Community

Elected Officials Encourage New Yorkers to Make Use of Family Enrichment Centers (FEC)

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Elected officials are encouraging New Yorkers to make full use of the City’s local Family Enrichment Centers (FEC). Launched in 2017, these are welcoming walk-in, family-centered spaces, open to all, co-designed with community members, and run by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). The availability of such centers seems all the more relevant given the latest wave of violence unleashed against young people in The Bronx. Some of the programs include medical support, parent discussion groups, men’s discussion groups, and clothes and food distribution.  

Dominicans Celebrate 36th Annual Bronx Dominican Day Parade; Several Shootings Later Take Place

By SÍLE MOLONEY
The Bronx Dominican community showed up in huge numbers to celebrate the 36th Annual Bronx Dominican Day Parade on Sunday, July 27. Earlier that morning, New York City Mayor Eric Adams held a press conference at the 42nd Precinct in the Melrose section of the South Bronx, to discuss major wins in the fight against gun violence before later marching in the parade. Later that evening, violence erupted as several people were shot or otherwise injured close to the parade route.

UPDATE Hochul Fires Back at Ted Cruz’s Diss Over Head Attire at Fallen Bronx NYPD Det. First Grade Didarul Islam’s Funeral

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has fired back at Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas after an apparent diss and after he was called out by the Council of American-Islam Relations (CAIR) and others for questioning her decision to wear a head covering while attending the funeral of slain NYPD Det. First Grade Didarul Islam, who was Muslim, on Thursday, July 31.

Bronx Man Charged with Narcotics Offenses Resulting in Death Used Stash House Occupied by Child

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Federal prosecutors announced Friday, Aug. 1, that a 34-year-old Bronx man, Estherlyn Frias, a/k/a “Platinum,” a/k/a “Silver,” was charged with drug dealing resulting in death in connection with the “overdose” of a victim in Greenwich, Connecticut last month. Prosecutors allege the man ran the drug operation out of his partner’s home where a young child slept in close proximity to potent narcotics.

UPDATE Police Officer Didarul Islam Posthumously Promoted to Detective First Grade at Funeral Service

By DAVID GREENE & SÍLE MOLONEY
Thousands of police officers from across the New York metropolitan area and beyond gathered at the Parkchester Jame Masjid on Virginia Avenue on Thursday, July 31, to pay their respects and say goodbye to slain Police Officer Didarul Islam, 36, a Bangladeshi American immigrant, father or two with another baby on the way, who was promoted to detective first grade by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch during the service.