The Details...

Setting
The South Bronx; north of Manhattan, residential and 67% Dominican. On our second day, we went on a photo scavenger hunt so we could get to know our new neighborhood. In between the towering projects and apartment buildings are numerous discounted grocery outlets, dollar-stores, Laundromats, Dominican restaurants and slaughter-houses.

Overall, it's been really hot outside. The other day, our high was 103 F! Most people don't hangout outside until after 5pm, when the sun beings hiding behind the gigantic buildings. The streets are mostly desolate during the daytime. It's pretty quiet, a side from the children playing ball at the parks and entire families relaxing on the sidewalks. Parents and grandparents will play dominoes while their kids are running around in the fire hydrants (referred to by the locals as "pumps") At night, a lot more people come out....especially on the 4th of July, music was blasting from every block, fireworks were whizzing haphazardly into the night sky, and virtually every fire hydrant was opened up.

My team and I are staying in a mostly abandoned church building that is currently occupied by 10 older women who meet there for worship on Sundays. The sanctuary itself is completely unusable, as it is falling apart. The surrounding construction is all in tact, thanks to several years of church groups coming in to renovate it. We’ve got bathrooms, we’ve got a kitchen, a dinning room and a living room. There’s a grocery store two blocks away. A Laundromat next door. Subway stations within three blocks. It’s perfect. The only thing missing, of course, is a wireless router.

People
My team is incredible. A multi-ethnic and prestigiously educated team, these young men and women are so unbelievably passionate and selfless. We’ve all taken to one another really quickly, I already feel like we’ve known each other for years. There are six guys and six girls, and they’re mostly from New York or New Jersey. We have one guy, Anson, who is from Arizona, and one girl named Michelle from Southern California.

Nathan and Bethany are managing the Love Kitchen, a food-services center for homeless people in Washington Heights.

Niki, Will and Jon are researching and working on business proposals to expand the Love Kitchen’s ability to serve their community, as well as raise funds, by starting a neighborhood bakery.

Melissa and Michelle are organizing a “Hope Fair” to give low-income communities a picture of resources available to them, such as affordable housing and healthcare.

Mike and Anson are collaborating with New York’s Not For Sale correspondent to educate and raise awareness of Human Trafficking.

Stephanie and Frances are volunteering at a day-care for inner city children.

Food
Out of sheer convenience and curiosity, I tried Dominican food this last Monday, which was a plentiful plate of beans, chicken and rice. The big obsession for NYCUP right now is maduros (fried, sweetened plantains) and Dominican Ice (cubs of fruit flavored snow.) Downtown in Manhattan, where I work, there is a plethora of sandwich shops I can go to for lunch. I must say, they are incredible. My favorite one thus far is Patuca Fine Food Eatery. I am hooked.

All of our food before and after work is provided for us back at the church. It's up to us, however, to take advantage of that. We have rotating cooking teams. This week, my team is in the kitchen. This week we’ve had pancakes and eggs for dinner, pizza, chili with bread, burgers, and finally spam-fried rice. Can you guess who made the spam?

Schedule
Monday through Friday, we work at our internships from 9am-5pm. Monday nights, we are going to have guest speakers come and talk to us about various issues of social justice, followed by a discussion. Tuesday is movie and pizza night. Wednesday, we hold intern-run bible studies for the local youth. Thursday, we have our own bible study. And our weekends are free. There’s going to be a few parties here and there, for the World Cup and whatnot, and then we’re going to have one weekend to serve the homeless.

My Task
Everyday, I will take the 4-train all the way down to bottom of Manhattan in the financial district. I will be working with Matt Dunbar, the Faith and Community Relations Coordinator at New York’s Habitat for Humanity office. I will be assisting him in developing a faith-based advocacy curriculum for religious leaders to rally their congregations around the cause of affordable housing.