South Brooklyn Youth Consortium

1. South Brooklyn Youth Consortium Ilearn 2009 Coney Goes Green Our global experience @ home

2. What Makes Coney Island Special? • We have a multi cultural community with White American, African American, Hispanic, Russian, Middle-Eastern & Nigerian Neighbors. • We have different religious institutions in Coney Island. We have a Catholic church, Baptist Church, Mosque, Synagogue, Pentecostal Church, Seventh Day Adventist Church and Kingdom Hall. • We have (2) Supermarkets, Fine Fare and Pathmark. • We have smaller stores like the Bodega and Russian Vegetable Market. • We have two family houses, buildings with 7 floors and buildings with 24 floors. • We have (5) local schools, P.S. 90, P.S. 188, P.S. 288, P.S. 329 and Mark Twain.

3. U can get all types of food in C.I. • If you are hungry in Coney Island you can ask your mother or father to cook, you can make yourself something to eat or eat out. • Unfortunately most of us eat out. • In Coney Island we have a choice of McDonalds, Nathans, On The Run Pizza, Wally’s , Burger King, 7 Chinese Restaurants, Titiana’s on the Boardwalk, A New Russian Restaurant on West 31st Street, Two Spanish – Dominican Restaurant, Golden Crust a Jamaican Restaurant, Kennedy Chicken, Crown Chicken, Moma Rosa’s, Hood Deli, Saba Deli, Surf & Turf, Cheese Steak Factory, and Footprints.

4. How do we get life services? • Our community has three police stations, the 60th precinct on West 8th street, The Transit Police on Stillwell Avenue and P.S.A #1 on West 23rd Street. • We have 2 Fire Departments, one is on West 8th Street and Surf Avenue and one on West 25th Street and Neptune Avenue • We have one clinic for emergencies and walk ins, about 4 Pharmacies, and if you have an medical emergency you will be taken to Coney Island Hospital which is about 5 miles from our After School Program. • If you are a resident your garbage will be picked up by the City of New York. • If you are a business like our after school, you have to pay a garbage company to pick up your garbage. • If you get old and cannot care for yourself we have three good nursing homes, Sea Crest, St Joachim & Anne, and Metropolitan Jewish Geriatric Center.

5. Visit Us & You Can Have Lots of Fun • Visiting the New York Aquarium • Having a Hot Dog at Nathan’s or eat at one of local summer eateries • Have a cup of hot coffee or ice coffee at Dunkin Doughnuts • Grab some chicken at Popeyes • Take a ride on the Wonder Wheel, but don’t get in the swinging cars if you’ve just eaten or are afraid of heights. • Take a ride in the Haunted House. • Take a ride on the world famous CYCLONE. • Take in a ball game at Keyspan Park a minor league base ball field which can hold up to 8,000 spectators. • In the summer pack a lunch and enjoy the beach • In July & August watch the Fireworks on Friday • In the winter on News Years Day see the Polar Bear Club take their first swim of the winter We have a Beach & Boardwalk which stretches 2.5 miles. If you sit on our boardwalk on a nice summer day you will heard the following languages: English……Spanish…..Russian……Arabic Urdu……..Chinese………Italian Creole……..You might also hear people speaking with Irish accents, Jamaican accents, City Slang, and Brooklyn accents.

6. We abound with holidays!!!! • July 4th America’s Independence • August Ramadan • September Labor Day • October * Christopher Columbus Day * Yom Kippur* • November * Veterans Day * Election Day* Thanksgiving Day * • December * Chanakua * Christmas & Kwanzaa • January New Years Day, Dr. Martin Luther Kings Birthday • February Valentines Day • March Easter & Passover • April Easter & Passover • May Memorial Day • June (Un – official) Graduations from elementary, middle, high school and colleges. What’s Happened? What’s Next?

7. How do we get around? • We also travel by bus, the 64, and 68 come to Stillwell Avenue. • Some of us travel by bike, but only locally within the 22 blocks of Coney Island. • Two many of us travel by car. It’s hard to find a parking spot in C.I. these days. • But if you don’t have a car, you can take a dollar cab which actually costs you $2.00. • We travel by train, and we have several trains that come to the Coney Island Stillwell Avenue Station, the D, F, Q, & N. • We are now facing a financial crisis with the MTA and our students who now ride for free, might have to pay to go to school by the year 2011. • We wrote a letter to the MTA Chair Jay, we hope him and the board change their minds. Many of us will not be able to afford to pay to ride to school and we don’t’ have a middle school or high school located in Coney Island.

8. Youth Voices • It’s peaceful. We have free education. We can get different types of jobs. We learn new things at our free after school program. Everybody’s welcome. We can buy dolls instead of making paper dolls. We have freedom of religion. We have the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You can eat a different meal from a different country every night. • We have the cyclone, parachute, child’s restaurant, the circus, ice skating, basketball tournaments, foot ball leagues, soccer in the park, baseball, community gardens in the city, and we walk fast… • No, most black people cant’ rap. • Yes. Black people started rap in the Bronx. • I don’t care. I like Lil Wayne, Chris Brown and Drake. • Yes. Black people started beat boxing. • I don’t care. I like 50 Cent and Romeo. • No. Hip Hop degrades women. • No. Hip Hop makes it seem like all blacks and Latinos are gangsters. • No. I like Jazz and Lady GAGA • No. Most so called hip hop gangster artists are lying they all went to college • No. I don’t like all the cursing What makes America Special? Is the Hip Hop Culture and Black Culture the same?

9. YOUTH VOICES • We are special because…..we are alive/ I have a good sense of humor / I am good at playing sports/I like to make music beats which are positive, they call me Jah smooth b/c I’m cool with a lot of people/ I’m a trend setter/ I can sing/ I like to plant trees in Kaiser Park/ I like to write essays/ I am good with computers/ I love to read/ I like to help my parents with the groceries/I am the oldest and the leader/I pick up my baby brother after school/I just came to the center to visit I am helping my mother now b/c she’s pregnant when she has the baby I’ll be back/ I am a foster care child but I’m still working on doing my homework every day & going to school/ I’m trying to control my temper/ I learned to swim this summer/ I am cute/ I have a cell phone/ I do my own laundry/ I got to play in the snow yesterday/I worked on the haunted house/I watered the plants/I made up my bed before going to school/ I washed the dishes………………. • What could you do if you wanted to be more popular? Hey, die my hair red and black and wear high heels all the time/I would sing like Beyonce/I would do good in school/I would get new clothes/Be cool. • When I get my first car and get my vanity plate it will say: Big Chips – CI- Love U- ESQ-Go Mexico- • Why is it hard eating healthy? No body cooks / school lunch stinks/we eat out every night/who wants to eat salads all the time/the fruit we get is not sweet/

10. A Day In The Life • We are all jumbled up… Some of us get up as early as 5:30 a.m. to get to school by 8:00 a.m. • This is December and the weather has been warm, but there was a blizzard last night and today we have snow. • About 20% of us live in one family homes and the rest of us 80% live in public housing. So our parents pay what they can afford according to what they earn. • About 25% of our 1 in 4 children in Coney Island is not living with their natural parent. We are living with our grand parents or foster care parents. • We can eat breakfast at home if we want to. But all of our schools serve free lunch and 72% of us are eligible for free breakfast and free lunch. • We generally do not do chores in the morning. We don’t have time. Also, many of us are doubled and tripled up in apartments, so we have to manage our time to get out of the house. We do our chores on the weekends. • Our school day ends at 3:00 p.m. and we go to after school from 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. • After school we go to basketball, football, play on the computer, go to the dance school, paint, do arts and crafts. • We have fish, turtles, birds, snakes, cats and dogs. • Our money system is the U.S. dollar, which does’nt have a lot of value these days. But we’re holding on. • Most of us eat at different times, because most of our parents and caregivers work.

11. OUR CHALLENGES • Drugs – Marijuana • Sex- Early Sexual Activity • Gangs- Gang Involvement and Affiliation • Parents Disengaged • School Drop Outs • We go to the after school for safe and positive activities • Take workshops on HIV/Aids • Organized Stop Da Violence Rally, Creating Ambassadors 4 Peace Poster Series • We cannot make up for our parents mistakes but we can work hard to design a life for ourselves • Work hard to stay in school by getting tutoring and mentoring Problems Solutions

12. Coney Goes Green • We want to do our part to reduce carbon emissions. • We plan to create a Coney Goes Green poster series to engage the community. • We plan to host the Coney Goes Green summer of service program for middle school and high school youth in the summer of 2010.

13. What Makes South Brooklyn Youth Consortium Fun!!!!!!!!! • We have had the opportunity to attend the after school and summer learning academies free of charge. • We have had the opportunity to go to Broadway Plays and see the Color Purple, Hairspray, and Radio Golf. • We have had the opportunity to create three public works of art murals in Coney Island, One at the After School Program, one at VIM’s on West 28th Street and one at the New York Aquarium on the Boardwalk. • We do cool science experiments every Thursday and Fridays. • We’ve created p.s.a. commercials, appeared on BCAT • Created artistic masks. • Planted tulips and aloe. • Visited the Holocaust Museum, Museum of Natural History, The Historic Society. The New York Hall of Science. • We love to do Live Forensics. We create a homicide scene and the younger students have to solve the crime. • We play Mommy and Daddy with our 9 computerized babies. • We enjoyed getting our packages from our Ilearn partners and have them prominently displayed at our center. • We created a Haunted House and gave the proceeds to Habitat for Humanity. • Junior Achievement teaches us about financial literacy. • Our Obama Inauguration party was fantastic. • We have over 2,000 books. • We gave public testimony during the Coney Island Development Corporation Zoning Hearings. • We work on internships and summer jobs. • Students as Publishers. • Modeling

14. Lizette’s Turtles • During the summer of 2007 we had a NCCC Americorps team come to Coney Island. • We were lucky and happy to have them. • They left us a turtle named Mickey. • When we first got him he was no bigger than a 50 Cents Piece. • Now he is as big as a 1 pint ounce of water. • He has been joined by 5 smaller turtles. • We call them Lizette’s turtles because she takes care of them with loving kindness.

15. Coney Goes Green Fun Science FactsThe world’s first humanoid root was built by Westinghouse in 1939. It’s name was Elektro. • Feet can produce more than a pint of sweat a day. • Bees are the only insect that produce food for humans. • A cockroach can live for one week without its head before it dies from thirst • An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain • Each Zebra’s striped pattern is unique • The lobster is a true blue blood • An octopus has three hearts • Eels can swim just as fast forwards as backwards. • Since Pluto is no longer classified as a planet, Mercury is now the smallest planet in our solar system. Mushrooms are made up of 85-95 % water, just like you. Diamonds are the hardest known substance.

16. SPECIAL THANKS • To Councilman Domenic M. Recchia Jr. • Assemblyman Alec Brook Krasny • Senator Diane Savino • Congressman Jerold Nadler • Who make our participation in the Ilearn Project Possible.