Mr. Fortune

“Hey Mr. Fortune!” is a phrase that Barry Cambell hears when he walks down the Million Dollar Blocks in New York City. What the Cornell Urban Scholars learned on Friday June 22nd , was that Barry is an influential mentor at the Fortune Society, a prisoner re-entry program, and that the Million Dollar Blocks refer to the streets in New York City that fuel many of New York’s State Prisons.
The Cornell Urban Scholar’s visit took place at The Fortune Academy, located in West Harlem. The beautiful Gothic Castle provides 62 beds for homeless former prisoners. The residence provides ex-offenders with a safe and supportive environment that allows them to better adjust to the world they are re-entering. The students also had the opportunity to meet and talk with Kate Rubin, a Cornell Alumna who works for the Bronx Defenders. Kate spoke about her project, Reentry Net, and her experiences working in the criminal justice field.

A New Look at New York

The Cornell Urban Scholars spent Friday June 15th learning about Brooklyn. After watching the Atlantic Yards Documentary, “Brooklyn Matters,” the group traveled to Fort Greene Brooklyn for a walking tour led by Keith Getter.


The tour included a walk through historic streets and local neighborhoods. Apart from a visit to the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Forte Green Park the group gauged community member opinions through on the spot interviews. Through conversations with local people, such as a fruit stand vendor, a bank teller, a man sitting on the sidewalk, and a park and recreation employee, the students were able to gather a different understanding of Brooklyn and the different roles that people play in the community.

Visit to Project Reach

The Cornell University Urban Scholar’s summer seminars began on Friday, June 8th with a visit to Project Reach. Project Reach is a youth organizing program that provides counseling on an individual, group and family basis. The organization conducts related advocacy work with schools, courts, detention centers/correctional institutions, health centers, city and state agencies as well as workshops with youth in schools, hospitals, community organizations and government agencies.

The visit began with a tour of the drop-in community center located in Manhattan's Lower East Side. The student intern explained that Project Reach’s facility is used to create a safe environment for individuals in the community by providing an after school hang out spot, a library, and gender specific rooms. After the tour Don Koa, the Director of Project Reach, hosted a workshop for the CUSP students. Through team building exercises and group discussions the CUSP students discussed issues of race, class, and gender biases.

Orientation

June 2, 2007

New York City has a dynamic metro region that has a powerful impact over our workplaces. As part of the Urban Scholars orientation weekend students split into small groups and toured one of five major areas of Manhattan. These areas included Chinatown, Central Harlem, Upper East Side, SOHO, and Greenwich Village.





For this ethnographic activity students were asked to walk through their assigned neighborhood and gain a sense of its history, evolution, and community. The groups were asked to identify and investigate key physical and social dimensions by observing the smells, sounds, and sights of the areas.



When the student groups returned from the 4 hour neighborhood tour they put together a poster presentation of their findings. The teams then presented their posters to the class and a panel of Expert New Yorkers.