2021-2022

Interview with Donna Dees; founder of Millions Moms March.

by 27benio

Last week, on January 17th we interviewed Donna Dee, the founder of Million Moms March; one of the largest protests against gun violence in US history. The march took place in Washington DC on Mothers Day, may 14, 2000 with a crowd of over one million people protesting for Gun Laws. Over the years, she has continued promoting gun violence prevention, wrote a memoir called “looking for a Few Good Moms: How one mom rallied a million others against the gun lobby” that earned an award, and co directed/produced the award winning documentary “five awake” about five Louisiana women who set out to strengthen domestic violence laws.

During the interview, Donna elaborated on Gun Carry Laws and the many lives taken by mass and school shootings. Many of us including myself assumed that guns used for mass shootings were predominantly bought legally. However, Donna explained that a study from the U.S Secret Service found 76% of school shooters got their guns from either their home or from relatives. She also talked about the issue where families who own guns don’t always lock them up properly. About eight kids die a day or are injured from improperly stored guns and this statistic alone emphasizes the fact we must also advocate for safe storage laws along with firm gun laws.

Donna was very informative and we were able to learn a lot from just this interview. She also connected us with the Newton Action Alliance where we joined a lunch and lobby on January 23rd. For our first fieldwork, I found it quite successful and we received more information on ways to stop gun violence.

by Zara Seegers

My group interviewed Coach Macky on Thursday, January nineteenth, 2023. Coach Macky is the founder of a non-profit organization called Steady Buckets. Steady Buckets is a basketball, physical, and skill development program for girls and boys ages five to eighteen. The objective of the program is to help kids grow and develop hard-working skills. It is funded by the community, therefore there are high-quality free basketball classes that kids of various ages can go to. Macky shared us his insight on the prices of sports in NYC. I learned a lot about what it takes to run a non-profit organization and the benefits of kids that participate in sports. Kids who had taken part in the Steady Buckets in-person version of the program spread the word about the online workouts on Covid since they were accessible at any time of the day. Coach Macky expressed his pride at not really needing to publicize it because it did so well on its own. Coach Macky was aware that his high caliber free basketball program in downtown Manhattan would draw the attention it deserved and that anyone who chose to participate would learn about its caliber.

by Theo

I watched the documentary “Starved.” This was about a variety of food-related issues, particularly in Pennsylvania. This was about how people couldn’t afford healthy food or were cut off from proper nutrition because there were no grocery stores nearby.

I did lots of work with the term food Deserts but they also used a term, “Food Swamps” as one step worse then food deserts. This problem seems to be getting better but it is important that we help prevent it. This documentary helped me understand how food insecurity doesn’t always have to be a financial thing.

by Bayo Maathey

On Wednesday, April 20 my group watched a documentary about the issue of food insecurity in Pennsylvania. The video was made by WQED Pittsburgh, a youtube channel with 20,00 subscribers. In the video they talked about how being food insecure can stem from multiple things and it can happen in the blink of an eye.

A lot of the things the documentary spoke about were devastating but understandable. They said that Covid had hit and their access to food became limited. One of the main speakers on the show had a car accident a few years ago and due to that she and her husband were practically put on bed rest which made accessing food a lot more challenging and difficult. Another family talked about how when covid hit they lost their job therefore losing their weekly wages and weren’t able to provide food for their children which made them feel like they weren’t providing as a parent. I could never imagine how difficult that must be just to think about how disappointed one might be in themselves because they can’t provide for their kids. It’s just absolutely devastating.

Even though this documentary had a sad tone I truly enjoyed watching this video and thought it was super informative and interesting. Not only did it give us information but it also gave us perspective about a subject that we haven’t experienced first hand because of our privilege. But it also taught me what I can do to help, like volunteering, packing bags of food and more. Overall I thought this video was excellent.

by Nazir Primus

On Thursday, the 21st of April we interviewed our 5/6th grade PE teacher, Luis Hernandez. He has experience in female sports due to him being a coach of middle schools and high school girls’ teams. Luis has been coaching the girls for a few years now and he gave us some information on how girls’ sports are treated differently than men’s sports.

Luis told us that immediately after switching to coaching girls’ teams, he notice a huge fan difference. Boys noticeably had way more fans than girls by a lot. He said that this is because when girls play basketball it’s a lot more fundamental whereas boys players are more flashy. In recent years, it has gotten way better. As a middle schooler, I came to support our middle school girls’ volleyball team was coached by Luis. In the interview, he states that he noticed that there were many more fans than before. He went on to say that Our generation is starting to make a difference that is becoming noticeable. Our volleyball team did really well and as a school, we did a great job of supporting them. Even though our school’s athletics program isn’t the greatest Luis is always motivated to coach and I am truly inspired.

by Casey Veldhouse

We interviewed our 5/6th grade PE teacher, Luis Hernandez. He has experience in female sports due to him being a coach of a few middle school and high school girls teams. Luis has been coaching the girls for a few years now and he gave us some information on how girls sports are treated differently then men’s sports.

Luis told us that immediately after switching to coaching girls teams, he notice a huge fan difference. Boys noticeably had way more fans then girls by a lot. In recent years, it has gotten way better. Recently, our middle school girls volleyball team was coached by Luis when he noticed something. There were so many more fans than before. Our generation is starting to make a difference that is becoming noticeable. Our volleyball team did really well and our fans did great to support them. If we keep the fans numbers going up, we will make a change.

by Bo Gardner

On Friday, April 9, our group had the opportunity to visit the USS Growler Submarine Museum. The USS Growler was a nuclear missile submarine stationed off the coast of the Soviet Union during the 1960’s. During that time, it was ready to launch a nuclear missile at any moment.

The USS Growler is a part of the Intrepid Air and Space museum. We took the A train to 42 street, then walked to the intrepid with our chaperone Peter Fisher. The submarine is next to the intrepid floating in the water. Before entering the submarine we walked through a brief exhibition that explains the history behind the USS Growler. One thing I learned in this part of the museum was that the submarine launched a Regulus cruise missile. The Regulus was an unmanned nuclear missile that flew like an airplane after being launched via rockets.

After going through the exhibition, we got to enter the submarine. We learned that people would be inside of the submarine for 90 days at a time without going outdoors or breathing fresh air. Many of the sailors were afraid to launch a nuclear missile because of the threat of nuclear war and the submarine being attacked. Personally I cannot imagine what it was like to be in the submarine waiting for an order to launch a nuclear missile. The USS Growler was eventually retired in favor of a newer submarine, but instead of being demolished, it was brought to the Intrepid museum.

Visiting the USS Growler was a really amazing learning experience and Edward and I learned a lot. The information that we learned is really helpful for our project and we are really thankful.

by Hutch

We spoke with Alex Wolfe, from the Humane League. Their mission is to end the abuse of animals raised for food. She believes an issue with activism is that often how successful it seems is subjective and that we need data and science to know what works. They pressure companies to adhere to specific regulations. 9 billion land animals are raised for meat and because 90% of those animals are chickens, it makes sense for the organization to focus on chicken welfare policies. Also, chickens are not protected by the humane slaughter act.

They target college campuses because the purchasing tends to come from factory farms known to commit a lot of abuse, including slaughtering caged hens and college students are very open-minded and will speak up for change on their campuses. It was a cage-free campaign. Then they started targeting the actual factory farms. They also worked for a regulation in California which didn’t allow pig farmers to use a gestation cage. It took 4 years to go into effect and is in effect now.

The work is challenging. They want to improve animal welfare incrementally. They’re dealing with wealthy, powerful companies and the status quo. The way to reverse global warming is to stop eating meat or at least eat less of it. Some people still believe the myth they have to eat meat because they need a lot of protein. So they’re pressing companies, trying to create legislation and regulations, and make public the harms and abuse suffered by the animals. She shared how slaughterhouse workers are often immigrants and these workplaces are intentionally put into marginalized communities in which these workers can be utilized for low pay. These workers get severe psychological damage because they are faced with killing every day which isn’t normal.

She shared that she doesn’t believe in shaming people about eating meat. She does try to inspire people by giving them information and asking them questions. If it means some people end up eating less meat, that’s great. Any direction towards a more plant-based diet is helpful. She said, “Perfection is the enemy of good” which I take to mean that we should start where ever we are and do what we can.

She recommended we watch Genesis Butler’s Ted Talk which points to the link between climate change and animal agriculture. She was the youngest person ever to give a Ted Talk. She also recommended FFAC (Factory Farming Awareness Coalition) and we shared we’d interviewed someone from there.

Finally, she talked about how important it is to understand the intersections of racial justice, labor justice, the environment, and animal agriculture. These intersections are a way we can reach people we wouldn’t otherwise reach.

I really appreciated meeting and talking with Alex Wolfe. She was so open and generous, sharing with us the work the Humane League is doing, but also some of her own experiences. It is inspiring to know there are people working for animal justice and environmental justice in so many different ways.

by Tristan Goris

We met with two tour guides from the Bill Gates Discovery Center. They gave information on a topic that doesn’t usually come to mind when you think of water pollution. We learned about how Western flush toilets(most toilets used in America) take gallons of drinking water to flush. Which is a limited resource as it is, meanwhile, it’s not like we’re drinking from our toilets! Not to mention that they are anything but affordable. Toilets aren’t accessible to everyone, and using the restroom might mean something entirely different to someone on the other side of the world.

At the Bill Gates Discovery Center, scientists are working hard to create more efficient and affordable toilets that solve as many problems in one model. Some of the prototypes don’t even require water to flush, also known as a “water-less flush.” More environmentally friendly toilets could be one of the keys to preventing water pollution, and at the forefront of encouraging water conservation.

by Oluwajuwon Filani

On Thursday, the 31th of March my group was honored to meet Jennifer Scales. Jennifer Scales is a professional at Discovery Center Gates Foundation. We were also with Rebecca Lawler who is Jennifer’s assistant.

Jennifer opens up the interview with a poop slide presentation and talked about poop, toilets and sanitation. What I learned from meeting her was that 3.5 billion people in the world are not connected to good waste management system. That’s almost half of the whole worlds entire population. Some people even have to public defecate which is just pooping in public. Improper sanitation is the cause of 700,000 childhood deaths each year. Knowing this makes me really sad that this is happening to people around the world but it also encourages me to do more to sustain pure water and sanitation.

She also talked to us about different types of toilets. There are western toilet, urinals, and squat toilets. Squat toilets are more common than western toilets. Which is really surprising to me because I only us western toilets. There are solutions to this toilet problem though that she talked about. One in particular she talked about was a toilet that turns poop into ashes and filter our pee to be like ocean water. All in all it was really great talking to Jennifer and she taught us so much that I have never thought about before.

by Samuel Curry-Levine

On Wednesday, the 6th of April our group was able to go to Rodeph Shalom School to see the backpack buddy system. When we went there, we saw how they created the backpacks. It was shown that a long table contains multiple different meals and snacks. You would go down the table packing in the correct amount of food and snacks in the backpacks.

They even allowed us to pack the bags. Once we did it, we went back and packed a few. At the speed we were doing it at, it felt like we were all doing a marathon. In addition to how the system works, we understood why the bags were just black. We learned that the bags had no letters for the synagogues because they wanted to make the food anonymous. They believe that no kids should have to have attention be on them. They don’t want other kids to know these kids experience food insecurity or don’t know when their next food will come. It’s not right to have these kids feel like people feel bad for them and are giving them a gift because of that. It’s better for these kids to feel that they need to get these bags every time after school on Friday.

In addition to the backpack buddies, we learned that Rodeph Shalom School has a shelter downstairs in their synagogue. We went down and looked at the shelter. It was small, so they told us that usually they’d only have at most 8 men in their shelter. They told us that the men were more happy that people were respecting them rather than the conditions in their shelter. It has been hard because of the pandemic, so right not they haven’t been able to get volunteers to get some of the men. Some are afraid that the vaccination rate for some of the men are not as high as they wanted.

Overall, it was great that we got to learn about the backpack buddies system and the homeless shelter. We have Romy to thank for organizing this tour. But, it was really great getting to learn from experts who are helping to improve the human rights topic that our group is learning about this year.

by Cyrus Fawkes

On Thursday, February 24, our group met with Ayn Riggs, the founder and CEO of Slave Free Chocolate, a company that helps bring awareness to how child labor is used in the chocolate industry. This brand was founded in 2007 by Ayn Riggs, Paige Hahn, and Bridget El Khayati. The company has grown a lot since day one as it was originally planned to be a brand that’s only job was to spread the word but since then they have led campaigns and speaking engagements while also helping other similar companies with their own work.

During our talk with Ayn we learned a lot more about her work and against companies that implement child labor and enslaved working in their chocolate making. Some major companies that use these services include Nestle, Hershey, Mars and Cargill. These companies find loopholes in the laws to make use of these inhumane practices. These companies don’t outright encourage child labor but their process of checking their company to see if it is being used is subpar. Although these are some companies are one side of the spectrum, on the other hand some companies are working hard to combat this, like Tony Chocoloney. Or so we thought…

The most interesting part of the interview was when we started discussing Tony Chocolonely. We had heard from other sources that this company was doing a lot to help our cause and that we should consider interviewing one of their representatives so we were surprised when Ayn Riggs told us about how they weren’t who they seemed. Tony Chocoloney was apparently using child labor and enslaved labor behind the scenes. Their chocolate was also from another chocolate company, Barry Callebaut, who is known for treating their workers poorly. How did they get away with this? On their label it tells you that they are working towards 100% slave free chocolate and that they are not their just yet. Lots of people overlook this small detail and that’s why it is easy to miss. All in all, I learned a lot in this interview with Ayn, including how you shouldn’t always believe everything you hear.

by Cyrus Fawkes

On Tuesday, February 23, our social justice group spoke with Lauren Jackson of the Walkfree foundation. She is a Research and Policy Officer at the Walkfree Foundation. She is also the co-founder and director of the Children of Massai Educational Programme. Lauren and Walkfree are both located in Perth, Australia. The Walkfree Foundation was originally founded in 2010 by Grace and Andrew Forrest. Since then, they have dedicated themselves to completely eradicate all forms of modern slavery in their lifetime. Their staff have a variety of different jobs, from lawyers to statisticisians, and they all have one common goal, to address the root that causes slavery.

One of the main focal points in Walkfree’s goal of eradicating slavery, is their Global Slavery Index. Walkfree is a very data driven company that makes benchmarks that will help companies keep track of themselves and Walkfree will help them do better. All of this benchmarking is released in the Global Slavery Index. It gets released every four years in a downloadable report on their website. The last one is from 2018 so we can expect another report this year. The newest report will also analyze how COVID has caused risks for migrants and other vulnerable workers.

All in all we had an amazing interview with Lauren Jackson. I really learned a lot and I felt content knowing that people were out there helping with this cause. She also told our social justice group about other people that can help our cause. Another thing that you can do is to speak with your representatives about changing labor policies and boycotting companies that implement this slavery. With this newfound information, I will teach my classmates and peers and hopefully, one day, slavery wont exist anywhere.

by Gabriella Hilsenrad

Jennifer led us on a virtual tour of the exhibit “What to do with all that Poo?” at the Gates Foundation Discovery Center. We learned about how proper sewage is extremely important to have clean water, and how having an improper waste disposal system can be harmful to the environment. This can cause up to 700,000 childhood deaths each year.
We also learned some fun facts related to the topic. One thing was that squat toilets are more common than western toilets, which surprised me. We also learned that Sir Thomas Crapper invented the toilet in the 1880s.

by Clyde Condos

On Tuesday, February 23, our group spoke with Lauren Jackson, the Research and Policy Officer at the Walk Free Foundation. Based in Perth, Australia, the Walk Free Foundation undertakes research and writes about modern enslavement. Over time, a group of people conduct this research on certain countries, looking to stop the exploitation of workers. This…

by Ayelet Kurtzman

On March 31st, 2022, my group had the pleasure of interviewing Logan Casey (he/him.) He is a trans and queer man that is the senior policy researcher and advisor at an organization called MAP. One thing that Logan does is overlook the equality maps that MAP produces such as this one that shows the progress of conversion therapy laws in the U.S.: https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/conversion_therapy

Logan told us that lgbtq+ discrimination and the laws against it vary greatly from place to place. It is difficult for the federal government to to pass laws against conversion therapy, so it is often done at a state or council level leading to different restrictions in different places. Some places have no restrictions at all which makes it very common, despite popular belief. Many people think that conversion therapy is a thing that used to happen when in reality it is still all too common today. In the U.S. only, an approximated 698,000 queer adults have gone through some form of conversion therapy in their life

Overall it was amazing to talk to Logan and we learned so much from him. Homophobia and transphobia are such big issues today and it’s so important that as many people as possible are educated on these issues. We are very excited that we got this opportunity to learn about this so that we can spread the word to other people.

by Samuel Curry-Levine

On Friday, April 1st, my group will be zooming with Sara Newman to discuss our Free Store plan. Towards the beginning of the year, my group interviewed Shams. Shams was a person who used to experience homelessness. He lived in the Lucerne Hotel and was almost about to be moved because the community was really not welcoming. With the help of Open Hearts, he overcame homelessness and now helps people experiencing homelessness. Now, he calls himself Da Homeless Hero, a very unique name for an incredible person with great motives.
Because of this interview, we were connected with Open Hearts and Sara. Now, we are planning a free store. Free store is a give away shop, where all items are available at no cost. Without having the connection from Shams, this would not be something we are looking forward to in the future. I am very excited to get the supplies and be able to give up free items for people in need. Hopefully, this can help a lot of people and give them items that can make their life easier while they are looking for shelters and safe places to live.

by Casey Veldhouse

On Friday, March 4th 2022, Henry, Nazir, and I interviewed a former NBA Hall of Famer and All-Star, Chris Bosh. Chris Bosh had 11 out of his 13 seasons as an all-star showing just how good he was. He played for the Toronto Raptors and with and the Miami Heat with well known NBA stars Dwayne Wade and LeBron James. We interviewed him due to his knowledge of what the basketball industry is like behind the scenes. Him having a big role in the NBA gave him knowledge of what its like off camera that he shared with us/

One thing we heard from Chris Bosh was how it felt to be a Hall of Famer. He stated it gave him a lot of respect and recognition. He also stated he believed people will start making big changes to sexism in sports in coming years. Lastly he thinks the wage gap will change due to our generation wanting to make a change. Overall, this was an outstanding interview and everyone that was there was so really excited to meet him. We got to say our thanks and that we enjoyed watching him play in the NBA.

by Casey Veldhouse

On Friday, February 25th, Henry, Nazir, and I interviewed well known agent, Leonard Armato. Leonard Armato founded Management Plus Enterprises, and has been working for equal pay for men and women in sports. He was a great interviewee due to his knowledge of the sports industry and experience working for change in the gender pay gap. His most well known accomplishment in sports is how he started the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour. This was the first Beach Volleyball League and Tournament. This is so prominent in the gender pay gap because he made sure that prize money was equal for men and women. This was really revolutionary for making a change in the pay gap.

Something we, as a group, learned about in this interview was how if you want to make a change, you can’t let anything stop you. Mr. Armato really proved this because in the start of his career, people didn’t believe in him so he convinced them to not pay him for a month and then decide if they wanted to keep him as an agent. Also, even though the gender pay gap wasn’t recognized as much, Leonard still decided to make the pay equal in volleyball. This shows how if we put our mind to something, we can do it.

by Giselle Molaei

On March 10th, our group was able to meet with Nell Rainy who is a licensed clinical social worker who works with the organization The Door. She said the reason why she got into this field of work is because she always loved helping other people and speaking with them about their issues. She also believes in trans generational missions which is what happens in our past or families sometimes we are the ones who have to work towards their goals.

A lot of people in her family struggled with mental health and addiction issues and she wanted to do everything she could to help her loved ones and others going through the same thing. Adding on to that, the company she works for, The Door, is a holistic youth space that is located in lower Manhattan. It was co-created by adults and adolescents in the 1950s meant to be a “shop for everyone’s needs.” Since teens were a part of the programming they were able to make something of the company that made sense to them.

Nell said that the pandemic affected the organization negatively and they lost many people that they were in touch with throughout because The Door works with many adolescents that are not very privileged and since everything went online and some people didn’t have the resources they had no way of seeking help. Nell says that Covid has resulted in a massive depression around teenagers that has not been addressed. She thinks that it can be difficult for people to open up about their mental health so they should be speaking with a person that they are comfortable with and connect with. Nell also practices syco-therapy and she tries to establish a relationship that is collaborative. She also says that talk therapy isn’t the only option for people . There are many other versions of therapy that people can try out and see which fits them best.

This was a very informative interview and my group and I learned so much. It was great to speak with someone who works with a successful organization that purely focuses on our topic.

by Hutch

I listened to an interesting lecture by Christopher Sebastian McJetters which he gave at the Vevolution Festival. He is a writer journalist, researcher and activist who teaches a class at Columbia University called “POP: Power, Oppression, and Privilege”. He focuses on how human relationships with other animals shape our attitudes about racial and political identity.

He talks about veganism as a liberation movement instead of just a diet or way of eating. He was inspired by black feminist theory and Bell Hooks’ writing and applies it to animal rights.

He talked about how all throughout history in America, our white supremacist culture has decided who is human and who is not so that being human is a political identity. When black people weren’t considered human they were exploited and experimented on. It was a time when anyone who wasn’t white, cisgender, male and wealthy wasn’t considered a person.

He talked about the brand of KFC who looks like an old white man dressed as a plantation owner who is selling “dead and dismembered bodies that have been fried”. He wonders how that image is an American icon and how we as a society allow the racist image to continue.

He talks about how the people who work in slaughterhouses tend to be people of color who live in economically depressed areas and that it’s privileged and classist to assume they should be able to do something else especially if there isn’t other work in the community. He shared that in Canada they couldn’t find people who wanted to work in their slaughterhouses so they hired Syrian Refugees. He used this as an example of the intersection of racism and animal violence.

He explained how our society generally accepts hunting but not poaching because people of color are usually poachers in economically depressed places and hunters are usually white and male but really they’re the same thing. They are both killing animals.

He ended his talk by saying our liberation is bound up with that of every other being on the planet.

I appreciated hearing about another way to think about animal rights. Most people just talk about veganism but he talks about liberation.

by Giselle Molaei

On March 4th my group and I had a great opportunity to speak with Dr. Lisa Damour. Dr. Damour is a clinical psychologist, author and podcast maker. When Dr. Damour was six years old and a friend of hers, Carla, moved from the U.S. to London around the same time. Carla was studying to become a psychologist under the guidance of, at the time, a famous psychologist, Anna Froyd. Young Lisa was spending many of her days with Carla and became fascinated by the practice. Carla explained all of her training to little Lisa which just made her even more interested. When Lisa moved back to the U.S. when she was seven she knew that she wanted to be a psychologist and she got her PHD when she turned twenty six years old.

Dr. Damour told us that she believes that the impact that Covid has had on adolescents has been awful. She says that the job that teenagers are given is to become independent and make friends and Covid has made that extremely difficult. She said that people who are less privileged and people who are already going through any sort of anxiety had another huge thing added to their lives that made their situation even more stressful. She said that the LGBTQ+ was also deeply affected by the pandemic and most of the time at their homes they were not accepted for who they were and school was a place to be loved by other people and they lost contact with that.

We asked Dr. Damour what she thinks is a step that parents can take towards helping their children with their mental health issues. Her response was very interesting. “I think we as parents should think about mental health in the same way we think about physical health.” She says we do lots of things to maintain our physical health and we should take that into account and use the same way of thinking and apply it to our mental health. She also thinks that there is a big misunderstanding with parents when they look at their kids’ mental health. They think it is a huge crisis as if it is a diagnosis, which is not the case at all. She also says that parents can have a lot of shame on their kids’ mental health and that is the worst thing you can do to yourself and more importantly your child.

Dr. Damour thinks that we can help as fellow teens by normalizing mental health issues to help people feel more comfortable around the topic. She really drilled into our heads the fact that there should be no shame in how you truly feel. This interview was incredibly inspiring and we are grateful for her words.

by Bayo Maathey

The Food Empowerment Project’s lauren Ornelas met with us. She launched the Food Empowerment Project in 2007, at a time when this topic was largely ignored. We learnt about how industrial farming is destroying our seas and how fast food restaurants prey on people who are unable to shop at traditional grocery stores. We also heard about how the government uses bodegas and delis to deceive people into believing that low-income areas aren’t really low-income. We also discovered that grocery stores in more affluent communities are open later. In addition, grocery businesses in lower-income areas close more sooner.

Due to everything they do, the Food Empowerment Project is crucial to our issue. Whether it’s protesting factory farming, commercial fishing, or the way fast food outlets prey on low-income areas, there’s always something to do. I believe that what they do is really important, and that they should continue to undertake this job both locally and across the United States.

by Bo Gardner

On Friday, February 18th, my groupmate and I were given the opportunity to talk with and interview Lynn Rusten. Lynn Rusten is currently the Vice President of the Global Nuclear Policy Program at NTI. The NTI, which is short for Nuclear Threat Initiative works with lawmakers to forward the goal of nuclear disarmament. Lynn Rusten also served as the senior director for arms control and nonproliferation on the White House National Security Council staff.

During the duration of the interview, my groupmate Edward and I interviewed Lynn Rusten about many different topics relating to nuclear disarmament. One of the topics that we interviewed her about was the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Tactical nuclear weapons are nuclear weapons that are significantly smaller, and less powerful than most others. The point of tactical nuclear weapons is for them to be used during an actual battle, and for them to be used on a battlefield. When we questioned her about this, she mentioned that the military does not prefer nuclear weapons and that they don’t see them as useful or practical devices of war, but instead as deterrence.

Overall Edward and I learned a lot of really helpful information during our interview with Lynn Rusten, and we are really grateful for her time.

by Macy Putka

On Thursday, February 24, 2022, our social justice group was given the opportunity to meet with April Dinwoodie, who was a former marketing executive in the fashion industry but now is an activist who creates podcasts and helps influences people to help Black and Brown foster children to find loving and safe homes. April identifies as a black and biracial woman. At an early age, April was adopted into a white family. She shared her story on how she navigated life living as a black and biracial woman in a white family.
Boston, Massachusetts is where April June Dinwoodie was born. Helen June, who is her biological mother, couldn’t care for April so she was put in foster care. Also, April has no information about her biological father. After a few months, April was adopted by a white family. The name that April was given at birth by her biological mother was June. April now as a podcast called “Born in June, Raised in April.” However, April’s forever parents named her April. And by the way, April was never born in April or June. (April was born in October so she found this really funny during the interview) Then June became April’s middle name.
Coming into the Dinwoodie family was a welcoming experience for April, although she was the only adopted and Black/Bi-Racial child in the family. She felt different from her siblings of experience because of her race, but her family did not treat her differently despite her differences. April felt accepted at home, but once she got to middle school, she started to get bullied by her peers. Growing up in a predominately white environment as a Black/Bi-Racial girl was hard, and April had to protect herself. Her parents were not aware of what was happening and they did not share the same racial experiences as her. April felt stuck and didn’t know who to talk to about the bullying at school. She encountered lots of racism as she grew up, so this sparked an interest in making changes for other kids like her who were going through similar experiences. When April was in her 20s, she wanted to look for her birth mother, Helen, but Helen didn’t want to meet or see her. April was heartbroken, she said. A quote from April was, “It felt as if she had a ‘double rejection’ because her birth mother didn’t accept her when she was born and later rejected her when she was a grown adult.” This is when April started to become an activist for children of color in the foster care and adoptions systems. Since there are 200,00 children in foster care every year, April explained to us, black and brown foster children are always represented disproportionally than their white counterparts, and black and brown children stay in foster care for longer. One thing that I found really interesting during this interview with April was that she said that adoption agencies and adoptive families “claimed to not see color.” I thought this was really interesting because you do need to see color, you just have to be aware of your bias and privilege a lot of the time. And April totally agreed. April wanted to become an activist so agencies and families see the color, just in a different way. April supports programs and events that make families aware of the color in some kids. She also quoted this, explaining from her own experiences, what she wants other kids of color in the foster care and adoption systems to feel, “Parents must listen to their children and understand what is best for their future. April wants to help all Black and Brown foster parents to gain the training and understanding they need to be successful with their children.” Overall I think that April really tries to inspire people. She’s really good at her job because I thought I was inspired, but now I am even more.

Hearing April’s story is very inspiring. She is an incredible person who does so much for Black and Brown foster children. She has podcasts and a website, (https://aprildinwoodie.com/the-podcast) and works very hard every day to make a change. This was an incredible interview!

by Henry Byrne

On Friday March 4th 2022, Nazir, Casey, and I interviewed a former NBA Hall of Famer and All-Star, Chris Bosh. Chris Bosh played in the NBA for 13 seasons being selected all star 11 of them. He played for the Miami Heat with Dwayne Wade and LeBron James. The reason my group interviewed him wasn’t because of his experience on this topic, it was for his experience. Him having a big role in the NBA, gives him a lot of insider information on the sports industry and had a few answers that we hadn’t heard before.

One thing we heard from Chris Bosh was what it was like to be a Hall of Famer. He said it gave him a lot of respect not even for that title but just because of who he is. He also said he thinks all Sexism in women’s sports will come to an end soon. Lastly he thinks the wage gap will change because of the current and incoming generations. Overall, this was a great interview and everyone that was there was so happy to see him. After our interview we got to speak to him about how much we were waiting to tell him that we were big fans.

by Sam Mehl

On March 3rd, our group had the opportunity to meet with Glen Kendall, an attorney practicing in the area of employment law. Employment law is a broad category of law encompassing all areas of employee/employer relations. Within that is laws around sexual harassment in the workplace. This interview granted us another perspective on harassment in the workplace.

One thing mentioned by Mr. Kendall is the power imbalance that comes with the harassment. It is often an older, more senior member of the company harassing a more junior one. This gives the harasser power over their victim because they are afraid to report it out of fear it will damage their career. There were two main types of harassment Mr. Kendall described: “quid-pro-quo,” and “hostile work environment.” In the first, the harasser offers an opportunity for career gain in exchange for sexual favors. In the second it is done without wanting any specific thing in return other than making the victim uncomfortable.

by Catalina McGraw

On Wednesday March 1st, our group virtually met with Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Ana Little. She is currently the ACIJ and was promoted in early 2021 by President Joe Biden. Her experience includes being an immigration judge in San Francisco and having a solo pratice in Highlands, New Jersey. Our group talked with Judge Little to hear about the specific variety of the cases she sees everyday.

Judge Little told us the most common cases she sees day to day, which include cases of unacompanied minors crossing the border. She notes that these minors could adjust their status of citezenship in court. In these circumstances Judge Little hopes for the possibility of a “peer review” which is also done in court. She also talks about what could ruin a person’s possibility for citezenship. This include criminal charges that can be as small as a speeding ticket. I enjoyed this interview because it gave our group a deeper look on the process of legal immigration cases. This interview was very much informative.

by Hutch

On February 16, Lucas Supan and I met with Vidisha Rai, an Educational Coordinator from Factory Farming Awareness Coalition (FFAC).

She lives in California and talked about how when she was in college she began reducing her plastic consumption and when she learned about the impact of meat on climate, she was surprised because she hadn’t heard about this. She then heard someone from FFAC talk at her friend’s college and became really interested in learning more.

She said that we as humans tend to see ourselves as superior. We have pets but we see fish, pigs and cows as consumable products. Companies want us to believe meat is necessary and natural so we buy them. They don’t want us to look closer. The big agricultural lobby has done such an amazing job at lobbying our politicians to support factory farms. They are exempt from the Clean Air Act and from cleaning up their waste.

When asked what we can do to stop the cycle, she said our government should stop giving 63% of ag subsidies to the meat and dairy industries. Meat and dairy are only so cheap for customers because of the subsidies. This is why it’s cheaper to buy a burger than it is to buy a salad. Fruits and vegetable producers receive less than 1% of the subsidies. The other thing we need to do is keep educating people about how this food system is operating and eat more plant-based. She also talked about how meat and dairy is tied with American national identity and the image of American farmers. Also, pharmaceutical is making money off people getting sick from eating unhealthily.

She shared about people taking small steps towards a more plant-based diet being a sensible approach. even if people can’t become vegetarian or vegan, they can take small steps. They can try a vegan burger, order a pizza without pepperoni, or even just buy meat or dairy products from the farmers market so they aren’t supporting factory farms.

It was really interesting to hear more about this organization’s approach and the work they’re doing with reaching out and educating people of all ages about this issue.

by Hanako Gibersztajn

My group mates and I met with Glen Kendall on Thursday, March 3rd. He kindly gave us yet another perspective of a lawyer who has had to deal with sexual harassment and assault in a workplace environment. He helped us gain even more information on our topic, information that can only be learned from firsthand experience.

Mr. Kendall discussed many topics that related to sexual harassment, such as the power imbalance that often comes into play. The most common instance of harassment or assault in the workplace is an older, more senior employee harassing a younger, more junior employee. This puts the victim in a difficult position, causing them to stay silent about their experience due to fear of being demoted or even fired. Another thing we discussed is the two main types of sexual harassment. The first one is blatant harassment: unwanted touching or comments, unsolicited photos and videos such as non-consensual pornography, etc. The second type is what he referred to as a “quid-pro-quo.” This is when the offender asks for a sexual and/or romantic relation with the victim in exchange for some sort of promotion or raise. This information was extremely helpful to us and we will be sure to use it in the future.

by Nazir Primus

On Friday, the 4th of March our group was honored to meet with Chris Bosh. Chris Bosh is a 2x NBA champion and 11x All-Star. Chris Bosh has been working to fix this so women can be paid equally in professional sports.

Bosh mentioned that he believes that later on down the road woman will receive equal pay. He also talked about what it’s like to be an athlete and how women have to work twice as hard to be where they are. He told us players like Chris Paul and LeBron James are players that are really fighting for change. It was very crucial to speak to a former professional athlete who understand the issue we are studying.

by Giselle Molaei

On Thursday, March 3rd our group interviewed Libi Livant. Libi is an LREI student in 8th grade who my partner and I are good friends with. We asked if she was alright with us interviewing her on her input about our social justice issue, and she happily agreed. The our last interview was with Ty Beauchamp and he suggested that we speak with our peers about this issue because they have the most to say about it and he was correct.

A lot of the things that Libi told us we agreed with and related to. She said that Covid had hit her and all of her friends hard and that the pandemic changed her life forever. Libi was actually diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder. Seasonal affective dicorder is a disorder where you have uncontrollable mood swings of the changing of seasons. This took a huge toll on Libi plus the fact that the pandemic prohibited her from doing the things that make her happy, like seeing friends. Libi has found things like music that keeps her cheerful. She suggests that we normalize peoples mental health so that people will be more comfortable opening up about their feelings.

My group member and I truly connected with Libi and it was great to hear another voice similar to others talking about moving forward with this world wide problem. Interviewing Libi was a great opportunity to get more incite on our issue plus getting to know her better as a friend.

by Arlo Scherr

On Tuesday, February 23, our group spoke with Lauren Jackson who is the Research and Policy Officer at the Walkfree foundation. The Walkfree Foundation is based in Perth, Australia which made it very hard for us to interview them. Walkfree collects data and creates benchmarks in order to monitor companies and sometimes force them to do better. This benchmarking system is called the Global Slavery Index which is published every four years and is mainly directed for companies to monitor themselves instead of being targeted toward consumers.

The goal of the Index is to give companies a wake-up call when they are mistreating their workers. Walkfree visits these companies with their team and discusses solutions. Sometimes companies are very reluctant to speak with them which is a big struggle. This year they are re-evaluating companies and they expect that COVID-19 has made the forced labor issue even worse, which makes their benchmarks even more important. Lauren also talked about the migrant workers who were being left out of relief plans and made their lives even harder during COVID-19. This caused these workers to be even more desperate and forced people to make the tough decision to work in forced labor just to get the minuscule wages they earn there.

She also told us about the change that consumers need to make in order to pressure companies into treating their workers better. She recommends boycotting companies that use forced labor and talking to your representatives in order to change labor policies in your communities. This gave me more of an incentive to learn more about this topic so I can educate other people in the future. This interview inspired me to keep working and also educated me even more on the topic and the companies who abuse their workers.

by Catalina McGraw

On February 18th, me and various peers went to the Paley Center for Media to attend a workshop discussing how women are portrayed in media. When we arrived, the head of the workshop, Rebecca, lead us into an auditorium where we then discussed what impacts our body image as young women. While reflecting on this topic, most people said either their families, friends and TV. Outside influences can heavily determine how you look at yourself compared to others.

After we talked, Rebecca showed us a mirage of clips from tv, movies and music videos that depict women in certain ways. A lot of them we were familiar with, such as Brittnay Spears’s video for “Hit Me Baby One More Time” and Bratz commercials. Subsequent to this, we discussed the best and worst portrayals and why we thought so. Themes from this conversation include the sexualization of young girls and the blatant misogyny that shows up every day.

I found this workshop very interesting because even though it was not apart of my social justice topic, I could branch out and learn more about other topics. I also reflected on the representation of women of color in general because you have that intersection where misogyny and racial steryotypes are rampant. The fact of the matter is, women in general are a heavily sexualized group, starting at a very young age and are told to be submissive to what men say. What we put online and what is generally avaliable to the public has the power to either continue or change that narrative.

by Anais Cornfeld

On Thursday, Feb 24, 2022, Our group: Child Welfare, Foster Care, and Adoption, interviewed April Dinwoodie (JuneinApril) about her experience in being adopted, and the issues in the foster care system today. April Dinwoodie was born to Helen June and put into temporary foster care immediately after. Helen already had 3 children and did not know if she would be able to care for another. April was adopted soon after by the Dinwoodies, who badly wanted a daughter. Her parents requested any child no matter the race, they would gladly take her in. April lived with her adopted family on a little farm in New England. She was the only biracial kid in her town. She was the only one with brown skin and thick curly hair. She spent her early days playing with her siblings outside and running around. Her difference never bothered her, that is until she had to go to school. She was treated differently, as an outsider. She would get lots of microaggressions and hurtful comments. Sometimes it was implicit, other times not. Most people didn’t notice, not even her parents. Her parents treated her the same as all her other siblings, but sometimes April felt that she wanted to be treated differently, like braiding her hair instead of trying to brush it out. Her blackness was being erased. It’s not widely understood that foster children often need different things than non-adoptive/foster children.
April began the search for her birth mother in her 20s. This was a very emotional experience because her mother did not want to be in contact with her. It felt like a double rejection. To be pushed away for a second time. April decided that she didn’t want anyone else to be as sad as she was, so she started a program. Her first program focused on getting mentors for foster children whom they could relate to. The mentors all had been involved in the foster care system as a child in some way. April also talked to us about many current problems. Yearly, there are over 400,000 in the foster care system. 25% of those children are currently waiting to be adopted, the others have the option of going back to their families. Most families only want babies, as they are easier to manage. Older children are more likely to have experienced and remembered some kind of trauma. This can be very daunting for parents. There is currently also a lack of available parents. Data strongly shows that black and brown children are involved and affected astronomically by the foster care system. Black children make up 23% out of 436,000 children in the foster care system currently. African Americans only make up 14% of the U.S. population. Black and brown children are also three times less likely to be adopted than their white counterparts.
April said that in her opinion, the biggest thing that isn’t working in the foster care system is listening. Adults do not listen to kids, especially teenagers. Professionals need to listen to the children’s needs because they are aware of their emotions. They have the right to say what they want their futures to look like. It is so common for adults to tell children and adolescents that they don’t really know what they want. The foster care also moves children around too much. This causes a lot of stress on children. When children do not feel that they are in a comfortable and stable home, it increases their feelings of rejection and low self worth. Children need to be valued more. Most foster children aren’t told that they are wanted, and that they have worth. It literally is not in the social security worker’s pay grade. Social security workers are overworked and do not get paid nearly enough. They don’t have the time, training, or energy to really commit to cases, and keep in mind the feelings of the children they are trying to help.
The foster care system is something that is really untalked about. It’s also something that is shamed. “We think we cant have more than one family.” What April is saying is that it’s considered shameful to be a foster kid. All of them are made to think that they aren’t wanted or that their parents don’t want them by society. More focus needs to be put on children’s well-being, to try and reduce and heal the trauma that affects all of them.

by Edward Turbek

On Friday, the 18th of February, my group and I were ecstatic to talk with Lynn Rusten. Lynn Rusten currently holds the position of Vice President, Global Nuclear Policy Program at The Nuclear Threat Initiative, also known as NTI. She has also served as the senior director for arms control and nonproliferation on the White House National Security Council staff.

My collage and me asked her about many different topics in the nuclear disarmament field. One of the topics that we talked to her about was the tactical use of Nuclear Weapons. For those who don’t know, Nuclear Weapons are very powerful and as a result of this cannot be used strategically against soldiers and instead are meant to be used against civilians. When we asked her about this, she mentioned something that stood out to me. What she said that stood out to me was that the military is not fans of nuclear weapons and that they don’t see them as practical instruments of war, but only useable as deterrents.

by Fred Keeler

On February 24 2022 we had the honor of meeting with April Dinwoodie. This person is an activist. She has her own podcast and is an influencer to see that all children but especially brown and black children make it into loving and supportive homes.

In 2021 22.75% of children in foster care were Black/colored. In 2016 57,000 children were adopted out of foster care 49% wight 22%latino 17% African American Wight foster youth are almost 40% more likely to get a job compared to black youth these are all reasons why it is much harder for black children in foster care and why there are a lot more boundaries and things to hold them back

by Hanako Gibersztajn

On Friday, the 18th of February, my social justice team and I accompanied two other groups to the Paley Center for Media, where we met Rebecca Fisk, who talked with us about healthy versus unhealthy portrayal of women in things such as television shows and music videos. We held a discussion as well as watched multiple examples of females in media and how it affected the minds of others.

Some examples of unhealthy portrayals of women shown to us were Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time,” a music video where she and her background dancers wear overly-sexualized schoolgirl uniforms. Another music video was Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop,” where the women are objectified by the camera angles, the costumes, etc.

When it comes to television shows and movies, there were quite a sufficient amount of examples. The 1970 version of Wonder Woman played by Lynda Carter wore a sexualizing and impractical uniform as well as displaying a weak and feeble style of fighting. Another example was from the first season of Riverdale, where the character Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) is shown actively trying to objectify herself in an attempt to satisfy the male gaze.

However there were healthy representations of women as well. An example of this is the portrayal of Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She is seen saving countless boys from vampires, turning the classic trope of “damsel in destress” on its head.

These representations of women were pretty much all catered towards entertaining male audiences and much less towards representing female ones. Modern media has done a much better job in accurately displaying female characters than in the past and I hope that we as a society will continue to make progress.

by Sam Mehl

On February 21, our group had the honor to meet with the legendary Gloria Allred. She is an attorney known for taking high profile cases related to women’s rights or sexual harassment. One of her most famous cases is the Bill Cosby case, where she represented several of the women who alleged sexual assault against the comedian. Before meeting with Ms. Allred we watched a documentary about her on Netflix called “Seeing Allred.”

We discussed with her a lot of common patterns in “rape culture” and how she chooses her clients. She talked about how letting harassment go on in the workplace is such an unfair disadvantage because those in that position are often not able to do anything about it.

We were so lucky to have such an amazing opportunity to meet with Ms. Allred and we have learned so much from her.

by Hanako Gibersztajn

On Monday, February 21, my group mates and had the honor of meeting with Feminist and Attorney Gloria Allred, who has a long history of combatting the ever-lasting issue of sexual assault. She is known for her work involving the Bill Cosby case and defending some of the many women who spoke up against him. She has received much praise and criticism for her accomplishments over the years, but despite the continuous misogynistic and close-minded people and ideals that have tried to hold her back since the beginning of her career, she continues to march on the frontlines of advocating for equal rights, not just for women, but for everyone.

We learned about the perspective of a lawyer who specializes in this area and about the patterns that they notice when dealing with the accused. A lot of the time, a response to sexual assault victims speaking up against their assaulter is “she was asking for it.” This is because of a sense of entitlement to the woman’s body. This toxically masculine mindset is taught to boys at a young age and is the reason why misogyny and the patriarchy are still very much prevalent today. Ms. Allred’s work is dedicated to both helping women who have been victims of this mindset and to correcting and eradicating it all together. She is a truly inspirational individual and we are all glad that we got the chance to speak with her.

by Allie Samuelson

On Monday, February 21st, our group had the honor of interviewing Gloria Allred. Gloria Allred is an attorney known for the large part for taking notable and a lot of the time controversial cases. Gloria currently lives in California, so we had to Zoom with her. Before our interview, we watched a documentary made about Gloria, called Seeing Allred. It gave us a lot of interesting information about Gloria Allred, and about our topic in general. Although it was really interesting and informative, I do kind of regret watching it because during the interview it felt like we were just hearing what we already knew from the documentary. Despite this, I still really enjoyed and appreciated the interview.

In our interview, Gloria told us about her experience representing a majority of the women in the Bill Cosby case. Basically, this case is about a former television star who was convicted of sexual assault. Cosby was accused of rape, drug facilitated sexual assault, child sexual assault, and a few other charges by approximately 60 women. Gloria Allred represented 33 of the 60 alleged victims. Overall, interviewing Gloria Allred was an absolutely incredible opportunity. I am so thankful we got to do it because she is such an amazing woman who I now kind of look up to. In addition to her stylish pantsuit, she was such a cool person to talk to and I am so grateful!

by Arlo Scherr

On February 24th, our group met with Ayn Riggs the Founder and Director of Slave Free Chocolate. Slave Free Chocolate brings awareness to labor issues and child slavery in the chocolate industry, Slave Free Chocolate also lists chocolate companies that treat their workers ethically and releases them publicly for companies and consumers to use.

Ayn talked with us about the way companies exploit laws and loopholes in order to keep using child laborers while technically keeping inside the bounds of the law. She specifically talked about the self-monitoring system that chocolate companies were supposed to follow in order to make sure there wasn´t any child labor in their companies. Companies often abused this system and reported false facts and hid the labor issues in their company. Major organizations like Nestle and Hershey were the main false claimers though there are many other chocolate companies responsible for this. In our previous Interview with Lauren Jackson, she mentioned that we should interview a representative for Tony Chocoloney.

Tony Chocoloney is a Dutch chocolate company that claims to be 100% percent slave-free, but Ayn revealed to us that Tony Chocoloney did in fact use child and forced laborers, and also worked with major chocolate companies who abused their workers. Even the actual chocolate they produced was actually from Barry Callebeaut a major chocolate company which was known to mistreat their workers. This was very shocking to me and it helped me open my eyes and not trust all of the information I was given.

by Sam Mehl

On February 18th, my group and several others had the opportunity to meet with Rebecca at the Paley Center for Media for a workshop on women’s perception in the media. We were brought to a theater and discussed various issues around body image. We discussed many questions including, “What in your life impacts your body image?” After the discussion, we watched several clips relating to women in media.

The videos ranged from music videos, to commercials, to tv show segments. There were some clips we were all very familiar with like the music video for Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time,” where Spears wears a sexualized schoolgirl outfit. There were also some unfamiliar ones like a segment from the 1965 sitcom, “Gidget.” In this scene Gidget (Sally Field) is objectified and manipulated by a group of boys on the beach.

We also compared two different female superheros from different times and their fighting styles. The first one was the 1970’s Wonder Woman played by Lynda Carter. She has an extremely sexualized and impractical uniform. When she fights, she pushes people and throws weak and deflectable blows. Even though she was the superhero, she was still just an aid used by the men that did most of the work. The second was Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997). She turns gender norms on their head by saving a boy who says she can’t save him because she’s, “just a girl.” She has powerful attacks and gets hit back, something that never happened to Wonder Woman.

This workshop really showed how the portrayal of women in the media has an impact on people’s daily lives. It was a really fun opportunity to have a very important discussion that we don’t often have.

by Clyde Condos

On February 24, the workers rights group interviewed Ayn Riggs, the Director of Slave Free Chocolate. Slave Free Chocolate is a grassroots organization that does campaigns and educates on child labor in the chocolate industry. Ayn has done a lot of research in this field, the reason we chose to interview her. She had mentioned…

by Elodie Harris

On Thursday, February 24, 2022, our social justice group was honored to meet with April Dinwoodie, a former marketing executive who now works as a podcaster and influencer to help Black and Brown foster children find safe and loving homes. April is Black/Bi-Racial and was adopted into a white family. She shared her thoughts and experiences about the inequities in the foster care and adoption systems.

April June Dinwoodie was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Helen June. April has no information about her biological father. Helen could not care for her daughter, so April was put into foster care for a few months and later adopted. April’s adoptive parents (parent’s of experience) had three biological children, but they wanted a daughter, so they adopted April.

April was named, June, by her birth mother after her biological grandmother, however her parents of experience named her, April. Neither of these names is the month she was actually born which is October. “June” became April’s middle name, and she adopted her family of experiences’ last name, Dinwoodie. April now has a podcast called “Born in June, Raised in April,” a title that reflects her two names.

Coming into the Dinwoodie family was a welcoming experience for April, although she was the only adopted and Black/Bi-Racial child in the family. She felt different from her siblings of experience because of her race, but her family did not treat her differently despite her differences. April felt accepted at home, but once she got to middle school, she started to get bullied by her peers. Growing up in a predominately white environment as a Black/Bi-Racial girl was hard, and April had to protect herself. Her parents were not aware of what was happening and they did not share the same racial experiences as her. April felt stuck and didn’t know who to talk to about the bullying at school. She encountered lots of racism as she grew up, so this sparked an interest in making change for other kids like her who were going through similar experiences.

When April was in her 20s, she wanted to look for her birth mother, Helen, but Helen refused to meet her. April was heartbroken. It felt as if she had a “double rejection” because her birth mother didn’t accept her when she was born and later rejected her when she was a grown adult. April’s sadness and anger inspired her to start making change for other children so that they could reunify with their birth parents.

There are 200,000 children in foster care every year. Black and Brown foster children are always represented disproportionally than their white counterparts, and Black and Brown children stay in foster care for longer. Adoption agencies claim to “not see color” when finding homes for children, although race is a key factor in the adoption process. April believes that there should be more parents to adopt Black and Brown children. She thinks that all parents should be trained the same way as adoption parents. Parents must listen to their children and understand what is best for their future. April wants to help all Black and Brown foster parents to gain the training and understanding they need to be successful with their children.

Hearing April story is very inspiring. She is an incredible person who does so much for Black and Brown foster children. She has podcasts and a website, (https://aprildinwoodie.com/the-podcast) and works very hard every day to make change. This was an incredible interview!

by 26lucass

On February 9, 2022, me and Henry Hutchins met with Joel Remland, a former faculty member of LREI. Joel has been a vegan since he was a freshman in college.

He talked about how being vegan can help slow climate change, due to factory farms being a major source that contributes to climate change, from a lot of methane emissions from animals. Joel talked about about how to spread this idea, and how to suggest veganism to others to help protect the earth.

Joel says to not use angrily protesting, or using purely strong emotion, like many people do, instead of using thought out words, having a civilized conversation about veganism, when trying to spread the idea of having a vegan diet, to be more efficient in spread the main idea.

Joel mentions how a lot of people say they want to protect the environment by doing things like not using plastic items, but when it comes to changing people’s diet, many people don’t because they feel like they can’t change something as important as their diet or because the issue of factory farming isn’t as well talked about and known.

Other problems with factory farms that Joel mentions is that certain meat products, only one, could be made from many different animals which risks people getting illnesses from the food, especially considering the conditions the animals are put in, in factory farms. Also the workers at factory farms are put under pretty harsh conditions, with minimum wage.

So one of the main ideas is that everyone should consider switching or at least trying to switch their diet to veganism, because many meat or dairy products are made from factory farms, and this is not talked about as much as other causes of global warming because some people don’t want to have to realize this. But Joel says he does have some hope in this cause because many people around the world are becoming vegan or vegetarian. Factory farms need money to keep running, if they aren’t funded they will begin to slow down.

by Henry Byrne

On Friday February 25th, Nazir, Casey, and I interviewed Leonard Armato. Leonard Armato is currently the founder of Management plus Enterprises or MPE, and has made a change in the Gender Wage Gap. We decided to Interview him because of his experience in the sports industry and his general experience in the Gender Wage Gap. He has made many changed in sports but one of the biggest ones is how he founded the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour. This was the first Beach Volleyball League and Tournament. The reason this has to do with the Gender Pay Gap is because he made the Prize money for both Genders equal. This may not sound like a big deal but this was part of the first big step towards fixing the Wage Gap.
Nazir, Casey, and I learned a lot in this interview. Something we learned in this interview was if you really want to change something you have to really work for it. Leonard experienced this when he decided to not get paid for a month to prove he would be the best for his job. Also when he realized how poorly female Athletes were being treated in sports he made the league with equal prize money because he wanted to do everything he could to make a change. This helped us get a better view of what we can do.

by Catalina McGraw

On Wednesday February 16th, our group had the pleasure of meeting with Razeen Zaman, the head of the NYU Immigration Defense Initiative, (NYUIDI). Zaman discussed how the creation of the NYUIDI was brought on as the direct result of Donald Trump’s harsh immigration laws. Students and their family members were stuck in legal battles against ICE, with little guidance. Zaman saw this, and looked to help students and their families by educating them about their rights against ICE, what ICE can legally do, and sometimes provide legal representation.

Zaman also spoke about how she thinks immigration will change in the future. She notes that legeslation may become less hostile, but we cannot get our hopes up. This interview was a great segway into looking at the future of immigration in our country. From Mr. Gutierrez talking about the history of latin immigration just hours before, and Ms. Zaman explain current issues, it gave me a picture of immigration as a whole.

by Nazir Primus

On Friday, the 25th of February my group was honored to meet with Leonard Armato. Leonard Armato, a sports agent, and entrepreneur is most known for representing NBA stars Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. His career includes creating the Golden Boy and Dunkman sports marketing brands for Oscar De La Hoya and Shaq. Leonard studied law and founded Management Plus Enterprises to combine his interests in the legal field and sports media.

Leonard told us that when working in the sports industry he realized how much women were mistreated in sports. Ever since this realization, Leonard has been working hard to fix this issue. Leonard even created a volleyball league that brought men and women together under one roof, with equal prize money and equal media exposure on television. Leonard has said “I’ve spoken a lot about inequality in sports when it comes to gender. Men’s sports in our society are given so much more exposure, credibility than women. So with beach volleyball, when we made prize money equal for men and women and made TV time equal for men and women, I think that was a big step. In the Olympic Games, women’s beach volleyball gets a good
audience and people love watching it.”

When interviewing Leonard he told us his experience when trying to make a change. He told us that when he made the suggestion about the beach volleyball league he received backlash. We learned that people in the sports industry can be very cruel towards women. It was important to speak to someone who worked in the sports industry and has experience with the issue we are studying and shared great information.

by Dorsey

On Friday 25th we interviewed Ross Macdonald. He works as the Chief Medical Officer for Nyc public hospitals. He was seen first hand what its like in jail and how it can effect a persons medical and mental health. This interview we wanted to focus on jails instead of prisons because we have already learned much about mass incarceration and what jail is like.

Something that personally struck me about this interview are male jail stereotypes. He told us that there are lots stereotypes about males in jail that there tuff or dangerous. But he said that they are actually very emotional from what he’s seen. Some other things we learned were: mass incarceration is a tool used to fight against drug use and gun violence, Covid-19 has been a huge risk for incarcerated people and lawyers want to release certain people because the prisons have been over crowded which increases the risk for Covid-19. We learned about male stereotypes in this interview which really taught us a lot.

by Joseph Zaraya

On Thursday the 24 of February our group was able to meet with Ayn Riggs. Ayn has worked with forced labor in chocolate for over 10 years. Ayn has spent a lot of time trying to help stop forced labor in Ghana and Cote D’ivoire which are the countries that produce the most cocoa.

Something Ayn told us is that while making companies supply chains traceable is important. Unless farmers are being paid a living wage, then anything anyone comes up with won’t affect change. Another thing Ayn said is that big chocolate companies have previously signed agreements where they would make their chocolate free of forced labor, but that was years ago and nothing has really changed. She also told us that some chocolate companies that say they are free of forced labor and have traceable supply chains manufacture their chocolate with bigger companies that use forced labor to get more profit than a truly forced labor free company.

It was great to meet with Ayn and we learned a lot about forced labor in chocolate, and how individuals can make changes without being in a foundation. One thing that I never though about until Ayn told us was that instead of big plantations using forced labor, there are sometimes many very small plantations that come together to produce things like chocolate. This makes it really hard to effectively trace your supply chains.

by Joseph Zaraya

On Wednesday the 23rd of February our group was able to meet with Lauren Jackson. Lauren is a member of the Walkfree Foundation which is based in Western Australia, and is an International Human Rights Organization. Walkfree collects data on how many people are in forced labor, and how well governments are dealing with forced labor. Lauren told us that the main thing the Walkfree foundation is famous for is its Global Slavery Index which using many factors lets them estimate how much forced labor is in supply chains.

One thing I thought was really interesting was when Lauren told us about how Covid 19 has increased the amount of people in forced labor. She said that migrant and vunerable workers were getting left out of relief plans to help people during the pandemic. These people were not getting good healthcare or social support so they were more desperate and would work for even cheaper than before.

When we interviewed Lauren one thing she told me that I had not really relized before was that as consumers we have a lot of impact on companies and what policies they have. This reinforced the idea that if we educated people about how companies use forced labor we could change these methods for the better.

by Ayelet Kurtzman

On February 18th, me and several other classmates had the pleasure of going to the Paley Center for Media for a workshop on several issues related to women in media. Rebecca, the person who led this, brought us to a theater where we had a chance to discuss body image in our own lives. We were prompted with questions such as “what has the greatest affect on your body image?” and we had a conversation on different aspects of it.

After this we watched a compilation of clips taken from movies, commercials and music videos through out several decades. Most of the videos were ones that we were familiar with such as the music video of Britney Spears’s “Hit Me Baby One More Time” or the theme of the power puff girls. We then had a conversation about the similarities and differences between the videos and the effects they’ve had on us. We discussed the extreme sexualization of teen girls and the standards that has put on us. We also talked about misogyny and toxic masculinity and how it affects our everyday lives.

Overall this workshop was really educational. I really enjoyed how they included aspects of things we are really familiar with as 13 and 14 year olds, and guided us into more complicated conversations about women in media and the effects it has on us. Not only this but it was a really fun experience to go with a group of my classmates and have discussions that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.

by Libi Livnat

On Monday, February 14th, our group had the excellent oppurtunity of being able to tour a sexual and reproductive healthcare facility with an abortion provider. This tour was absolutely amazing, being extremely interesting and informative.
Instead of going in through the main entrance, our group went through the staff entrance. The abortion provider told us that there is a lot more security through the main entrance, but where we went we just had to write our names on a sign-in sheet. When we started our tour, we went directly to the second floor because the first floor was still being occupied by patients. The provider told us that the first floor was just a gynecology department and looked very much like a normal doctor’s office.
The second floor was very interesting. The abortion provider took us to the operating room and showed us around. We got to see the vacuum machine that the doctors use to actually perform the abortions. We saw the different sizes of tubes for different stages of pregnancy. The room had an operating table where the patient would lay down in and put their feet in these holders to keep the legs spread.
Aside from the two abortion operating rooms, we also saw a room in which they performed vasectomies and pap-smears. These rooms looked very similar to the other operating rooms.
After seeing all the operating rooms, we were taken to see the recovery room. There were a lot of chairs that looked like airplane seats, which had a heart rate monitor and an IV station. The abortion provider was very excited to show us the facility’s blanket heater, which I have to admit was pretty cool. They also had a lot of graham crackers and saltines, in addition to water and lollipops, for recovering patients.
Overall, this was an absolutely incredible experience that I will not forget! We are so grateful to the abortion provider and the facility for having us!

by Sebastian Harding

On February 10th, our group interviewed Judith Mack about her work with Open Hearts. Judith works at LREI as a learning specialist meaning that we did the interview in person and not on zoom. She talked about how she met Shams Dabaron who is also known as Da Homeless Hero and how she thought he was an outstanding person because of his view on homelessness.

Something that I remember specifically from the interview is when Judith said that the reason she got involved with fighting homelessness is because she believes in the phrase “treat people how you would like to be treated” also known as the golden rule. She noticed that homeless people were being treated as criminals and at that moment decided to make a change for good.

Our Group is glad that we met her especially in person. This interview made me realize that if everyone treats homeless people how they want to be treated then experiencing homelessness would not be looked down on. Even if everyone followed the golden rule the whole world would be a better place .

by Fred Keeler

On February 10 2022 we had the honor of meeting with Jenny and Keven Samuelson about their experience with adoption and the trials and tribulations of it. for jenny and Keven adopted from birth they adopted two children two girls it is different from adoption through foster care I would say it is easier than through foster care because you don’t have to get a foster license

their proses was hard though especially because they were in a different state so they signed up for the adoption process through and organization the had to get there months of training then they could adopt they had a bunch of home visits then they basically say you are ready you can adopt the they send out basically your resume to parents then the parents pick who they want once you are picked you go and meet with mothers then you talk about the baby then when the mother goes into labor you get called into the hospital. this is there adoption story i am sure some are different but some might be the same or similar

by Fred Keeler

On February 9th, 2022 we met with Alessandra brunialti and Paul yager. These people were important to meet with because they fostered and adopted a classmate of mine and her brother. We met with them to talk about their story their story was amazing. and it took a very long time to get their children.

We learned a lot about how they became foster parents and adopted through foster care first you have to do training for 9 months to get certified for foster care. then they call you whenever sometimes in the middle of the night or really early in the morning then someone is placed into their care you have to take care of them the agencies main goal is to reunite the family and the child over anything but if they can’t the child goes up for adoption or stays in foster care this process happens over and over again every day

On Thursday, Feb 17, my group and I (Atticus Barocas and Theo Cornick) met with “lauren Ornelas” from the Food Empowerment Project. We talked about access to healthy food and the lack of general access to grocery stores. The Food Empowerment Projects’ mission is to create a more just and sustainable world by recognizing the power of one’s food choices. We encourage healthy food choices that reflect a more compassionate society by spotlighting the abuse of animals on farms, the depletion of natural resources, unfair working conditions for produce workers, and the unavailability of healthy foods in low-income areas. She spoke on the systemic relation to food injustices and how it needs to be more shown in the media. She spoke on her personal views and how she suggests veganism to people. The main areas they work are San Jose, California. They have goals for different states and different approaches to those certain states. This is very crucial to our project because it gives us an idea one what is truly happening when it comes to access to healthful and nutritious food. The Food Empowerment was founded in 2007 and is still doing important work till this day.

For me listening to lauren was very informative and interesting to hear. She talked about what the Food Empowerment Project does and how it’s completely the same as what we believed their values to be. It was very beneficial to our group I believe because it still relates to my group’s topic which was a very broad category at the time. In fact it helped us specify what it is we are truly trying to help. Overall it was a great experience and I’m excited to continue this research.

by Sebastian Harding

Our group interviewed Nicole McVinua from Urban Pathways on January 31st. She is the Director of Policies at Urban Pathways and has been devoted to her goal of ending homelessness for the past 3 years. During the interview, Nicole went over her whole story and why she chose to work with Urban Pathways. Something that I specifically remember from the interview was when she said that her clients/patients are mostly African-American then Latinx.

She also said that even though there are many reasons for homelessness, the most common reason for homelessness is that housing is too expensive. I personally live in one of the biggest cities in the world and one of the most expensive as well. New York City has one of the biggest homeless populations in the US. Nearly one in every 106 New Yorkers is homeless. This interview was essential to our research and I am glad that we spoke to Nicole.

by Catalina McGraw

On Wednesday Febuary 16th, our group had the pleasure of meeting with David G. Gutierrez. Gutierrez is a UCSD historian and professor that specializes in Latino history and immigration. He told us about how he grew up in east Los Angeles around a lot of immigrants and immigrant families and how studying latin history and immigration was always going to be his path.

Gutierrez also said how ever since Donald Trump entered office, the issue of immigration has been brought to the surface in the form of a president spewing hateful things about latinos. He also notes how the white population is decreasing because white people are getting older and having fewer kids. This is because more immigrants are coming to the US and doing jobs white people don’t like including jobs in the food industry and farming. Because more immigrants are working and having more children, that in addition to the white population decreasing leads to a population shift.

I really enjoyed this interview because this was our group’s first interview and I feel like this was a great way to jump into fieldwork. I also think that my group gained a lot of information as to why Latin Immigration is a prominent topic.

by Atticus Barocas

We met with lauren Ornelas from The Food Empowerment Project. She founded the Food Empowerment Project in 2007 when this issue was much less talked about. We learned about how factory farming is killing our oceans, how fast food chains are praying on people who cant go to normal grocery stores. We also learned about how the government considers bodegas and delis grocery stores to make people think that low income areas are not low income. One thing we also learned about was that higher end neighborhoods grocery stores stay open later. And lower income neighborhoods grocery stores close a lot sooner.

The Food Empowerment Project is important to our topic because they do everything. Whether its doing things against factory farming, commercial fishing, or the way fast food restaurants are praying on low income neighborhoods. I think that what they do is super important and they should keep doing this work locally and around america.

by Malachi Young

On Februrary 4th, we has the pleasure of meeting with Sophia Henager. Ms Henager is a Law Fellow from the Equal Justice Initiative. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in political science and international relations from Gonzaga University and is a 2020 graduate of New York University School of Law. Her main focus is on cases involing life sentences and the death penalty. She gave us very helpful information regarding these types of cases.

Sophia started off with talking about the issue with mass incarceration. She explained how it mainly affects the black community. Black people were more likely to be arrested for having drugs, yet white poeple have been reported to have it more often. In 1971, Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs, which was actually a ploy to imprison more people of color. It was used to make black people look like heavy drugs users. This statement alone raised the incarcerated population from 300,000 to 2,000,000.

She also talked about unfair sentences. In the 1990s, Bill Clinton passed the Violent Crime Control Act bill. It stated that if someone gets 3 felonies, one violent in them, they can be incarcerated for life. People in povetry have been incarcerated for life for non-violent crimes such as stealing little items due to this law, and it shows how much the justice system needs to improve.

Our group enjoyed taking with Sophia, and we took in a bunch of information. This Equal Justice Initiative is a wonderful organization, and I wish to talk with more people from there soon.

by Anais Cornfeld

On Thursday, February 10th, our group interviewed Jenny Kevin Samuelson. We talked about their adoption process, and their experiences adopting. They currently live in New York City with their two children. When they adopted their first child, they were living in Georgia. The foster laws there vary from those of New York. They had to go through a process to become certified to adopt. They had frequent home assessments and studies with a social worker. They also had to be thoroughly background checked for any criminal acts of any kind. Jenny and Kevin became licensed after three months of working fervently. They worked with a private organization that required the samuelson’s to put together a profile for birth parents to look at and decide if they wanted to send their child with them. The Samuelsons adopted their first child immediately from birth. Foster parents must have a certification to adopt babies born in a different state called the interstate compact. It must get approved before the parents can take their baby home. After the compact is approved, adoption can proceed. This however takes months. Social workers continue with monthly checkups until the child is officially adopted. When an adoption is approved, the parents receive the birth certificate and have full rights to their child. Until then, they are still legally bound to their parents or the organization. Private agencies tend to have a quicker adoption process than state agencies, taking only up to three months. Certain agencies can supply parents with emergency supplies like a car seat, or diapers.
Jenny and Kevin shared some more personal experiences and opinions on their experience. They talked about how babies are considered quite valuable. CPS and private organizations have all these processes in place to protect babies and children from being trafficked. The agencies always look for the safest outcome for a child even if it is not the quickest or easiest, although they are trying to do it as best they can. Fraud can happen, which is why there are always so many home visits and check-ins. Until the child is adopted, there is a lot of stress on the foster parents because there is no guarantee the baby is staying for good. The birth parents still have rights to their child, and can receive full custody again if they choose. Jenny noted that the social workers do a very thorough job with their check-ins. She sometimes felt under scrutiny by them, but she knew that they just had the child’s best interests in mind. Their agency did an organized job, however, with private organizations they can be a bit ruthless. They want to make adoptions final because that is the way they make their money. Jenny felt like at times she needed to be protective of her child’s birth mother because she was under a lot of pressure, and the agencies did not do much to comfort her.
Jenny and Kevin also talked about how there have been times when they have felt shame when their kids were babies. When they had to fly their first child back on the plane, after picking them up, they felt judged by the other people for bringing a newborn, but the other people didn’t understand the situation. There are also a lot of stereotypes about how a baby should be raised. It was sometimes hard having to feed their kids with formula instead of breast milk, and dealing with the judgments. They also faced judgments on the relationships they have with their kids. There is still a big stereotype about how families are supposed to look today. Real families around the world come in all shapes and sizes. Normal should no longer be thought of in one way. “Families go in different ways.” awareness needs to be raised about adopted families, and it needs to be normalized. We should stop treating it like a taboo. This may even encourage other families to adopt if we get rid of the stereotypes.

by Cyrus Fawkes

On Thursday, the 10th of February, our social justice group interviewed Meredith Dank online. Meredith Dank is a consultant in the Urban Institute, specifically the Justice Policy Center. She researches a broad variety of topics such as sexual and human trafficking, teen dating violence, victimization and LGBTQ+ issues. She has gone on travels to eight different countries to conduct research and was even a part of a white house stakeholder meeting for survivors of victim services. Meredith was also the principal investigator in two sexual and human trafficking related studies, overseen by the US Department of Justice.

Meredith can definitely be described as courageous. She was willing to do anything to further her research and was extremely invested. She recalls experiences where she was in harm’s way but still continued. There were neighborhoods that she visited where kids were being hit by cars while trying to haggle on the street. Trying to help enslaved people, she told us about the ways that you can be freed. There is the possibility of living out your contract but this is very difficult to do and you will be facing terribly unethical working conditions for years but there is also the option of escaping. This doesn’t happen a lot but it’s still possible and it shocks me that innocent children have to escape their jobs because they aren’t allowed to leave. Luckily there are people like Meredith that give out a third option where they can bust the people in charge but this rarely happens and this is still a major problem.

One of my questions that she began to elaborate on was, “is there ever a situation where you see people in front of you that desperately need help but there is nothing you can do?” “All the time,” she said. Because many of her trips are funded by organizations and universities, she often can’t interact or help the people in need. It pains her to do this but it is necessary because if she helps one person, more will follow. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to reject somebody that is being treated so poorly but I feel so bad. She has also been up close with the people that run the child labor trades but she couldn’t do anything about because it might risk their freedom. This was my favorite part of the interview because I felt like it was an extremely interesting point that people often don’t realize.

Overall, it was a fantastic interview that our whole group enjoyed. After our interview my mom, sitting next to me, joked about how she was basically the perfect person for our topic and it wasn’t even an exaggeration. She was! I learned so much about child and enforced labor through her years of experience. It was disappointing that the call was online but I would love to go more in depth with certain issues and talk to her again another time. She also gave us a cool connection that might lead us to another interview. There is a certain type of chocolate bar that you can find at stores and when you open it up, it details how it was specifically made without any child or forced labor and what it is doing to fight it. I am definitely interested in that and I thank her for a super educational interview.

by 26lucass

On Wednesday, February 16, me and Henry Hutchins met with Vidisha Rai, who is a member of the FFAC (Factory Farming Awareness Coalition.

She told us a lot about how factory farms are big part in climate change, and why a lot people don’t realize the effects of them, and she also told us about how factory farms keep prospering in a cycle.

So, one of the biggest reasons that factory farms are prospering is because the government gives a lot of money to them, so that there products cost less, and the government gives much less money to food producers that are not factory farmed, so their products will cost more. And the reason for this in America, is that factory-farmed products are bought a lot more than other products, and then in result the government gives more money to factory farms, and then they prosper, and more emissions happen.

Because of this, Vidisha mentioned that people’s diet is a very important factor, because in order for factory farms to prosper people need to give them money, so she recommends instead of, for example eating a burger, you should try an impossible burger or a beyond burger.

We also asked Vidisha if she thinks that the factory farm cycle will ever end. She says that eventually it will probably end, because it depends on everyone in society, to not support factory farms, to consider a vegan diet, and she thinks that if enough people join this idea, the factory farm cycle will not be able to function, and it will break.

by Macy Putka

After learning that one of our fellow classmates, Allie Samuelson, was adopted we asked if we could reach out to her parents to ask about her adoption. Then on Thursday, February 10, 2022, our social justice group met with Jenny and Kevin Samuelson. Jenny and Kevin adopted Allie and her sister, Zoe, at birth, and they shared their story about adopting two girls at birth.

Like many other women, Jenny had trouble getting pregnant and she and her husband wanted to start a family. At the time they were living in Atlanta, Georgia, at the time. In Atlanta, Jenny and Kevin lived on a block with 13 adopted children. When they thought they were interested in adopting, they asked some of their neighbors for some guidance on starting the adoption process. Soon after Jenny and Kevin reached out to an agency and created a family profile, so parents that were thinking about giving their child up for adoption could look at their information and decide if they wanted the family to care for their baby. A mother who lived in Virginia, choose Jenny and Kevin. When the mother was in labor, the day before Allie was born, they got a call that Allie’s birth mother was in labor so they had quickly flown out to Virginia. When they arrived at the hospital, Jenny and Kevin were able to be in the same room as the mother when Allie was born. Since Jenny and Kevin got such short notice before the birth of Allie, they did not have all the baby supplies they needed, and they were unprepared. Something that Jenny and Kevin mentioned was that they even had to borrow a car seat from an agency in Virginia to take Allie back from the hospital because they did not have one themselves.

Since Allie was adopted in a different state from the Jenny and Kevin they lived in, they had to follow a protacall called The Interstate Compact. The Interstate Compact is basically is a proticall that ensures that after the child is adopted, they are safe and well cared for all across states. After Allie was born, Jenny and Kevin had to stay in a hotel for a couple of days instead of going home after she was born while they awaited the Interstate compact to be approved. They discribed it as really hard to take care for a newborn baby in a hotel, then when they finally get approved they had to travel on a plane witha a new-born baby. Jenny quoted that, “everyone judges you when you bring your new-born baby on the plane and they want to tell you what and what not to do with your child, but they really don’t know your full story.” Which I thought was really interesting beucase I didn’t really think about that part of their experience as foverever parents.

After getting home safely, Allie settled in very well with Jenny and Kevin. Jenny and Kevin clearly imformed Allie about her birth parents and answered any questions she would have around the topic. Later, Jenny and Kevin adopted Zoe, Allies sister through the same process. Jenny and Kevin are still in contact with family members from Allie’s and Zoe’s biological families. Allie even has seven biological siblings, one of them is her sister who Jenny and Kevin are in close contact with and they visit and see quite often. After hearing about these amazing experiences about Jenny and Kevin adopting Allie, we were all fascinated beucase it really gave us insight on how the adoption system work.

by Sonia Stomberg-Firestein

On Monday Libi and I took a tour of a sexual and reproductive health facility. We saw operating rooms, procedure rooms, recovery rooms, meeting rooms, and other areas. The facility was 3 floors and 2 entrances. They had a public entrance that had security and they had an employee entrance. We went after hours at 5pm to respect the privacy of patients in the facility.

When we were there we learned about what different tools and rooms are used for. The OR is used for abortions and the PR is used for pap smears, vasectomies, and other smaller procedures. After an abortion patients are usually drowsy so they go to a recovery room where they sit until their escort arrives to take them home. They also have consultation rooms upstairs where women can learn about birth control and can be educated about the procedure they are receiving. Overall, this tour was incredibly informative and was one of the best fieldworks we got to go on.

by Theo

On Feb 17, 2022, Bayo, Atticus and I met with lauren Ornelas from the Food Empowerment Project. lauren is the founder of The Food Empowerment Project. The Food Empowerment Project’s goal is to create more sustainable food in America. They are a non-profit organization that is located in San Jose, California. They encourage Healthy Food Choices. They are a vegan organization founded in 2007. lauren belives that the government should be really focusing on this topic as they are not focusing on it enough.

Here is my personal reaction to this interview. lauren stated that this issue needs to be way more recocnized, her and her orginization work with other orginizations around america and she belives its really important to know what other orginzations are doing the same work as her. I personaly agree to these statements that she mentioned and I think its really important that we focus more on Access to Heathly foods in America. Thank you lauren for meeting with us!

by Romy Kregsman

On Thursday, February 10th, our group was able to meet with Judith Mack. Judith is a learning specialist at LREI middle school. Surprisingly, Judith also knew Shams, one of the people we interviewed. Many people know him as Da Homeless Hero. She’s worked with him and very passionate about fixing the issue of homelessness in anyway possible.

During the beginning of the pandemic, the people experiencing homelessness, stayed at a hotel on the Upper West Side. Some people in the neighborhood were angry and even filed a law suit, so that they couldn’t stay there. People were very nasty and did not accept this. As soon as Judith heard about these people getting moved, she wanted to get involved. She partnered with Friends of Fidi and was able to get them to stay. While this was going on, she said “We need everyone to get involved and care.” She started giving out food, water, hats and other resources people needed.

We learned from Judith that “people experiencing homelessness were being treated as criminals even when they really aren’t. It really made me think that we all need to treat people how we want to be treated. This interview taught me a lot and was really amazing. We were honored to meet with her.

by Ty David

Last Friday, February 11, our Social Justice group had the chance to speak with Jacob Hutt. A legal aid attorney that works in the Prison Law organization, located in California. Jacob went to Harvard College and NYU, graduating with an impressive magna cum laude. He was also a Fulbright Research Fellow in Israel/Palestine. Jacob joined Prison Law Office in early 2020. He has since worked on cases having to do with disabilities in prison and the well known Chavez v. County of Santa Clara that went to the Supreme Court.

During our interview, we talked about the mental and medical health issues that prisoners face in American jails. We talked a little more specifically about cases of police brutality and systemic racism factor in the prisons where people who are physically handicapped or are blind need special attention. A case that is common for him is where an inmate needs something to help them physically like a wheel chair, or a prosthetic leg. One case that broke my heart when he is working on is a situation where an old blind man was brutally beaten by a guard as a result of his race. This guard took advantage of him and the man wants justice.

Personally, this made me very upset. Under no circumstances should law enforcer take advantage of someones physical problem and use it against them. I believe the case is ongoing and I hope for best for the man. The sad truth is that issues like this and many others happen daily in prisons and people get away with it too. I hope that I can make a change to this recurring problem in America.

by Ty David

On Friday, February 11, my group and I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to Alison Hardy who works at the Prison Law Organization. This organization is located in California where most of their work happens. Alison joined the organization in 1988, advocating for HIV and AIDS prisoners to get the healthcare they needed while inside jail. Shortly after, she went to Oregon and set up a healthcare rights project there. When she got back to California, she primarily works on health issues in prisons. Famous cases she worked on were Plata v. Newsom and Hall v. County of Fresno which were brought to the Supreme Court.

During the interview, Alison told us about the sorts of cases she works on. She explained that many prisons are overcrowded with the lack of funding needed to care for all the prisoners. One of the cases she worked on, the prison held 175,000 inmates while the prison could only contain around 100,000. Overcrowding can be very dangerous and lead to violence, lack of resources such as food, medication, overstocked jail cells, and more. They won the case and the number of inmates decreased by more than 75 thousand! She also spoke about the issues with mental health treatment. Inmates who are suicidal and seem like they are harmful to themselves and others are put into solitary confinement which is an isolated 8 by 6 foot cement box without any light. This is an extremely inhumane and cruel way of fixing the problem and only fixes the short term issue. Thankfully, many prisons do have therapy programs in America but this only solves the issue for one out of many.

by Dorsey

Alison Hardy works at prison law as a senior attorney and fights for changes to death row inmates with mental health illnesses. During the interview we asked questions about mental illnesses in inmates and how the prison helps them and/or deals with those inmates.

In the interview she talked about how prisons in California are extremally under funded, over crowded, and how its set up to undermine mental health. All these things are ruining the mental health of inmates. Mass incarceration isn’t only about being put in prison, its also about what is going on in prison and how we can improve these conditions. This interview was very informative and introduced us to the subject of mental health in prison.

by Malachi Young

On Monday, Februrary 14, we had the pleasure of meeting with Jacob Hutt from the Prison Law Office. Mr. Hutt is a Staff Attorney who joined the organization in 2020. He focuses on disability inequalities and unfair living conditions in prisons. He is currently working on the Armstrong v. Newsom case, a class action brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act on behalf of people with disabilities in California state prisons, and the Chavez v. County of Santa Clara case, a class action challenging certain conditions in the Santa Clara County jails. He helped us learn about the many inequalities in the prison system.

During the interview Jacob explained that there are various inequalities within the system, and they are all in different aspects. For example, people who are blind aren’t given proper care, only someone to do things for them. Therefore, if they have anything they need to read, their privacy is obstructed, since their person must read the letter for them.

Inquality is present as racial discrimination, unacceptable living conditions, and inproper mental health treatment. If you have a certain tatoo before coming into the jail, you may be associated with a certain gang, despite not being there. People with mental health are often “treated” with physicsl force and intimidation. Living spaces have become overcrowed, making the conditions unlivable and unconstitutional. I really enjoyed talking with him, and I wish to learn more about this aspect of the topic.

by Malachi Young

On Tuesday, February 15, we were honored to have a nice chat with Alison Hardy from the Prison Law Office. She is a Senior Staff Attorney who earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, and her J.D. at UCLA in 1988. Her cases usually follow the topic of mental and physical health, and she is currently working on the Plata v. Newsom and Hall v. County of Fresno cases.

During the interview, Ms. Hardy informed us of all the flaws in the mental health protocols in the prison system. She explains how the system is designed to undermine mental health, isolating and degrading anyone who shows it. There are some ways that they help those prisoners, but it is overshadowed by what they don’t do for them. She explained how when she saw how infected prisoners were treated very poorly during the HIV epidemic, that she immediately wanted to study this area and work on improving it. We really enjoyed talking with her about these issues, and we appreciate that we were able to talk with 2 people from the same organization. This is a very interesting aspect of our topic, and I wish to learn about it more.

by Bo Gardner

On Friday, the 11th of February, our group had the opportunity to speak with Daniel Prins. Daniel Prins has worked at the United Nations for 14 years, and currently is the Chief Security Sector Reform, Department of Peace Operations at the United Nations. He previously was the Chief, Conventional Arms Branch, Office for Disarmament Affairs.

Daniel Prins is incredibly knowledgeable on the topic of nuclear disarmament. During the duration of our hour conversation we discussed many topics relating to nuclear disarmament such as, nuclear terrorism, countries nuclear arsenals and agreements between nations. Edward and I learned a huge amount of new information, and Daniel Prins went into great detail.

One takeaway from the interview is that younger people need to think about the topic of nuclear disarmament. Nowadays, nuclear weapons are not viewed as a big threat by young people, but this is not the case. Nuclear tensions are still high, and countries are not taking away their weapons anytime soon.

Edward and I learned a lot of valuable information which was really helpful for our project. We are so thankful that we had the opportunity to interview Daniel Prins and we look forward to doing more research on nuclear disarmament.

Nuclear Disarment:
Bo Gardner
Edward Turbek

by Clyde Condos

On February 10, the Workers Rights Group interviewed Meredith Dank. She is a Research Professor, and directs the Human Exploitation and Resilience initiative of the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management. She is a worldwide expert on human trafficking, having conducted research in more than a dozen countries across the globe. Meredith has an extensive…

by Anais Cornfeld

On Wednesday, February 9th, We met with Alessandra Brunialti, and Paul Yager, who are LREI parents at the school. We had an in-depth conversation on their experience in fostering and adopting. They adopted their children from Sheltering Arms; Child and Family Services. They currently live in New York with their two children. They entered the system’s process almost a decade and a half ago.

It was no surprise to learn that fostering and adopting is no easy task. There are many ways that a person can adopt or foster. You can adopt kids through the state, or privately through a non-governmental organization. Alessandra and Paul adopted both their children through the state of New york. To first become a foster parent, one must register for a license, which process takes around nine months. Background checks, fingerprinting, and criminal records all need to be collected during the process, and home and family inspections also occur. This also must be completed to renew the license granted annually. While taking care of a child, home inspections happen once a month, and search the house to make sure the house is clean, there are working fire alarms, there is food in the refrigerator, and proper rooms.

Agencies prepare families to become immediate foster parents. They must be ready to take in a child who was taken into foster care as quickly as possible. When a child gets removed from their home, the city looks at lists of available foster homes and calls them. Not much information is given except for sex, religion, and disability. The day after the phone call the agency comes and delivers the baby to them. Frequent checkups must be done with the agency.

The main focus of CPS and many other organizations is to reunite them with their birth families. These matters are taken to court and a judge decides if the birth parents are stable enough to be reunited. The baby, mother, and other parents get attorneys to represent them, but foster parents do not. Birth families only have 15 months to prove that they can create a safe and supportive home for their children. If not with their parents, CPS often tries to seek out family members who can take them in. During and after the child is being fostered, the birth parents have visitation rights which both they, and the foster parents need to uphold. This is a parental requirement if they want to obtain full custody again. Other requirements are: obtaining a stable source of income, receiving help and getting clean for any addictions or mental illnesses, and attending prenatal classes. The parents can terminate parental rights if they cannot meet the requirements for full custody. All of these requirements are valid in the state of New York, but many states have very different requirements.

Alessandra and Paul also shared a lot of very valuable facts and insight on their opinions on the way the foster care and adoption process and the system work; they note that poverty and extreme living conditions really hit the system the hardest. It is far less common for abuse to be the reason for removal and is most commonly because of neglect and the inability to support a child. They also talked about how the three reasons a child will go into the system are: abuse (rare), neglect (more common), and abandonment (in some states it is legal to leave your child in front of a police station, fire station, or hospital and abandon your child). Another thing that we talked about were the parenting classes and techniques learned before becoming a foster parent. Alessandera mentioned how she and Paul learned some very important parenting skills, like how to do CPR and other important things. She said that she thinks every parent should take these classes.
“anyone can become a parent.”
We agreed that parenting classes should be more available and encouraged for new parents. This would be a major step in preventing the problem, rather than just patching the cracks of the foster care system.

by Hanako Gibersztajn

My group and I presented our slideshow on the topic of sexual harassment and assault (on the street and in the workplace) to the entire grade. We shared much of the research and statistics which we cultivated in an engaging manner and did a good job of getting our point across.

In the presentation, we shared many statistics on sexual harassment and assault. Here are just a few of them: “Out of every 1,000 sexual assaults, only 310 are reported to the police,” “only 25 out of 1,000 rapist end up in jail,” and “A majority of child sexual assault victims are between the ages of 12 and 17.”

by Arlo Scherr

On Thursday, February 10th our group met with Meredith Dank. Meredith is a research professor at NYU, she specializes in commercial sex economy, human trafficking, teen dating violence, and LGBTQ issues. We talked to her about the work she does overseas and the labor issues she fights for. She talks with human traffickers and supports victims of human trafficking in other countries.

She told us about the people she met overseas and was saddened when she couldn’t help people in a horrible situation. She also talked about the dangers of being a “hero” and attempting to save people who are being trafficked, because most of the time dangerous missions can backfire and make life worse for victims of human trafficking. She relies on people to live out their horrible contracts, or escape from bad trafficking conditions in order to conduct her research and teach more about the topic. Her work is very important in solving this problem because if people aren’t educated well enough, they aren’t informed about the topic which allows it to go unnoticed.

I really felt for Meredith when she had to make the tough decisions to leave people who are in horrible situations and will most likely go back into the human trafficking system. I was shocked when I learned that people some people she talked to are so desperate that they will reenter the horrible working conditions they endure just to get a very small amount of money. Her experience opened my eyes and gave me a professional view of the issue, I am excited to continue fieldwork and learn more about our topic.

Meredith told us that

by Casey Veldhouse

We met with Felisa Israel, who worked as the entertainment manager for the Phoenix Mercury for more than twenty years, a successful entrepreneur, and a huge inspiration for many young females around the nation. We asked her several questions and she hit the bullseye.
We learned a lot, such as how difficult it is to be female in a male dominated industry. Also, we learned how even though she had no experience in working in the sports industry, she took the job with Phoenix Mercury and became one of the most successful women in the sports industry. She made a change in how people view hip-hop by having the Mercury dance team dance to hip-hop and dress like rappers. People began to love this and without her, I don’t know where the dance/music industry in sports would be today.

by Elodie Harris

On Thursday, February 10, 2022, our social justice group was excited to meet with Jenny and Kevin Samuelson, parents of Allie Samuelson, an 8th grader at LREI. Jenny and Kevin adopted Allie and her sister, Zoe, at birth, and they shared their story about going through the adoption process.

Jenny and Kevin wanted to start a family, and they lived in Atlanta, Georgia, at the time, so there were many adoption agencies near them. They reached out to agencies and set up a family profile so that soon-to-be parents could look at their information and decide if they wanted the family to care for their baby. Jenny and Kevin were picked by a mother who lived in Virginia. The day before Allie was born, they got a call that Allie’s birth mother was in labor so they quickly flew to Virginia. They arrived at the hospital hours before Allie’s birth and were in the same room as her when she was delivered. They were unprepared and did not have any baby supplies because of a call on such short notice. Jenny and Kevin even had to borrow a car seat from an agency in Virginia to take Allie back from the hospital.

Because Jenny and Kevin adopted Allie in a different state from the one they lived in, they had to follow the Interstate Compact. The Interstate Compact is responsible for ensuring that the child is safe and stable in their placement across state lines. Instead of going home after she was born, Jenny, Kevin, and Allie had to stay in a hotel for a few days to wait for the Interstate Compact to be approved. It was hard to care for a newborn baby in a hotel. They added that they had to travel home once they were cleared, so Allie went on her first plane ride at just four days old! Jenny said, “everyone judges you when you bring your new-born baby on the plane and they want to tell you what and what not to do with your child, but they really don’t know your full story.”

Once they got home, Allie settled in. Jenny and Kevin made sure to tell Allie about her adoption at a young age because it is important to never lie to children about their real parents, and as adoptive parents, Jenny and Kevin wanted to be honest and open with their daughter.

A few years later, Kevin and Jenny adopted Zoe through the same adoption process with a different family. They are still in touch with biological family of Allie and Zoe. In fact, Allie has seven biological siblings, one of them is her sister who Jenny and Kevin are in close contact with and see often.

It was very inspiring to hear Jenny and Kevin’s adoption stories and experiences. Although the adoption process may be long and challenging, finding children safe and loving homes is always the top priority. I admire Kevin and Jenny’s dedication to helping children who could not be cared for by their biological families. This was a great interview!

by Dorsey

We interviewed Casilda Roper-Simpson, a Law Judge that works mostly on criminal cases. She has worked on public assistance, Medicaid, food stamps (SNAP) shelter allowance and assistance with rental arrears to prevent eviction. These topics are all connected into mass incarceration in some way and we got to learn about what its like being a law judge

In the interview she talked about how mass incarceration tears families apart, targets black families and communities, and how its a billion dollar business. “Mass incarceration comes form the lack of reasources in communitys.” “Mass incarceration rips families apart, targets families of color, and costs tax payers 260 billion dollars a year.” She gave us an incredible insight on what its like being a law judge and gave us a ton of great information.

by Dorsey

We interviewed Jacob Hutt. He works at Prison Law as a attorney. He helps people who incarcerated with mental health problems and people with disability’s. He taught us about how prisons have little to no resources for people with mental health problems, health problems, and disability’s.

During the interview we asked how do incarcerated people with mental health problems receive the treatment they need? He responded with “The prisons help people who are suicidal with the short term solution by isolating them so that they can’t harm themselves, which doesn’t help them in the long term.” This answer gave us a whole different perspective of what prisons do if a person is suicidal. He was super amazing to interview and gave us a lot of great information.

by Hutch

On February 9, we met with Joel Remland, who has been on a vegan diet since he was a freshman in college.

Joel told us about the economic system set up to support the meat and dairy industry. The government pays farmers to produce the meat and dairy. Joel doesn’t think the industry needs the help. He also talked about how the workers were getting sick. In the effort to help factory farms, the government is distorting the situation making meat and dairy very cheap. People wonder why milk is so expensive nowadays but really it’s just closer to the actual cost.

Joel has hope because so many more people are becoming vegetarian and vegan. But Joel also says he’s really careful not to try to convince people too strongly to become vegan. He knows there are people who do public protests but doesn’t think communicating rage and shaming them works well.

Joel recommends watching Seaspiracy and Cowspiracy. He says they are stories about doing your research and find out the information about how factory farms cause global warming. But he says people don’t really like to change their habits so even if the information is out there it doesn’t mean people want to know about it especially when it comes to what people eat.

Small farmers are being driven out of business by the factory farms. Besides the ethical consideration hamburgers for example include meat from maybe 100 cows which puts consumers more at risk of food-born illness.

Diet is one of the main drivers of climate change and diet is something we could all address. Veganism is really catching on and that’s hopeful.

by Henry Byrne

On February 11 2022, Nazir, Casey, and I interviewed Felisa Israel who is a part founder of the WNBA team, Phoenix Mercury. We were very fortunate to be able to interview her and collected a lot of information. The reason we decided to interview her is because of her experience having a big role as a female in a male dominated industry. She had a lot we were looking for and was able to thoroughly answer our questions. We learned more about problems in the industry and more information about gender integration and why a lot of things are like they are in the sports industry to this day. She told us some things about how we can help fix issues with the gender pay gap. I personally had a connection when she mentioned why men and women don’t play together. I am a athlete and I think this applies in different sports but I understand what she was coming from and what she was trying to tell us. We are very thankful for her going out of her way to help us on our project.

by Nazir Primus

On Friday, February 11th, our group had the privilege of meeting Felisa Israel. Felisa Isreal was a founding member of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. Felisa informed us that when she was offered the opportunity to start a team in a completely new league, she jumped straight in.

When starting the team it was her job to make the team presentable to fans. Felisa stated then when going to see NBA games live the first thing you see are videos of the team from the past. She had none of this and worked very hard to get the team where it is today. This team has been very successful in winning the western conference title six times and won the championship three times.

Felisa told us that she believes individuals should be compensated for their abilities, and that you either have them or you don’t. As a result, many good WNBA players should be compensated more than some bad NBA players. Felisa also mentioned that she has invited dance groups to NBA and WNBA games for halftime shows due of her dancing expertise.

It was incredible to meet her and hear directly about what it was like to be a powerful woman in a male-dominated sports sector. We learned a lot about her work background and how the Phoenix Mercury came to be. It was a fantastic interview!

by Samuel Curry-Levine

On February 10th, we were able to meet with Judith Mack. Judith is a learning specialist at LREI middle school. Unexpectedly to us, Judith is connected to Shams. We had an interview with Shams and it shocked me that they knew one another.

I learned how they got connected. When Sham’s and many other people experiencing homelessness were living in the Lucerne Hotel, and were at risk of being moved downtown to the financial district, Judith and allies came to form Friends and Fidi. They helped make free store-like ideas and care packages for Sham and others. They came in contact and Judith continued to tell us how amazed she was of Shams. Together, Friend and Fidi, and Open Hearts stayed connected and helped a lot of people experiencing homelessness. I never realized how a group of people could make such a big ripple effect of positivity.

by Macy Putka

On Wednesday, February 9, 2022, our social justice group had the opportunity to meet with two amazing LREI parents, Alessandra Brunialti and Paul Yager, parents of Carmen Yager, an 8th grader. Alessandra and Paul were able to foster then adopted both Carmen and her brother, Neo, through an organization called Sheltering Arms. After learning about Sheltering Arms from Alessandra and Paul, and researching online after the interview, we learned that organization strives and tries to find all children safe and good homes. They also work closely with their communities to address any social inequity in their.

Alessandra and Paul adopted both Carmen and Neo through the state. First, Carmen and Neo were first fostered. In order to foster, Alessandra and Paul had to become licensed by the state of New York. The process took nine months and some of the steps that were included to get licensed were background checks, home inspections, references from others. They even had to send their fingerprints to the FBI. Alessandra and Paul had to renew their license every year as well. We asked Alessandra and Paul if the process was annoying, hard, and complicated. Their response was that they were actually glad, “The process was hard because that means that these kids are going into really good families and that’s all we want. So we powered through and got two amazing children.” Carmen started being fostered by Alessandra and Paul when she was three months old and then Alessandra and Paul adopted her parents on June __, 2010. And that is now celebrated as her homecoming. Homecoming basically celebrates the anniversary when a child gets officially adopted. Carmen quotes it as “Her second birthday”

Before getting Carmen and Neo, Alessandra and Paul got very little information on them both. They got to know the child’s sex, religion, and whether or not they have disabilities or medical concerns beforehand and that is it. AsC armen and Neo grew up, Alessandra and Paul gave them more information about their birth parents. According to Alessandra and Paul, being honest and accurate is the best way to be when telling your foster kids about their biological parents because you never want to reverse information in the future or develop trust issues.

It was so amazing to talk to Alessandra and Paul about their experience being foster parents and then becoming adoptive parents. Personally, I learned so much about the system just from them, and know im excited to learn about more experiences.

by Joseph Zaraya

On Thursday, the 10th of February Our group was able to interview Meredith Dank, Meredith is a consultant in the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Her areas of focus include human trafficking, Forced Labor, LGBTQ issues, and victimization. She has investigated and been in many studies overseen by the U.S department of Justice.

She has done studies in over 8 countries and has worked to identify challenges in the investigation and prosecution of state and local human trafficking cases. She has helped anti-trafficking programs in Cambodia, Sierra Leone, and the Philippines.

This interview was really important because it gave us an view from a professional who has spent 16 years learning about Forced and Child Labor. Her experience’s were really interesting and helped us learn a lot about our topic.

by Carmen Yager

On Thursday, the 10th of February my group and I got the chance to meet with Judith Mack. She works at LREI, through the pandemic Judith helped out at the Open Hearts Foundation. She is passionate about helping in anyway possible even if its just something small like giving people food or water.

We learned that when the pandemic started many homeless shelters closed and a lot of homeless people were moved into vacant hotel rooms. A lot of people in the neighborhood were angry about the homeless people moving in. Some of them even tried to file a law suit for it. Judith soon found out that they might move the homeless people into hear area. That ended up falling through but during the time that they were preparing for the homeless people to come she helped out by making food bags and more.

I am so grateful that we got to have this interview. I am exited for what is to come in the future. This interview also helped me get a better perspective from someone who isn’t homeless but has helped out a lot.

by Macy Putka

On Monday, February 7th, 2022, our Social Justice group met with some amazing staff at New Alternatives for Children (NAC). The people we interviewed included Arlene Goldsmith (Executive Director), Bobbi Nathanson (Director of Volunteers, Student Internships, & Community Relations), Carola Haberly (Senior Director of Prevention Services), Carla Riccobono (Senior Director of Foster Care & Adoption Services), and Paris Robins (Foster Parent Recruitment Supervisor). NAC (New Alternatives for Children) is a great organization that helps kids with special needs and disabilities find homes in the child welfare system. The organization mostly helps kids that may have, but are not limited to autism, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, cerebral palsy, asthma palsy, brittle bone disease, and many more. NAC’s initial goal is to reunite families, but sometimes that does not happen. All NAC wants is to find these wonderful kids’ homes with parents that will help them thrive.

NAC has two locations in New York. One is in the Bronx in and they have one in Manhattan in the south midtown area. Arlene Goldsmith, the executive director at NAC. Founded the company in 1981. She has been helping children find homes for 80 years! A really important quote that was super powerful that Arlene said was, “a child’s history does not define their destiny.” This quote spoke to me because it really represents how the foster care system can’t change kids’ past but they can try to create a better future for them. Some of the other staff at NAC that we talked to have been there for quite a while as well. Paris Robins who is the Foster Parent Recruitment Supervisor at NAC told us some of the things they look for in foster parents.

After an hour interview with NAC, I learned so much about NAC and what they do. We also expanded our knowledge of the child welfare system in New York City. NAC also gave us an idea to do a school supplies drive to donate so kids can have school supplies until the end of the year.

by Elodie Harris

On Wednesday, February 9, 2022, our group was honored to meet with Alessandra Brunialti and Paul Yager, parents of Carmen Yager, an 8th grader at LREI. Alessandra and Paul adopted both Carmen and her brother, Neo, through an organization called Sheltering Arms. Sheltering Arms is an incredible organization that helps to find all children safe and loving homes so that they can succeed and thrive. They address the effects of social inequity in communities in NYC and help with the development of all children, their families, and their communities. Alessandra and Paul shared their story about the foster care and adoption process.

Carmen came into Alessandra and Paul’s care when she was six weeks old, and she was adopted by them when she was three years old. Alessandra and Paul were required to get licensed in order to adopt children, and the licensing process took nine months, the amount of time it takes for a woman to go through child birth. In order to get licensed, they had to do background checks, home inspections to ensure that their home was sustainable for children, and they even had to send their fingerprints to the FBI for inspection. It was a long process and they had to renew their licenses every year.

Agencies tell foster parents very little about the child before they meet the foster parents including their sex, religion, and whether or not they have disabilities or medical concerns. Carmen’s parents only knew this information when Carmen came into their home, but they got to know her and eased the transition so that everyone would feel comfortable. Also, Carmen had weekly visits with her birth mother which was a requirement in the agency.

Alessandra and Paul adopted Carmen’s brother, Neo, two and a half years after Carmen. They explained how since they moved to Los Angeles for a year, the adoption process took longer because there were different state regulations. However, the adoption process was smoother and easier the second time because Alessandra and Paul already had their licenses.

As Carmen and Neo grew up, Alessandra and Paul gave them more information about their birth parents. According to Alessandra and Paul, being honest and accurate is the best way to be when telling your foster kids about their biological parents because you never want to reverse information in the future or develop trust issues. “Homecoming” is the day that Carmen was adopted by Alessandra and Paul and it is like a second birthday. Birthdays can be hard for foster kids because they don’t always have the chance to connect with their birth parents.

It was very interesting to hear Alessandra and Paul’s story about adopting Carmen and Neo. It shows that there are parents in the world who are willing to help children find safe homes and provide care for kids. The world needs more of them.