EcoJustice Summer!

This Summer, the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center along with A Village Inc., will conduct its five-week EcoJustice Summer Youth program for youth ages 14 - 18.  Participants will have the opportunity to earn an income while being engaged in hands-on work and learning related to local ecological and social justice issues.  Based out of the Radix Center, youth will be employed in food justice  activism through the maintenance and operation of Radix’s one-acre urban farm as well as numerous gardens throughout Albany’s South End.  Produce harvested from these gardens feeds local residents and supports Radix’s educational programs.  Days also consist of educational opportunities, with workshops, guest speakers, and outdoor field trips to local sites. The dates for the program are from Monday July 3^rd through Friday, August 4^th.

Ezra Tenants Association Reactivates In Face of Legal Action Around Oil Trains

Ms Charlene Benton, the long time president of the Ezra Prentice Tenants Association, has decided to retire from her position due to ill health. Bebe White, vice president of the Tenants Association, has called for a meeting of all tenants to discuss holding elections for new officers.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 29, in the Ezra Prentice Community Room. This will be a Tenants Association meeting, not an AVillage meeting.

Under HUD rules, all tenant associations elections must be monitored, administered and verified by an independent organization in order to be official. The meeting on March 29 will be so interested residents can learn more about the process and express their interest in serving as an officer. The date for an election will be set after that.

At the meeting last Wednesday, Rev. Marc Johnson, who is serving as Interim Executive Director of AVillage, said this is a particularly important time for tenants to get involved. He said word has reached the Tenants Association officers that Global Partners LLC, the company that owns the black tanker cars that carry crude oil and fuel products to the Port of Albany, is discussing a negotiated settlement with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. 

Fourth Annual Celebration of Progress

  It was an opportunity to rekindle old friendships and make new ones; it was a night to remember that we are more than just a group of people who share the same zip code, but a unified family; it was a chance to acknowledge and appreciate everyone’s hard work in making the South End a better place; it was a celebration of our progress.

A short bio about AVillage's Interim Executive Director , Marc Johnson

Rev. Marc Johnson is a native of Albany, NY born and raised in the South End neighborhood of Albany. He has returned back to Albany to his original home church (now named, Greater St. Johns COGIC) where he is an serves as an Associate Pastor and Church Administrator under his father, Supt. McKinley B. Johnson, Sr. as the Sr. Pastor. Rev.

Ezra Prentice Update

Progress (slowly) at Ezra Prentice

By Tom McPheeters

Residents at Ezra Prentice Homes may legitimately feel like they are a long way from the kinds of action that would help them breathe easier, but starting this spring they will at least be seeing activities that could help in the long run. And there will also be more opportunities to help move things along.

Two events will be visible this spring: air monitoring by DEC staff carrying sophisticated hand-held monitoring devices, and a second (third, actually) traffic study designed to find out where the diesel trucks that use South Pearl Street are coming from, where they are going and who owns them.

ACPHS to Open College Parkside Pharmacy Jan. 25

In an effort to train tomorrow’s pharmacists and fill a critical gap in providing care to underserved populations in Albany’s South End, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS) will open College Parkside Pharmacy on the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 25.

Located at the Capital South Campus Center (20 Warren Street), College Parkside Pharmacy is the second student-operated pharmacy in New York State. Last March, ACPHS cut the ribbon for the state’s first student-operated pharmacy, College Hometown Pharmacy, at Hometown Health Centers, a nationally recognized primary care and dental practice located at 1044 State Street, Schenectady, N.Y.

Ezra Prentice Community Health Project

A Joint project of AVillage…, Inc., and the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center.

Introduction: The Ezra Prentice Community Health Project was developed in response to a need perceived by AVillage… Inc., a community based not-for-profit in the South End of Albany. Ezra Prentice Homes is a public housing project situated next to the Port of Albany in the city’s far southern edge and has been officially designated as an Environmental Justice community by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. However, until recently the DEC has been reluctant to address the air pollution issues that plague this community. Through direct observation it was evident that residents of Ezra Prentice suffer from an extremely high level of illnesses that appeared to be related to air pollution. Ezra Prentice is in a highly industrialized area, with many potential sources of air pollution, but the two sources that most clearly impact residents are from the Kenwood rail yards, where oil tanker and other rail cars are parked and switched directly behind Ezra Prentice, and the heavy diesel truck traffic on South Pearl Street.

The Health Survey: Working with the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center, a partner South End not-for-profit, we designed and implemented a comprehensive health survey and organized local residents to do the outreach. Wherever possible we used verified questions and relied on advice from faculty at the SUNY School of Public Health in the design and administration of the survey itself. The Resident Outreach Workers make the initial contacts, conduct an initial environmental awareness survey, and make appointments for graduate students certified in human subjects research to administer the survey. Residents are compensated for taking the surveys with gift cards, and survey results are kept confidential and under lock and key.