Grace Outreach

Come Rain or Snow…

In just one month, New York City media has run a slew of stories about the South Bronx. These articles range from the bleak piece about rampant prostitution around West Farms Elementary School (Jan. 2
NYT), to front-page headlines like: "In South Bronx, Blight Returns to Rehabilitated Block" (Jan. 6 NYT), an article that profiles Kelly Street. Even our very own city-run Workforce1 Center (located just around the corner from Grace Outreach and used as a resource by alumni) was lambasted in the Daily News: "State unemployment office adds to despair of Bronx's jobless as bedbugs, rats invade shanty building." (Dec. 15 NYDailyNews).

While these stories certainly paint part of the SoBro picture, they unfortunately leave out the less-sensational-but-very-real spots of brightness that abound.

Take today, for example. Over 300 parochial and private schools in New York City shut down due to snowy conditions, but Grace Outreach is in motion and hopping! I just walked down the hallways and heard a lesson on fractions and decimal points in one classroom, a discussion of the definition of "nebulous" in another, and a workshop on job search management in a third.

In our corner of the South Bronx, you see so many women invested in their educational paths--even when that path requires braving the elements (and the 5 flights of stairs) on a snowy day like today.
Spots of brightness, indeed! And as for the recent stories? They only serve to make our spot that much brighter, and more important.