| ALL DAY
LONG, yellow school buses pull up in front of the Whitney Young Child Development
Center. Hundreds of kids tumble out onto the side walk and chase each other across
the lawn, dodging cars in the pot-holed parking lot on the way to the door. Although
the 24-hour center in Hunters Point provides high quality day care and after school
programs for almost 200 children, the kids risk life and limb each day getting
to the center itself. According to the center's executive director, Careth Reid,
there have been several near misses with harried parents in the 80-car parking
lot and pip-squeak car thieves who race along the adjacent road. But thanks to
the hard work of several young alumni, Whitney Young kids will soon be funneled
down the "Healing Path," a fenced and gated walkway laced with soothing herbs
to calm the spirits of the rambunctious youngsters. The newly formed Whitney
Young Alumni Association has amassed nearly $65,000 for the Healing Path from
private corporations, city and state government, and foundations, including the
Youth Leadership Institute's Youth Initiated Projects. The path is scheduled for
completion this month. Whitney Young alum Nyla Bartholoma, 13, spent 10
years at the center as a student and returned this summer to volunteer as a classroom
aide. A faded architect's plan for the Healing Path had been hanging on the wall
since 1992. Nyla took one look and said, "If it sits there one more year, we're
going to forget about it, and we really need the Healing Path. "Whitney
Young has given a lot to me," Says Nyla. "I wanted to give a little back." Nyla's
younger brother has Downs Syndrome and he was hit by a car once while playing
near the street, Although the incident didn't happen at the Whitney Young Center,
Nyla says she is scared that the same thing could happen there, especially to
one of the center's 36 severely handicapped students. The experience pushed her
to work on the path project. The Whitney Young Alumni Association, a group
of 10- to 17-year-olds, was able to convince the LaSalle Homeowner's |
Association, which actually owns the lawn that fronts the Center, to grant
an easement for use of their property, and even to join the group of corporate
sponsors, parents, staff and kids of Whitney Young who will volunteer their time
to complete the physical labor on the project beginning this month. The
kids were successful in marketing their plan, where adults' efforts had faltered,
because they were able to illustrate how everyone benefits from a community project
like the Healing Path. The Alumni Association pointed out that a protected
wall-way would prevent accidents and liability nightmares, and that the pleasing
physical appearance of the landscaped path would beautify the whole neighborhood.
The gated pathway would also make it more difficult for robbers to escape across
the lawn after breaking into cars in the lot. Last year, 26 cars were broken into,
according to Reid. She herself has been known to chase the criminals across the
lawn and down the hill. While the Whitney Young alumni were busy meeting
with contractors and architects, ordering supplies, and writing letters to members
of the community, they learned valuable skills. Brandon Blackwell, 13, another
alum who has been active on the project, wants to be a contractor or carpenter
like his dad. He believes the organization and communication skills he honed working
on the Healing Path will be useful throughout his life. Today, a black outline
marking the spot on the wall where the architect's plan for the Healing Path remained
for six years before B group of youngsters got involved reminds those at Whitney
Young of how far they have come. "I learned that if you have a positive attitude,
trust and cooperation you can make something that seems impossible possible,"
says Nyla. Both the kids involved and the supporters of the project agree
that the greatest outcome has been the strengthening of a community stressed by
high crime and poverty. Through the efforts of some of its youngest members, the
movement toward a protected walkway became a healing path for the whole community. |
