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New York Times METRO Thursday, January 3, 2013 Bad Neighborhood, Good Children and a Creative Mother By JOHN OTIS Michael Kirby Smith for The New York Times Yoshita Childress with her children, Syrene Samuel, 15, and Syrus Samuel, 14, at their apartment on the Lower East Side. “I don’t need my son to be a statistic,” Ms. Childress said. Gunfire and police sirens punctuate the soundtrack of the streets outside Yoshita Childress’s home, an apartment that offers frequent views of middle-of-the-night brawls and arrests. “You can hear the shots,” said Ms. Childress, 47. “You can look outside the window and see people running. You see a flow of people coming in to buy drugs. It’s unreal.” Ms. Childress lives in a public-housing project with her children, Syrene Samuel, 15, and her brother, Syrus,14, on the Lower East Side, just off Avenue D. It is a part of NewYork City that Ms. Childress said was living up to its baleful reputation. For the moment, moving away from the block is unrealistic. Ms. Childress has been out of work since 2009, when she was let go from a delivery driver’s job at FreshDirect. Despite her enrollment in the Education Welfare to Careers Project, attempts to find a new job have so far proved fruitless, in part because of a severe injury in 2007. She broke two leg bones after slipping on a patch of black ice and was hospitalized for a month. The resulting damage has limited the kind of truck driving jobs she has been able to accept, since she is unable to perform the heavy lifting often required in such jobs. The Department of Social Services pays the family’s entire $400 subsidized rent, and they receive assistance for living expenses and food. The children’s father contributes about $100 a month in support. In order to keep Syrene and Syrus safe, Ms. Childress insists that they stay busy with after-school activities, or remain largely confined to the apartment. “I don’t like them hanging out too much outside here,” she said. “I don’t need my son to be a statistic. I don’t need his legs spread up against the wall. I don’t need these kids to be involved with drugs. I pretty much want them coming and going.” One of the most effective means to that end is her children’s participation in Catholic Big Sisters and Big Brothers, an affiliate of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New York, one of the organizations supported by The NewYork Times Neediest Cases Fund. “It’s better to go with our Big Brother and Big Sister than sitting inside and doing nothing, or being out there with those crazy people,” said Syrene, who has had the chance to take part in activities like exploring museums, ice skating and even attending a cooking class. Syrus has enjoyed having an older “sibling” to play basketball and video games with, and to have an outlet to discuss any problems that he might be having back home. Syrus, who has attention-def icit hyperactivity disorder, is also fostering a creative mind. Since he was in fourth grade, he has been drawing images and characters inspired by Japanese animé and manga comics. “I have a lot of stories and characters in my head,” he said. “I just have to put them down” on paper. His mother has a creative bent, too, demonstrated through a hobby she picked up during her hospital stay after she broke her leg: she is an avid knitter. Growing up poor on the Lower East Side, Ms. Childress said, she found very few opportunities to take part in any programs that allowed her to be artistic and explore her imagination. “I grew up playing in mud,” she said. Syrus recently applied to several top-flight public high schools specializing in the arts. Syrene is enrolled in collegereadiness courses, and has ambitions to become a nurse. Catholic Charities recently provided the family with $425 from the Neediest Cases Fund to buy a computer for the family, which was vital for completing school projects and research papers. Success in the classroom was at stake for all three of them. In the summer, Ms. Childress began studying at Metropolitan College of New York, aided by state and federal grants as well as assistance from the Education Welfare project. She said she expected to complete her associate’s degree in human services in the summer, and a bachelor’s degree next year. Ms. Childress knows that along with giving her the chance to secure a better job, her academic efforts will further inspire her children. “It’s great to show my kids that even though I’m older, learning doesn’t stop,” she said. 7 Copyright ©2013 The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission.
New York Times METRO Friday, November 30, 2012 EDITORIAL: Books for College Maria Lema, who this fall became the first in her family to attend college, always loved school. “It was my main focus in life,” she said, “the only thing I’ve been good at.” At age 6, Ms. Lema and her younger sister were placed in foster care with her uncle and his wife because her mother was using drugs. Five years later, the girls returned home to live with their mother, who had stopped using drugs. But she and Ms. Lema fought a lot, and school was a refuge. “I would wake up and look forward to go to school,” Ms. Lema said. She joined school clubs and became known as the smart girl. Conflicts with her mother drove her to move in with friends in her senior year. She graduated with a grade-point average of 90, and with help from her Bronx high school and St. Raymond Community Outreach, a Catholic Charities affiliate, she applied to college. Buffalo State College gave her the most money; grants and a $5,000 annual student loan covered all but $810 of the tuition. She worked at Burger King last summer to pay the balance, but she had no money for books. Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New York, an organization supported by The NewYork Times Neediest Cases Fund, gave her $470 to buy books. This fall, she began her freshmen year in Buffalo. “I always dreamed of attending college,” she said. “It brings me joy that I have gotten this far.” Donations to The Neediest Cases Fund go to seven charities: Brooklyn Community Services; Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York; Catholic Charities, Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens; the Children’s Aid Society; the Community Service Society of New York; the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies; and the UJA-Federation of Brendan Bannon for The New York Times Maria Lema is the first member of her family to attend college. NewYork. To help, please send a check to: The NewYork Times Neediest Cases Fund, 4 Chase Metrotech Center, 7th Floor East, Lockbox 5193, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11245. You may also call (800) 381-0075 and use a credit card, or you may donate at:www.nytneediestcases.com. Copyright ©2012 The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission. 8
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