Image: © Faith Colón
MISSION THE POINT Community Development Corporation is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) dedicated to youth development and the cultural and economic revitalization of the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx. We work with our neighbors to celebrate the life and art of our community, an area traditionally defined solely in terms of its poverty, crime rate, poor schools, and substandard housing. We believe the area’s residents, their talents and aspirations, are THE POINT’s greatest assets. THE POINT offers a multi-faceted approach to asset-based community development. Its programming falls within three main headings - Youth Development, Arts and Culture, and Community Development all aimed at the comprehensive revitalization of Hunts Point.
SUPPORT THE POINT • Mail a check to THE POINT CDC 940 Garrison Avenue. Bronx NY 10474 • Make an in-kind donation • Volunteer
Join our mailing list at www.thepoint.org and get programs updates. For more info call: 718-542-4139
THE POINT CDC BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND STAFF 2018-2019 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael Glazebrook, Board Chair Qiana Mickie, Vice Chair Sarah C. Lee, Treasurer Svati Lelyveld, Secretary Jodi Schneider, Member Karen Vanterpool, Member Leighton Wynter, Member R. Edward Lee, CSW, Trustee (1994-2018) ADMINISTRATION Maria Torres, President & Chief Operating Officer Danny R. Peralta, Executive Managing Director Angela A. Tovar, Director of Community Development Michael C. Crew •Alejandra Delfin • Rachelle Fernandez Irene Perez • Dania Silverio
YOUTH AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Amanda Barreto, Carey Clark, Isabel Figueroa, Shamal D. Hackle, Yamil Lora, Dawn Ortiz, Fernando Ortiz, Freddy W. Sanchez, Tarik Solomon, Sabrina Trim
TEACHING ARTISTS IN RESIDENCY Kelston Bascom, Tiffany Williams, Yves Celestin, Alena Camp, Linda Collazo, Phil Ordonez, Victor Davila ICP AT THE POINT Néstor Pérez-Molière, Tiffany Williams, Abigail Montes
Carla Liesching, Bayeté Ross Smith, Néstor Pérez-Molière, Isabel Figueroa Corey Torpie, Guillermo Giraldo, Mark Nevers, Meryl Feigenberg
Xena Bruno, Ariana Sarwari, María del Mar Hernández Gil de Lamadrid, Abigail Montes, Anna Piowar, Kellie, Hernease Davis, Midge Wattles, Phoebe Louise Boatwight, Joanna Knutsen, Evelyn Martinez, Paola Rivas, Roy Baizan, Tony Baizan, Sabrina Giacomaggio
INTERNS Miguel Santos, Zion Ramphal, Sashauna Patterson, Luis Saula, Jessica ChaCha, Mahawa Touray, Destiny Roldan, Somaya Begum, Tanjina Begum, Vanessa Parrilla, Sierra Thomas, Sying Moore Thank you to POINT staff who connect the community creatively and selflessly throughout the year. You are all the-=TRUE HEROES of Hunts Point - Thank you beyond words!
Ailany Bruno
Anaily Urbaez
Alison Ruiz
Christian Cespeda
Ariana Cruz
Jackson Cabrera
Emma Matos
Jazmine Velazquez
Janee - Bella Pressley
John Guaman
Josephine Lamb
Mad is
on Gar cia
egena t r a C l e a Mich
zman u G n Maso
Nicholas Ma tos
Avery Re
ejada T y l e Em
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Jam
e Sm ie-Le
Jayson Ca brera
Aiden Bruno
Chris Saraguayo
Hever Tavarez-Peña
Chadwuin Mojica
Hailey Tavarez-Peña
Liam Estrella
Jazible Ruiz
Libbi Zhibri
Mayonney Ruiz
Nathaniel Almonte
Owen Melendez
Ramon Valentin
Leia Rivera
Saul Sosa
Vianny Paulino
Violet Martinez
Christopher Matos
Payton Garcia
Neveah Morales
Samuel De La Cruz
Derek Garcia
Genesis Marcelo
Jayden Espinal
Pria Melendez
Melanie Saraguayo
Yelena Luna
Julissa Crisantos
Victor Reyes
Amber Espinal
Jerome Simpson
Edgar Garcia
Tahj Malcolm
The After-School Program at THE POINT caters to 60 youth in the Hunts Point community with a focus on educational, personal and social growth. The 20182019 school year we have students from six local schools in grades K-8. We were able to accomplish so much this year with your support. With the help of our ASP staff and volunteers, we are able to provide one hour of homework help daily, along with multiple enrichment activities. This year we’ve been able to provide our Students with weekly Music, Art, Dance, and Fashion classes along with a daily dose of Literacy classes. This year we’ve made wonderful background paintings and clay sculptures in art class. The Choir Group has put on wonderful performances throughout the year. Led by Amanda, we’ve made our own healthy snacks! From the classic peanut butter and jelly to the creative Nutella fruit wraps, we have been able to expose our students to food choices they might not have considered. The participants got a taste of some yoga During our mindful Mondays’ thanks to our friends from YogaShare. Every Tuesday we were able to get fresh fruits from the wonderful Ms.Pat. On Wednesdays Artist in residence, Ivan Velez has brought his comic book background to THE POINT and inspired the creations of many new heroes. Thursday our youth leaders Sabrina and Tarik, Cirque Coaches showed off their skills teaching the kids how to juggle, use a trapeze, and partner acrobatics. Fridays are our community days where all the grades come together for one big activity for everyone. They have ranged from movies days to video game tournaments or to turning the atrium into one big obstacle course for everyone to enjoy. Spirit Fridays we wore our awesome pop culture and video game related clothing discussing our fandoms and the themes behind them. In Literacy, Shamal has been gathering student stories from their lives and experiences here at THE POINT. The collection of stories is going to live forever as we will publish a book for our 25th anniversary. All this leads up to our culminating event the Passion Fair. Passion Fair is where all of the after-school students showcase what they’ve learned and what they created to their friends and families. None of this would be possible without the support of families and partners, We hope to see you all again next year!!
A.C.T.I.O.N Students
(Activists Coming to Inform Our Neighborhood)
Ajohntae Dixon
Tiquan Montague
Destinee Morales
Alexandra Rivera
Andre Vasquez
A.C.T.I.O.N Students
(Activists Coming to Inform Our Neighborhood)
Fatoumata Bocoum
Diara Mbaye
Derick David
Sierra Straker
Shamal Hackle
Trevon Brown
Amanda Barreto
Freddy Sanchez
Sabrina Trim
Sierra Thomas
Neville Vaughn
Tarik Solomon
The champs celebrate after conquering the game of Mr literacy Fox
This is called a compromise on who gets the chair when it’s time for read aloud.
Find you group and keep swimming ! This Activity called When it’s time to put in extra work these fine gentlemen answer the call. find my neighbors will help you feel like you belong.
Our older students connecting through the teachers MacBook
After-School Literacy & Movement capitalizes on daily opportunities to improve our common core skills in conjunction with rhythm, fitness, and leadership. This collaborative focus helps in preparing our students for future responsibility and accountability while exposing them to literacy from different outlets (such as general media entertainment and the surrounding environment). We strive on building interpersonal confidence through an abundance of fun activities and age-appropriate critical thinking exercises from kindergarten to eighth grade. Throughout the week you may catch us working on novels, acting out our favorite scenes, enjoying student-led games with an English twist or in the middle of an intense lyrical battle to exhaust any excess energy. Or you can catch us doing homework comprehension, test prep or simply join us for a read aloud on days we prefer serenity.
Fashion class was designed to have children find their inner creative selves by designing their own pieces. They were taught to create patterns from old clothes and then upcycle old clothes and unwanted material into pieces they could wear. The students from conception to completion chose the direction they wanted their pieces to go. They were taught to use different methods to sew their pieces and will present their pieces and skills in a fashion show to end their 2019 cycle. With limited time the children made their best efforts come to the runway. Their focus, determination and dedication was revealed in the pieces they created.
In Ms. Linda Collazo’s voice class, students have been able to sing in a choir, performing Music of all different styles. In this class, students work on developing breath support, matching pitch, reading music, and developing teamwork skills by singing in a group. The pieces learned this year have included “Path to the Moon” by Eric Thiman, “We will rock you” by Queen, “Love me do” by the Beatles, and “Canta y no llores” by Manuel Penella. This year, Ms. Linda’s choir has gotten to perform in front of the people of THE POINT three times, with wonderful responses from the audiences each time.
Nerd is a youth program held on Monday and Wednesdays that focuses on connecting students through tabletop games. Tabletop games help the students with their writing and critical thinking skills as they need to keep track of numbers and come up with different strategies for their current situation. Having a program like Nerd is great because it brings students from different schools who have the same interest together and also give them the freedom to enjoy the game if they cannot otherwise do so at home or in school. We hope to see more students at Nerd next year.
Our Fridays in After-school are some of the wackiest and funniest days here at THE POINT. We start off the weekend strong with a wide range of big group activities that everyone in after-school participates in. We have had dance parties in the theater and in the atrium which inevitably led to some dance battles among the students and staff!! We turned the atrium into a makeshift obstacle course to incorporate the skills we’ve learned in Circus and in Dance. The obstacle course wasn’t the only time the atrium was transformed, we brought the circus equipment out for everyone to see how physically resilient our participants are. What’s physical resilience without making healthy snacks with everyone, once a month on Friday we have our students assist in the making and setting up of snack for after-school for the day. It gets messy at times but everyone has a blast when it comes to snacks!!!
Master Comic Book Artist, Ivan Velez, joined us in February with his Artopia Workshops where students practice art via pop culture to deconstruct and invent new ways of seeing our world, both in After-School Program and our evening salon classes which are for artists of all ages. Works by POINT artists included in our Winter Fest Exhibit, and Dwight Headley working on his ink/ canvas experiments
Artopia Workshop. Teaching Artist working with After-School Program Students
Robots, After-School Program Students, Artopia
Jazmine and her work
Artopia Student with her work
George Coto - Winter Festival Exhibit
Dwight Headley at work, on his Ink/Canvas experiments
Elijah Rashid at Work (Evening Visual Arts Salon)
Chen Carrasco, Collage
Life Drawing. Artopia, Evening Class with Ivan Velez
Self Portrait, Carlos Hernandez
ICP at THE POINT is a 20+ years collaboration with the International Center of Photography. Serving roughly 100 students throughout the year, ICP’s teaching teams provide instruction in the fundamentals of photography, film development, darkroom printing and portrait lighting. Final presentations at the end of each term, gives students the opportunity to hone their writing and public speaking skills, as well as share bodies of work with family and friends. Teacher and TA helping the student with printing.
This year, students visited the exhibitions For Freedoms: Where do We Go From Here and Your Mirror: Portraits From the ICP Collection, at the International Center of Photography as well as Love & Resistance: Stonewall 50 at The New York Public Library. Teen Photo II, participated in a writing workshop with photographer and author Liz Sales, while Teen Photo I visited the photo archive at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Pre Teens looking at the work from the Guest artist Shaun.
Student Chelsea Mauricio looking at her negatives she just developed.
Students on a class trip to the see the For Freedoms Exhibition at the ICP museum.
Students From the summer (Teens) going to the Longwood Art Gallery to view Through a Feminine Lens exhibition.
Image: © Kevin Nestor
VANTAGE POINT 24: CELEBRATING 20 YEARS ICP at THE POINT Student and Alumni Exhibition Vantage Point 24: Celebrating 20 Years is an exhibition of photographs by students and alumni from ICP at THE POINT. This special anniversary show is a celebration of local voices picturing the beauty of everyday life and the hope for a brighter future. Launched in 1997, ICP at THE POINT is a year-round collaboration that teaches photography, critical thinking, writing, and public speaking with the goal of fostering self-esteem, community development, and social change. The program includes weekly after-school classes for preteens and teens that take place in a classroom/studio, black-and-white darkroom, and gallery space.
Featured Artists
Karina Acebo, Jaidev Alvarez, Miguel Anaya, Lux Angamarca, Christopher Baizan, Roy Baizan, Tony Baizan, Ileia Burgos, Karina Chan, Faith Colón, Boris Cortes Jr., Joselyn DeJesus, David Delgado, Nailea Dominguez, Willy Dynamite, Dalylah Ebanks, Ashley Edwards, Jaedyn Edwards, Guadalupe Flores, Jazlyn Flores, Madison Forty-Way, Destiny Garcia, Kiara García, Joseph Gilmore, Angelina Gonzalez, Ladan Graves, Evan Guzmán, Alex Hernandez, Niah Joseph, Dakota Maisonet, Dominick Marcelo, Sydney Mateo, Emmanuel Matos, Eboni McDaniel, Kevin Nestor, Rodolfo Nestor, Mark Nevers, Stephanie Peña, Danny Peralta, Xéla Perryman, Christopher Quainoo, Dion Rodriguez, Ricardo Silva, Josangel Sosa, Sofie Vásquez, Misra Walker, Bashira Webb, and Tiffany Williams.
Image: © Tony Baizan Image: © Danny R. Peralta
Image: © Misra Walker
Image: © Tiffany Williams
Image: © Miguel Anaya
Image: © Joselyn DeJesus
Image: © Dalylah Ebanks
Image: © Faith Colón
A.C.T.I.O.N. engages 20 stipend youth activists three times per week who work to identify social and environmental justice issues facing the Hunts Point community. Participants create and manage campaigns with the goals of developing ongoing youth-led solutions.
I had the pleasure working with 12 amazing youth on the topic of Domestic Violence. We spent 5 months creating art for our community to bring awareness about Domestic Violence. Showing people they are not alone, offering the right resources and help needed.
Breathe In yoga class, we come together to move mindfully with our breath. We work on strength, balance, and flexibility. We move and then we are still. We work hard and then we rest and relax. We also laugh together! Namaste!
Peaceful Warriors
Yoga Buddies
Partner stretches!
Standing Meditation
All-Styles-Performance Class. A choreography based class for the beginner to an experienced teen or young adult dancer designed to prepare for a Latin Performance. The choreography in Salsa, Bachata, Folk, Reggaeton and more!
THE POINT’s Blank Plate program introduces teens to Culinary Arts. Blank Plate is the creative culinary program that’s changing a neighborhood, one plate at a time. Young chefs learn food safety & handling, preparation techniques, plating, new recipes and how to prepare a large community meal and design a Hunts Point event for No Beef Thursdays!
FOOD IDENTIFICATION
KNIFE SKILLS
CHICKEN FABRICATION
COOKING A COMMUNITY DINNER
COMMUNITY DINNER
BLANK PLATE STUDENTS
Open Hydrant @THE POINT (OH!) is dedicated to preparing young people to be active and engaged citizens. Our student actors are trained to use their voices in speaking up and speaking out, expressing their ideas, their fears, their concerns and their passions. OH! trains young actors to be strong role models for the next generation. OH! expects young people to be moral citizens, promoting and fostering good character. OH! builds into its work the practice of acting ethically while being actively involved in school and community. We train our young actors to settle disputes while also showing respect for the rights of others. OH! stresses the values of equality, humanity, dignity, loyalty and compassion. OH! trains children to realize their full potential free of hatred, discrimination and violence. We encourage our youth to pursue the Arts as a means of fulfillment and joy.
Open Hydrant@ THE POINT believes every young person should be an active participant in the Arts, now and forever. We foster a feeling of family and we encourage every child to feel important, to have a voice and to have the opportunity to share Grows and Glows. Preteens and teens are expected to be on time with script and pencil in hand; constant encouragement is given, as well as positive critiques. We use humor in our training, but we do not hesitate to demand dedication and commitment. Besides working on Shakespeare plays or Broadway musicals, high school students are encouraged to be assistant directors, choreographers, costumers and set builders for the preteens’ shows. College students who graduate from our theater program return to mentor high school and middle school groups. All three age groups are expected to help the children in SPLASH , Small People Learning and SHowcasing. SPLASH consists of children in The Point’s after-school program who learn theater vocabulary and stage directions as they put on plays for special holidays.
A large number of our OH! students compete in Speech/Debate,and have won State and National awards in Duo, Dramatic and Humorous Interpretation at major universities across the country such as Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton and St. Joseph’s and will be trained in the works of the Bard. The students are out of school at 1 PM on Fridays and so can be ready with pre-show activities such as face painting, stage fighting, and hula-hooping as audiences arrive for 2PM shows. OH!’s Equity cast is also on hand to tour with our Shakespeare plays to elementary, middle and senior high schools in the Tri-State area.
Rodney Gocool (Be A Buddy Volunteer, Hunts Point Resident)
Fernando Ortiz, M.Des, Climate Preparedness and Resiliency Organizer
Lucia Hernandez (Be A Buddy Volunteer, Hunts Point Resident)
The Hunts Point – Longwood Be A Buddy (BaB) program is designed to prepare the community for future climate events through climate health education and community preparedness. The Program is aimed at increasing community resilience, reducing vulnerabilities to heat emergencies and extreme weather and promoting connections between local residents. BaB seeks to strengthen the capacity of local residents, communities, and organizations to withstand and emerge stronger from impacts of climate change and extreme weather. This is an initiative led by THE POINT in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency “COOL NEIGHBORHOODS NYC” program, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and the Fund for Public Health NY (FDPNY).
Be A Buddy volunteers are: Lucia Hernandez Rodney Gocool Chen Carrasco Amal Kharoufi Denise Hunte Maurice Lingard
BAB Highlights: - 75 At-risk Residents registered - 6 Be A Buddy Volunteers - Trainings such as Mental Health First Aid, Overdose Reversal, Winter Preparedness, Community Preparedness, Individual Preparedness, Heat Health. - Over 8 outreach events
Be A Buddy Volunteers and Program Coordinator doing an Individual Preparedness Training with NYC Emergency Management.
The Digital Steward program is a stewardship that is focused on both community organizing
and tech skills. As a Digital Steward you will conduct outreach and develop partnerships with the businesses in your community. Technical skills will consist of networking and wireless
basics, mounting and cabling, installing routers and maintaining networks. In addition, you will be engaged in training and action on digital justice issues and resiliency.​
PNK Workshop with Edwin.
Tony packing up the PNK
PNK workshops with Edwin. Learning P2P link.
Crimping tools usedto fix ethernet cables ends during installations
Participants during PNK workshop in Puerto Rico
PNK4PR line of sight panorama
DS PNK deployment drill at Governor’s Island
Tony teaching cable crimping at PNK4PR
Education PNK used during “Summer Mesh 2018” workshops series.
DISCOTECH: Community outreach PNK workshops to demystify the internet
Air casting workshop enriching our DS understanding of how sensors can collect environmental data and expand the use sof our network .
Rooftop installation for Bascom Catering
Red Hook Labs
Teaching artist at Red Hood Lab and alumni of ICP at THE POINT
Mark Nevers
Joseph “Donjai” Gilmore
Bashira Webb
“Youth Community Programs have been tremendously successful in many different ways. The program has had a number of very well received exhibitions both in the school and at the local galleries. It is involved in the ongoing productions of youth magazines at the schools and helps with the school yearbooks. Most importantly, the students and emerging artists have created an impressive collection of work while learning and enhancing job and career skills through Red Hook Labs. In addition, their photography, which is amply demonstrated in their subject matter, literally connects them to their neighborhoods, the city and themselves in countless positive ways.” - Bashira Webb, Labs teacher
A1 Food Distribution Abayomi Babatunde DJ Black Icon Abada Capoeira Advocates for Youth The After School Corporation Anne Lawrence Anti-Violence Project John & Laura Avedon The Avedon Foundation BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance BASCOM CATERING Betsy Davidson Benjamin Elbirt Bronx Community Development Initiative Boswyck Farms Bowling Green University Annie Bradley George Bradley and Spencer Boyd Jonathan Brandt Robert Bowne Foundation The Brenner Family Foundation Bronx Beer Hall Bronx Charter School of the Arts The Bronx Children’s Museum Bronx Council of Arts Bronx Defenders Bronx Documentary Center Bronx High School For Visual Arts Bronx Museum of Arts Bronx River Alliance The Bronx Puerto Rican Day Parade Bronx Teen Connect Bronx Writing Academy Bydale Foundation Caribbean Cultural Center Casita Maria Cirque Du Soleil CITGO City Lore Clean Energy Group Cliff Bar Community Board 2 Community Food Advocates CUNY Service Corps
Darius Davis Dept. of Cultural Affairs DreamYard Down East Seafood Mr. Willie Dynamite Evonny Escoto Estate 4 Father and Son BBQ FDNY Ladder 48 and Engine Company 94 Melissa Fernandez Tanya Field & BLK ProjeK Betty Fonseca Caio Fonseca Isabel Fonseca Stephen Frailey From The Bronx Forza Malizia Dance Company Carmen Garcia Gilbane Michael Glazebrook The Hammond Family Foundation Hecksher Foundation Lucia Hernandez/Bryant Ave. Community Garden Hispanic Federation The Hitchcock Family The House of Spoof Collective Hunts Point Alliance for Children Hunts Point Express Hunts Point Library Hunts Point Recreation Center Hydro Punk Hyde Leadership Academy IDEA In Good Company Inside Out Project Team Don Kao The JM Kaplan Fund Julia Palmer Library Grant Cohort Jump Start Just Food
The Justice Committee NYC Michael Kamber Kelly Street Gardens The Kresge Foundation The Knowledge House David Kupferstein L+M Developers Sari Siegel & Julian Lamb The Laundromat Project Lawyers Alliance For NY Levitt Foundation Paul Lipson Ms. Louise Lunch 4 Learning Campaign Mainland Media Mariposa William Marshall Merck Family Foundation Materials for the Arts Doug Miles Armene Miliken James and Amanda Moffat Montefiore Medical Center Morris Heights Health Center Roy Moskowitz M.S. 424 Mothers on the Move John Murphy National Endowment of the Arts New Settlement Apartments College Access Center NYC Department of Cultural Affairs NYC Department of Parks and Recreation New Yorkers for Parks New York Foundation The New York Women’s Foundation New Yankee Stadium Fund NOCD-NY The Norcross Wildlife Foundation NYC-EJA NYC Parks NYSCA Steve and Sylvia Ohler Open Hydrant Theater Outward Bound NYC Partnership for Parks
PASE Flor Perez Lisa Persky and Andy Zax People’s Power Movement The Pinkerton Foundation Planned Parenthood THE POINT Board of Directors Project Hope Project Reach NYC Real Life Church Recycle a Bicycle Red Hook Initiative Red Hook Labs John A. Reisenbach Foundation Rhea Keller Diana Revson Barry Rosen Mrs. Cybeale Ross Office Of Congressman Jose E. Serrano St. Ignatius School Scherman Foundation School of Visual Arts SISDA South Brooklyn Community High School The Surdna Foundation Summit Academy Charter School Sam Swope TATS CRU UNITAS United Health Center UPenn/Olin Urban Health Plan Urban Word NYC Carl Van Patton Variety the Children’s Charity & Young Vari-ety Tim Vetter Vista Foods Stephen Warnke and Susan Sommer Jim Warburg The Wine Cellarage
A FEW HIGHLIGHTS OF THE POINT YOUTH EVENTS
AUTOGRAPHS