The Phoenix NYU
An aid group, mainly, for African immigrants
By Henry Fernandez Planes, buses and blistered feet. Those modes of transit brought two dozen West African immigrants to the United States and, then, one June day to Afrikana, a Harlem nonprofit that helps immigrants build their American lives. Afrikana’s waiting room is where Sweet Mama’s Soul Food used to be. Those looking for help […]
Riffing Bruno to rein in physician burnout
By Shemar Forbes A group of medical students dance, sing and rap their way through hallways, operating rooms and elsewhere inside Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Practice harm reduction … Choice in reproduction … It’s people not patients we treat … Future docs, we all see. We must grant patient autonomy. Priya Makam […]
Bookstore credits success to pandemic
By Marley Joseph Self-proclaimed visionaries Janifer Wilson and Kori Wilson, a mother-daughter duo, opened Sisters Uptown Bookstore in January 2000; however, they did not see success until after the pandemic began. They credit their survival during a period when many businesses closed, but the tally of independent bookstores such as Sisters continued to increase. According […]
“Rage” room helps the uptight unwind
By Brandon Henry She grabbed a baseball bat and used it to bust up a desktop computer and a flatscreen TV that had been propped against a brick wall. “I happen to prefer the glass. Today, it was the healthiest way to express my anger,” said the woman, referring to her objects of choice to […]
Young adults grapple with high living costs
By Salmoncain Smith-Shomade Tameka Pierre-Jean, a brand manager at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, has a master’s degree and five-plus years of marketing experience. But the 28-year-old Brooklyn native cannot afford to live on her own, given that the average rent on a 447 square-foot studio apartment, according to Apartment.com’s most recent data, was […]
Major events shape Gen Z views, protests
By Auzzy Byrdsell A month before Faith Andrews-Owens was born in 2001, terrorist hijackers steered airplanes into New York City’s Twin Towers. When she was 11, in February 2012, a self-described neighborhood watchman in Florida shot dead 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. In December of the same year, a gunman killed 20 kids and six adults at […]
Skaters roll out across NYC
By Niles Garrison Founded in 1996, Wednesday Night Skates‘ weekly rollout has skaters crowding streets and creating their own kind of traffic while dancing to music. “I travel with two JBL speakers but we have guys carrying around boomboxes while skating,” said Michael Grebinsky, a Wednesday Night Skate volunteer organizer. “We enjoy ourselves during our […]
Testing battery swap for delivery E-bikers
By Christian Thomas A six-month pilot program aims to ease the way for guys and gals who make deliveries to New Yorkers’ homes and offices via bicycle. PopWheels, a Brooklyn-based battery swap network, and bike repair workers from Spheara have partnered to outfit deliverers who travel by E-bikes with fully charged batteries from Swobbee. “We are […]
From going hungry to helping
By Jaden Perry When Elliott Carter was homeless and struggling with drug addiction, The Church of Saint Francis Xavier helped him turn his life around. “Xavier gave me a chance to sit down and eat and get my mind straight. All that chaos out there. I could be calm in here, and I could ask […]
A legendary Harlem spot for B-balling
By Cameron Adams A spot at 155th Street in Harlem is known as The Mecca, a place where legends have shown what they were made of. Officially, the New York City-owned space is Holecombe Rucker Park, founded in 1974. NBA stars such as Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have played on that court. […]
Finding a voice in art
By Grant Hines Watson Mere didn’t speak until he was five years old. Instead, he expressed his wants and needs with pen and paper. “So, if I wanted to use the bathroom, I would draw a toilet. If I wanted to eat, I would draw a piece of spaghetti or spaghetti and meatballs, or something […]
Going from UN expert to a life off the grid
By Darius Osborne Gisele Kamanou traded in her cell phone for a produce stand and her job at the United Nations to do what she really wants: educate the public about her alternative approach to food and lifestyle. “I refrain from advertising myself because of the modern processes it involves … So many constructs and […]
Blacks in radio industry C-suites
By Shimei Cook During June’s annual celebration of Black Music Month, Shelley Wade, an afternoon host at New York City’s 94.7 FM The Block, and Dion Summers, Sirius XM’s vice president of urban music programming, told The Phoenix’s Shimei Cook about their workdays and relatively long careers and the impact of Black music on society. […]
Lots of losses, lots of loyal fans
By Tyon Posey It has been 12 years since any of New York’s eight major professional teams won a championship. For sports enthusiasts connected by passion and pride to their favorite teams, that’s a huge blow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjpiPxBJyQA “Real sports fans are gonna be with their team win or lose thirty years, forty years. I might […]
Black-owned fish shop survives Harlem’s shift
By Nicholas Bass Fish fried hard, a side of fries, two slices of bread. That’s what Donnice Washington orders every time she makes the 45-minute drive from upstate Westchester County to H pick up her favorites from Famous Fish Market on St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem. Just as that historic neighborhood’s Black population has declined […]
Making do with high grocery prices
By Cameron Belcher Walking into her regular supermarket in the East Village, these days, often makes, Jillian Vigon nervous. “I have to swallow kind of hard at certain items, said Vigon, of what have been some steadily rising prices. The costs of store-bought food increased by 23.5 percent from February 2020 to May 2023, according […]
One man’s journey from prison to profits
By Justin Mitchell When Derrick Faulcon returned home after 11 years in prison, he knew he had to make a change. “Nothing about prison made me want to hustle. I was a hustler before I got there. Nothing about prison made me dedicated. I was dedicated before I got there. That’s how I survived in […]