Northattan

Hunter's state-of-the-art new building opened in East Harlem last summer. Photo by Ben Teitelbaum/Northattan.

Good fences make good neighbors, some say, but if a school of social work is moving into town, the set of expectations might be a little different.

Hunter College’s School of Social Work is nearly a full semester into its residency in East Harlem, and Dean Jacqueline Mondros hopes to establish a reputation as “great neighbors.”

“I would like it to be said that we came into this neighborhood in a respectful way as collaborative partners and that we helped them to make this neighborhood stronger,” said Mondros.

Although the school is not hiding in its mansion – a $135 million state-of-the-art building on Third Avenue between 118^th and 119^th streets –- it is still figuring out its public face.

Through a field placement program mandatory for all 1,100 students, the recently renamed Lois V. and Samuel J. Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College does have over 100 students interning at East Harlem-based organizations, twice the amount from last year, and the administration plans to increase the number.

Still, the true impact of those agencies, not to mention their interns, is tough to quantify, and the Hunter-East Harlem relationship engenders mixed feelings.

The school has “done a lot to make it seem like it’s reaching out to the community, but I don’t know,” said Master of Social Work student Will Engelhardt. “Most people feel like Hunter hasn’t done much.”

Student Cynthia Rodriguez, whose field placement concerns Hunter’s community outreach, said that while the administration is clearly committed to East Harlem, the school’s plan of action is “vague” and “ambiguous.”

Nevertheless, Hunter is not merely standing idly by, and three other MSW students are now playing a somewhat unofficial role in examining the Hunter-East Harlem relationship and offering suggestions to shape that plan.

“What feedback we’re trying to give them is really what’s going on in relation to how they think they’re doing and how they’re really doing in the community,” said Meredith Marin, who is working with Gabby Macklin and Breiny Scheinert.

The trio is currently researching an assignment on “exploring community needs.” As the only group covering East Harlem, their project “has a particular relevance that extends beyond just an assignment,” Marin said.

Their exercise in community assessment, which has video and print components, has been turning heads. According to Marin, both State Assemblyman Robert Rodriguez and Mondros have personally asked for copies.

When the school announced several years ago that it was moving uptown from East 79^th Street – a decision triggered by financial implications and the desire to improve its physical space – Hunter realized that it was thrusting itself into an already roiling discussion of gentrification and social responsibility.

Unsurprisingly, public officials have said all the right things.

Former New York Gov. David Paterson said that the move would give the school “the opportunity to engage with a vibrant, diverse and growing population in need of the vast array of services Hunter offers.”

State Sen. Jose M. Serrano echoed those sentiments: “Having their main facility in East Harlem will be a great addition to the neighborhood. The services they offer will undoubtedly bring much-needed resources into our community.”

Hunter, at least rhetorically, has also taken on the challenge of becoming an agent for “positive social change,” in the words of longtime professor Terry Mizrahi.

On the school’s website, Hunter touts the “unparalleled opportunity for the School to ‘live its mission’” to “seek and encourage social work talent for and from the least advantaged.” In East Harlem, where almost half the residents don’t graduate from high school and the unemployment rate is around 17 percent, the school has found a neighborhood with real need.

Although the facility itself inspires passers-by to slow down and peer curiously into the large glass windows, Hunter’s presence is not widely recognized. “I had noticed it one day, but I didn’t really know it was there,” said Laura Dara, who lives just a few blocks away.

Yet Marin has discovered that “Hunter’s done a lot more so far for the community than people really know about.”

For one, the school has opened its doors for public events. Hunter hosted a youth summit last summer, and Mondros, who was recently honored by an East Harlem consortium of human service agencies, said that in January the school plans to hold a “community meeting so we have community people telling us what they would like to see us do.”

Marin and Mondros stress that the school is not charting a course without input from East Harlem. “They’re focusing on partnerships a lot. That’s been a really primary theme,” said Marin. “They’re very vigilant about working with what’s already here in the community.”

Even so, there are questions whether Hunter can make a significant difference in East Harlem without its students truly embedding into the neighborhood. “There are almost no students that live in East Harlem,” said Marin, and Queens-based Cynthia Rodriguez admitted that they were “in and out of the 116^th Street subway stop.”

Local business owners also said they haven’t seen much benefit from the addition of Hunter. “Same for my business,” said Peter Dei, the owner of a 99-cent store across the street. “No change. No different. All the same.” And Faris Ali, who works at nearby Super Delicious Deli Food Inc. said that his rent increased when construction of the school began, but business was only starting to improve.

Another point of contention is the response of East Harlemites to Hunter’s aspirations. Until Hunter proves itself, residents may view the school with a wary eye. “The residents are kind of jaded. They’re kind of like, ‘Oh yeah? What’re you going to do for us?’” said Marin.

Next week Hunter will at least answer that question for 100 East Harlem children, as the school is donating 100 books in support of primary education. That’s just one way Hunter is trying to become a great neighbor.

In the basement of a New York City Council District office in East Harlem one recent Tuesday evening, three women sat at a large oval table poring over a nine-page listing of 105 citizen proposals for local parks and recreation projects.

Some were modest and very specific: Repave paths in St. Mary’s Park in the south Bronx. Others sought grander goals: Build a park reserved exclusively for the newly popular extreme urban sport of parkour. And several were maddeningly vague, for a process that is supposed to come up with concrete plans for particular sites: “Jogging tracks,” read one proposal, while another suggested “Play grounds renovations.” Neither specified where those projects should be carried out.

“There’s not enough information on some of them to vote yes or no,” said a frustrated Kioka Jackson.

Jackson, 37, and her colleagues in this venture, Susan Rodriguez and Frances Mastrota, hold no elected office. But an innovative experiment in democracy, called participatory budgeting, has given the trio of East Harlemites the power to sift through proposals and help determine which might get implemented in Council District 8, which also includes Manhattan Valley and Mott Haven in the Bronx.

They are just three of dozens of volunteers on nine different committees –- from Housing to Education to Parks and Recreation -– who are currently slogging through 557 of their neighbors’ ideas collected at community meetings this fall.

Melissa Mark-Viverito is one of four City Council members trying out participatory budgeting. Whereas Mark-Viverito and other elected officials normally speak for their residents when allocating public funds, they are now encouraging those residents to speak for themselves.

So, instead of shouting from the sidelines, Jackson, Rodriguez, Mastrota and the other volunteers have to draw up a citizens’ game plan and put it into action. In each district, at least $1 million will be spent next year on infrastructure improvements chosen directly by constituents.

Mark-Viverito’s community outreach started with local nonprofit groups. When Rodriguez, who runs an organization dedicated to AIDS/HIV research and treatment for women, learned about the new program, she quickly jumped on board. “I think what Melissa has done is really ambitious,” said Rodriguez. “Once you build that foundation of people participating in their community, good things can happen out of it.”

Rodriguez, Jackson and Mastrota are part of an eight-volunteer team of “budget delegates,” tasked with whittling down the parks and recreation idea list into a handful of specific proposals.

The ideas were gathered in October and early November, when the entire council district was invited to suggest an idea -– any idea -– whether at one of several neighborhood assemblies or through an online form. Hundreds of suggestions later, small committees of untrained volunteers must find a way to assess all those potential projects and submit just a few for a final community-wide vote in March.

The first parks and recreation budget delegate meeting had a disappointing turnout. Five of the eight volunteer committee members didn’t show, and Mastrota immediately pointed out, “We don’t even have a quorum.”

The delegates were joined by two facilitators. Also volunteers, facilitators are members of the council district office, the local community board or major community-based organizations, people generally more knowledgeable about governmental processes who help guide the committees in their decision-making.

One of them, Will Engelhardt, taped two oversized sheets of paper to the wall — one labeled Priority, the other Non-Priority — and recommended that each delegate come up with five projects for each list. But that exercise wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

After Rodriguez described Thomas Jefferson Park, on 112^th Street between First Avenue and the FDR Drive, as a “ghetto park” and a “dump,” Mastrota bristled, responding that it had received a “high rating.”

And somehow “Redevelopment of Blake Hobbs Park” made its way onto both hanging sheets of paper.

“I thought that there was some tension between the delegates, and that at times people weren’t listening to each others’ ideas,” said Engelhardt. “But I think that is to be expected, as most budget delegates will probably have strong opinions about certain issues.”

The delegates themselves expressed exasperation at the early lack of progress. “It’s a little discouraging when meetings drag on and you don’t get to the meat and potatoes of what you need to do,” said Rodriguez.

However, Mark-Viverito said she was pleased with the vigorous debate. She briefly visited the parks and recreation committee session, engaged in small talk with the budget delegates, reminded them that “we want to go by what’s on the list, as far as projects people have identified,” and then left them to their work. She later issued a statement saying she was “thrilled to see a strong level of participation and engagement from the delegates.”

More than 1,000 cities around the world use some form of participatory budgeting, but Chicago is the only other U.S. city to try it. The experiment that began there in 2009 “shows clear signs of promise, growth, and rapid extension,” according to a report issued earlier this year by the Harvard Political Review.

Although $1 million can’t change the whole district’s landscape, it is a significant portion of the annual $5 million or so that Mark-Viverito controls directly for these types of infrastructure projects. To put that into perspective, New York City’s budget has been estimated at $67 billion by the City Office of Management and Budget.

Despite the initial stumbling blocks, Jackson, Rodriguez and Mastrota remain optimistic as they discuss whether to create green streets in East Harlem or implement free WiFi throughout the entire district, two of the proposals on their long wish list.

“I really do love what’s going on here,” said Rodriguez. And when, after the first few frustrating hours, Mastrota was asked if she still believes participatory budgeting is worthwhile, her eyes narrowed with intensity as she emphatically proclaimed, “Yes!”

Once a month, the East Harlem Taste Trolley titillates Northattan’s taste buds, taking 45 hungry diners on a tour of the area’s gourmet restaurants.

What would you do with a million dollars? That’s the question four New York City Council members are asking their residents. The money’s in the bank; now they just need to figure out how to spend it.

A police emergency services unit responds to a double shooting in East Harlem. Photo by David Karp/AP Photo

A teenager was killed Thursday afternoon in an East Harlem shooting that also left another man wounded.

Police arrested a 36-year-old in connection with the shooting but have not yet charged him or released his name.

Bronx resident Jaquan Wilson, 18, was found with multiple gunshot wounds when officers arrived at 2383 2nd Avenue, near 122nd Street, around 12:30 p.m., police said. Wilson was taken to Harlem Hospital where he was pronounced dead, said police.

The other victim was a 26-year-old, who was shot in the buttocks and was in stable condition at Harlem Hospital.

A report on dnainfo.com quoted a source saying that the suspect told investigators he was being robbed by the two men that he eventually shot. The report said he was “able to wrestle the gun away from one of the men before turning it on both of them.” Police did not confirm any of that information.

A gun was found at the scene, police said.

This is the second killing in East Harlem this week. On Tuesday, 73-year-old Julia Hernandez was killed in her Wagner Houses apartment. Gregory Velez, 35, was arrested Thursday and charged with murder and robbery.

Youthbuild Program Director Wendell Moore speaks to a group of students. Photo by Ben Teitelbaum/Northattan.

Youthbuild is a nonprofit organization that helps low-income high school dropouts succeed. It gives 16- to 24-year-olds construction training, and a second-chance at an education. Three-quarters of its funding comes from the federal government, and recent cuts mean three New York-area Youthbuilds have closed. East Harlem is where the organization started more than 30 years ago, and now that chapter’s future isn’t clear either.

Ben Teitelbaum reports.

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