How We Respond: #BuildLove

This week New Yorkers came together to protest the Immigrant Family Separation Policy that has displaced over 2,000 children since its enactment in April. 250 of those children are right here in East Harlem with no plan on how to reunite them with their families. The official policy has been rescinded but the damage has already been done. And on Tuesday, the Supreme Court voted in a 5-4 ruling to uphold this Administration’s anti-Muslim travel ban.I wish I could say that this week is an outlier for our country. I wish I could say that our history is not deeply steeped in removing children — particularly black and brown children — from their loved ones. I wish I could say that safety for our most vulnerable has always been sacrosanct. But sadly I cannot.

At EHTP, our task is to equip our children with strategies to succeed in the world as it is right now. They have to learn to navigate a deck that is often stacked against them. We have to constantly ask ourselves what more can we continue to do to ensure we remain a safe learning space for all families. How do we remain successful in assisting our young people to realize their best possible selves despite these obstacles and hateful rhetoric?There are no easy answers to these questions but they serve as a guide for all we do. It motivates our racial equity work and our #BuildLove campaign.

Next week, we will launch our next #BuildLove project with our High School Summer Institute scholars, aimed at supporting separated families in need. We will collect goods to donate to shelters in our community, and coordinate volunteer opportunities. We will look to enroll any separated children in our programs and schools.We will be in touch soon on how you can get involved. For now, you can find additional resources on how to help separated families here.

Thank you for your continued support,

Jeff Ginsburg, Executive Director