Please see the new program spearheaded by Mayor Eric Adam’s Office of Community Affairs. If your block/immediate area is experiencing issues (spanning across 3-blocks or more) with concerning conditions, such as drug dealing in the immediate area, ongoing sanitation and cleanliness issues, noise pollution, and roadway and sidewalk quality concerns, PLEASE COMPLETE THIS FORM TO EXPRESS INTEREST IN THE PROGRAM: Mayoral Program: Neighborhood Support Teams (NTS) In accordance with Local Law 102, The Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit is calling upon communities to submit information that will inform ..read more

Proposed Arrangement of Sixth or Seventh Avenue between Central Park and Harlem River. Black ink with colored washes (from the New York City Municipal Archives) The evolution of the Central Park Commission from a purely park-planning body into a comprehensive city-planning body began with a baby step. Andrew H. Green, who headed the commission, was concerned that the approaches to the park, especially from the north, were inadequate. He asked the state legislature to grant the commission the power to widen and improve Seventh and Sixth Avenue (Adam Clayton Powell and Lenox Blvds, today). In 1 ..read more

New York City’s Parks Department’s Community Parks Initiative (CPI) is expanding, bringing its transformative green space upgrades to underserved neighborhoods across the city, including Harlem and East Harlem. A recent study by CUNY found that CPI renovations significantly increase park usage and benefit not just regular park-goers, but the entire surrounding community. Among the 20 new sites selected for CPI funding in 2024 and 2025 are three Harlem and East Harlem playgrounds: Peter Minuit Playground (2024), Holcombe Rucker Park (2024), and East River Playground (2025). These playgrounds c ..read more

Tomorrow at 6:00 PM. 2185 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. Time to get involved! Vigil Against Violence In light of recent tragic events in our community, including the senseless killing NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller in Queens, the recent incident at the 125th Street-Lexington Avenue Subway Station, where a person was pushed onto the tracks and fatally struck by a train and shootings of Ashley Ballard and Harry Mendoza, we are organizing a candlelight vigil to honor their memories and stand together against violence. We invite all members of the community to join us in solidarity as we remember those ..read more

The New York Times reports on the opening of Jefferson Park in East Harlem, displaying a casual racism directed towards both Italian and Jewish New Yorkers: Jefferson Park Opens timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/10/08/101707695.pdf Six years later, the park included an agricultural series of plots for children to learn how to grow food. A “farm garden”, with over a thousand plots for children, was added in May 1911. The farm gardens, taking up 2 acres (0.81 ha), were used to teach children horticultural skills The land for the park was acquired starting in 1897 but the pool and bath ..read more

Falling Fruit is a mapping project that documents the overlooked culinary bounty of our city streets. By quantifying this resource on an interactive map, they are hoping to connect people, food, and the natural organisms growing in our neighborhoods. Their edible map is not the first of its kind, but it aspires to be the world’s most comprehensive. While our users contribute locations of their own, they comb the internet for pre-existing knowledge, seeking to unite the efforts of foragers, foresters, and freegans everywhere. The imported datasets range from small neighborhood foraging maps to ..read more

A map from New York City’s Department of Health, showing where people who own and live in their homes, reside: New Housing For LGTBQ+ Youth (Accepting applications now) Homeward Central Harlem features 50 fully furnished studio apartments, indoor and outdoor community space, computer and media room, exercise room, laundry room, live-in superintendent, 24-hour security, affordable rent at 30% of income, tailored support services for single adults with who are homeless or housing insecure and experiencing one or more of the following: aging out of foster care, behavioral health conditions, compl ..read more

The Harlem Renaissance novel Bad Girl is a fascinating work that takes place in a white Harlem world that is feeling the presence of a growing Black Harlem. The author, Vena Delmar, opens her novel on a bustling summer day at the 125th Street piers (where Columbia’s Manhattanville campus is now) with the lead character – Dot – attempting to get out of the stifling heat of Harlem for a day on the water. In the confusion that follows, Dot meets Eddie and a romance ensues. Delmar penned a number of scenes where Dot is on the cusp of the racial lines in Harlem, and she has Dot speculate on the li ..read more

Silent Voices declares victory in opposing another homeless shelter for Harlem: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Community Triumphs as Luxury Condo Resists Shelter Implementation HARLEM, NY, MARCH 18,2024 – In a remarkable turn of events, the community surrounding 2201 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd has prevailed in resisting the implementation of a shelter within their midst. Currently, two vans are stationed outside the building, removing items as the organization slated to move in, Children’s Rescue Fund, concedes defeat in the face of overwhelming community opposition. The rejection of the shelter prop ..read more

The Build The Block meetings for the 25th Precinct are on hold for now: Good Afternoon, I was told that you received some concerns about the Build the Block Meetings. I first off want to apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused. As of last week, we have had some administrative changes, including changing the officers & supervisors in our Neighborhood Coordination Team. I realize that this information should have been relayed to the community, to avoid anyone attending previously scheduled Build the Block Meetings that were not happening, and for that I apologize again. Deputy ..read more