BACK TO ALPHA PHI ALPHA CENTER
AS EARLY AS JULY 1
Assemblywoman Clark hopes to welcome the seniors back to the Alpha Phi Alpha Center on or before July 1st, after the Department for the Aging (DFTA) notified her by telephone on June 4th that the agency had agreed to rescind the center’s closure based on a finding that the allegations of misuse of funds and abuse of seniors were unfounded. In a letter to DFTA Commissioner Lilliam Barrios-Paoli the Assemblywoman stated she was pleased with the outcome:
When Clark embarked on moving the senior center from the basement of the Cambria Community Church, where it was housed from 1975-2006, she envisioned a new street level center that would provide the seniors ease of access they had been denied in the basement of the old center. It was her goal to ensure continued and dedicated service to seniors now and in the years to come.” Suspending the DFTA contract could possibly open the door to challenges of the long-term lease agreement. Clark expressed anguish at the circumstances which resulted in the untimely closure of the center the first week of April stating that “the community should understand that from its opening this center has been one of the most well-run and well-attended senior service programs in the borough, according to DFTA’s own staff. This center was not in danger of closing due to poor census numbers or underutilization. It ‘imploded’ from within based on the agendas of a few people who were willing to jeopardize the entire program to advance their personal agendas. I’ve worked too hard to see that happen. In addition, I have a heavily vested interest in protecting the sizeable investment I secured from the state to purchase and renovate the building for the seniors of this community. I intend to see it not only re-open on July 1st, but continue to serve our seniors for the balance of the thirty-one year lease.”
As both the architectural centerpiece of our community and its center of education, I have always thought that institutionally Campus Magnet High School served us as both the functional and symbolic soul of our community. I have therefore invested much time and effort in the school.
Long before the so called small school movement reared its head, hoping to reverse an alarming academic slide, I fought to have the large Andrew Jackson High School converted into a “Campus” to be shared by four successor schools.
Recently, when evidence mounted that one of the schools was falling short in attaining the improvements hoped for, I sought, and received, assurances that its replacement would result in no loss of services to the community.
In these troubled times, only the vigilance born of the knowledge that this institution is more than a school can guarantee that the assurances given and the promise of Campus Magnet are realized.
Fifty years ago, the woeful failure of our school system spawned a movement demanding a radical departure in education policy. And indeed this cry for community control revolutionized the school system. Still, 34 years later the system was still so woeful a failure that here in the 33rd Andrew Jackson High School had slid into the bottom ranking for city high schools.
I then spearheaded a movement to restructure Andrew Jackson into 4 smaller schools. It was my belief that only small schools could provide students with the individual academic attention often needed. I never, however, lost sight of the fact that large schools can provide the type of extracurricular activities that small schools cannot.
So, while, with varying degrees of success, I have worked tirelessly to see that the smaller successor schools to Andrew Jackson achieve their academic goals, I have worked equally as hard to assure that the things like the physical education offered at each of these smaller schools remain on par with any in New York City.
On occasions, this has meant steering discretionary spending into upgrades like the weight room. On other occasions, it has meant pushing for the upkeep of areas like the pool.
There are students on the Campus whose parents attended Andrew Jackson with my children. When I meet them, it reinforces the consoling thought that children will be profiting from these facilities long after I am gone and forgotten.
EXTENDED DAY:
A hidden gem at risk
It was my hope that the combination of access and the training programming also offered would be the springboard to the development of a cadre of swimmers who were, if not world class, qualified to fill the numerous jobs for lifeguards that go wanting each summer.
When former Bronxite Cullen Jones became only the second African-American to win an Olympic Gold Medal in swimming, I thought this would perhaps boost participation in the swimming program to levels assuring its survival. Unfortunately, the budget crunch came along.
Not only is the swimming program imperiled, but the entire Extended Day Program is itself in the budget cutting crosshairs. Saving it is one of my priorities. While it would be foolish to promise success, it would be beyond irresponsible to give up the fight. This was underlined again and again during my recent visit to Campus Magnet.
CARING FOR OUR COMMUNITIES
Communities share many things, however each has unique characteristics. Elected officials are challenged to first recognize this and then to tailor their efforts to address that uniqueness. Ideally, community-based organizations play a key role in this process. This is the role played by Community Care, Inc.
Working through them, I have been able to establish a place where we attempt to take a forward-looking approach to the special needs of two age groups. The first is seniors, and the second is the generations of older adults who, unfortunately find themselves again cast in the role of primary care givers.
I therefore thought it important to assist these constituents by providing them a means of getting on the right side of the digital divide. Consequently, working with Community Care, we established a computer lab with a program tailored to address this issue.
At the Foster-Laurie Senior Center, I am therefore pleased to have worked on several projects aimed at achieving this end. From the nutritional standpoint, we were able first to secure funding for refurbishing the kitchen such that special care could be given in preparing healthy meals. And then, with an eye on the Olympics, we were able to install the Health and Fitness Room.
to forget
The 33rd Assembly District has one of the fastest growing and most vibrant Haitian-American communities in the United States. In her role as executive director of Haitian-Americans United For Progress (HAUP), Elsie Accilien has played a leading role in establishing HAUP as the preeminent community-based organization serving the unique needs of this growing community.
Because we live in a world that seems to present us with a different crisis each day, I recently sat down with Ms. Accilien to get an on-the-ground reminder of how the January 12th earthquake has created a crisis unlike all but a very few.
It was, first of all, a natural disaster biblical in its proportions. An equivalent event here in the United States would have translated into a death toll of nearly 34 million people. As if this were not enough, the quake also nearly totally destroyed the very seat of Haiti’s central government.
The 1.3 million people that are said to have been made homeless are still homeless. Hundreds of thousands are sheltered in dangerous makeshift camps. The only order keeping force with the required capability, the American military is beginning to pull out. Yet, Haitians there and here, persevere in the face of these adversities.
Assemblywoman Clark believes that part of our role here in America is to share solidarity and empathy with Haitians in Haiti and here in America. Spreading the word about the 18-month program for Temporary Amnesty for all Haitians present in the United States immediately after the January 12th earthquake is one way. Such efforts will ease the worry and frustration of many in this community and around the country, who can’t return to their homeland in its existing situation and whom lack legitimate status here in the U.S., said Clark.
If you know someone who needs assistance applying for Temporary Protected Status, and/or applying for public health insurance, in conjunction with their protected status, see the websites listed below:
- http://www.nyc.gov/html/hia/html/public insurance/enroll.shtml
- http://www.uscis.gov/
call the hot line at:
1-888-284-2772
Assemblywoman
Barbara M. Clark
97-01 Springfield Blvd.
Queens Village, NY 11429
718-479-2333
Once received, participants will be rewarded with a reading certificate in the mail.
For more information, call or write my district office or visit your local library. Again, I encourage all to participate.
Even here in the age of X-Boxes, Play Stations and the ubiquitous Wii, books remain the richest resource a developing mind can draw from. And, as quiet as it’s kept, they can still be had for FREE!
No word processing program can write the words it processes. No spell check can assure the correctly spelled word is the correctly chosen word. Children who read books develop better vocabularies and senses of grammatical construction than children who do not. In their hands, the technologies of the digital world we now live in become tools to a better future as opposed to time-wasting amusements.
So, with the great hope that all of my constituents will encourage their school-age children to participate, I wish to announce the Assembly’s Summer Reading challenge. Children who participate will receive a New York State Assembly Excellence in Reading Certificate for their work. This year, the Assembly is again coordinating its efforts with the New York State Library’s “Summer Reading at New York Libraries” to get the word out about summer reading and the value of our local libraries.