Education

The Wall Street Alphas give hope to homeless

(Kahdeem Prosper Jefferson photos)

By OLAYEMI ODESANYA

Special to the AmNews

In honor of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated’s 115th anniversary of existence, members of the Kappa Xi Lambda Chapter—who are also known as The Wall Street Alphas—held their fifth annual Founder’s Day Community Service Project. This year, the Wall Street Alphas distributed 115 bags of person al care products (i.e., soap, deodorant, lotion, razors), blankets, socks, PPE masks, and snacks to the homeless com munity in and around New York City’s Penn Station.

“We raised over $1,000 in donations from fraternity members and support ers and $1,500 in product donations from Bevel, House of A, and The Cove nant House. The Church of St. Francis of Assisi donated space to assemble the personal care bags. Our goal was not only to provide individuals with care packag es but also to plant seeds of hope,” said Alpha Phi Alpha member Vincent Cun ningham. “Community members that often felt overlooked expressed feel ing seen and valued. Those individuals who attended our community outreach shared their appreciation for receiving the care packages. Many of our attendees viewed the care package items (hygiene products, socks, blankets, etc.) as luxu ries, while for many New Yorkers, these items would be considered daily necessities.”

Vincent Cunningham was inducted into the fraternity on April 10, 2010, at the Rho Gamma Chapter at Northern Kentucky University. He is currently the media repre sentative and on the community service committee of the Kappa Xi Lambda Chapter.

Since the rechartering on Oct. 5, 2002, the Kappa Xi Lambda Chapter have rebranded themselves as the Wall Street Alphas. They serve areas in the Greater Metropolitan areas of New York and Downtown Brooklyn. The chapter is known for their community service events such as the annual Stock-ing Exchange fun draiser, Read Across America and their mentoring program for Black adolescents, Alpha G.E.N.T.S.

“Our next community service event will be our annual MLK Day of Service in conjunction with the New York area members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorpo rated,” said Cunningham. “Check out our page www.wallstreetal phas.com, and our Instagram @ WallStreetAlphas for more information; volunteers and donations are always welcome!”

to lead on Day 1,” he said.

A mayor’s transition team is usually temporary, but some members are expected to make it into the administration once Adams gets sworn in next year. City & State reported that President and CEO of the Eagle Academy David Banks is “expected” to replace Meisha Porter as New York City Schools chancellor. Porter, who was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in March 2021, stepped down Dec. 1 and was the first Black woman to hold the position.

The transition team is led by United Way of New York City CEO and President Sheena Wright and nine other co-chairs. The list published on Adams’ transition website includes the names of leads and members on 16 committees, many of whom supported and endorsed Adams in his campaign for mayor.

The team’s senior advisors are Councilmember Peter Koo, Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, Assemblymember and Brooklyn Democratic County Chair Party Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, Sen. Diane Savino, and Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar.

Bichotte Hermelyn was an early supporter of Adams’ mayoral campaign last year.

“Eric’s campaign was so successful because he was able to galvanize a multicultural coalition of New Yorkers and unify people from all walks of life behind his vision for our city’s future,” said Bichotte Hermelyn. “As a senior advisor on his transition team, I hope to keep that energy alive as we shift into the next phase of staffing a successful, qualified, and diverse cabinet.”

Many committee members have been working and collaborating over the last month since Adams was elected to conduct city agency reviews, identify and interview candidates for key appointments, and develop policy priorities, said the transition team.

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about culture and politics in New York City for The Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/ fcszwj8w and there are just as many living with the virus. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden also publicly renewed the U.S. government’s decades-long “commitment” to ending the HIV epidemic and creating more equitable access to care and treatment, particularly for communities of color, adolescent girls and young women, and the

LGBTQI+ community. On Biden’s campaign for office, he leaned on the National HIV/AIDS Strategy to “aggressively reduce new HIV cases” by 2025. Post-COVID outbreak has pushed back that goal to 2030. Key steps in the strategy include reinstating the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, the $2.21 billion in Ryan White HIV/AIDS program funding announced this

October, $670 million in the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative, and utilizing the additional $250 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan just passed. “We have him on the record as having said 2025 during his campaign. However, we understand that B:8.75"because of the pandemic, many T:8.75"things happened that made it impossible to meet that mark. We are hopeful that and we believe that the epidemic can be ended in the United States by 2030. It will take a lot of political will. It’ll take a lot of investment by the government and we hope to see the government make those investments,” said Avril about the president’s promises.

Marcher Cesar Figuerora

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about culture and politics in New York City for The Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w

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