Building Bridges by Being Good Neighbors

During the summer of 2020, racial justice protests were happening across the country, including in Union Square, which is close to Janice Rosario’s Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village apartment. She wanted to show her support, but with a 5-month-old daughter at home, she wanted an alternative to crowded protests.

“A lot of my neighbors were talking about wanting to be active and be in support of Black Lives Matter, but not everyone felt safe protesting due to COVID-19 or with young children at home,” Ms. Rosario said. “At the time, I had a 5-month-old and I was looking for a way to channel our activism in ways that felt authentic to our communities.”

After speaking with NYCHA staff and the CEO of her complex, Ms. Rosario decided to start her own organization, The Good Neighbor Collective, a mutual aid non-profit that helps connect neighbors with different socioeconomic backgrounds to empower and strengthen her community. Since Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village is on the East Side of Manhattan near many NYCHA developments, including Campos Plaza and Meltzer Tower, the organization has been serving NYCHA residents since it officially launched in September 2020.

Ms. Rosario serves as Executive Director. She is also a contemporary dance choreographer and educator who has taught throughout the country and is still teaching at various universities and dance institutions via Zoom during the pandemic. She formerly worked in public relations and event planning for an architecture firm, experience that provided her with the know-how for programming and budgeting.

In less than a year, The Good Neighbor Collective has accomplished a lot. The first initiative, in September 2020, was hosting school supply drives to provide backpacks and supplies to 100 young Campos Plaza residents.

“I wanted to find ways to help people be active and supportive of their community in whatever ways they could,” Ms. Rosario said. “My neighbors donated what they could, from a box of crayons to 50 book bags.”

For Thanksgiving, Ms. Rosario worked with a local East Village restaurant, S’MAC, and Grand Street Settlement to provide 750 meals to Campos Plaza and Meltzer Towers residents as well as Grand Street Settlement participants. And for the winter holiday season, NYCHA connected Ms. Rosario to different community nonprofits to answer 300 winter wishes, providing young people in the neighborhood with presents. Recently, for Black History Month, The Good Neighbor Collective raised money to distribute approximately 100 books by Black authors to Campos Plaza residents.

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In addition to special events, the organization has hosted numerous virtual career days for public school students, Grand Street Settlement youth participants, and NYCHA college students. In the future, Ms. Rosario wants to host more supportive programming for young people on career readiness, find more local businesses willing to open their doors to young NYCHA residents, and help students fill the gaps between what they learn in school and what they need to know for the workplace.

Ms. Rosario hopes that her organization “inspires people to connect with one another, to see each other past the things that divide us. That’s why I created The Good Neighbor Collective – to unify us as a community of one and build that bridge.”

Learn more about The Good Neighbor Collective here.