Est. 1950

35 % of East Harlems population

"Affordable housing"

All of the new housing developments being built in East Harlem have signs posted on them, with explanations of what is being built. Most of those signs state that the housing development will create affordable housing. I guess 4,000 dollars to live in a 3 bedroom, 3 bath apartment, with a living room and dining area on 102nd street and 1st avenue is cheap for New York. Its definitely cheap for Manhattan but for native East Harlem residents, its crazy expensive.

The programs that kept us off the street: late 90s- early 2000s

Boys and Girls Harbor

Upwardfund, Boys Harbor, and P.S 108 were key places that kept children in the East Harlem community, like myself off the streets. Upwardfund was a summer camp located on 119th street between 2nd and 3rd avenue in the early and mid 90s. My mother was a counselor at the camp and as soon as I turned six, she made sure I was admitted. The camp age groups ranged from 6 to 14. The camp had educational and recreational activities everyday and once a week, a camp trip. The trips ranged from places like the science hall in New Jersey to amusement parks like six flags. The camp shut down after my first summer but Upwardfund is what sparked my love for summer camps on the east side of Harlem. Next was Boys Harbor located on 104th street and 5th avenue. Boys Harbor is the place that kept children off the streets during school hours and after school hours. I attended Boys Harbor elementary school, after school program and summer camp for at least 5 years. Boys Harbor is still up and running and still keeping children off the streets in East Harlem. P.S 108 was my elementary school located on 108th street and madison avenue. The school is in between Lehman and Taft Houses. With that said, it was a safe place to be even with all the negativity going on in the neighborhood. PS 108 had a high population of hispanic students that did not speak english, ranging from Puerto Ricans to Mexicans. The school had a strong ESL program that assured that those students english would be strong by the time they graduated. All of these places kept me off the streets for the first 15 years of my life. Abyssinian, on the west side of Harlem on 143rd street and Lennox avenue was a football team I played for, for 6 years. All of the men that coached me had full-time jobs and were volunteering to coach the team.

East River Plaza: Gentrification at its best?

Opened in 2009, the East River Plaza located in the heart of East Harlem, has created over 3,000 jobs to a community that has the worse jobless rate in New York City. Now that the mall has been up-and-running for a couple of years, there have been talks that there will be apartment towers built on top of the mall. This part of the neighborhood has been heavily gentrified over the years. Hunter college, student housing, and a number of condo's and luxury apartments flood the area that was abandoned and vacant while I was growing up in the mid and late 90s. So yes, this mall has generated jobs for the people in the community but the towers on top of the mall probably will be out of the price range for East Harlem natives.

1984-1994 Crack is Wack

The Crack is Wack mural in East Harlem was painted by artist Keith Hearing in 1986. Before he officially finished painting the mural, he received a 25 dollar ticket. The parks department contacted Keith months later sensing the crack epidemic coming to NYC.

Projects and Tenements

The East Harlem I grew up in was surrounded by projects and tenements. I lived in Clinton houses on 104th street, and across the street was Carver houses. On the other sides of these public housing complexes were tenements. In 2014, we see these condo type buildings in the neighborhood.

Hunter College in East Harlem

Hunter College in East Harlem, across the street from one of the few 99 cent stores left in the neighborhood and a liquor store. There are also condo-looking apartments across the street just for Hunter College students.