Betray the Age...Week 4

Betray the Age Meet Luna August 2010 (w/ special appeal)

Dear NY Faith & Justice Friends and Family, Meet Luna. On one of the hottest days in July 2010, Luna enjoyed a beautiful day photo by Sharon L. Harper with fresh air, open space, and the kind of discoveries reserved for three-year-olds. It was the first time she ever went to the beach and her only care in the world was whether the seagulls would steal her lunch. Luna lives on the edge of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, the predominately African-American home to Spike Lee's cinematic masterpiece, Do the Right Thing. According to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bed-Stuy is also home to particularly brutal economic and health disparities. Luna is 2.8 times more likely to experience a diabetes hospitalization and 2.3 times more likely to die from the disease than her cousins who live a few short miles away in the mostly white affluent community of Tribeca in Manhattan. Luna's father, who grew up in the deeply impoverished East New York community of Brooklyn has already contracted the disease. To boot, back home in Bed-Stuy, over 70% of Luna's African-American and Latino playground friends will be overweight or obese as adults. This puts them at greater risk of heart disease than children in more affluent areas. Plus, all children from 0-4 years of age in New York City are 1.6 times more likely to be hospitalized because of asthma than their peers across the United States. Yet, because Luna lives in a low-income neighborhood of New York City, she and her 0-4 year old friends are more than 4 times more likely to experience an asthma hospitalization than children their age who live in the high-income Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan. By the time Luna's generation reaches the age of 15 the gap will yawn. She and her friends will be 6.4 times more likely to experience an asthma hospitalization than their counterparts in affluent zip codes in New York City. Luna's father has asthma. Luna is my niece. My sister and brother-in-law agreed to share Luna's story with you because they know her forecast is not unique to their family or to residents of Bed-Stuy. Bed-Stuy is one of several neighborhoods in a major geographic area called Central Brooklyn. Central Brooklyn is one of four major geographic areas in New York City identified as official "food deserts" and areas of deep health disparity. These areas include Central Brooklyn, South Queens, Northern Manhattan, and the South Bronx. Heart disease, asthma, and diabetes are more prevalent in these under-resourced Latino and black communities than anywhere else in our city. That's why NY Faith & Justice and Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice are partnering with more than 20 other organizations, churches, and government representatives to convene the Food Faith and Health Disparities Summit, October 29-30, 2010, Location TBA. Save the date now! What does it look like to betray the age in NYC? Say, "No more!" to health disparities in our city. Then pitch in and help close the gap! Sign up to be a Food Faith and Health Disparities Summit small group facilitator! Sign up to help with faith community outreach for the Summit! Donate services like printing, catering, facility space. Donate $50, $100, $300, or $500 to help support the Food Faith and Health Disparities Summit and follow up working groups! Click on the links above or contact Stephen Tickner atstickner@nyfaithjustice.org or 212.870.1254 for more information on ways you can help close the health gap in NYC. Plus, right now NY Faith & Justice is working to raise $25,000 in new and renewed financial partnerships. Contributions from people like you make the Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice, Conversations for Change, and all of our work on Immigration Reform possible. If you haven't renewed your membership, now is the time. If you've been waiting to partner with us, please make the connection today. It's super easy to partner. You can contribute as little as $5/mth, $10/mth, $25/mth, $50/mth, $100/mth or more. Think about it. $5 in a month is just one random stop at Starbucks. $10 is less than a movie. $25 is just one random cab ride (in traffic). $50 per month is an iPad. $100 per month is a shoe fettish. Come on. Do you need it? Okay so it's hard to let go of the iPad. But, really, do you need an iPad as much as the children of Bed-Stuy need more fresh food supermarkets in their neighborhoods to combat crazy diabetes rates? ***All who give $10/mth or more will receive a complimentary NY Faith & Justice T-Shirt! Don't forget to use the "Designation" box on the online giving page to indicate your size and let us know if you want a male or female cut. NOTE: If you prefer not to give online you can send checks made payable to "FCNY/NY Faith & Justice" to: NY Faith & Justice c/o Partnership 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 500 New York, NY 10115 Here are a few more awesome ways you can betray the age right where you are! Check out this excellent report on the Diabetes gap in New York City Learn more about the Asthma gap, too! Save the Date: The Bronx Borough Police/Community Conversations for Change Summit. Thank you for your continued prayers and partnership and don't forget to follow us on , , the nyfj blog or the nyfj calendar for up to the minute action alerts, program changes, and details. Betraying the Age, Lisa Sharon Harper Co-founder and Executive Director New York Faith & Justice