As I walked down the streets of
Harlem looking for building number 133, all the brownstones appeared the same except
for one. Outside are two green rails that line the stairs leading to the front
door. I rang the bell and was greeted with a smile from a man whose personality
exceeds himself. Earl invited me in and immediately I felt at home, the office is
calm and welcoming. We engaged in a conversation where he helped me find out
things about myself I didn’t know.
Project Brownstone is about helping
students down a career path that will bring out the best in them. The aim is to
help children overcome adversity using knowledge as a tool to help them succeed
and become who they are meant to be. Earl said some words that stuck with me, “We
are not here to mold you into something, we’re here to break the mold and turn
you into who you’ve always wanted to be”. Coming from a neighborhood, where
people had a lot of expectations of me, that made me feel at ease. I’m a
Colombian and Jamaican kid from Uptown the Bronx. Being that I’ve been 6 feet
tall since I was 12, I was always expected to be a professional basketball player
or something that would “put my height to good use”. I’ve never really been
good at basketball, but there was always constant pressure.
Here at Project Brownstone they want to help
stop stereotyping children and telling them what they should be, by cutting off
these early expectations for kids. It helps children be more open and more
likely to know what they want as they grow and mature. This program encourages
youth to find a career that suits them. They familiarize us to a world of
things we didn’t or couldn’t experience, and to opportunities we wouldn’t have
been offered because we come from under-served neighborhoods.
With the office being right in the
heart of Harlem, you can still feel the impact of the Harlem Renaissance which
was a heavy influence on Project Brownstone. Through the ideals from the
Renaissance, the program targets to restore knowledge to the youth, togetherness
and unity in the communities and battle racially based stereotypes. Project
Brownstone offers a community uplift by giving back to the community through a
textbook stipend program and more. The message to learn from Project Brownstone
is knowledge is the key to success, and children are the door to our futures.
