In recent years, the United States has grappled with the devastating impact of gun violence, which continues to plague communities across the nation. As the founder of LIFE Camp and a dedicated advocate for peace, I have been at the forefront of the fight against violence in our society.
In light of the Surgeon General's recent declaration that gun violence is not just a crime issue but a public health crisis, it is evident that urgent action is needed to address this epidemic. Gun violence transcends mere statistics; it shatters families, traumatizes communities, and leaves a lasting scar on our society.
LIFE Camp exemplifies the power of community-driven initiatives in promoting peace and empowering individuals to break the cycle of violence. By providing mentorship, support, and resources to at-risk youth, LIFE Camp offers a beacon of hope in neighborhoods plagued by gun violence. It is not enough to view gun violence solely through the lens of law enforcement; we must also consider the underlying social determinants that contribute to its prevalence. Poverty, lack of access to education and healthcare, and systemic inequalities all play a role in perpetuating the cycle of violence.
The “Break the Cycle of Violence Act,” currently awaiting approval from Congress, proposes a national framework for violence prevention with standardized funding and resources. Inspired by this, we call for a similar initiative in New York State: a unified, fully-funded system for violence prevention. Such a system would ensure that all community programs operate with the same level of funding, resources, and infrastructure, much like the standardized operations of police, fire, and EMS departments.
This approach would enable communities across the state to address the root causes of violence effectively and implement sustainable solutions. New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul have shown a commitment to addressing gun violence through initiatives such as the SNUG Program and the New York City Crisis Management System, but more needs to be done to create a cohesive strategy.
While their administrations have implemented various initiatives, there is a need for a comprehensive, statewide approach that aligns with the goals of a unified violence prevention system. By fully funding and equipping these programs, we can create a cohesive network that empowers communities to combat gun violence effectively.
As we heed the Surgeon General's call to address gun violence as a public health crisis, let us rally behind initiatives that prioritize prevention, intervention, and community engagement. Together, we can build safer, healthier communities where every individual has the opportunity to thrive free from the threat of violence.
By supporting community-driven solutions and advocating for a fully-funded, statewide system modeled after the “Break the Cycle of Violence Act,” we can create a future where peace prevails over violence and hope triumphs over despair. Let us urge Mayor Adams, Governor Hochul and our state legislators to take this vital step towards a unified and effective system to prevent violence and save lives across New York State.
Erica Ford is the founder and CEO of LIFE Camp, a Jamaica, Queens-based non-profit working to reduce gun violence by creating partnership with community stakeholders.
Shakespeare in the Park’s much-anticipated return to the revitalized Delacorte Theater will feature a star-studded cast. The Public Theater on Thursday announced the lineup for next year’s free Shakespeare in the Park program, which will reopen with a production of the classic comedy “Twelfth Night” featuring stars including Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Lupita Nyong’o, [...]
The post Shakespeare in the Park returns to new Delacorte Theater next summer with star-studded cast first appeared on 6sqft.
In 2021 Winson Wong had a dilemma. Within six months of trying to develop a hyperlocal network of composting services for restaurants, Wong and his partners, Sierra Alea and Ryan Freed, had come to the realization that the effort was too logistically and financially daunting. But they had a list of clients interested in paying them to upcycle their food waste.
Thus began their experimentation with novel ways to break down food scraps while providing a product to would-be customers. Converting the scraps into energy sources was one idea. Insect farming for sustenance was another — a prospect the team felt the city’s restaurant world wasn’t quite ready to embrace. The most feasible and exciting idea turned out to be growing mushrooms. The concept became the basis for Afterlife Ag, a Queens-based startup that upcycles food scraps into gourmet mushrooms.
“We're not just a farmer; we're not just a waste-management company,” said Wong, whose family owned a food-distribution business in Hong Kong and who for three years worked with startups at multinational food manufacturer Mars Inc. “We're essentially providing two different services for our clients. Both are equally important.”
As an added bonus, the U.S. is in the midst of a ’shroom boom, with a recent surge of new mushroom coffees, teas, supplements, snacks, grow-your-own kits and simply increased interest from adventurous eaters and chefs. To date the young startup has raised just over $3 million; its investors include Clear Current Capital, Siddhi Capital and Brooklyn Bridge Ventures.
“For me, the excitement was really around helping to solve the waste issue in New York,” said Alea, who was struck by the hulking piles of trash bags throughout the city when she moved to New York from Berkeley, California, in 2014. “But mushrooms are a really versatile product. They’re the base for medicines. We can make tinctures from them. We can dry them. We can sell them fresh, which is what we’re doing now. There's a lot that can be done with them, and that's really exciting from a business perspective.”
Tucked within an industrial building in Ridgewood is the startup’s 3,000-square-foot farm space, where the company grows up to 800 pounds of mushrooms per a week for some 40 clients.
The process begins with Afterlife Ag picking up 32-gallon bins packed with vegetable peels, egg shells and other back-of-house food waste — never half-eaten customer leftovers — from restaurants, hotels, food distributors and other businesses. Staff schlep the hulking bins into an electric vehicle and take the waste back to the farm. The scraps are then ground, chopped, shredded and mixed up together. Woody materials are added because the blend can get soggy. Afterlife Ag has a proprietary formula for a mixture to grow the mushrooms because the nutrient makeup of the food waste tends to vary.
From there the mixture is sterilized, using heat and pressure, and is divided into blocks that are used to grow a rainbow of pink oyster, chestnut and black king mushrooms, among other types. It takes around two weeks for the mycelium to colonize and then, depending on the variety, two more weeks for the mushrooms to grow.
The process concludes with businesses receiving some 20 pounds of fresh mushrooms a week — reborn from waste that would have otherwise rotted in a landfill and emitted planet-warming gasses.
Afterlife Ag sells the fungi wholesale for between $6 and $12 per pound. Wong said the company earned six figures in revenue in 2023, and his team aims to get that number closer to seven figures by the close of 2024. One key way to do that is with more space. The company is in the midst of expanding its farm, which Wong says will enable Afterlife Ag to produce 3,000 pounds of mushrooms per week, and he aims to push that figure to 10,000 pounds by next year. At the moment the startup is focused on working directly with businesses and doesn't have immediate plans to sell to consumers in grocery stores.
The currently limited space at the farm means Afterlife Ag has to strike a balance among fast growth rates, high yields and popularity among the varieties it cultivates. But the company has also sought to introduce buyers to unique options.
Chestnut mushrooms, for example, are rare among growers, but Wong said that after the chefs the firm works with experimented with samples, interest in the variety has steadily grown. Similarly, pink oyster mushrooms are less common because they have a shorter shelf life than the more available blue oyster variety, but Afterlife Ag’s business model reduces that concern.
“We grow pink oysters because I know restaurants love them because they're so unique and pretty,” added Wong. “That’s a species where we’re actively wanting to own the market, so starting to own our own species is really important.”
As breakdancing gets its moment in the world’s spotlight debuting as an Olympic sport in Paris, a hospital in the Bronx is flashing back to its hardscrabble origins with a new ad.
“Spot it Early,” Montefiore Einstein’s message about early cancer detection, has a parallel in the emerging art form and its performers—early detection, in sports or with cancer, leads to better outcomes. Montefiore Einstein touts a reputation as a top cancer-care hospital, calling itself “the official sponsor of spotting it early.”
The ad from agency Mirimar is set to make its broadcast debut during NBC’s live coverage of today’s Olympic opening ceremony and again in NBC’s primetime broadcast, with 60- and 30-second versions in rotation throughout the 2024 Games.
Flashing back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, the spot tells the story of how a boy named Reece saw his South Bronx neighborhood transformed through breaking, and how as a grown-up today, he can continue to influence the sport by spotting young talent. The extended online version is shown here.
The connection between Montefiore and breakdancing was fairly straightforward — both proudly hail from the New York City borough of the Bronx. But it was insight around the long journey athletes make to the Olympics — and the related value of spotting their talent early — that connected the message, according to John McKelvey, co-founder and chief creative officer of Mirimar.
“Breakdancing’s debut became the perfect unifier as it will feature for the first time at this year's Olympics, and [with] breakdancing and Montefiore Einstein both beginning in the Bronx, we knew Montefiore Einstein had an authentic story to tell,” McKelvey said in emailed remarks. “We were able to make this careful throughline with two things that people don’t often put together—talent and cancer.”
The ad was directed by Seb Edwards of Park Pictures and shot by cinematographer Adam Arkapaw. It is narrated by rapper Rahiem of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Bronx hip-hop icon Grandmaster Caz plays the talent show host. Graffiti was provided by the fabled artist KEO. Choreographer and cultural advisor Nemesis brought together actual breakdancing crews, not actors, including the young dancer shown at the end of the film, Carmarry “Pep-C” Hall.
The connection between Montefiore and breakdancing was fairly straightforward — both proudly hail from the New York City borough of the Bronx. But it was insight around the long journey athletes make to the Olympics — and the related value of spotting their talent early —that connected the message, according to John McKelvey, co-founder and chief creative officer of Mirimar.
“Breakdancing’s debut became the perfect unifier as it will feature for the first time at this year's Olympics, and [with] breakdancing and Montefiore Einstein both beginning in the Bronx, we knew Montefiore Einstein had an authentic story to tell,” McKelvey said in emailed remarks. “We were able to make this careful throughline with two things that people don’t often put together — talent and cancer.”
The ad was directed by Seb Edwards of Park Pictures and shot by cinematographer Adam Arkapaw. It is narrated by rapper Rahiem of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Bronx hip-hop icon Grandmaster Caz plays the talent show host. Graffiti was provided by the fabled artist KEO. Choreographer and cultural advisor Nemesis brought together actual breakdancing crews, not actors, including the young dancer shown at the end of the film, Carmarry “Pep-C” Hall.
The connection between Montefiore and breakdancing was fairly straightforward — both proudly hail from the New York City borough of the Bronx. But it was insight around the long journey athletes make to the Olympics — and the related value of spotting their talent early — that connected the message, according to John McKelvey, co-founder and chief creative officer of Mirimar.
“Breakdancing’s debut became the perfect unifier as it will feature for the first time at this year's Olympics, and [with] breakdancing and Montefiore Einstein both beginning in the Bronx, we knew Montefiore Einstein had an authentic story to tell,” McKelvey said in emailed remarks. “We were able to make this careful throughline with two things that people don’t often put together — talent and cancer.”
The ad was directed by Seb Edwards of Park Pictures and shot by cinematographer Adam Arkapaw. It is narrated by rapper Rahiem of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Bronx hip-hop icon Grandmaster Caz plays the talent show host. Graffiti was provided by the fabled artist KEO. Choreographer and cultural advisor Nemesis brought together actual breakdancing crews, not actors, including the young dancer shown at the end of the film, Carmarry “Pep-C” Hall.
Music featured in the film includes “New Rap Language” by Spoonie Gee & The Treacherous Three, “Dance” by ESG, “Rockin’ It” by The Fearless Four, and “I Shall Wear a Crown” by Pastor T. L. Barrett.
In addition to the ad, the integrated campaign includes digital, social, a campaign microsite, and a large out-of-home footprint including massive hand-painted wallscapes in Manhattan and the Bronx. The Manhattan art on Eighth Avenue is one of the largest canvases in New York, according to Miramar; its art features breaker Alexis Holguin (aka Thriller), who is shown in the film.
Montefiore Einstein will also run a full-page ad in the Sunday New York Times, as well as print ads in other newspapers and magazines.
“This isn’t just a campaign; it’s about inspiring the world with a story of resilience, triumph and spotting things early, and proving that if you do, whether it’s in your health or a sport, no victory is out of reach,” said McKelvey.
Montefiore Einstein said it would further support the campaign by helping to fund a Bronx breakdancing school in cooperation with the dance house Nemesis.
This article originally appeared in Ad Age.