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By David Cohn and Tara Kyle In the Bronx’s Hunts Point neighborhood, amid industrial pollution, high crime levels and low high school graduation rates, risk is a part of life. “I had a very rude person say to me, ‘if I ever enter Hunts Point, I should enter with a gun,'” said Yesenia Adorno, 19. But for Adorno and a group of close to 20 teens participating in the Activists Coming to Inform Our Neighborhood (A.C.T.I.O.N.) program, Hunts Point is a place worth fighting for. The teens, who hail mainly from Hunts Point and surrounding Bronx neighborhoods, are driven to engage in civic campaigns by their love of the area’s liveliness, diversity and welcoming character. “It isn’t just prostitution, it’s a living, thriving community with people who are intelligent and artistic,” said John Orellana, 20, who grew up in Hunts Point. The A.C.T.I.O.N. teens are currently fighting against the construction of a 2,000 bed jail in the heart of the neighborhood, for the banning of flavored tobacco products in New York, and for more park space through the revitalization of brownfields (contaminated properties). They have participated in City Hall press conferences, canvassed the neighborhood to pass out literature and survey community perspectives, and are maintaining an online blog to document their efforts. “To many people in these types of neighborhoods, the goal is to make money so that you can leave,” said Adam Liebowitz, the program director and community development associate. “That shouldn’t be the goal.” The aim at A.C.T.I.O.N., which is operated through a larger non-profit organization called The Point, is instead to “get people to take pride in their neighborhood, to realize that their future is in their own hands.” It is a message that hits home with participants like Robert Ingram, 19, who has watched peers serve short jail terms and had a friend shot and killed during a dispute over a girl. Ingram said he is alone among his friends in “doing something positive,” but has found fulfillment through A.C.T.I.O.N. programs like clothing and food drives. A.C.T.I.O.N. has existed in different incarnations for three or four years. Teens must apply to participate and are selected based on their enthusiasm for community engagement. In part because of the program’s youth, it is difficult to gauge participants’ long-term success. Many have gone on to college, but others have needed to leave the program, which asks teens to maintain at 75 percent average at their high schools. “Given the situations that these kids are coming from, it’s often the time commitment that is the biggest fork in road,” Liebowitz said. Obligations at home can make the program’s high expectations — at minimum, 7.5 hours per week of after-school activity — straining. Liebowitz recalled one girl who left after her aunt had a car accident, because she had to take on extensive family responsibilities. A few students, like Ingram, dropped out of high school while they were involved with A.C.T.I.O.N., but have been permitted to stay involved because of their commitment to obtaining their GEDs. Ingram, who recently received his GED, said he next hopes to study business management at SUNY-Buffalo. When asked about their future plans, many of the teens said they hoped to stay involved in programs like A.C.T.I.O.N., to give money to places like The Point or return to the neighborhood and manage community service organizations of their own. “The struggles that communities like Hunts Point go through are going to be ongoing,” Liebowitz said. “We want to have a training ground for young people to carry on the fight.” |
Audio Slideshow: Teens from A.C.T.I.O.N. (Activists Coming to Inform Our Neighborhood) Describe Hunts Point
Interactive: Risk in Bronx Community District 2 (Hunts Point and Longwood)
Fast Facts: For More Information: Video: "Action Gone Wild"
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