by Olivia Young<\/p>\n
Bronx-native Alam Gonzalez, a social worker and violence prevention activist who recently moved to Kingsbridge, is set on securing a space in the neighborhood to keep building on his work.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez has led workshops for the past several years that focus on strengthening men\u2019s leadership and conflict resolution skills through talking. He also aims to foster a space for those impacted by violence \u2014 whether in prison, on the streets or at home \u2014 to heal.<\/p>\n
As a teenager growing up in the borough, Gonzalez described a youth exposed to violence and instability. Without support to ground him, he lost direction, and was in a juvenile detention center from ages 16 to 17.<\/p>\n
The experience became a turning point for the now 33 year old.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I made those choices, something sparked in me that this is not who I am,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cMy environment does not dictate who I am, and I wanted to make a change \u2026 I got inspired to be something, to become somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went back to school for his GED diploma, then for an associate degree at CUNY Bronx Community College, where he met community activist Nayma Silver-Matos, who was a speaker at the time. Silver-Matos had already founded a girl\u2019s leadership program called Project Beauty Experience, and helped propel Gonzalez\u2019s vision forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy voice does have power,\u201d Gonzalez recalls realizing. \u201cMy words do have meaning. They do hold weight. What can I do with that power? Whose life can I change?\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to obtain a bachelor\u2019s and a master\u2019s degree \u2014 one at Lehman College, the other at Yeshiva University \u2014 in social work. By 2023, he had founded AJG Therapeutics, an organization aimed at emotionally supporting Bronx men.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw that there was a need,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have that advocate to guide me when I was coming up \u2026 somebody to really address the skills I needed to learn \u2014 conflict resolution, anger management, how to de-escalate, how to properly communicate my emotions, how to understand the power of walking away [under] peer pressure \u2014 What if I could teach these things?\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2024, the two collaborated on a workshop at the New York City Housing Authority Dyckman Houses. Silver-Matos led crafts and activities aimed at building confidence among young girls, while Gonzalez spoke with adults about how to develop trust with kids, and identify the signs of when their behavior could become dangerous.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you don\u2019t have that cohesiveness internally in the family, then we seek family outside,\u201d Silver-Matos explained. \u201cSometimes kids seek family out in the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within his own workshops, Gonzalez said he noticed higher crime rates in households without a present father \u2014 something he was personally shaped by \u2014 and sought to fill that gap.<\/p>\n
He talks with men on how to understand both their own feelings and those of their family members, asking questions like \u201cHow do you support your wife during postpartum depression?\u201d and \u201cHow do you communicate what you really feel with your partner and your children when you\u2019re upset?\u201d<\/p>\n
At its core, Gonzalez uses his knowledge of behavioral therapy to target the root of an issue behind men\u2019s behaviors, and point to resources that can help move them forward.<\/p>\n
The activist got married less than a year ago, and settled down in Kingsbridge a few months ago with his wife, daughter, and 9-month-old baby boy. In December, he attended a Community Board 8 meeting in hopes of finding a place to hold his workshops.<\/p>\n
He said the goal is to take what he has done in the Bronx and bring it to Kingsbridge, building a community for men to \u201ccome, open up and share the struggles that we deal with, and come up with ways to address those issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
By press time, Gonzalez said he was feeling cautiously optimistic it would come to fruition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Olivia Young Bronx-native Alam Gonzalez, a social worker and violence prevention activist who recently moved to Kingsbridge,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-117420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-the-bronx","13":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","14":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}