A Tree Unites the Community

This season, a holiday tradition was revived at Betances Houses thanks to the efforts of the South Bronx Youth Leadership Council (SBYLC): decorating a community Christmas tree.

On December 4, nearly 30 seniors from Betances, Adams, and Saint Mary’s Park Houses joined 70 children from the BronxWorks Betances Community Center, plus SBYLC members and NYCHA staff, to help decorate and light the tree. The SBYLC wanted to host a neighborhood project that would bring together people of all ages to build community and beautify the neighborhood.

“Our goal was to promote community unity and anti-violence,” said Isis Garcia, a Betances Houses resident and SBYLC member. “A lot of seniors came out and worked with the children to help decorate the tree. There was a choir and even a Santa Claus for the kids. Everybody was excited to be working together to light up the community.”

The idea for the event came after a few seniors told SBYLC members about a tree that used to be decorated as an annual community project and had become a symbol of unity.

“Many of the seniors brought handmade ceramic ornaments decorated with their development to display their NYCHA pride, which was great,” said NYCHA Community Coordinator David Soto. “It was awesome to see seniors from three developments come out to help decorate the tree and contribute to community safety, because it truly takes a whole community to make those changes.”

The tree decorating event was one of many events the SBYLC organized this year. Their mission is to address quality of life issues through events like clean-up days and an anti-violence campaign. The SBYLC works with NYCHA’s Public Safety Advisory Committee on youth outreach and with community members to help resolve neighborhood issues one project at a time.

The SBYLC is one of NYCHA’s 10 Youth Leadership Councils across the city, which brings together residents ages 14 to 21 to address issues in their communities while building leadership skills.