around the five boroughs.

According to Scientific American, the BA.2 variant of the COVID-19 infection was originally detected in South Africa Last November. Right now, the Northeastern part of the United States has been hit hard with new COVID-19 cases and is mostly responsible for the increase in numbers.

A recent study from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the BA.2 variant of the COVID-19 infection has increased in states such as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine.

As of April 4, 55% of all new COVID cases in the country are of the BA.2 variant. In New York City, on a 7-day average, cases increased by 4% (1,887 diagnoses) and on a 28-day average of 3.52% (1,366 diagnoses).

Other cities aren’t resting on their laurels.

This week, Philadelphia’s government changed course and will reinstate the indoor mask mandate. Philadelphia City Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole said that the city needed to be preemptive in their approach to ridding the city of COVID-19.

“If we fail to act now, knowing that every previous wave of infections has been followed by a wave of hospitalizations, and then a wave of deaths, it will be too late for many of our residents,” said Bettigole to reporters this week. “This is our chance to get ahead of the pandemic, to put our masks on until we have more information about the severity of this new variant.”

With this latest development, however, will the mayor remain gung-ho on his education policies? One parent says “Yes.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think much is going to change,” said Kaliris Y. SalasRamirez, Ph.D., a lecturer at The Sophie Davis Program of Biomedical Education at the CUNY School of Medicine and member of the Alliance for Quality Education. “They may on-ramp masking for K-12 but it will be because of the BA.2 variant surge, and Vasan may bring back mandates…and they will ask families to take their at-home tests before coming back from break (but it will not be required to come back to school).

“My sense is that Adams will be like Trump on this…he gets treatment with antivirals and will recover fine…and he will probably feel like he is the king of the world.”

Eric Adams won’t change course of action despite COVID diagnosis. (Photo courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

Columbia University program gives low-income and first-generation students a fair chance

By M’NIYAH LYNN

Special to the AmNews

Columbia University’s Freedom and Citizenship is catered toward New York City’s rising high school seniors, which are students that are entering their senior year. Even though any student can apply that meets this requirement, there is a strong preference for students that come from low-income households and those that will be the first in their families to attend college. Through the program, students are set up with opportunities to learn and grow, free of cost.

More than just a summer program, Freedom and Citizenship is broken up into three main components: the summer program in July, and the college mentoring and community projects that occur throughout the academic year.

Beginning this summer, participating students will be given $1,000 stipends.

Sage Bing is a Freedom and Citizenship student from 2021. She is a senior at Democracy Prep Charter High School who dreams of going to an HBCU. From her experience in the program, she enjoyed meeting new people and learning about things not covered in her daily curriculum.

“With opportunities like this, you have to take advantage because, in the future, you don’t have them,” she said.

During the summer program, students are exposed to political philosophy. The writing Bing did helped to get her out of her comfort zone. “One thing I learned was that I’m not always right. In the program, the readings and new perspectives showed me life isn’t so black and white,” she said.

The community projects serve to prepare students to be informed citizens. For example, Bing is currently working in a group on a project regarding mental health. Within this project, the group is trying to make a call to action by making efforts to contact an elected official, create a website and advocate for school social workers to be paid more than teachers because of having to deal with mental health “on a different level,” she said.

The program began in 2009 through a partnership with Columbia’s Center for American Studies and the Roger Lehecka Double Discovery Center.

Since its inception, the program has quickly grown over the last few years. The program initially had only 15 students that were taught by Roosevelt Montás, director of Columbia’s Center for the Core Curriculum, according to Freedom and Citizenship’s website. Now, the program has more than doubled the number of students.

“We now have up to 45 students each year and actually, we’re starting a nationwide network of programs on our model,” Executive Director of Freedom and Citizenship Jessica Lee said. “There will be about 20 schools this summer leading programs like ours across the country.”

Lee said she spreads awareness about the program by reaching out to counselors and teachers at high schools. These schools are primarily concentrated in upper Manhattan because that is the area that Columbia University and its neighbors are in.

“Most of all, the students we talk to are interested in asking big questions and challenging themselves. They get more excited by that than when I say ‘you’ll get a letter of recommendation for college’ or ‘it’ll look good on your resume,’” Lee said.

Bing has personally spoken to people at her school about joining the program. She hopes to inspire those behind her, like her brother. “There were a lot of girls, so of course, that’s a good thing, but I feel like males, especially males of color, don’t push themselves enough to make themselves vulnerable,” she said.

Bing wants to be a therapist. She was influenced by how her mentors have made a huge effort to establish connections and warm up to students. Columbia professors teach the students in the summer, Micaela Cacho-Negrete, Freedom and Citizenship’s publicist, said.

Although the application deadline has passed, students can still apply. Anyone that wants to apply now may be accepted on a rolling basis, but for a limited number of spots.

“We’re looking for a certain kind of nerd,” Lee said.

celebrants, and rightfully so since he won a runoff election, giving the Democrats control of the Senate. “Yes, I’m a senator,” he told a reporter a day before Justice Jackson was confirmed. “I’m a pastor. But beyond all of that, I’m the father of a young Black girl.

“For my 5-year-old daughter and for so many young women in our country…seeing Judge Jackson ascend to the Supreme Court reflects the promise of progress on which our democracy rests,” he added.

Justice Jackson knew full well the circumstances of her ascendance, citing a number of notables and not so well known individuals during her remarks after the confirmation. After extending her gratitude to her family, she recounted her experience as a clerk for the man she will replace later this summer. “My clerkship with Justice Breyer, in particular, was an extraordinary gift and one for which I’ve only become more grateful with each passing year. Justice Breyer’s commitment to an independent, impartial judiciary is unflagging. And, for him, the rule of law is not merely a duty, it is his passion. I am daunted by the prospect of having to follow in his footsteps. And I would count myself lucky, indeed, to be able to do so with even the smallest amount of his wisdom, grace, and joy.”

There were then words about her role and responsibility on the court. “They also tell me that I’m a role model, which I take both as an opportunity and as a huge responsibility. I am feeling up to the task, primarily because I know that I am not alone. I am standing on the shoulders of my own role models, generations of Americans who never had anything close to this kind of opportunity but who got up every day and went to work believing in the promise of America, showing others through their determination and, yes, their perseverance that good—good things can be done in this great country, from my grandparents on both sides who had only a grade-school education but instilled in my parents the importance of learning, to my parents who went to racially segregated schools growing up and were the first in their families to have the chance to go to college.

“I am also ever buoyed by the leadership of generations past who helped to light the way: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Justice Thurgood Marshall, and my personal heroine, Judge Constance Baker Motley,” with whom she shares a birthdate.

She closed with the poetic words of Dr. Maya Angelou, reciting that while “bringing the gifts… my ancestors gave. I am the dream and the hope the slave. So as I take on this new role, I strongly believe that this is a moment in which all Americans can take pride. We have come a long way toward perfecting our union. In my family, it took just one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States.”

The sense of good cheer in her voice was often accompanied by a sense of reckoning, anticipating the struggle ahead, a harbinger of which she had heard during the confirmation. She promised to do her part “to carry our shared project of democracy and equal justice under law forward, into the future.”

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Amenities: 24-hour attended lobby, on-site building superintendent, exercise room, multi-purpose room, community room, computer lab, bike parking,* on-site laundry room*, tenant storage rooms, and on-site social services for low income or formerly homeless households with special needs. (*additional fees apply). Transit: Trains: C, F, G, N, Q; Buses: B103, B37, B62 and B65 No application fee • No broker’s fee • Smoke-free building • More information: https://nyhousingsearch.gov/ This building is being constructed through the Supportive Housing Loan Program of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Supportive housing is permanent, affordable housing with on-site support services to serve the needs of the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including the formerly homeless and disabled. Sixty percent of units in supportive housing are set aside for low income or formerly homeless individuals or families with special needs, who are referred by city agencies. The remaining 40% of units in the building are made available to the public through lottery. The units listed in this notice are only those made available to the general public.

Who Should Apply?

Individuals or households who meet the income and household size requirements listed in the table below may apply. Qualified applicants will be required to meet additional selection criteria. Applicants who live in New York City receive a general preference for apartments. • A percentage of units is set aside for applicants with disabilities: ° Mobility (5%) ° Vision/Hearing (2%). • Preference for a percentage of units goes to: ° Residents of Community Board 2 (50%) ° Municipal employees (5%)

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2 Bedroom

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1 Tenant is responsible for electricity and electric stove for cooking. 2 Household size includes everyone who will live with you, including parents and children. Subject to occupancy criteria. 3 Household earnings includes salary, hourly wages, tips, Social Security, child support, and other income. Income guidelines subject to change. 4 Minimum income listed may not apply to applicants with Section 8 or other qualifying rental subsidies. Asset limits also apply.

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Español Presente una solicitud en línea en https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/. Para recibir una traducción de español de este anuncio y la solicitud impresa, envíe un sobre con la dirección a: 50 Nevins Street Apartments C/O Spring Leasing and Management, LLC, 77

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Brooklyn native propels postpartum revolution

In April 2019, Angelina Spicer was honored at Brooklyn Borough Hall by then-Borough President Eric Adams (Lois Elfman photo)

By LOIS ELFMAN

Special to the AmNews

Brooklyn-born actress and comedienne Angelina Spicer said growing up in Brooklyn taught her to hustle, be creative and push forward with new ideas. Since overcoming severe postpartum depression following the birth of daughter Ava, now 7, she has turned her darkest days into humor and used that humor to spark a movement she’s calling The Postpartum Revolution: Advocacy and Education Through Comedy.

Her postpartum struggle became so extreme that her therapist suggested she admit herself to a psychiatric hospital, which she did. As she began her recovery, she turned to her comedy to heal and share her story. Spicer subsequently took the stand-up comedy set she’d crafted and combined it for a documentary film with women and experts speaking about postpartum depression. In April 2019, Mayor Eric Adams, then Brooklyn borough president, presented her with a proclamation commending her work in speaking about postpartum depression and inspiring other women to be open and seek much-needed treatment.

Last summer, Spicer, the daughter of hip hop innovator Jimmy Spicer, took her pink tour bus on the road for an eight-city advocacy and comedy tour. Playing movie theaters and performance spaces, she screened the documentary and had a question and answer session. She also met with lawmakers in the various cities to discuss legislation.

“The purpose of the tour is to (a) advocate for change, (b) connect moms to care by highlighting local businesses, ob/ gyn practices, doulas and midwives, so that moms can have more options for care, and (c) to also start the conversation around what postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety are and to know the warning signs and get people talking and laughing about it,” said Spicer, who will be hitting the road again this summer.

“The goal is to make this a mainstream conversation, so we’ve chosen mainstream venues,” she continued. “We talk about how moms can get care and then we discuss solutions of how we can implement change to get moms more access to care.”

The documentary is about 80% complete, and Spicer is seeking backers to help with completion and distribution. On this year’s Postpartum Revolution Road Trip, Spicer plans to hit seven cities, starting with Peoria, Illinois on June 5. She will shoot additional footage, incorporating comedy, behind the scenes and her meetings with lawmakers.

Additional events are attached to the tour and it has different partners in each city. Last year in Delaware, the tour partnered with Jewish Family Services of Delaware to do a mental health day where she met with local leaders and mothers in the community, who were interviewed for the documentary. The first partner to confirm for the upcoming tour is the Illinois Chapter of Postpartum Support International.

Spicer, a graduate of Howard University, hopes to get the documentary shown on Netflix, Showtime, Hulu or HBO. “We want mainstream conversation and solutions,” she said. “Part of the reason why moms, such as myself, feel blindsided by postpartum depression and anxiety is because we don’t know what it looks like. We don’t know we’re going through it when we’re actually going through it so we can get the resources that we need.”

Spicer now lives in Los Angeles with Ava and husband Joseph, a deputy federal public defender, but Brooklyn is her foundation. She said this city gave her a global perspective and the tenacity to succeed. “I know how to hustle and make it happen for yourself,” she said.

She hopes to bring the tour to NYC this summer. “It’s an opportunity for us to come together and start new initiatives that are going to help families,” she said.

Information is available at AngelinaSpicer.com.

In a joint statement Sunset Park electeds Council Member Alexa Avilés and Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes said, “What our community needs right now is reassurance that we will not be abandoned in the aftermath of this morning’s incident—that our pain will not be used as a scapegoat for policies that won’t keep us safer. We know that more police presence on trains or in neighborhoods would not have prevented this. According to reports, police were on the scene and turned to commuters for help calling 911. We need investments in social services—housing, healthcare, and education—to cultivate true public safety, and just as urgently, we must stop the manufacturing and flow of guns in our country.”

“This is the new normal in New York,” one rider said.

Asked about the notion that he would introduce metal detectors to subways, Adams said he was in favor of looking into all available technology in the fight against crime.

While Hochul and general law enforcement refused to call it terrorism, and act as if it was a lone wolf assault, the following day some nervous riders took to the subway in order to engage their usual and essential routine. Many others erred on the side of caution and did not.

Two men were stabbed at Harlem’s 135th Street a few hours later, and several shootings took place later the same day.

On Tuesday, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso said, “This morning, Sunset Park commuters were assaulted by a senseless act of violence. As always in a time of crisis, Brooklynites experienced the swift reaction of our city’s first responders, including the MTA, NYPD, and FDNY. I am deeply heartened to see the Sunset Park community coming together during this time of tragedy—Brooklyn stands with you.”

Locked down by COVID, a prettymuch symptom-free Adams said he would remain in Gracie Mansion until his quarantine was up. “I wish to thank all of the first responders who responded to the scene or at the local hospitals, helping with today’s incident. You are what makes New York the greatest city in the world, and I thank you for supporting your fellow New Yorkers.”

Thanking “first responders, transit workers, and the heroic fellow commuters who immediately sprung into action to help get wounded passengers to safety,” Council Member Avilés and Assemblymember Mitaynes stated, “Their actions likely saved lives. We’re also thankful for our school principals’ quick response to keep our students safe and families informed.

“We are still coming out of the collective trauma of this pandemic, and today’s events only add to our community’s pain. We have lost over 60,000 New Yorkers as a result of COVID-19. New Yorkers are experiencing record unemployment, extreme food insecurity, loss of jobs and housing, and inadequate services.”

Looking for solutions to the surge of city criminal and mental health induced anti-community violence, the Sunset Park officials added, “We are asking our partners in city, state and federal government for a multi-faceted, effective, and evidence-based public safety response, including abundant mental health resources for the victims in the near-term, in addition to dramatic investments in violence prevention and interruption programs, full employment, and guaranteed housing moving forward—before more people get hurt.”

Brooklyn New York State candidate Hercules Reid noted that New Yorkers experiencing anxiety and reality-based fear is a marked response.

“I also want to acknowledge that for many of us, an attack of this kind is a real fear. Seeing this fear become a reality can trigger emotional distress in the form of anxiety, panic, anger, or even insomnia. I implore us all—especially those of us who felt anxious after hearing the news—to take time out tonight to reach out to loved ones, engage in anxiety-reducing exercises, or simply talk to someone. We are a strong, tough, but also united city, so if you are experiencing any fear or emotional distress, be assured that you have the support of me, our community, and our city, so if you are experiencing any fear or emotional distress, be assured that you have the support of me, our community, and our city at large to support you.”

Students from every grade and level use the New York City transit system, including 1.1 million school students and 300,000 CUNY students

“The shooting on our subway system…is the kind of horrifying incident that taps our deepest fears as New Yorkers,” said CUNY Chancellor Matos Rodríguez. “The transit system is an integral part of day-to-day life in New York City, including for CUNY’s 300,000 students, faculty and staff. Our reliance on it speaks to our very ability to travel freely and safely and to meet the many obligations of our work, school and lives. It is very natural then to feel vulnerable and exposed, even for those of us who were fortunate enough to have avoided the trauma of direct exposure. I understand the emotions, and the difficulty that they add to the many challenges we are already facing as we struggle to restore normalcy amid a persistent pandemic.”Matos added, “Incidents like this bring about shared emotions but they also affect each of us in our own ways. If you are struggling to overcome anxiety and fears that were sparked by today’s event, I urge students to contact your campus counseling center or make use of the other services outlined here. Faculty and staff can turn to our employee assistance program for support.

“Let this incident remind us to be especially kind, and to look out for each other.”