By Ximena Rua-Merkin - This past fall, CRE embarked on a neighborhood based capacity building initiative to bring our services directly to organizations working in four of New York City’s neighborhoods most affected by the economic downturn. One of these neighborhoods is Highbridge. Located north of Yankee Stadium and West of the number 4 Subway line, Highbridge has been described by public authorities as one of the poorest neighborhoods in the City. However, as I get to know and work in this community, I realize that while its residents may face tremendous challenges, Highbridge is in no way poor.
If the wealth of a neighborhood could be measured by the volume of the volunteer hours and the accomplishments of the organizations working in the area, then Highbridge is by far one of the richest neighborhoods in the City. Highbridge has a long and rich history of civic engagement that continues to permeate the life of the community. At a meeting of the newly established High Bridge Library Council, I met a senior citizen who for decades has organized her fellow neighbors to fight for better living conditions in the Bronx. She is now chairing the Library Council and with a group of residents and nonprofit leaders is working to bring an intermediate school into the community so kids don’t have to travel far to get an education. At a CRE workshop on “Working Effectively with Advisory Boards and Volunteer Committees”, I met a local resident who shared with the group her experience of having served as a volunteer and board member at more than a dozen organizations. Her advice to other workshop participants who were struggling to recruit advisory board members was: “you don’t need to look too far in Highbridge to find people who care deeply enough about the community and to make a difference. You may not find people who can give a lot of money, but you can find people who will do anything to help make Highbridge a better place to raise a family.”
The wealth of Highbridge is also found in the multifaceted network of nonprofit organizations, churches and other faith-based groups, coalitions and other civic associations that work together to make this a safe and thriving community. Organizations like Highbridge Community Life Center, Bridge Builders, Muslim Women’s Institute for Research and Development and many others engage local residents to create change and take care of the community’s most vulnerable members. As CRE’s work in Highbridge begins, our commitment is to help nonprofit leaders strengthen their organizations and find creative ways to make sure critical programs and services such as hunger relief, youth development, senior services and others remain accessible in the community.
Our thanks to the New York Community Trust for making this work possible.
Please check out pictures from CRE's Highbridge work on Flickr.
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