Families

University Heights: Sepúlveda Presents $50,000 Check to NMIC Nonprofit to Support Bronx Families

By SÍLE MOLONEY
In the face of imminent federal cuts, as reported, State Sen. Luis R. Sepúlveda (S.D. 32) presented a check for $50,000 in funding to the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (NMIC), during a formal ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at NMIC’s University Heights-based Bronx office, in what the senator’s team said was a recognition of NMIC’s “invaluable community work and dedication to the progress and well-being of families in Upper Manhattan and The Bronx.”

An Overview of Puerto Rico’s Political Status and Future

By GENE ROMAN
Puerto Rico’s political future is never far from the minds of its citizens and in recent months, its political status has, once again, been the subject of debate. Puerto Rico (the “Island”) is a territory of the United States. The U.S. acquired the Island from Spain in 1898, and it has belonged to the United States ever since. In 1917, Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens. Everyone born in Puerto Rico is a citizen of the United States, but Puerto Rico is not a state; it continues to be a territory.

Op-Ed: Creative Arts Therapy, A Lifeline for New Yorkers in Crisis

By MARIA PATUHAS
As a social worker working on an acute psychiatric unit in The Bronx, I see every day how creative arts therapists make a profound difference in the lives of some of our city’s most vulnerable residents. It’s time for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to make creative arts therapy accessible outside of the hospital, too, by signing S1001/A3391 into law [https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S1001].

UPDATE City Council Votes “Yes” on Latest Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment “The Kingsbridge Center”

By SÍLE MOLONEY
In the most hopeful sign yet for residents of Kingsbridge Heights, who have long awaited real momentum behind the redevelopment of the long-vacant, City-owned Kingsbridge Armory, the New York City Council voted “yes” on the latest redevelopment project, “The Kingsbridge Center (El Centro Kingsbridge),” on Wednesday, Oct. 29. The happy news follows dozens of envisioning meetings, surveys, outreach, workshops,, various hearings, set-backs, drama and more drama along the way.

UPDATE Funding Boost Helps Food Pantry Continue the Work of Lifting Others Up

By SÍLE MOLONEY
A simple sculpture of three people that sits in an upstairs office at Part of the Solution Inc. (POTS) food pantry in the Bedford Park section of The Bronx probably best illustrates the everyday work the nonprofit organization has carried out over 40 years to help countless Bronxites and other New Yorkers. It depicts two people on an elevated surface holding a rope. Further down the side of the sculpture, another person is seen hanging onto the rope and being hoisted to the top by the first two people.