Kyler Murria Castro worked with Brooklyn Community Services, coordinating their extensive volunteer efforts.

“Hope for Brooklyn to me means paving the way for everyone within our community to use their voice and fight against the injustice imposed upon members in poverty. It’s about helping people realize that our society unfairly places people, especially black and brown folks, at the bottom of the ladder, and that it is our jobs as a community to advocate and lift those who are marginalized up.”

Asamia Diaby worked with VOCAL-NY doing grassroots campaign work to end the AIDS epidemic and create equitable conditions for low-income New Yorkers.

“Social justice is fighting for the rights of everyone in every community and I got the chance to do that this summer. I joined a wonderful community at VOCAL and I can proudly say I fought a long side our people who are homeless, our people who entrenched in our corrupt justice system, our people who are dealing with HIV/Aids, hepc and and all of our intersections were pivotal to fighting for justice. I’ve never been homeless, I do not have aids, hiv or hepc and my interactions with law enforcement have been quite minimal- but I definitely felt as though I was a part of this community.”

Nyla Tolbert was our first Fellow to work with the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH), organizing youth through their TORCH program to spread the word about reproductive justice. Hope Fund alum Christian Sanoguel was working with NIRH at the time and served as Nyla’s advisor.

“I got to see how important and pivotal knowledge is and how knowing your history,how the system works and how to access resources in a world where such access is barely considered.

This experience has not only informed me about issues I found important as well relatable issues to people in my age range. But it has also inspired me to become more active with the youth in my communities and educate people about their history and sexual education and how our various identites tie into how we navigate spaces and interact with others.”

 

Hagir Elzin took on a new role with our long-time partner Brooklyn Defender Services, splitting her time between their adolescent social services and the policy department.

Hope Alum Christian Sanoguel helped establish our first placement at exalt. In her time there, Nairée Taveras helped facilitate their immersive internship program for youth with varying levels of involvement with the NYC court system.

“The fellowship allowed me the experience to do the work directly. I wasn’t just reading about what’s important to me, I was doing it.”