Celebrating Our Legacy, Strengthening Our Future
Dear Friends,
Our movement needs to grow in people and capacity to carry out meaningful programs to have a positive impact on the lives of people struggling with poverty and on society as a whole.
The past few months have been shaped by the various events and meetings to celebrate the 60th anniversary of ATD Fourth World in New York.
This anniversary gave us the opportunity to reach out to new people with lived experience of poverty and exclusion, and to strengthen ties with partners old and new. And to invite them to join us on the journey.
We are very proud of all the ATD Fourth World members who have made all these wonderful events possible, and happy for all the new people we have met and with whom the journey has already begun.
Now we have to take care of the new bonds and build the next steps together. We are counting on you.
Thank you all,
Jackie, Alvaro and Marina (JAM)
ATD Fourth World New York Leadership Team
Exhibition "Look at the Past, Face the Present, Build the Future"
This exhibition was an invitation to discover our first steps on the Lower East Side, our advocacy at the United Nations, the innovative "Computers on the Street" program we ran in the 80’s and 90’s, and the uniqueness of our “building knowledge” participatory action.
More than 100 people discovered this inspiring journey that we have taken, thanks to the trust built over the years, laying the foundations to face today's challenges and continue building our movement today.
In order to share all this rich history, other tools based on the selection of photos, texts and testimonies are in progress.
A series of participatory meetings to address the housing crisis in NYC
New York City has experienced one of the most significant housing crises in recent years. ATD Fourth World contributed to the effort to find just solutions by inviting people with lived experience of poverty to reflect with others in a series of participatory meetings.
We held three different sessions: one on the voucher program, another to discuss positive experiences that can be drawn upon to get through life in the shelters, and the last one on building communities capable of standing in solidarity with those who have a more difficult life because of poverty.
News
On December 13, we started our Tapori program at the Gregory Jackson School in Brownsville for this school year. We have the same children that participated last year, which will allow us to deepen the Tapori values with them and go further with the activities we can do.
On December 14, we celebrated our traditional Holiday Party. Santa came to the Fourth World House to bring gifts to the children and joy to all of us. Laura Iniesta and Julia Miranda put everyone to sing carols. It was a beautiful moment of togetherness.
The first phase of the Strategic Renewal Dialogues to discuss how to continue building ATD Fourth World in the United States has concluded and a good number of NYC ATD Fourth World members have been participating in. The next steps are in progress. The early fruits are exciting.
The last participatory meeting to address the housing crisis in NYC will take place in the second half of January. We will be discussing "We Deserve a Better NYCHA" in partnership with Brownsville United.
If you want to volunteer in our various activities, as a facilitator in Story Garden or Tapori, or helping us prepare the coming events, please email us at nycteam@atdfourthworld-usa.org
