The Bronx, New York City’s northernmost borough, is famous for being home to the New York Yankees baseball team, the Bronx Zoo, and the New York Botanical Garden, just to name a few notables.
Despite it’s rich history, the Bronx does suffer from many misconceptions and negative stereotypes based from the struggles the community faces. According to the NYU Furman Center, the majority Latino borough’s poverty rate falls at just under 30 percent while the city-wide rate in New York falls at about 18 percent.
“It’s not as robust as I would love…It’s headed in the right direction,” said Professor Greg Acevedo about what Fordham University does to help improve the Bronx and stay connected with area residents and businesses.
Acevedo has been teaching sociology at Fordham for roughly 20 years. He is the son of Puerto Rican immigrants; teaching classes keeps him connected to his roots.
Acevedo taught a Bronx Explorations class at Fordham University to help students connect more to their surrounding areas. When asked if Fordham helps lift up the Bronx, Acevedo responded with, “There is always at least an inspiration.”
“The grant funding and institutional kind of frameworks Fordham has built over the last five to ten years are really starting to take root,” he said. According to the Fordham Now page, an example is the $25,000 Fordham was granted in 2023 to help expand the Bronx Market.
Acevedo also mentioned The Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL). On Fordham’s web page, its mission statement reads: “The Center for Community Engaged Learning builds bridges between Fordham University’s campuses and neighboring communities to create collaborative programming and educational opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and local community members.”
The CCEL is an umbrella for multiple community outreach programs such as the Bronx Research Institute for Community Solutions (BRICS). BRICS “aims to deliver crucial research services to convey community and policy needs, mobilizing resources for impactful, transformative change.”
Through the CCEL page interested students can find more opportunities to help the Bronx community through volunteerism and courses available at the university.
As productive as those initiatives sound, there is one issue: exposure.
Ayoub Moussaddek, a junior at Fordham University, has been a commuter student who has lived in the Bronx for almost his whole life. Moussaddek said he had no idea the university had programs that help connect the students to local neighborhoods. In fact, when questioned about the Fordham Rose Hill campus, he said it creates a sense of separation or exclusivity in the neighborhood.
Moussaddek also described how students continue to support local businesses, which has led to the development of certain areas, such as the shopping centers a couple blocks away from Rose Hill. He remembered the shopping center as a kid; run down stores he frequented with his mother that had leaky pipes: “Almost like a place time forgot.”
But now he describes it as a more developed space with bigger brand name stores such as the Targets and Foot Lockers.
According to the NYC Government page, “Located in the heart of the Bronx, Fordham is one of the busiest commercial corridors in New York City, welcoming tens of thousands of daily shoppers and commuters.” Including seven thousand students who contribute to local businesses, reports Fordham.
Though progress has been made in the Bronx partially due to Fordham, the image of the Bronx is still very tarnished. Ben Lugovsky, born and raised in Brooklyn, attends Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus. “Obviously the way it is portrayed in the news affects my perception,” Lugovsky said.
He also said that when he hears media coverage about the Bronx, it is usually about crime, “Children bringing guns to school.” Lugovsky shared he was unaware of any program Fordham has to help the Bronx.
Though Fordham strives to improve and help the borough, marketing of these enrichment programs to students needs improvement.
Acevedo captured the dynamic relationship between the school and its neighbors when he said that the gates at Fordham are both physical and symbolic, and we must move beyond it.
Cover Photo: East Fordham Road & Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York