The Problem
New Bridges Elementary is located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and participated last year in the Kingston Avenue Festival by setting up an Arts and Crafts table and singing school songs. The Kingston Avenue festival is a way to bring the community together in a positive way, organized by the Crown Heights Mediation Center, a neighborhood anti-violence organization that founded the festival three years ago to bring a message of safety and health and positive fun the community can have together. While our students participated in it the day of, the students didn't necessarily understand or take ownership over the purpose of this major activity that they were a part of. This year, the hope will be, through community mapping, collaborative problem solving, and engaging in the artistic process in Drama, Art, and Music afterschool, to help the students to understand and become activists for the larger purpose of the Festival, and to mobilize more parents, students, and teachers to attend.
