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Chappaqua Performing Arts Center: Ambitious Plans Shape Up for a New Westchester Destination

June 3, 2017 by The Inside Press

Frank Shiner and fellow musicians at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center PHOTO BY Carolyn Simpson/Doublevision Photographers

By Grace Bennett

“We were so lucky to be able to save this theater,” Town Councilwoman Lisa Katz said, at the start of an animated conversation about the current uses and all the grand possibilities for the Town of New Castle’s Chappaqua Performing Arts Center (ChappPac), the stately white building previously known as the Wallace Auditorium on the old Readers Digest campus.

With its airy interior and 300-plus, plush red velvet seats, and ample outdoor parking, the ChappPac already serves as ‘home’ to the town’s beloved Chappaqua Orchestra, whose productions there have been ongoing. Most recently, the Chappaqua Orchestra performed a second Storybook Concert and a Concerto Winner’s Concert inside its doors. Early on, a simulcast from Hamilton drew 125 attendees.

ChappPac is also now officially an exciting new venue for upcoming theater productions led by John Fanelli, executive director of the Lighthouse Youth Theater that’s based in Armonk. Fanelli was brought in to begin bringing in compelling theater to inside the ChappPac. “He is highly energetic and has a lot of contacts,” said Katz. “We are allowing his organization to use the space for eight weeks.” Fanelli stated at a recent performance that he is open to feedback on the kinds of productions area residents would be most interested in.

The pursuit of a full range of performing arts offerings is just beginning, and support from the community has already proved robust. The excitement was palpable among audience members who packed the house to enjoy Chappaqua’s blues and soul singer Frank Shiner. It was a first ‘charity concert,’ with Shiner donating 100 percent of the revenue from the evening toward a variety of purchases and improvements to the Center. (See a ‘Gotta Have Arts’ profile about Shiner at theinsidepress.com). A Friends of the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, headed by Michele Gregson and Tracy Stein, aims to raise $50,000 this summer toward programming efforts.

“The building could well have been demolished,” Katz points out, “to make room for town homes at the upcoming Chappaqua Crossing on the old RD campus. Town officials ‘jumped,’ to save it, she explained, and for a pittance, the Town of New Castle became the Center’s official owner. A theater camp for kids with one-week sessions is planned on site for the summer too.

The possibilities are endless, Katz says. She listed possibilities ranging from major art exhibits and comedy nights to an A-List lecture series (such as at the 92nd Street Y) or, “who knows, maybe an a capella concert featuring high schools from around the county. My goal is to transform the Center into a pre-eminent destination for visual performing arts and music and art.”

The success of the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville inspired the members of a Town Arts and Culture committee, formed two years ago, Katz added. “We want to create here for performing arts what the Burns Center is for film in Pleasantville.”

At press time, a programming schedule was in the works, and a website for the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center is still in development.

Donations are welcome! Write to: The Friends of the Chappapaqua Performing Arts Center, P. O. Box 351, Chappapaqua, NY.

Grace Bennett, Publisher and Editor of The Inside Press, looks forward to watching ChappPac evolve.

Inside the ChappPac: the May Concerto Winners’ Concert (L-R): David Restivo, Chappaqua Orchestra Executive Director; Julian Langford, Cello: the George and Sheila Drapeau, 1st Prize winner, Senior Division; Dylan Wu, Cello: the Frank and Suzanne Shiner 1st Prize winner, Junior Division Georgia Lazaridou, Piano: the Rita Ross 2nd Prize winner, Senior Division; Sara Scanlon, Cello: The Carmen and Rafael 2nd Prize winner, Junior Division; and Radaslawa Jasik, Piano: The David and Natalia Restivo 3rd Prize winner, Senior Division. Not shown: William Tang, Piano: the Georgia and Ron Frasch 3rd Prize winner, Junior Division.
PHOTO BY LANA ROSENBLIT

When Mom is in Prison: Chappaqua Librarians Participate in Summer Program Reading to their Kids

June 3, 2017 by Janie Rosman

(L-R): Chappaqua Librarians Robbin Friedman and Miriam Lang Budin holding books read to kids with moms in prison.

Learning to read is a joy for children and their parents as a little one’s first sentences and their comprehension increase with their vocabularies. Sharing these moments can be challenging from afar, more so when the parent is incarcerated.

Miriam Lang Budin, head of children’s services at Chappaqua Library and children’s librarian Robbin Friedman, found a way to use books and reading to ease the pain of children who visit their mothers who are behind bars.

“About four years ago, I was invited to see preview screening of the film Mothers of Bedford (2011),” Budin told members of the Rotary Club of Chappaqua during its March luncheon.

The documentary by filmmaker Jenifer McShane details five incarcerated women at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. During the course of several years, McShane spoke with them, their children and families, the children’s caregivers, and prison employees and volunteers to understand parenting from a distance.

“It was an extraordinary movie about the women who are incarcerated in this maximum-security prison,” Budin shared. “Some of the women are pregnant when they arrive so they give birth at the prison. If they’re privileged enough, then they can keep their babies until the babies are two years old.”

Moved by the film, she “wondered how the library could help them in their heartbreaking situation and knew books were the perfect answer.” Research led her to Hour Children®, which runs family programs at the Bedford Hills facility and at the Taconic Correctional Facility.

This will be the fourth summer she and Friedman will read to children visiting their mothers, one component of the facility’s Summer Program. Local families open their homes to inmates’ children for one week each during six week-program, allowing them to spend time more time with their mothers as contact is otherwise by telephone or mail.

Rebecca Sussman, Teen Program Coordinator, Hour Children’s Center, explained the story time program, one of many for families. “From Sunday through Thursday–six times during July and August–children stay with host families in the area and visit their moms during the day,” Sussman explained. “Some of them (children) are siblings, some of them know each other during the years, and some come (to the readings) with their mothers,’ Friedman said. “We never know how many people will show up when we’re there; sometimes up to 36 people (mothers and children) attend.”

All programs take place in the visiting room, behind which is a children’s area that looks like a nursery, and where Friedman and Budin read to the children.

“The visiting room is open to any child of any age; (however), kids from ages 5 to 17 are eligible to be hosted by families during the summer. Their presence evokes a positive reaction in parents who are reluctant to participate. “That’s the goal: to get everyone involved,” Friedman emphasized. “Reading is a good way to get everyone engaged.”

How do they hold everyone’s attention given the vast age range? “We bring picture books or early readers and poetry,” Budin said, “as there’s not enough time to read chapter books or novels, and one child can read a poem or an older child can read to a younger child.”

One favorite is Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems by Marilyn Singer. The author’s poem can be read forward and backward, and the latter will have a different meaning. Another is We Are in a Book! from Mo Willems’ series.

“The book has lively dialogue and engages the reader,” Budin explained. Elephant Gerald and Piggie realize they are characters in a book that’s being read, and once they’re more at ease with this, they become upset that the book will end.

“Hello. Will you please read us again?” the characters ask whoever’s reading the book.

Budin and Friedman agree their efforts are well-received. “We get thank-you letters and lots of positive feedback from the families,” Budin said, adding, “sometimes we see families again the next year.”

Both are glad they found a way to work with the population and find it “fulfilling to serve people who would not otherwise have had the same opportunity,” Budin said. Each child who participates in the reading program goes home with a new, age-appropriate book to reread with another adult or by him/herself.

Those who are interested in offering books can visit http://hourchildren.org/. Families interested in hosting children for one week during the summer can contact Deb Rigano, Summer Program Coordinator, at drigano@hourchildren.org.

Frank Shiner Finds Home, Again, In Music, Acting

June 3, 2017 by Brian Donnelly

Shiner with his daughter Lindsay at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center
PHOTO BY Carolyn Simpson/Doublevision Photographers

Frank Shiner and his wife, Suzanne, have restored two 100-year-old homes since moving to Westchester. The first was in New Rochelle–built in 1906 –and the second in Chappaqua–built around 1912–which he and his wife have called home since 2003. The couple has three children: Matthew, 28; Jeremey, 26; and Lindsay, 17.

Since moving in, they have restored or replaced lighting fixtures with period pieces, resurfaced the wood–while preserving a “historic patina,” and, of course, restored the original pool.

“We bought dilapidated places and brought them back to what they were originally,” said Shiner, who is involved in the New Castle Historical Society.

In front of their home was a live-in cottage, which Frank has converted into a garage and his own rehearsal space. The award-winning singer and recording artist practices there before shows, where he performs some of his favorite songs. But, he is quick to point out, “I don’t do covers.” “I put another spin on it, or make people think about it a different way,” he said.

Randy Radic, who reviews music for Huffpost.com, agrees. In addition to declaring, “the man can sing,” Radic says, “you’d be hard pressed to say who did the original. And who cares anyway, because Shiner’s rendition is so darn good.”

His recent shows, which included one at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center April 22, featured songs from his new album, Lonely Town, Lonely Street.

The 12-track album dropped May 19 and features his reimagined versions of R&B, jazz and blues classics popularized by artists like Elton John, The Rascals and Donny Hathaway. The Doc Pomus song “There Is Always One More Time” is both the last song on the album and at shows because, he says, it drives home the message that it’s never too late.

“People walk out of there feeling like anything’s possible,” the “Blue-Eyed Soul” singer said.

Originally, Frank was an up-and-coming actor in New York City, earning roles in soap operas and theater. He was doing well, but not making enough to support his wife and son. When his second son, Jeremy, was born, he decided to give it all up and take a sales job.

“I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got a baby, one on the way, a mortgage. I can’t be this selfish and do this any longer,’” he said.

In 1995 he started his own business managing payments for doctor’s offices, which today has 130 employees nation wide. He never thought he would perform again, until one night in 2011 when the couple stopped in for a bite at the since closed 353 Restaurant in Bedford. “They had an open mic night,” Frank said. “I hadn’t sung in front of people in 12, 15 years, and Suzanne said, ‘get up and sing me a song.’”

Frank tried to say no. But, Suzanne, who was going through chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer, “literally cried and pulled her wig back and showed me the bald head,” Frank said. “She played me pretty good.”

He then got up and sang and, “had a little bit of fun.”

The bandleader asked him to sing another song, and then a third. After that, Frank ran out of songs he knew well enough, which he said was the only reason he got off stage.

“It meant a lot to me, because I felt like he wasn’t himself for so long for us, to give us this amazing life,” Suzanne said, looking up with her glassy blue eyes as if watching Frank take the stage all over again. “It was like it never left him.”

Afterward, the bandleader running the open mic asked him to join his orchestra. For the second time that night, Frank unsuccessfully declined an offer.

“I didn’t want to do it, he said. “I just wanted to be with [Suzanne] and support her through the illness. She insisted.”

Suzanne’s battle with breast cancer spanned what Frank calls “five years of hell” and multiple complications. She had 12 surgeries all together. Today she is cancer free.

“Anything I have ever done she has inspired,” Frank said, calling the dancer from Arkansas “the best woman I know.”

From there the businessman made music his career–while keeping his day job. He performed with the orchestra, and everywhere else he could until he caught the eye of his now manager, Ken Levy. “It was like, ‘Bam,’ we went right into production,” Frank said.

His first album, appropriately titled “The Real Me,” was released in 2014 and picked up by Universal Records. Through songs by Van Morrison, Randy Newman and Elvis Costello, he told the story of putting his dreams on hold to raise his family, and then coming back to it.

Lonely Town, Lonely Street is Frank Shiner’s sophomore album. PHOTO BY BRIAN DONNELLY

“The message was, ‘who is the real you?’” he said.

On his new album, every song is about love, which Frank said he didn’t notice until he started recording.

“I don’t believe in coincidence,” Frank said. “Something happened at that open mic night… It was almost like the world or god was saying, ‘job well done, and now you guys need some healing.”

After a deep breathe to exhale the emotion, the Blue-Eyed Soul singer picked his head back up, locked eyes with his blue-eyed bride, and continued.

“Music has been so healing, I cannot tell you. It’s totally changed our lives.”

And with another change coming–their youngest, Lindsay, going to college in the fall–the soon-to-be empty nesters are looking forward to the next chapter. Suzanne wants to take tap dance and yoga classes, and both want to travel. Frank may even try to perform while abroad. The resurgent singer also wants to, like his home, return to what he was originally. “I want to do Broadway musicals,” he said.

Frank Shiner met his wife, Suzanne, in an acting class in Manhattan. When he first talked to her she tried selling him clothes from the store she worked at. Offended, he didn’t speak to her for the duration of the class. Luckily, they had another class together. PHOTO BY BRIAN DONNELLY

And Frank is taking steps toward picking up where he left off nearly 30 years ago, when he was cast in a “Broadway-bound” musical scored by country music superstar Garth Brooks–support fell through for it when Brooks dropped out. Frank has tasked his agent with starting the process of getting him in front of agents, and he said he may just sing some Broadway songs at his upcoming show at Feinstein’s 54 Below in Manhattan, scheduled for July 8.

“We’re just going to do a lot of things we haven’t been able to do for a long time–find ourselves again,” Suzanne said.

Find out more about Frank Shiner at www.frankshiner.com.

Journey to Healing: A Bereaved Father finds Solace through Blogging

June 3, 2017 by Janie Rosman

“Andrew and his sister Nicole truly were very close. This is the last picture of them together taken, at a family affair. She missed her brother, her only sibling, a lot, and writes to him on Facebook and elsewhere often.”

Andrew Grosser and his sister Nicole were splashing in the family pool, while his dad, Perry, sat talking with my brother and me. Years later, I saw him again, when he and his sister were shopping for school supplies in a local store. While I didn’t know him well, I’ve come to learn much about this sensitive, intelligent, soft-spoken young man through his father’s blog, “Never Forget Andrew.”

This ongoing tribute to Dorothy and Perry Grosser’s son and his untimely passing on August 26, 2013–the first day of his senior year at the University of Colorado at Boulder–is a way for Grosser to heal, to memorialize events in his son’s life, and to introduce readers to Andrew’s essence and spirit, yet it has become a great deal more.

Having lost my dad more than three years ago, I can relate to some of the posts, like part of the January 22, 2015, entry:

Moving. What a broad subject. Not moving on, or moving up, or moving others with your words. Just moving. Sometimes we move for work, or for a larger place, or for downsizing. But where I am now, my mental and emotional place in life, moving has different meanings. Moving becomes emotional.

Grosser finds solace for his grief through sharing whatever’s on his mind at any particular time and aims to publish his writings in a book. “Sometimes I feel I want to organize it into chapters according to a particular time or date or event, and then I change my mind,” Grosser said. “Organizing my writings would change the natural flow of the healing process because memories of Andrew come to me in different ways. Putting them in order would change the spontaneity.”

Nicole Grosser feels the blog is a great platform. “It gives everyone a chance to learn more about Andrew,” she said. “It’s usually a trip down memory lane for some memories that I was too young to remember, and a strive to keep Andrew alive with us.” Grieving over the loss of a child is an individualized process, Samantha Schnell LHMC, a licensed psychotherapist in Chappaqua, explained. “Writing is also a singular process and gives a person an opportunity to grieve at his or her own pace.”

It self-soothes as well, Schnell said. “If you feel like you can’t help yourself, then helping someone else, can give you a sense or purpose and help you feel better as you navigate your own grief and connect with people going through the same thing.”

Readership, while varied, has increased steadily. “Each blog produces another 20 to 30 new subscribers,” Grosser said. “When I post a blog, I get about 5,000 to 8,000 hits within a few days, and on average, about 100 to 200 hits per day between posts.” Sometimes people are stuck with thoughts or ideas in their head, he noted, “and the blog lets me verbalize and put into writing how I feel,” Grosser said. “That lets me move past a specific thought, to keep my feet moving forward albeit one step at a time.”

Losing a child challenges the natural expectation that your child will out live you, Schnell said, and while speaking with friends is helpful, some people are uncomfortable discussing death.

“Andrew would stare out and think. I often write about what I was hoping he was thinking about, or questioning what he was thinking so intensely about.”

It takes away the future and reverses things, and while speaking with friends is helpful, some people are uncomfortable discussing death. “Feelings of grief can be triggered at anytime,” Schnell said. “As time passes, you learn to hold grief in one hand and joy in the other. A parent never wants their child to be forgotten and writing can be a very therapeutic way to honor their memory. A specific conversation or thought can develop into an idea.

“Many times it is what I hear at a group meeting or hear from friend or other bereaved parent,” Grosser said. “Then I sit and write the blog, which helps me get thoughts and ideas off my chest.”

Most of his early readers and subscribers were other bereaved parents, (and) he wrote for that audience. Then, “more and more non-bereaved parents subscribed,” he said. Posts changed “from targeting and talking about bereaved parents to advice and commentary on how others can/should interact with us, what to say and not to say, what we can use help with, and how we feel that others might not understand.”

“One of our favorite pictures of Andrew. He would do anything to make someone smile. Even at this young age, he could strike a pose and you would have to laugh and smile.”

Thoughts others have and don’t know or think about, Grosser puts into words, including what others said to bereaved parents, the paradox of healing, and Father’s Day. “Other parents tell me I have a putting into words and onto paper what they have in their heads but can’t get out to others,” he said. “Other times posts are for non-bereaved parents: what to say, how to react, how to act.”

Schnell acknowledges that bringing up memories and writing about them can be helpful, noting speaking with a therapist is also important for the healing process. “I like to write about my son; years from now, someone will read about Andrew and learn about him,” Grosser said. “People will know about his love of hockey, his humorous manner, and his ability to be a therapist to so many of his friends. This is usually not the case with most people who have passed.”

To read his poignant writings visit www.neverforgetandrew.com and join the Facebook page Never Forget Andrew.

PHOTOS BY PERRY GROSSER

The Neighbors Link Safety Net: Supporting Local Immigrants

April 24, 2017 by The Inside Press

By Grace Bennett Edited by Debra Hand

Carola Otero Bracco
PHOTO BY TODD SHAPERA

For the past 15 years, Neighbors Link of Northern Westchester has seen a growing acceptance of immigrants in the county, how they contribute and support other societal classes and bring a diversity of culture, food, music and thinking. Neighbors Link (“NL”) focuses on its stated mission: “to strengthen the whole community through the healthy integration of immigrants” by providing programs that assist with English learning, education, empowerment, workforce development and partnership with local organizations.”

Many residents of Chappaqua and Armonk have also come to rely on NL, based in Mount Kisco, as a source for honest and capable help with everything from landscaping and masonry to painting and snow removal. That focus shifted on Election Day, 2016.

“I didn’t really imagine we would be back to this,” said NL Executive Director Carola Otero Bracco, noting a return to the hostility faced by immigrants until the early 2000s. After making major strides, “we’ve taken some major steps backwards, but are also seeing more people willing to be much more vocal and more supportive of immigrants in the community.”

“An Avalanche of Fear”

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bracco to talk about how NL’s role in integrating immigrants into the community has been altered in 2017. Constant fear of arrest and deportation has become pervasive, and NL is working hard to address related needs. Not aware of increased activity by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Mount Kisco, she sees that news reports of “emboldened” ICE officers in the wider geographic area have had a ripple effect on the local immigrant community.

“People are afraid to sign up their children for free and reduced lunch, people are afraid to go to doctors’ appointments or pick up prescriptions. They are afraid to go to parents/teacher conferences. They are afraid to go to work,” Bracco said. “If there is a rumor that an ICE officer is in the area, they are disrupting their lives to keep their children home from school.”

“Our programming had to shift to help people understand better. People need greater legal support.” Bracco added that hundreds of people show up at presentations by the (state) Office for New Americans, ESL classes and “Know Your Rights” forums, and that her staff is working to help police departments, school districts, public officials and support organizations better understand what the immigrant community is facing.

She pointed out the new fear experienced by “folks who had been told in the past that they were not a priority for deportation because they were contributing members of our community, and had no criminal background, by far the majority of people in the area.” Bracco pointed to parents who work hard and who prior to these developments were able to focus on their children’s academic success without worrying about the potential for deportation. They are now terrified, she said, explaining that the immigrant families that live in our area actually have a variety of legal status, and that while “we think of people as ‘undocumented’ as a static thing, it’s really not,” with many on a path to a green card.

And the biggest challenge is what happens to American-born children of undocumented parents–four million nationwide– if those parents get deported.

‘Imagine you are sitting in a ‘Know Your Rights’ session, baby on lap and teen next you, and being told this is how you need to prepare because you can be yanked from your family and deported. These families live in close quarters, so children are hearing everything. It’s an avalanche of fear,” she said.

Despite NL’s hard work, “I don’t think any of us can imagine the pain that this will inflict on families and the ripple effect on children, how they are going to figure out how to get an education and live with one or both of their parents gone,” Bracco added of the expected increasing numbers of families ripped apart because of deportation.

Secondary Trauma: Can Staff Help?

The pressure on the NL staff has started to take a toll, too. According to Bracco, NL “works with families one on one, two immigration attorneys, family services, case managers,” and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find ways to help families find solutions to the potential for deportation.

“Our staff is very professional and has to keep everyone calm, as it’s very difficult to make decisions if you start to panic,” she said, but the stress was starting to “impact the staff, a fear that we might be letting people down and that we may not have the tools to help people.”

“It’s chilling and heartbreaking and extremely difficult. Are we going to make a difference in all this?” Bracco said. But she strikes a note of optimism, too. “There’s an inner strength that we are certain is going to come through.”

Increased Need, Increased Budget, Increased Activism

In light of the expanded legal needs of the immigrant community it serves, NL has shifted its strategic plan to raise more money to support its initiatives. A luncheon last November featuring political strategist and CNN commentator Ana Navarro raised $65,000, and the Fiesta Latina Gala to Benefit Neighbors Link will be held on April 29 at the Brae Burn Country Club.

“Coming to our event and bringing friends is a great opportunity for people who want to understand the issues that immigrants face now, increase exposure to the issue, learn about Neighbors Link and meet some of our clients,” Bracco said. This year’s gala will honor Edward and Maya Manley, who have been with the organization since its beginning and have had major roles in building the programming. Of course, charitable donations via neighborslink.org are always welcome.

Nancy Strong of Armonk, originally an ESL teacher at NL, is now a member of the Friends of Neighbors Link, the fundraising arm of the organization. The Friends hold events to support the programs and build awareness. “I have learned so much about our immigrant community,” Strong said. “They are here to work hard, they pay taxes and they just want to make better lives for their families.”

The Friends know that more money is crucial to support immigrants and address fears set off by the current administration’s rhetoric and actions. “Children are scared that their parents will disappear. Even children whose parents are citizens hear the discussions and worry for their families and their friends’ families. Those who employ immigrants hear the stories of their employees or their friends who are worried that they will be arrested. And those who are trying to bring their families here often feel helpless. Neighbors Link provides legal assistance and help whenever and however they can,” Strong said.

“A True Lifeline”

Local residents are also trying to educate their neighbors about the plight of the immigrant community. Jane and Rob Shepardson of Chappaqua hosted a March fundraiser in their home for 40 friends, during which a young woman (now an NL staff member) told her story as a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiary. While DACA allows certain immigrants who entered the United States as minors receive a renewable period of deferred action from deportation and work permit eligibility, it does not afford any legal status, according to Bracco, other than not being a priority for deportation.

The young woman, brought to the U.S. as a young child, did not know that she was undocumented until she was in high school and it suddenly became a barrier to her realizing her full potential: she would not qualify for college financial aid even though her family was at the poverty level. Applying for DACA, she was able to work as a waitress and earn enough to attend a state university.

“We organized this fundraiser as a way to take action in light of Trump’s Executive Orders/Travel Bans and the impact that the current political climate is having on hard working immigrants in our community,” said Jane Shepardson. She and her husband had donated to NL for years, and their daughter had both helped out in the NL child care center and volunteered as part of their synagogue “soup group” that would get together monthly to prepare meals for the NL day laborers.

“Our purpose was to raise money for and raise awareness of what we believe is a vital organization in our community, and to inform and educate our friends and neighbors about all the services Neighbors Link provides to these immigrant families,” Shepardson said.

“It is not only a “ home away from home” for many of the day laborers that gather there awaiting work, but also an organization that provides job/skills training, ESL classes, child care, and legal services that help these families deal with immigration and citizenship issues.

“Neighbors Link is not just a helping hand, it is a true lifeline to these families who are hard-working and valuable members of our community who are now living under a cloud of fear,” she added.

Moving Forward

When I asked Bracco whether people were galvanizing in light of these new challenges, she responded that the community was “absolutely” coming together. Days after we spoke, she was planning on attending a large county-wide meeting of various groups interested in making a difference by being involved in county and state legislation: “We’re seeing people come forward from everywhere to start to take a role in this. More formal organizations are taking a leadership role in bringing these groups together to find a common language and agree on basic principles.”

Bracco added that there has also been a significantly increased need for programming in Ossining and Yonkers, including community forums and cultural awareness work with police officers. Programs aim to build trust: “humanize police officers to the immigrant community and humanize the immigrant community to the police officers,” she explained. After five officers came in for five consecutive weeks to meet with participants, there was “no question that the immigrant community left feeling more comfortable stepping forward if they were ever witnesses or victims of a crime,” Bracco said.

NL is always looking for adult and teenage volunteers. High school students and adults assist clients with their English and volunteer in the family center, and doctors and attorneys provide services. Now, more than ever, Neighbors Link is making a huge difference in people’s lives and they can use as much support as possible to help those in need. Visit neighborslink.org.

Grace Bennett is Publisher and Editor of the Inside Press. Debra Hand is a longtime contributing editor.