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Antonia Duran, 17, part of the Summer of Service youth program spent her Friday morning informing Northern Manhattan residents about the Your Upper Manhattan (YUM) Fresh Food Program, which brings access to fresh food and awareness about the importance of keeping a balanced diet.
For five weeks, Antonia Duran, 17, resident of Washington Heights has been learning about the important of service, and she’s doing so in her own community.
“I feel that I’m bringing important information to the neighborhood and telling them about something that could really benefit them.” she said.
Duran, and 65 other teenagers, are part of a group of northern Manhattan high school students that took to the streets this past Fri., July 29th to survey community residents about their accessibility to fresh fruit and vegetables, and informed them too about the Your Upper Manhattan (YUM) Fresh Food Program, all as part of their Summer of Service program.
During the summer months, when school is out, the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), as administered by the City’s Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), provides youths with useful work- and gainful employment. Youths who apply are eligible for employment throughout the five boroughs.
This year marks the third for the Summer of Service program which runs for five weeks and is intended to encourage young Northern Manhattanites to directly service the community they live in.
Administered by the Isabella Geriatric Center, the service project will engage over 200 youths and community residents in a public awareness and street outreach campaign that looks to target the community’s access to fresh foods and distribute information.
“A huge factor behind the obesity rates of our young people can be traced to the fast food marketing campaigns that target our communities,” said DYCD Commissioner Jeanne Mullgrav. “But the antidote to that strategy is to get our youth behind the cause of healthy eating, and that’s exactly what this Summer of Service program is all about,” she said.
Shaday De La Rosa, 17, who walked up and down St. Nicholas Avenue alongside the rest of the SYEP workers, said that she could relate to not always having direct access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
“The bodega is closer to our home than the supermarket, so it’s easier to go to the bodega, but they don’t always have everything we need,” said De La Rosa. “I’m happy to be letting people know about the YUM program; [I think] it will be very beneficial and healthy for them.”
Commending the work of the young summer workers, Mullgrav said that when young people take to the streets and talk to their neighbors about the need for a well balanced diet, their enthusiasm affects both their household and community.
“Block by block, these young people will help get fresh food where it belongs- in the kitchens of Northern Manhattan.”
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