When Children Stop Dreaming

While Elissa avoids the label of an “activist,” she admits there are things she would like the change about her community. When asked if she could choose just one thing to change, Elissa responded, “the fact that children stop dreaming.” Elissa believes growing up outside of the South Bronx has allowed her a sense of detachment: “a privilege to a sense that… I was raised here but not really. I had somewhere that always that I could go and get free services or get ya know whatever.” Elissa’s sense of detachment, on a geographical and emotional level, has allowed her to take a step back at times from the violence and crime that children in the neighborhood cannot necessarily escape.

In understanding art as an outlet, Elissa always made sure her daughter was in an arts program some way or another. It was difficult, however, and is increasingly difficult for those still raising children in the area. In 2014, the Comptroller Scott Stringer’s analysis of the NYC Education Department found that “28 percent of schools lack a full-time certified arts teacher, while 20 percent have no arts teacher at all, including one out of seven middle and high schools… [and] more than 42 percent of the schools are concentrated in the South Bronx and central Brooklyn.”[7] This has led programs like DreamYard to have to use their resources to literally send teachers into public schools to provide students some exposure to the arts. This concerns Elissa because she believes the arts are a way to show her daughter the beauty in her community while giving her a voice.

The positive change she has seen in the community provides Elissa with some hope for the future. In regards to her daughter’s experience growing up in Morrisania, Elissa says “she got to see things that I really didn’t, like everybody looked like me.” Today, Morrisania continues to grow more and more diverse, with immigrants arriving from Puerto Rico, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and West Africa, as Elissa notes. She believes this provides an opportunity to learn more about one another and to create change in the community that works for everyone. “Most of the people who are moving into this community, as I said earlier, they want the same things that you and I want.” What do you want for yourself, for your community?

[7]newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/04/07/report-finds-state-of-the-arts-at-nyc-public-schools-lacking-in-lower-income-neighborhoods/