Morgan & Malika's Views: What We Know About Brownsville

Morgan Smith and Malika Spruill will be contributing to the Brownsville Partnership Blog this summer. Every Tuesday, Morgan and Malika will team up together up creating blog post about their experience working in Brownsville.

Malika Spruill is a resident of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She is 20 Years Old. This is her first time working in the Brownsville. She knows little to none about Brownsville. Malika's views about Brownsville may change.

Morgan Smith is a resident of Brownsville, Brooklyn. As a 15 Year Old young man growing up in Brownsville, he lets it be known that it is not easy living in Brownsville. Growing up in this "tough" environment is going to hopefully make him a better person.

"Brownsville is a big community filled with much positivity and negativity. There are ways to change the negatives into positives. One of the positive things about Brownsville is the Brownsville Partnership. Brownsville Partnership helps the Brownsville residents seek employment and get the youth off of the street. The Youth Market is one of things we do in the community. We sell fresh produce in the community to give people healthier ways of eating. Also we do programs and activities all over the community." - Morgan Smith

"There are many social problems in Brownsville. The problems are mainly associated with drugs and crime. Brownsville has a higher rate of dropouts and incidents of violence in their schools than any other neighborhood I know of. Another problem is low test scores and high truancy rates. This is what I know of about Brownsville because I really don't know much."- Malika Spurill

Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez, Mets alums to help Habitat for Humanity build housing later in July

Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez, sitting in the Mets broadcast booth with Gary Cohen (c.), are joining with Habitat for Humanity to do their part in the local community.

(Courtesy of Howard Simmons of the NY Daily News)

Georgette Lee was nervous as she walked into the SNY booth at Citi Field Sunday to meet Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez. She knew who they were, of course, but Lee is not much of a baseball fan.

Lee had come to Citi Field to say thank you to two of the men who will help build her home.


Darling and Hernandez, along with some of their 1986 world champion teammates, will hammer and paint to help build the residences at St. John's Place in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville section of Brooklyn on July 15 with Habitat for Humanity. Lee will own one of those homes in 2012.


It is the third straight year that the Mets Alumni Association Presented by Citi, as part of the Mets and Citi's "Teammates in the Community" initiative, have helped Habitat for Humanity build affordable housing in the city.

Michael Rapaport moves behind the camera to chronicle hip-hop favorites A Tribe Called Quest

If you was to ask Michael Rapaport where he was from, he would simply reply and might say "I am from Brownsville, Brooklyn." Read this article written by Jacob E. Osterhout as he talks about Michael Rapaport's role in his new documentary talking the break up of his favorite Hip Hop group, A Tribe Called Quest.



Michael Rapaport's 'Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest' just opened.

(Courtesy of Jacob E. Osterhout of the NY Daily News)

In a perfect world, Michael Rapaport would bike to Astoria every day to eat an overstuffed sandwich from Sal, Kris & Charlie's Deli.



But the world isn't perfect.


In fact, on this particularly sunny New York day, the 41-year-old actor — his films include and Woody Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite" and "Small Time Crooks" — has such a bad stomachache, he doesn't even bother to unwrap his sandwich.


Instead, he downs two ginger ales and stares longingly at his order — a sandwich full of five meats, three cheeses, four veggies, dressing, mustard and mayo, aptly named "The Bomb."


"I'm not hungry right now, but I promise you that by the end of the day that sandwich will be eaten," he says with a thick New York accent. "It's perfection. It would be criminal to let the best sandwich in this city go to waste."


Just as it would have been criminal to keep Rapaport's directorial debut, "Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest," from being released on the big screen, which almost happened.


The film, which opened Friday, chronicles the 1998 breakup of one of Rapaport's favorite hip-hop groups, Queens-based A Tribe Called Quest. Despite the director's adoration of his subject, the leader of A Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip, refused to approve the film before its debut because of creative differences.

Tomorrow Brownsville Your Attendance Is Needed!!!

For more information, contact Randy Millard at rmillard@commonground.com

Follow Brownsville Partnership on Twitter @bvillepartner

Thousands more NYC students need to take summer school to advance

School in the Summer...

Read this article by Rachel Monahan who writes for New York Daily News.

A lot more kids need summer school this year, officials said yesterday.


This summer, 12,000 more city public school students than last year should hit the books harder, according to a Department of Education analysis.

In all, 34,069 students in third through eighth grades likely will be held back if they don't attend summer school.

"Before promoting any of these students to the next grade, we need to make sure they have mastered the skills needed to succeed," said city Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.

To be promoted, the city requires students to score a basic "Level 2" on state English and math exams.

Because the state exams are given in May, the city does not have the official results, but instead has projected which students have not met their standards.

City officials said they did not expect more students to fail the exam but had made a more accurate judgment of the need this year.

Last year, the city recommended 22,802 students for summer school, when in fact 31,000 bombed the standardized tests.

The summer term will cost the city almost $51 million - $4 million more than last year.

"It's good that more students will have the opportunity to improve. I think it's scary how many kids need to improve," said Advocates for Children Executive Director Kim Sweet.

Pitkin Ave BID Job Opening!!!

IMMEDIATE JOB OPENING


The Pitkin Avenue BID is seeking a part time temporary employee to help with the planning of its Summer Plaza events. This is a terrific opportunity for a community resident who is seeking supplemental income.

For three Sundays in July, a section of Pitkin Avenue will be closed to car traffic for the Pitkin Summer Plazas. The BID needs a summer employee to assist in programming the space with events, arts and crafts, and recreational activities.

The position will be 20 hours per week Monday through Friday, beginning June 20, 2011 In July, the week will be Tuesday to Saturday because assistance at the Summer Plazas is required. Please note that this does not include July 4th Weekend! The position pays $12/hr.

With the Director’s supervision, job duties will include the following:

• Meet with event partners to discuss programming

• Work with merchants to develop event programming and sponsorship

• Develop promotional materials

• Promote the summer plazas online using Facebook, Blogger and email

• Assist in developing press materials

• Supervise volunteers and block captains during the event

• Assist in setting up for the event, including lifting tables and chairs

• Assist in breaking down the event, including clean up

• Assist the director as needed

Requirements:

Excellent communication skills

Computer skills, including MS Word, Excel, GoogleDocs, and Picasa.

Students interested in urban planning and economic development are strongly encouraged to apply. Send cover letter and resume to Dan Murphy at execdirector@pitkinbid.org

Are Healthy School Lunches Too Expensive For The American Economy?

Obesity amongst our youth across the nation, is a tough topic to debate about. We want our kids to be healthy, but the cost maybe too expensive...

Read this article from The Associated Press

Let's enlighten each other

Washington, DC (June 1, 2011) -- House Republicans are pushing back against Obama administration efforts to promote healthier lunches, saying the Agriculture Department should rewrite rules it issued in January meant to make school meals healthier. They say the new rules are too costly.

The bill, approved by the House Appropriations Committee late Tuesday, also questions a government proposal to curb marketing of unhealthy foods to children and urges the Food and Drug Administration to limit rules requiring calorie counts be posted on menus.