Inside Fordham University’s Rose Hill Gymnasium, the ‘Bronx First’ event, the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) founding assembly, was held on Feb. 5. Over 1,872 New York City community members gathered in order to introduce a new initiative in support of Bronx residents.
Bronx First is a new effort launched by the Metro IAF in order to champion initiatives that address issues such as affordability, safety, housing, mental health and quality of education in the Bronx. The Metro IAF is part of the largest collections of mosques, churches, synagogues, non-profits and other groups that collaborate to launch similar efforts to those of Bronx First in the United States.
This event featured key speakers who championed the initiative and recounted their experiences with Metro IAF. One of the key points multiple speakers addressed was the absence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was invited because much of his early campaigning focused on prioritizing the needs of Bronx residents.
“Mayor Mamdani is not here tonight,” said the event’s co-chair Haji Dukuray, in his opening speech. “We invited him, but he decided to ignore us. That’s a huge mistake made. But we don’t need him here to organize ourselves.”
In an interview with The Ram, Simone also drew on the power of community gathering, despite Mamdani not being present at the assembly.
The hosts spoke on the absence. “We invited Mayor Mamdani, and he’s not here, but we are, and we are all the guests of honor, and we’re happy to be organized in the community tonight,” she said.
Eileen Torres, the co-chair, opened the meeting by saying describing the initiative as “personal to her,” as a Bronx native with immigrant parents who struggled with housing during her childhood. She described some of the pressing matters the Bronx is currently facing.
“We understand that there is a housing crisis,” she said. “We know that Bronx schools are failing to teach us how to read or get jobs, and there’s a lack of preventative mental health, and we feel unsafe.”
Dukuray then recounted his experiences after arriving in the Bronx in 1988, describing it as “drug-infested.” He also described meeting a family who greeted him.
“He said, ‘welcome to my home. This is your home, this is the Bronx, the Bronx is your home. Let’s build it,’” he recounted.
One of the speakers was Nina Simone, associate executive director at New Settlement, who opened her speech by chanting “the Bronx, first, the Bronx first!” She expressed her support for the initiative and shared her family’s story with Metro IAF.
“I’m standing here tonight as a direct beneficiary of Metro IAF leaders who shaped my family’s future,” Simone said. “Metro IAF and East Brooklyn congregations, organizers, pastors and leaders…saw potential where others saw abandonment.”
Simone also emphasized the potential impact of New York City increasing housing prices on the Bronx and the need for this effort.
“The Bronx is the last to stand in New York to produce truly affordable and safe houses to rent or own,” she said. “Some of us live in buildings that are in dire need of repair and upgrades … we’re going to fight to make sure every single person can have an affordable and safe place to call home.”
Reverend David K. Brawley, EBC, had been involved in the East Brooklyn congregation’s proposal of the Nehemiah Housing Strategy within the 1980s. He had described the hardships and opposition he faced when launching this initiative in interacting with city politicians.
“One top city hall official actually sneered at us. He said ‘First of all, you won’t be able to build homeless shelters, and if you build them, no one will buy them, and if they buy them, they will wreck them,’’’ Brawley described.
Near the end of the assembly, religious congregations and organizations began pledging money towards the initiative. James Duckett, pastor of Fort Mount Baptist church in the South Bronx, gathered some fellow reverends to pledge a total of $10,000 to the effort to “make sure that we build the Bronx better, because the Bronx is going to win first.”
According to Torres’ closing remarks, the initiative received support and the commitment from 50 institutions, collecting over $100,000 in donations.
An audience member who is a home contractor explained to The Ram that he wants to set up a program to help families in the Bronx earn their own contracting licenses, which he says is what drew him to the event at Fordham.
He spoke on the appeal while there. “I came because I heard about organizations determined to do things in the Bronx for a change, and I liked that, and I plan to get involved,” he said. “I’m excited, it’s just a matter of putting things forward. Less talk and more action.”