GoodEatsBX Newsletter: April 2017

Vivian Vazquez

Community Profile: Vivian Vazquez

Vivian Vazquez is the Director of Community School Partnerships at the New Settlement Community Campus. She has been a member of our Farm Share program, and plays an integral role in the healthy food, wellness, and youth-led food justice work that happens the Community Campus. She has also been working on a passion project for nine years – a documentary film called Decade of Fire, about the fires that destroyed the South Bronx during the 1970’s. The film explores her personal history of growing up in the Bronx during the time when it was burning, the policies of neglect and discrimination that created this disaster, and the communities who took care of each other through the devastation and survived to rebuild their neighborhoods.

During the 1970’s, landlords in the Bronx began to set their buildings on fire in order to collect insurance money. As a result, residents were forced out of their homes as a majority of the South Bronx’s housing was destroyed and became vacant. Through her research, Vivian and herteam found that there were average 40 fires a night, and 80% of the housing stock burned. However, there’s more to the story than what is usually told: “My film goes beyond the landlord arson narrative, and it goes beyond the narrative that the people in the Bronx did that to ourselves, that people burned their own neighborhoods. It really tries to uncover policies and racist practices that led the South Bronx to become a ghetto, which led the South Bronx to burn.”

As well as going back to the old neighborhood and interviewing people about what it was like during that time, Vivian did extensive research on the political and economic conditions that made it possible for something like this to happen. “There’s this creepy shadow over the South Bronx that people don’t know much about – they just know that the South Bronx is a place that’s deprived of resources, that is dangerous, etc. But where did that come from? It has been very instrumental for me to learn about how policies of urban renewal to improve infrastructure in Manhattan actually neglected and negatively impacted the Bronx, and how policies of redlining made it so that landlords couldn’t take out loans to maintain their buildings at a time when they were already starting to crumble because they were getting old. All the resources and services were sucked out in a place where poor people lived, so people did not have services, opportunities, and access. Why should my community have been blamed for that?”

Photo credit: Mel Rosenthal, courtesy of Decade of Fire

Vivian hopes that this film will offer healing for those who lived through the fires. “It’s important for people to know their history before they can move on. When I grew up back then it was rough, and a lot of folks didn’t make it. And I feel like personally, I need to share this story because for all those people that I grew up with, they need to know that it wasn’t their fault. That it wasn’t our fault, that we didn’t create it. I also think that there is a sense of pride because we survived, and we also took care of each other, and we did the best that we could. Some of us made it out successfully, and some of us didn’t. But we survived.”

When asked whether the themes of this film are connected to food issues, Vivian pointed out that many of the policies and conditions that led the Bronx to burn also impacted (and continue to impact) Bronx residents’ access to food. She shared memories about “going to the cash register, the food is passing through the conveyor belt and our mothers are worried about whether they have enough money to pay for it. That’s a function of poverty, and I remember how my mother really struggled to make ends meet with food.”

When the film is completed, Vivian and her team will travel across the country to cities that are going through gentrification, and use it as a tool to educate people about how they can resist and keep their communities together. “The film highlights people who stayed in the South Bronx, who fought city government, and who saved either their block or their neighborhood or their building. The unsung heroes, the people who actually rebuilt the South Bronx. Had it not been for them, the city would have just kept it as a wasteland.”

You can check for updates on the status of the film here. We wish Vivian the best of luck in completing this amazing and important project.

Recap – Stirring Up Community Change Orientation

On March 4th, Stirring Up Community Change held its first Orientation for new members. Five community leaders have been working with Community Food Action since October to plan this event, and it was a success! 19 community members came out on a cold day to learn more about this new member-led food justice group and how they can get involved. Chef Gabriela Alvarez led an interactive workshop that helped us envision what wellness looks like for ourselves and our communities, and then create plans for how to achieve that. Then after a delicious mole lunch from La Morada, leaders Kendall and Lilian led a bilingual activity that explored concepts like colonialism, culture, genocide and medicine, and how they are all related to food justice.

We look forward to continuing the growth of this group, and to exploring how food is connected to the most important issues in our lives. The next Stirring Up Community Change meeting will be on Saturday, April 8th (more information in our Upcoming Events section below). RSVP to j.podulka@newsettlement.org or 718-716-8000 ex. 121 if you’re planning to come!

Kendall Jackman and Taisy Conk at Collaborative Local Food Purchasing: Healthy Communities, Healthy Choices

Participants at Building Partnerships at a Community Based Organization: Lessons Learned on the Ground

Community Food Action at the 2017 Just Food Conference

The 2017 Just Food Conference took place on March 12th and 13th, and the Community Food Action team participated in a panel and co-facilitated a workshop.

Kendall Jackman, who served as our Farm Share Ambassador and is now a Stirring Up Community Change leader, and Taisy Conk, Director of Community Food Action, sat on a panel called Collaborative Local Food Purchasing: Healthy Communities, Healthy Choices. They spoke about Community Food Action’s experience running a farm share program at New Settlement Community Center since summer 2014, and our plans to open a new initiative called 170 Farm Stand this summer.

Taisy also co-facilitated a workshop with the Director of New Settlement’s Multicultural After School Program (MASP), Anyela Duarte, and the Director of Community School Partnerships at the New Settlement Community Campus, Vivian Vazquez (the same Vivian from the profile above). The workshop was called Building Partnerships at a Community Based Organization: Lessons Learned on the Ground, and it created a safe and thoughtful space to discuss the successes and challenges of doing work in partnership with other organizations or agencies. The three New Settlement program directors talked about our many collaborations around healthy food and wellness, and their key lessons learned. Participants then split into groups, discussed specific problems that have come up for them, and collectively created recommendations for working with partners.

Upcoming Events

Youth United for Food Reform meeting: Tuesday April 4th, 4-6pm at 110 Wall Street

Family Fitness Fun Night at New Settlement Community Campus: Thursday April 6, 6-8pm

Stirring Up Community Change meeting: Saturday April 8th, 12pm-3pm at New Settlement Community Center (1501 Jerome Avenue)

Criminalization: Education and Police Justice: Thursday April 27, 6-8pm. Part of a post-inauguration community convening series by New Settlement programs

Some events may not be open to the public. Please contact j.podulka@newsettlement.org or 718-716-8000 ex. 121 if you are interested in learning more about an upcoming event.