Artist Hatuey Ramos-Fermín worked with THE POINT Community Development Corporation and NOCD-NY on creative programming that integrated arts and culture into environmental justice activism. With THE POINT, he worked with youth, staff, and community members to develop and implement cultural strategies for environmental and social justice work in Hunts Point. He led conversations and retreats with the staff, in addition to teaching, making collaborative zines, printmaking with youth, curating exhibitions, and organizing and making art with the community for the annual Fish Parade. He also created a printmaking and screen printing studio and implemented a pilot program with a local school. He worked with NOCD-NY to co-organize the Reimagining NYC project to weave together NOCD-NY’s intergenerational network of artists, organizers, neighborhood leaders, and policymakers to focus on healing, recovering, and transforming the city during and after the pandemic. He helped develop and facilitate learning exchanges and policy recommendations and organized artist and writer commissions. Hatuey and THE POINT also collaborated on and hosted two of NOCD-NY’s events: the Citywide Forum to Reimagine New York City, and a Youth Exchange.

THE POINT Community Development Corporation is dedicated to youth development and the cultural and economic revitalization of the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx. THE POINT offers a multi-faceted approach to asset-based community development. Its programming falls within three main headings all aimed at the comprehensive revitalization of the Hunts Point community: Youth Development, Arts and Culture, and Community Development.

NOCD-NY is a citywide alliance of community networks and leaders that have joined together to revitalize NYC from the neighborhood up, engaging the power of the arts. They strengthen and support community culture, make connections between communities and across sectors to make citywide change, and build the field through peer learning. Their asset-based work is grounded in shared values including collaboration, equity, and racial justice.