We’re in the third year of pandemic living. Another year of loss, uncertainty and exhaustion.
Still, as COVID-19 persists in different forms and variants, New Yorkers are finding new ways to help their communities endure.
They are assisting neighbors who may not have enough to eat, have trouble getting around within an unforgiving urban landscape and are seeking to forge new community bonds.
The challenges are many. Yet solutions abound.
Community
The pandemic has fundamentally changed how New Yorkers engage with one another.
From disability justice work and Gay-Straight Alliances in schools to mutual aid and the community fridge movement, solutions that emphasize solidarity are taking hold.
An Alliance for Support
By Alexandra O’Connor
Plenty of Give and Take
By Hannah Bottum
Ingredients for Change
By Nicholas Hernandez
The Best Digital Connection Is Hand-Delivered
By Austin Cope
Quality of Life
The inequities that make access to quality healthcare and nutritious food predated COVID-19.
On issues such as increasing access to healthy food options and antiviral medication, grassroots and government agencies are seeking to bridge the gaps.
In Defense of Self
By Alexandra O’Connor
A COVID Answer Raises a Question
By Candace Pedraza
Standing for Healthy Eating
By Michayla Savitt
Urban Environment
Traffic-choked streets, litter-strewn parks and treacherous conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists are among the issues exacerbated by the pandemic.
Community and government solutions that aim to make streets safer and cleaner can be fraught.
Access as a Right
By Emily Sauchelli
Banding Together to Clean Up
By Michayla Savitt
Taking Open Streets Into Their Own Hands
By Candace Pedraza
Reporters
Austin Cope
Nicholas Hernandez
Alexandra O’Connor
Candace Pedraza
Emily Sauchelli
Michayla Savitt
Faculty Advisers
Year Three was produced by students at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY‘s NYCity News Service under the guidance of Wil Cruz, Christine McKenna and John Mancini.
Editors/PRODUCERS
Text
Hannah Bottum
Nicholas Hernandez
Michayla Savitt
Candace Pedraza
Web/Visuals
Richard Heaton
Austin Cope
Emily Sauchelli
Alexandra O’Connor
Photographers
Hannah Bottum
Austin Cope
Karina Guerrero
Nicholas Hernandez
Alexandra O’Connor
Candace Pedraza
Michayla Savitt