Hope In The Heights

In completing this assignment, I would have loved to produce a short video but time did not permit. That said, I wanted to use the opportunity to provide you with a few images of the women of Washington Heights-- the community where I work. An immigrant community composed of primarily immigrants from the Dominican Republic, "The Heights" is slowly integrating new immigrant groups (namely Mexican and other Latin American). Historically, it has been Jewish, Irish, Puerto Rican, and Cuban. With every new migration, the needs of the community change with the changing demographic. Statistically, this community has one of the highest rates of single, female headed households in New York City, a trend carried over from the Dominican Republic where over 35% of all households are also headed by single females. That said, the pressures and demands placed on women and girls (as in most parts of the world) can be overwhelming. Even with those challenges, the women and girls of this community- all backgrounds- are some of the most resilient and tenacious sisters that I have ever encountered. In our small, school community (small compared to the larger city, that is), women and girls continue to carve out spaces for themselves where unity, sisterhood, solidarity, collective work and responsibility, and home grown power are born every day.

This brief slide show offers a glimpse...

This digital story is part of an assignment for Voices of Our Future a program of World Pulse that provides rigorous new media and citizen journalism training for grassroots women leaders. World Pulse lifts and unites the voices of women from some of the most unheard regions of the world.