Aged Out and Undocumented from Pavement Pieces on Vimeo.

Alden Nesbitt no longer looks forward to his birthday. On his birthday two years ago, Nesbitt received a letter from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services telling him he had 90 days to leave the country. He had become undocumented.

The New York City Department of Education recruited international teachers from the Caribbean in 2001 during a teacher shortage. Hundreds of teachers brought their families over to the United States, including Nesbitt’s.

But due to a long and complex immigration process, some of their children turned 21 before these teachers could receive their Green Cards. Since they were over the age of 21, these children were no longer considered dependents of their families, making them ineligible to benefit from their parent’s immigration status, a process known as aging out.

Nesbitt, 23, chose to stay and advocate for families in his situation. Working with The Black Institute, a New York-based non-profit, Nesbitt co-founded The International Youth Association (TIYA) in 2011 alongside Mikhel Crichlow, 27, who became undocumented under the same circumstances.

“Meeting up with The Black Institute and starting The International Youth Association gave me a glimmer of hope that somehow I could still fight for what I feel was promised to me and my family,” said Nesbitt.

With current immigration legislation looming in Congress, Nesbitt and Crichlow continue their push for the rights of the children of recruited professionals and their right to documentation.

Autism from Pavement Pieces on Vimeo.

Autism is a developmental disorder, typically emerging within a child’s first three years. Individuals with autism struggle with communication, social interaction, and may exhibit repetitive behaviors.

There is no biological test to determine autism; rather, doctors often look to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders when conducting behavioral evaluations to determine a diagnosis and allocate support and insurance. A new volume of the manual, known as the DSM-V, has been proposed and will change some aspects of the definition of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

Dr. Amy Davies-Lackey has worked with in the field of ASD for 18 years. She estimates that the DSM-V will have a significant impact on individuals with autism.

“It just makes the definition much more narrow,” she said. “The people it’s most likely to affect would be those who are, I would say, highest functioning on the autism spectrum, most likely those with Asperger’s Syndrome.”

The new manual will not likely eliminate services for anyone entirely, but is still of concern.

“A great frustration for me is the level of services that exist out there for a very large population,” she said.

The Center for Disease Control estimates that today 1 child in 88 is autistic.

Although Dr. Davies-Lackey is discouraged by this shortage of services, she is often encouraged by her students’ progress.

“I’ve had so many students who exceed my expectations always,” she said. “I’ve learned over the years to never make predictions for any particular student.”

Dee and Scott McGrath aren’t going anywhere. When Hurricane Sandy battered the coasts of New York and New Jersey Oct. 29, the storm surges destroyed everything they owned. In one of the hardest hit areas of New York, residents like the McGrath’s of Staten Island’s New Dorp Beach refused to give in to Mother Nature.

“What, am I going to live in fear for the rest of my life?” said Scott, 45. “I can be in the house and put on a switch and get electrocuted. Do I not put on a switch?”

In fact, the McGrath’s embraced their beachfront community so much post-Sandy that they formed their own non-profit, Beacon of Hope New York, to encourage local residents to stay. The McGrath’s, along with neighbor Stacey Sclafani and Jessica Ardi of nearby Midland Beach, started the grassroots Sandy recovery organization as a way to not only promote solidarity amongst residents, but also provide resources and help to many of their displaced neighbors.

“(We) wanted to reenergize the neighborhood and show that we are staying so that these houses don’t become abandoned,” said McGrath.

“It really does rejuvenate people,” Dee McGrath, 43, added.

Beacon of Hope New York, a grassroots Sandy recovery group founded by Dee and Scott McGrath, at a rally in New Dorp Beach, Staten Island. The McGraths formed the non-profit advocacy group as a way to provide assistance to those displaced by Hurricane Sandy and to push local residents to stay and rebuild. Photo courtesy of Beacon of Hope New York.

Moving on and the Home Buyout Plan

Unlike New Dorp Beach, residents of nearby Oakwood Beach are moving out and moving on. Of the 184 residents in the small beach community of Fox Beach, 170 homeowners have agreed to sell their homes to the government under a $400 million home buyout program introduced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

“There are some places that Mother Nature owns,” Cuomo told a crowd at the College of Staten Island Feb. 25 shortly after announcing the Fox Beach community of Oakwood Beach as the pilot program for his home buyout plan. “I want to be there for people in these communities. I want to give this parcel back to Mother Nature.”

The program, which would pay qualified homeowners 100 percent of their property’s pre-storm value, does not appear as advertised, said McGrath.

“Do they really want to start over?” he asked. “You’re going to have to start over anyway.”

The McGraths, who have owned their home since 2002, argue that the mortgage payments left on their home is not proportionate to what they would receive from the buyout; even if they wanted to leave, it would not make sense economically.

“They’d have to offer me twice what the house is worth for me to accept the buyout,” said Dee McGrath.
Beacon of Hope New York recently started a campaign to promote their neighborhood by handing out “We Are Staying!” lawn signs to let homeowners show that they are not leaving.

“New Yorkers, we take care of ourselves,” said Dee McGrath.

Six months later: Road to recovery

Over the six months since Hurricane Sandy, a long road to recovery remains. The McGraths were without power for nearly two months, and did not have heat until Jan. 2. They still have mold problems that need to be addressed before they can begin rebuilding the interior of their home. Many other homes are still in need of repairs, with many homeowners facing more uncertainty than confirmation.

“It was the perfect storm,” Dee McGrath said. “You had the full moon, high tide. It was just perfect timing for the worst storm you could possibly have.”

The new Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps, if approved, would add more than 65,000 structures in New York and New Jersey to the 100-year flood zones. However, it is unknown when the new FEMA flood maps will be approved or if people will be reimbursed for the costs. State officials estimate that the new requirements won’t be released until at least next month.

Many areas of New Dorp Beach have expanded to the “V Zone,” the most vulnerable federal flood zone, which changes the flood base elevation from 8.9 feet to 15 feet. As a result, many homeowners are reluctant to begin the process of applying for grants and having their soil tested to see if their foundation can be raised, said Dee McGrath said.

“I really thought we’d be recovered by now,” she said.

Another issue homeowners face is the added costs of repairs to their homes, much of which are not covered by insurance. Some homeowners were using mortgage money to pay for repairs, leaving many behind on their already deferred federal home mortgage payments.

Maintaining the ‘American Dream’ at all costs

Gov. Cuomo recently allocated $47 million in FEMA-approved funds to reimburse costs incurred to homeowners following Hurricane Sandy, according to an April 29 release.

“Restoring communities damaged by Superstorm Sandy is our department’s highest priority and these Public Assistance reimbursement funds will help each of the affected communities, such as New York City, to get their fiscal affairs back in order,” said NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jerome M. Hauer in the release.

Yet the efforts by the state and federal government have not been soon enough, according to the McGraths, which is why they formed their own model for recovery and neighborhood restoration. Beacon of Hope New York is currently in the process of receiving grants for beautification efforts in New Dorp Beach and organizing events in conjunction with volunteer service organizations such as Yellow Team and Boots on the Ground.

And for the McGrath’s, there’s no place like home, no matter how prone it may be to Mother Nature’s wrath.

“This was all down to the bare wood,” said Scott. “Everything here was done by family members, friends, and people that became friends. They broke a sweat building this house and helping us.”

Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan explain what Filipino food is at their restaurant Purple Yam, Brooklyn. from Pavement Pieces on Vimeo.

Adobo. Sinigang. Kinilaw. Pancit. All these classic Filipino dishes have one significant defining feature: most foreigners have never heard of them.

“It’s not a cuisine that is very accessible,” Todd Coleman, former Senior Editor at Saveur Magazine, said. “People don’t know Filipino food because there aren’t many Filipino restaurants. People need restaurants to go to.”

With all the sushi bars, Chinese dim sum joints and Korean BBQ grills in New York City, some Asian cuisines have yet to proclaim themselves beyond the immigrant enclaves. Filipino food—despite the 3.4 million Filipinos living in the U.S. making them the second largest Asian group—is one of them. It is a national cuisine often loosely defined due to the archipelago’s diverse 7,100 islands and long history of foreign trade and colonialism. But historians and food anthropologists argue that there is more to it than that.

“When Filipinos started immigrating to the United States, they weren’t prepared to announce or share their food with Americans,” Alex Orquiza, 32, Professor of American Studies at Wellesley College, MA, said. “If anything, they kept it very hidden.”

Orquiza traces this phenomenon back to the 1898-1946 American colonization of the Philippines. His research explores how American colonialists systematically made the Filipinos feel their food was culturally inferior and nutritionally deficient.

“The entire imperial project tried to get Filipinos not to take pride in their food and to eat like Americans,” Orquiza said. “They would say the food is ‘not clean,’ or ‘not civilized.’”

The public school system took the lead in trying to change Filipino dietary habits: to eat three meals a day; to replace rice with corn and wheat; and to adopt canned foods instead of local proteins and fresh fruit. These were feelings that lingered and transported themselves to the U.S when Filipinos began to immigrate in 1901.

Amy Besa, 63, cookbook author and owner of Purple Yam, a Filipino restaurant in Brooklyn, remembers feeling this way when she immigrated to the U.S. back in the 1970’s.

“American diners would reject Filipino food because they thought it was stinky,” Besa said. “Filipinos didn’t feel their cuisine was good enough to be commercial. That’s why it never got out of the shadows.”

Having been in the restaurant business since 1995, Besa and her husband Romy Dorotan consider themselves outliers of Filipino restaurant owners of their generation. When they opened their first Filipino restaurant in Manhattan, Cendrillon, they sought to reach past the immigrant enclaves. They felt they had a feel for the mainstream because of their western culinary training and weaker ties with the Filipino community. Cendrillon, which was in Soho, closed and reopened as Purple Yam in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn in 2009.

“We were the first ones who tried to do it and survived,” Besa said. “But we got lots of resentment from certain sectors. The Filipino community had a habit of not supporting any restaurant that did not fit its stereotype of what it felt a Filipino restaurant should be.”

Jun Belen, 39, award-winning Filipino food blogger who immigrated to California from Manila 15 years ago, notes a plethora of Filipino restaurants clustered in heavily in cities with large Filipino populations like Daly City, Union City, and Milpitas in the Bay Area.

“Most if not all of these restaurants cater exclusively to Filipinos,” Belen said. “Some are cafeteria-style decked out with a long steam table where stews and soups are laid out. Manny Pacquiao or a Filipino soap is almost always on TV. Prices are kept low to entice Filipinos to return. There are few non-Filipinos here and there. Most of the time, none at all.”

Now, Belen says, this is changing. Though this exclusive, hidden nature may still hold true for the older generation, for the younger generation of Filipino Americans it is no longer the case.

“Lately there has been a renaissance of some sort in Filipino cuisine,” Belen said. “These are young Filipino American [chefs and restaurateurs] who are very proud of their roots, without a trace of the feeling of inferiority possessed by the first wave of Filipino immigrants.”

Today, Filipino restaurants are popping up in neighborhoods outside the enclaves in the United States. Have it be brick and mortar restaurants and food trucks in the California Bay Area, or hip, trendy dives in New York City. These are restaurants with a modern twist mostly run by younger generation Filipino Americans.

“The question is how do you take a tradition and bring it to the forefront of public knowledge and admiration,” Topher Hwan, 28, General Manager of Maharlika, a modern Filipino restaurant in Manhattan’s East Village, said. “Maharlika prides itself on being that ambassador for Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike.”

With a focus on sourcing locally, style of service and by entertaining classic American staples like brunch—something that does not exist in the Philippines—Maharlika strives to draw outsiders in by taking authenticity and tingeing it with modern techniques of the western world.

“The reception of this is often times heartfelt,” Hwan said. “The community is very responsive to the idea that finally they have a place to go that is taking Filipino food and culture to the mainstream. It’s not only a food movement but a cultural one as well.”

Lee Mandell is the Founder & Chief Hydroponicist of Boswyck Farms. Photo by Gabrielle A. Wright

Farming in Bushwick

A Farm Grows in Bushwick Audio

If it’s hard to find quality cucumbers or carrots in your neighborhood, just grow them. That’s the thinking at Bushwick-based educational non-profit, Boswyck Farms.

Boswyck Farms is a hands-on garden and woodshop where children and adults can learn how to make an everyday use of hydroponics, water-efficient drip system farming techniques. The urban basin of plants located near the DeKalb Avenue stop on the L train, houses dozens of fruits, vegetables and herbs nurtured by nutrient rich water and blue and fuchsia heat lamps. It also houses Lee Mandell, the founder and chief hydroponicist of Boswyck Farms.

Boswyck Farms, the garden that doubles as Lee Mandell’s Loft in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Photo by Gabrielle A. Wright.

“I believe a farmer should live on their farm,” said Lee Mandell, whose loft doubles as the farm. “I have become an agricultural pioneer in the 21st century in Brooklyn which both sounds really weird and makes complete sense.”

Mandell uses his home as a 1000 square foot example of how people living in urban areas with little access to green grocers and supermarkets like Bushwick, can proactively access healthy food. It goes hand in hand with New York City initiatives to eradicate food deserts such as the Healthy Bodega and Adopt-a-Bodega programs. Boswyck Farms suggests communities take initiative by building water-efficient gardens in rooms, food co-ops and pantries.

“We’re just trying to show kids that food comes from some place other than aisle nine in a supermarket,” said Mandell. “Especially in a city where a lot of kids will grow up having never seen anything grow.”

This hydroponic system is a seed tray that fills up and drains at least three times a day with nutrient rich water that goes directly to the root of the baby plant. Photo by Gabrielle A. Wright.

What is Hydroponics?
Alex Middleton, Chief Operational Hydroponicist at Boswyck Farms explains hydroponics

Now, in its 5th year, Boswyck Farm is maturing at a critical time. According to the New York City Department of City Planning about 3 million New Yorkers live in neighborhoods in high need of access to supermarkets and grocery stores. Bushwick is one of them.

“It’s not hard to find fresh food,” said Bushwick resident Jen Holmes. “But it’s hard to get quality fresh food.”

The Adopt-a-Bodega Initiative  is a program that works to promote and stock corner stores with healthy foods in areas particularly affected by chronic diabetes and obesity. These areas tend to be where grocery stores are a mile or more away from residences. So far, three Bushwick bodegas have expressed interest in joining the program.

“We are talking to our local bodega here to see if we can encourage them to actually start growing some of their own food,” said Mandell. “The owner of our bodega is opening a green grocer…so this summer we’re going to be showing him what can be grown on a rooftop right here in Bushwick.”

Mandell’s hope is that wherever there’s a neon sign drawing attention to fatty foods and sugary drinks, there will also be a rooftop or food pantry nearby with all the ingredients for a salad.

“Growing food and farming is a part of the human condition,” said Mandell. “And by reconnecting with it, you reconnect with more than just the food, you build communities.”

The water line is still visible from Franca Costa’s windowpane. Everything in her house–the furniture, cabinets, refrigerator, washer/dryer, dishwasher and stove–she either received through donations or recently purchased.

For many residents of the tiny Oakwood Beach community of Fox Beach in Staten Island, Oct. 29 remains a day in infamy.

When Costa returned to her home on Kissam Avenue two days after Hurricane Sandy, the road was inaccessible due to the water and scattered debris. The inside of her home took in six feet of water.

“I was just totally devastated,” she recalled. “I didn’t even know what to do.”

The torrent of seawater came from all directions; bungalows were lifted off the ground and washed away, telephone poles were knocked down and trees completely uprooted. Clothing and other personal belongings poured out into the streets.

“It was horrible,” Costa said. “You can’t even imagine.”

Two blocks away on Fox Beach Avenue, two people died when their roof caved in on them. Even the local church looks like the leaning tower of Pisa, tilted on its damaged foundation. And the homes that do remain are still in dire need of repair.

The residents have had enough. Hurricane Sandy was the final straw that broke the blue-collar, middle class neighborhood.

In February, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced  a home buyout program that would allow homes destroyed or heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy to be sold to the government at 100 percent of their pre-storm value. The homes would then be razed and the land preserved as undeveloped coastline. As an added incentive, residents would receive a five percent bonus if they relocated within the borough. In some of the most flood-prone areas of Staten Island like Oakwood Beach, the government will give residents an additional 10 percent of the value of their home if an entire block participates in the buyout.

A garage in Oakwood Beach that suffered massive damage from Hurricane Sandy. All of the homes in Oakwood Beach suffered extensive flooding, and many homes are still in need of dire repair six months after the storm. Photo by Timothy Weisberg.

With efforts from the Oakwood Beach Buyout Committee, Oakwood Beach was selected as the pilot program for Gov. Cuomo’s buyout plan.

Joe Tirone, leader of the Oakwood Beach Buyout Committee, said talks of lobbying for a home buyout program began two weeks after the storm.

“I knew that we were really eligible for it and it was just a matter of time before the government was going to offer a buyout to people,” he said.

The state has allocated $171 million to buy homes in low-lying areas, and state officials project they will spend as much as $400 million on home buyouts. Ten thousand homes in the state were either destroyed or badly damaged during Hurricane Sandy, according to state officials.

Located in an area known as the Blue Belt, Oakwood Beach has had problems with flooding for years. Residential neighborhoods sprouted up during the mid-20th Century in advance of any sewage infrastructure found elsewhere on the island. As a result, the Blue Belt essentially acts as a storm water retention system for the rest of the island: the rocky hills inland slope down to the wetlands surrounding Oakwood Beach. So even during rainstorms, the streets could have anywhere from six inches to a foot of water.

“It’s not an area where homes ever really should have been,” Tirone said. “It was initially built up as a summer community of small little bungalows that were just boarded up over the winter.”

Six months after Sandy, Oakwood Beach has mostly been a ghost town. Only a dozen or so residents have made it back. The rest were displaced and until appraisers came last week to determine the property values, had not returned to their homes since the storm.

According to Tirone, of the 184 homeowners in the Fox Beach section of Oakwood Beach, 170 have registered for the home buyout program. Tirone, who owns a bungalow in Oakwood Beach, is also in the process of setting up residents with realtors and mortgage bankers to help them look for homes.

“Right from the start we had a majority of homeowners thinking buyout,” he said.

Despite the recent developments, residents remain in limbo, unsure of when they will receive payouts. Even for those who want to stay, new Federal Emergency Management guidelines double the size of the flood zones and require those living there to build their homes at least 13 feet above sea level or face sky-high insurance premiums. As a result, it remains to be seen if and when they can raise their homes to meet the new flood requirements, let alone when they will receive the grants needed to cover the costs of construction.

One resident who is no longer willing to take that risk is Franca’s neighbor, Bill Bye. Bye lost all of his possessions during the storm. His brand new 42-inch TV was completely destroyed by the storm surges that seeped into his home; his pictures, jewelry, clothing and furniture either washed away or were corroded by the salt water.

Oakwood Beach resident Bill Bye’s home suffered massive damage from flooding during Hurricane Sandy, destroying all of his belongings including clothes, furniture, pictures and a brand new 42-inch TV. After 30 years in the beach community on Staten Island’s eastern shore, Bye is moving out. He plans on participating in Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s home buyout program that will give homeowners 100 percent of their home’s pre-storm value. Photo by Timothy Weisberg.

“Everything was wrecked,” he said. “Everything was gone.”

Bye has lived in the area for 30 years, but has accepted the realization that Oakwood Beach may never be on Mother Nature’s side.

“It could happen again,” he said. “It’s too dangerous to live here.”

Although Franca is part of the buyout program, she remains deeply attached to the beach community she has come to love since moving to Oakwood Beach in 2006.

“I just hope that within six months, hopefully I’ll get my dream which is to raise the house,” she said. “So that we can stay here and keep our happy lives that we have here and not have to move on.”

Angy Rivera and came to the United States from Armenia, Columbia with her mother when she was three years old. Growing up in Queens, her life was controlled by a secret. Rivera, now 22, is undocumented.
“You grow up with this fear, this insecurity, don’t trust anybody,” she said. “What kind of lifestyle is that where you’re trying to function like a normal human being but right off the bat you don’t trust anybody.”
Rivera found many questions, and few answers.

“I had my best friends from middle school who I didn’t know if I could tell,” she said. “And my partners, if I had a bf, should I tell him? You have this big secret that you keep and you isolate yourself.” She was told she could not go to the airport, the DMV, or even the hospital. Public settings would require identification, or unwanted questions.

“I felt like I was suffocating in it, and that’s what motivated me—seeing that fear,” she said.

In October 2010, Rivera created Ask Angy, the first and only advice column for undocumented youth.

“When you’re undocumented you just want to find answers anonymously online,” Rivera said. “I wanted a place where people could ask questions and feel safe, but still be anonymous if they choose to be and just have that resource out there.”

Angy Rivera tells her story.

AngyRiveraRadioPiece

A screenshot of Ask Angy’s first video, “Dating While Undocumented.”

ASHBURN, VA-Since she was six months old Murielle Tiernan, 18, has been fighting cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that causes her lungs to produce an excess of thick mucus. But anyone who has seen Tiernan take to the soccer field can see that in the fight against CF she is clearly winning.

Tiernan, a senior at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Va. was recruited by Virginia Tech’s Women’s Soccer team and will begin her career as a Division I athlete this summer.

“The fact that Murielle has been so heavily involved in sports has been therapy and treatment and a health bonus because that’s the ideal circumstance, to go out and run and exercise,” her father, Ed Tiernan said.

Off the field, keeping Tiernan’s lungs as healthy as possible has been her family’s priority since her diagnosis. But as she prepares to head to college, Tiernan is confident that she can adequately administer her own nebulizer and mucus-loosening treatments.

“I could do it all on my own,” she said.

Kelron McJunkin, 20, stands in front of a mural at Covenant House New York. The homeless youth shelter has been his home since August of 2012. Covenant House has 108 beds, and there are more than 21,000 homeless youth living in homeless shelters across the city. Photo by Breana Jones

Standing on a corner in Hell’s Kitchen smoking a cigarette, Kelron McJunkin looked more like a college kid than a homeless kid. Wearing leather Dr. Martins, a polo shirt and crisp jeans, he waited on a callback for a part-time position at Duane Reade. He’s worked a number of temporary jobs over the past six months while living at Covenant House. As one of the few homeless youth shelters in Manhattan, it requires residents to actively pursue employment.

“They help you out, they do your resume, but basically you gotta do it for yourself,” he said, “It’s like the saying, ‘you can’t help somebody who doesn’t want to help themselves.’”

McJunkin, is a part of a record high population of homeless youth in New York City. These youth continue to function in society, hiding the issue of their homelessness to the outside world. But more than 21,000 children slept in shelters in January 2013, an uptick of 22% from the same time last year.

Covenant House of New York at 41st Street and 10th Avenue is a decades old shelter that serves homeless youth in New York City. Alice Steigerwald, Deputy Director of Crisis, said the issue of young homelessness is often overlooked because it isn’t visible.

“The homeless youth of today do not seem like the homeless youth of 20 years ago, or 15 years ago, or 10 years ago,” said Steigerwald, “You can see our kids any day of the week and you would not know they are homeless.”

Steigerwalds on who these youths are and why they wind up in the streets.
Audio Clip 1

McJunkin first arrived at the doors of Covenant House in the summer of 2012, after years of turmoil.
When he was 14, his father died of lung cancer. He never truly knew his mother, who was an HIV positive drug addict, and became a ward of the state. At 16, he began living with his sister, but after learning of the death of his mother, he stopped minding his sister and was kicked out. From there, McJunkin moved to Philadelphia to live with an aunt who kicked him out once his father’s social security benefits checks stopped. McJunkin said he spent about three weeks on the street.

“It was hard, but it wasn’t that bad because I know other kids that are really homeless, said McJunkin, “They really slept in the streets all night and had no place to go, no friend’s house, no parents, no family. So I feel they lived worse than I did.”

McJunkin would walk around for hours to avoid sleeping on the street. During the day, he would visit with friends to eat and take showers. Eventually, McJunkin and a friend began stealing cars and selling the parts, which allowed the two to afford an apartment together.

McJunkin on his life on the streets.
Audio Clip 2

Last year, he decided he didn’t want to live as a criminal anymore, and moved back to New York. When he found himself at the doors of Covenant House, Steigerwald and her team were able to house him in one of their 108 beds. She said stories like McJunkin’s are all too familiar.

“The typical kid, they don’t sleep at night, they come and they sleep at our drop in center during the day,” said Steigerwald. “Even if they’re not living here, we give them two meals a day.”

While Covenant House had space for McJunkin, thousands of other homeless youth are turned away each night throughout the city. Giselle Routhier, a policy analyst for Coalition for the Homeless, said there are only about 250 beds for unaccompanied homeless youth like McJunkin in the city. These youth face a unique set of issues.

“That population is highly vulnerable,” said Routhier. “They don’t feel safe within the regular shelter system, so often times [they] will cycle in and out of the youth shelter system whenever they are able to get a bed.”
Covenant House can hold up to 160 residents, but had to downsize due to “financial contingencies”. From 2010 to 2011, Covenant House received about $60,000 less in federal, state, and city funding. At the same time, homelessness continues to rise, 55,000 New Yorkers slept in shelters last month—the highest number since the Great Depression.

Routhier said the rise can be tied to the end of permanent housing assistance for homeless families which lead to a revolving door trend in shelters.

“We now have over 60 percent of families that are entering shelters have been homeless before,” said Routhier. “Prior to 2005, that number was 25 percent. There’s a huge increase of families experiencing repeat episodes of homelessness.”

At Covenant House, residents can stay for one to two months. Steigerwald said it usually takes three to four stays for homeless youth to leave the system.

Steigerwald explains Covenant House’s Outreach Program.
Audio Clip 3

McJunkin hopes to begin renting an apartment when his current stay at Covenant House ends. After receiving his GED, he plans to attend business school.

“I want to own a business. Something I can call my own, so I would be able to pass it down to my family, so they won’t have to worry about, how to get money or how to survive,” he said.
For McJunkin and the youth like him, record homelessness in New York City is not merely a statistic but a harsh reality.

“Unfortunately, they’re teenagers that have adult problems,” said Steigerwald. “They’re just like us and are fighting for everything they have. They’re fighting for a place to sleep tonight.”

Ever since Xihang Liang and his wife immigrated to the United States from China 10 years ago, his biggest dream is to be reunited with his son, who he had to leave behind.

“When we first moved to the U.S., we missed him every day,” said Liang.

According to a recent report from the National Asian American Survey, there are currently 4.3 million people waiting abroad to come to the U.S. through family-based visas sponsored by family members who are U.S. citizens. On that long family immigrant waiting list, there are 1.8 million people from Asian countries.

Traditionally, families qualify for either the immediate relative or family preference immigrant visas. Immediate relative visas allow people who have a “close” family relationship with a United States citizen — spouses, unmarried children under the age of 21 or parents over the age of 21 — to be sponsored. There is no annual cap for immediate relative immigrant visas. However, family preference immigrant visas are for people who have a “distant” relationship with family who are U.S. citizens, including siblings, grandparents and children over the age of 21. People under this category have to wait for a period of time because there is an annual cap of 260,000 for the family preference immigrant visa. Because Liang’s son was married at the time when Liang petitioned for him to immigrant to the U.S., Liang’s son was subject to the family preference immigrant visa category, which meant a longer waiting period due to the high demand.

Erin Oshiro, a senior attorney at Asian American Justice Center, said the unbalanced supply and demand for family preference immigrant visas contributes to the backlog for family immigration visas that millions of people encounter.

“Our current immigration law puts numerical limits on some of the specific family categories,” said Erin Oshiro in an e-mail. “For example, brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens can only get 65,000 visas per year. Currently more than 2.4 million brothers and sisters are waiting for a chance at the 65,000 visas available annually.”

According to the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Asian American Justice Center and New York Immigration Coalition, a married adult son or daughter from China must wait about 11 years before immigrating to the U.S.

Out of the seven countries with the worst family-based visa backlogs, five are in Asia.

“Family unification is a particular priority for the AAJC, because it impacts Asian Americans so disproportionately,” said Jessica Chia, staff attorney for Asian American Justice Center. “Because of the path exclusive policies, Asian Americans really rely on their families in the U.S.”

Liang waited 12 years to come to the U.S.. Now, he anticipates that one day he can bring his son.

“He sometimes asks me over the phone when he could come to the U.S.,” said Liang. “I told him that I didn’t know.”