Blending into a community
The community I plan to serve is the New York City Edenwald youth community, with emphasis on summer basketball. This community has a summer basketball league that began in 2013. Leaders like Rasheem Jenkins, who grew up in the community and received a full basketball scholarship to Florida A&M University, give today’s youth hope. It’s part of the reason why he and a couple others started the Grenada Built to Win Classic.
Perspectives and experiences that I can bring to this community include seeing the pain the young men go through and actively wanting to do something to help. I frequented the basketball courts in the Edenwald Houses almost every weekend in Summer 2020. I would take pictures of the players and post them on my photography page, which ultimately increased account engagement and awareness. I became known as the ‘girl with the pink camera,’ everyone thought was fascinating. After all, how many people do you know with a bubble gum pink SONY? Little did they know it’s just a sticker. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my time and happy I got to know the members of that community.
I’m a firm believer in everything happens for a reason. Because of the connections I made in 2020, I am now able to attempt to tell their story in my graduate school program. I hope to bring awareness to the need for community programs, which can possibly aid in decreasing youth crime.
I plan to interview one of the Edenwald community leaders on Oct. 22, 2022. My goal is to help the young men in this community feel comfortable with openly speaking about their mental health and how they feel when one of their brother’s die. Bottling emotions isn’t healthy or ideal.
Forbes’ published an article on Black Men and Mental Health that supports my thought process. “Rates of major depressive disorder in young Black adults ages 18 to 25 increased by more than 3% between 2015 and 2018…yet Black Americans of all age groups are less likely to seek treatment than white Americans.” Young Black men, in general, need to know the value of being present in the moment and feeling how they feel (understanding that it’s OK to cry and talk about their feelings). There are also healthy ways to process death/bad moments outside of drug use and putting feelings aside. Help is out there, the first step is seeking it.
I just hope I can do this right and effectively.