UPDATE! We now have 4 exciting projects, each with 5-6 students. Please start tuning in to your focus issues and how they are playing out so you can help shape the projects over the next few weeks and become experts on the issues over the course of the semester. And, in case you missed it, here’s a highlight reel of Mayor DeBlasio’s State of the City Address last week, which speaks to many of them…
- The Future of Community Gardens: Community Gardens have a long and storied history in NYC. According to the Community Garden Coalition, “These gardens are living symbols of unity built by neighbors who joined together to turn abandoned, trash-strewn lots into vibrant community oases,” but many are threatened by the Mayor’s Rezoning and Housing Plan. What’s at stake? How can you help? Suggested Community Contact: 596 Acres
- Brianna, Amir, Nicholas, Minhal, Fanny, Ashley
- The Future of Public Transportation: Trains are overcrowded, buses are slow, cyclists and pedestrians are the least safe and last to get shoveled out of the snow. DeBlasio’s Vision Zero Plan has mixed results so far. Yesterday he proposed a Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar. Is it the folly we need? What’s at stake? How can you help? Suggested Community Contact: Transportation Alternatives
- Adrian, Patrick, Edwin, Mohamed, Sonia, Jeffrey
- The Future of Flushing West: Flushing West is one of the target neighborhoods in the city’s rezoning plans but there has been very little press about the plan or community responses. What’s at stake? How will the neighborhood change and how will current residents be affected? How can you help?
- Brian, Claudia, Erica, Christine, Wilian
- The Future of Mental Health: Apparently, “eighteen Yankee stadiums still wouldn’t be enough room to house every New Yorker wrestling with diagnosable depression. Officials say major depressive disorder is the single greatest source of disability in the city. Yet finding help can be hard.” Mayor DeBlasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, called it a “public health crisis,” and at the end of last year, Mayor DeBlasio and Ms. McCray announced a major mental health initiative called Thrive NYC. It is meant to overhaul the city’s mental health care system, to be a “mental health road map for all,” and was cited as a success in the Mayor’s recent State of the City Address. It has also been criticized, along with a related initiative called NYC SAFE, for struggling to get off the ground, and being used to criminalize homeless people. What is at stake with these plans? How are they shaping the future of the NYC? How can you help? Suggested Community Contact: Urban Justice Center’s Mental Health Project.
- Sam, Alex, Libby, Kashaf, Tony
