NY Building Foundation Provides Funding for Students to Redesign NYCHA Community Spaces Across NYC (w/ Video)

QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) — A new community space opened up at a Queens NYCHA development—designed by kids for kids.

It’s one of seven community spaces designed by children across the city and is a huge victory for the children of NYCHA’s Astoria Houses.

Ramiyah Anderson and Blessing Byrd are seventh graders who spent their summer at the Astoria Community Center redesigning the community space.

It was a chance of a lifetime and a place like their second home, so it only made sense to put them in charge of giving it a makeover.

Anderson and Byrd are two of 22 middle school students who worked with educators and professional designers for five weeks to redesign the new community space. Each student also earned a $250 stipend.

The makeover was thanks to the Public Housing Community Fund and Salvadori Center’s NYCHA STEAM Innovators Program funded by the New York Building Foundation.

Traequan Middleton, the program director at HANAC helped guide the students during the summer and saw how the experience was life-changing firsthand.

Anderson and Byrd are proud of what they have created and can enjoy it every day after school. They hope to serve as an inspiration to other kids to take a chance and transform their neighborhoods too.

Watch Monica Morales’ PIX11 segment here:

https://pix11.com/video/students-redesign-community-spaces-across-new-york-city/10302514

Source: https://pix11.com/news/local-news/queens/students-redesign-community-spaces-across-new-york-city/