The week after election day HNBA will hold its November meeting on Tuesday, November 10th at 7 PM.

We are looking forward to a fantastic lineup of guests, the first of which will be representatives from Chase bank who will talk about helping Harlem residents achieve home ownership, including:

 Applying for a mortgage
 Available Grants to help with the down payment
 2-4 unit properties – using rental income to qualify
 Multiple borrowers on one application
 Is now the time to refi? Pluses and minuses
 Working with a realtor
 Single-family
 Multi-family with rental income
 Market Condo
 Deed restricted condo
 Market co-op
 HDFC co-op

We will then meet Tali Farhadian Weinstein who is running for Manhattan DA. https://www.taliforda.com/ Tali and her staff recently join in on a walking tour of 125th Street from Lenox to Lexington to see first hand some of the major struggles we have with quality of life and small business development.

Tali Farhadian Weinstein is a prosecutor, a professor, and a proven criminal justice reformer.  She is also an immigrant, a daughter, a wife, and the mother of three girls. 

Lastly, Jana La Sorte from the NYC Parks Department will join us. Jana is the new administrator for the four Historic Harlem Parks — Jackie Robinson, Marcus Garvey, Morningside and St. Nicholas — that advocates for and supports the unique history and character of each park and their future development to better serve the greater Harlem community.

If you are a member of HNBA (Join Here) and would like to join in this exciting conversation on the 10th, email Shawn for the zoom link.

DWB (Driving While Black)

Join the New York & Virtual Premiere of dwb (driving while black) this evening until October 29th.

dwb (driving while black) isa new chamber opera about racism, erasure, and the fear and love that black parents experience when they send their kids out into a world that too often sees them not as a child, but as a threat. This powerful music-drama documents the all-too-familiar story of an African American parent whose beautiful brown boy approaches driving age. What should be a celebration of independence and maturity turns out to be fraught with the anxiety of “driving while black.”

REGISTER HERE (Registration required)

“One of the most singularly devastating theatrical moments of the last year.” –The Pitch

“A composer of vivid imagination and skill” —Fanfare

“Singers are storytellers,” says soprano/librettist Roberta Gumbel (“silver voiced…” – The New York Times), “but rarely do we get the opportunity to help create the stories we are telling.” Collaborating with composer Susan Kander and the cutting-edge duo New Morse Code (“Clarity of artistic vision and near-perfect synchronicity.” icareifyoulisten.com), this brief, powerful music-drama documents the all-too-familiar story of an African-American parent whose “beautiful brown boy” approaches driving age as, what should be a celebration of independence and maturity is fraught with the anxiety of driving while black. 

Roberta Gumbel, librettist/soprano
Susan Kander, composer
Chip Miller, director
New Morse Code– Hannah Collins (cello) and Michael Compitello (percussion)

Uptown Grand Central’s Clean Team

It’s the one-year anniversary of UGC’s partnership with Positive Workforce to create our East 125th Clean Team. Spot a yellow trashbag along East 125? These are the guys who cleaned it up for you. And after being out there seven days a week, Uptown Grand Central’s 125th Street Clean Team filled 12,000 bags in the past year.