Community Healing
Begins With Relationships
Viva Uptown exists to realize God’s peace in the Inwood and Washing Heights neighborhoods of Uptown Manhattan by mobilizing local churches and empowering individuals.
Unified
Churches
Native
New Yorkers
Empowering
The Overlooked
Under-Resourced & Overlooked
The residents of Washington Heights & Inwood want to thrive. But the community is severely under-resourced and many of the youth don’t have healthy relationships with adults. Residents end up feeling disempowered & overlooked.
As natives of the area, we understand what it’s like to grow up in neighborhoods that don’t have a lot of resources.
James and Ish
James and Ish met in 2016, when Ish was in 7th grade. Ish was recommended for Pathways Mentoring for his anger issues, and the hope that mentoring would keep him on the right path. It took a few years for James to build trust with Ish, over getting breakfasts together, meeting each other’s families, and of course the Friday mornings.
When Ish was a sophomore, the relationship deepened, and Ish shared a lot more about his life, his family, his dreams, and his anxiety over the future. James and Ish connected over after school activities, including football games, sporting events, trips with Young Life, and more. James helped Ish get a summer job at The Love Kitchen, and Ish discovered how much he liked helping and serving people.
Ish did well in school, and graduated high school, and James was there for the celebration. He tried a year of college, but didn’t enjoy it. James encouraged him to think about how to build a career on service, and eventually, Ish enlisted in the army, where he hopes to learn skills that will enable him to be a paramedic.
James and Ish text, see each other at events, and continue a great friendship, despite the distance, and Ish’s family’s relocation to New Jersey.
Dew and Isabel
Everyone who interacted with Isabel knew about her feisty demeanor. It wasn’t clear if Isabel was intentionally disrespectful in her language and attitude, but that’s how it came across to all. The school encouraged her and her mother to sign up for Pathways mentoring, where they met Dew. Dew loved Isabel’s personality right away, and their relationship took off instantly.
Now Isabel participates in a number of new activities using her newly honed skills to build engagement in teamwork and collaboration; including some afterschool sports, and even camping! Most NYC kids have no idea about camping in the woods, but Dew planned the whole event involving Isabel, making decisions about what to eat, where to go, and all timing, and they had a blast!
Dew has attended parent events with Isabel’s mom, and seems to be around the school a lot. In fact, Dew encouraged the mom to sign up Isabel’s brother in Pathways as well, and so her brother has a mentor now too.
Peter and Carlos
Franklin started school and showed signs of being fretful, and filled with fear, and so the school recommended him for the Pathways program, believing that a “big brother” would help him and build his social skills. Robbie liked Franklin right away and got to work on establishing trust and showing Franklin that he would be stable in the relationship. The Friday mornings, the breakfasts, and even things like getting him a special branded winter coat helped tremendously.
After a year, the relationship was deepening, and Franklin was showing positive changes. But some underlying fears still had a grip on Franklin, such that he didn’t want to tell anyone that his basketball team had made it to the championship game. A coach in the MBCY league alerted Robbie, and he came to the game without telling Franklin so as to not trigger anxiety, and was able to celebrate with Franklin afterwards. In fact, Robbie then started coaching at MBCY, to spend more time with Franklin!
Robbie also celebrated at Franklin’s 8th grade graduation, and many seeing that relationship were impressed, and also impressed with Franklin’s growing confidence. Now in HS, Franklin is doing very well, and he and Robbie continue to have a great time with each other.
Pathways Mentoring
Pathways of Washington Heights and Inwood equips community leaders to mentor youth by building character, developing community leaders and preparing them for the future. Volunteer→
UPTown Youth
Collective
Health and Wellness
Viva Uptown contributes to community wellness by improving access to services and providing resources which address physical, social, emotional and spiritual needs. We partner with local organizations to provide basic food needs and to promote healthy eating in our neighborhood. One of our strongest partnerships so far is with the NYC Love Kitchen, which serves people in need with freshly cooked meals, an emergency food pantry, and referrals to community services.
