Phoebe-Arts East New York-2/24/10

Today, Niles, Samantha, and I met with a woman named Catherine Green.  She is the founder of an organization in East New York, Brooklyn to help bring kids and families together so kids in the neighborhood focus on positive things like art.   She spoke to us about her organization and what they do.  She has a youth program where she brings social workers and speakers to come talk to the kids about gun violence.  She wants to empower the kids to make a difference in their community and focus on what they want to accomplish in life, rather than getting caught up in the dangers happening around them.  She shared with us that she is also has started a fashion program for kids to be apart of.  I think that what she does is great because it gives the children a safe place where they can have fun, learn, and accomplish goals.  Ms. Green also shared with us some statistics.  She told us that East New York is the neighborhood that has the second highest gun violence rate in the state.  She also told us that already in 2010 there has been three murders in East New York, and it is only February!  We interviewed her about how she got started, what she does, and what she would tell someone like the mayor or the president about this issue if she could.  We plan on using this interview for our presentation at the United Nations on March 9th.  We are going to contact her again to find a time in either March or April when we can go to her organization and see for ourselves what she does exactly.  I really look forward to this.