Tag Archives: Recreation

#8 Feeding New Yorkers

Covid-19 Oral History, , ,
Hunts Point Recreation Center.
Hunts Point Recreation Center.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the biggest challenges facing New York City was food insecurity. As the scale of the pandemic grew, the City of New York turned to NYC Parks. This was the Get Food New York City program. A robust food distribution program was run out of NYC Parks Recreation Centers for several months. It’s an incredible story of project planning, dedication, execution, and success. Ultimately Parks oversaw eight food distribution sites citywide. The totals over those months: 42 million meals distributed via taxi cabs and hired cars.

In this episode, our guests are Parkies connected to the pandemic food distribution program.

  •  Ashanta Smith, Recreation Center Manager
  • Jorge Ortiz III, Community Coordinator, Emergency Management

 

We record our shows in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at McCarren Park Play Center in the Media Education Lab. Our team is using the Media Lab and Parks volunteers to share our history with listeners, presenting some of the more than 100 oral history interviews conducted with Parkies.

 

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#4 Learning Bridges & Recreation

Covid-19 Oral History, ,
Learning Bridges
Learning Bridges

During the pandemic the NYC Parks Recreation Centers were closed to the public and all schools were closed. NYC Parks reopened some centers in 2020 as sites where school children could come and take part in remote learning. Recreation staff who pre-pandemic were fitness instructors and aquatics teachers became one-on-one assistants with the children for many months as schools were remote only. The Parkies helped the kids with their online lessons, and provided fitness, exercise, and art classes.

Our interviews on episode #4:

  • Caitlin Wilken, recreation specialist
  • Teresa Mangan, recreation center manager

We record our shows in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at McCarren Park Play Center in the Media Education Lab. Our team is using the Media Lab and Parks volunteers to share our history with listeners, presenting some of the more than 100 oral history interviews with Parkies recorded in 2022.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download