Children in Poverty

Children in Poverty: FEEL STAGE

by Sophie

The main problem that our group focused on was Children in Poverty. We chose this because many people are unaware of how big of a problem poverty is in our city and in our country. We wanted to help educate others because they may not know about the problem or if/how they should help. We…

by Reggi

A plan to take action that we had was to tell our students of the teach-in to visit Change.Organization to sign petitions to help solve the issue of poverty in New York City such as raising the minimum wage. We hoped this idea could help accomplish our goals as a group.

by Reggi

On Monday, February 1st, our Social Justice group returned to School Visual Arts to attend a symposium on health issues. We heard from important activists on this topic: community leader and public servant, Clyde Williams; Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Junior; Director of the Arnhold Global Health Institute, Doctor Prabhjot Singh; Rob Carmona, Co-founder of…

by Sophie

My group decided to go back to LSA because we enjoyed going so much a few months ago and we thought that it was an amazing organization that helped lots of people. I liked how the organization not only provided people with food but they also helped with immigration, child care, tutoring and more. They…

by Sophie

My group decided that we wanted to go to Washington Square park to ask people questions about their views on poverty. We wanted to see if people knew how big of a problem poverty is in NYC. We asked multiple questions such as peoples thoughts when they hear the word poverty, what they think the…

by Reggi

Our Social Justice group went to Washington Square Park to ask random citizens questions about poverty. We asked many different questions, and got all sorts of answers. All of the people we interviewed happened to be very smart, and they all gave amazing answers. Our group in total interviewed about six people, and each interview…

by Sophie

My group went with Mark to a gallery/workshop at the School of Visual Arts. At the entrance of the building there was a gallery that contained different interactive elements that portrayed the Harlem community. There were recordings of the sounds of different neighborhoods and statistics such as diabetes and the number of supermarkets in the…

by Reggi

Thursday January 24th, our Social Justice group visited LSA, Little Sisters Assumption, for the second time. We really enjoyed our first experience there and we learned a great deal from it. The people there were so friendly, and it overall seemed like a great community, so we decided to re-visit. This visit, we helped with…

by Reggi

On Wednesday January 20th Mark took our Social Justice group was went to the School of Visual Arts, to talk about Harlem, and what it means to live in Harlem. We were shown a gallery, and in that gallery was a big canvas with a birds-eye map of Harlem on it. They put pins on…

by Pierre

For our fieldwork at Harlem First we learned about East Harlem and looked at many valuable maps on East Harlem. The two maps that stood out to me most significantly was a map that showed the audience the amount of colored skinned people living in East Harlem versus the rest of Manhattan. Another map that…

by Pierre

During our fieldwork at Washington Square Park we interviewed people on there thoughts about children in poverty and the statistics. It was a very interesting to hear people’s thoughts on youth poverty in NYC. People were very disappointed, mad, interesting and some felt as if they needed to do something about this ASAP. Everyone’s answers…

by Pierre

For our fieldwork at LSA we unboxed food and put the food on the shelves. After that fun and long process we went “shopping” with some of LSA’s clients. The reason I say shopping is because LSA lets there clients chose what foods they want and they have a certain amount of points they can…

by Ryann

After our first experience at LSA we thought it would be a good place to go back to. At LSA this time we helped restock the pantry and helped clients. These clients have families starting at one person and going to eight or above. Unlike most food pantries LSA give people a amount of points…

by Ryann

At the beginning of this fieldwork we thought that Mapping East Harlem’s Health was not going to be relevant to our project. However, later we discovered valuable information and we were able to talk to different experts on our topic. At this fieldwork we began by sitting in on a meeting that explained what they had done.…

by Ryann

For our fith field work we went to Washington Square Park to ask people questions about our topic to understand their perspective. Going in to this fieldwork we had to come up with questions that were not easily answered in a single word. That was to insure that peole didn’t just say one word answers…

by Sophie

My group and part of the education group went to the St. Brigid’s school to volunteer at a Breakfast with Santa where there was food, music, arts and crafts, etc. for the children. Our main tasks were serving food and helping children with the arts and crafts. The organization is called the Children’s Scholarship Fund…

by Reggi

Winter Break started, but our group didn’t stop! On Saturday, we went to Saint Brigid School to serve breakfast and assist children on paintings and coloring. We arrived at around 11:00, and stayed until around 1:00. My main job was to collect money for the raffle, and serve food. I really enjoyed assisting at this…

by Ryann

On Saturday the 19th both my group and the education group went to St. Brigids to volunteer. Since, I was the first person to get their they asked me to help serve food as they were about to start and didn’t have enough hands. After serving food I helped kids do arts and crafts…

by Reggi

Our Social Justice group recently watched a film directed on poor families, and their daily struggles. It was a really powerful movie that educated me about how hard a families life is when they are poor and in poverty, but I also learned how many families are currently living in poverty. I was shocked when I…

by Sophie

When we arrived at the food pantry, we signed in at the front and put on aprons, hairnets, and gloves. We began the visit by breaking down boxes. We then sorted and cleaned plastic containers that would be given to the people who visited the food pantry with fruits and vegetables in them. After we…

by Pierre

For my third fieldwork my group went to a food pantry called Xavier mission. During our time there we washed containers, cut pastries and organized food. We also met some interesting people who were volunteering with us. After we did that we took boxes and made them flat. It was very hard to do because…

by Pierre

On this fieldwork our group went to an organization called LSA. LSA helps families meet their immediate need for food and the longer-term issues of living in poverty. At our stay we helped distribute food and for each family we gave them the appropriate amount of food. We were able to get a tour…

by Sophie

On Monday, November 23rd, our group visited LSA, an organization with many different branches to it that helps families in poverty. One of their main programs is the advocacy and food pantry, which is where we volunteered. This program provides food to families in poverty and also helps them with other issues they may have…

by Ryann

For my group’s second field work we went to LSA. We volunteered at their food pantry and helped at least ten families get the appropriate amount of food. Unlike most food pantries were food is distributed in bags and clients don’t have a choice of what they are getting, LSA gives people a choice and makes…

by Ryann

For my group’s first field work we watched a documentary on poor kids in the United States. As this being our first field work it was more for us to gain a better sense of our topic without just jumping into it. I personally felt this was important because poverty is the living condition/state someone…

by Sophie

For our first fieldwork, my group watched a PBS movie called, Poor Kids. This movie follows the lives of multiple families in America who live in poverty. This film portrayed how poverty can effect so many things in your life such as your diet, home, pets, school-life, etc. I think that one thing this movie taught us…

by Pierre

For my Social Justice fieldwork my group watched a movie on these three families who are below the poverty level. It was fascinating seeing what it is like to not have much. You don’t realize that you have a lot until it is taken away. During the movie it was so hard to watch a scene on…

by Clair

1 in 6 people in the U.S. are impoverished. 500,000 children in New York City alone live below the poverty line. Growing up in poverty can make it difficult to make choices and escape the cycle. Once in poverty it is extremely difficult to create a sustainable future. Our group is learning about the difficult…

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