I attended a presentation entitled Reaching “Hard to Reach” Communities: Working with Immigrant Religious Institutions on Wednesday April 28th. The question that the presenter sought to address was: How do we look at religious institutions in service planning/ policy making?

According to the presenter, religious institutions reach deeply into immigrant communities, show compassion, and care for community’s well being, however they are grossly under utilized.

The focus of the talk was primarily on the Chinese immigrant community in New York City, therefore the study covered Christian and Buddhist religious institutions. The approach taken was using HIV and AIDS as a lens of understanding core issues focused on Chinese immigrant religious organizations.

The presenter’s study design was as follows:
– Census and telepohone survey of Chinese religious institutions.
– Walk through neighborhoods heavily populated by Chinese.
His results were: 200 organizations, Buddhist accounted for 29%, Christian accounted for 60.5% and the remaining 10.5% was other (Daoist/ Taoist institutions).
The presenter conducted 94 surveys to obtain data on the percentage of these organizations that were involved in health related issues (i.e. providing blood pressure tests, health screenings, informational pamphlets). His conclusion was that Christian organizations participated more heavily in health related issues. He also asked the question of whether or not all these institutions believed that HIV/ AIDS discussions should be an aspect of their health discussions. Around 80% of all institutions said there should be involvement but only 11% of Buddhist and 30% of Christian organizations were actually doing it. He speculated on why there was such minimal participation and arrived at the following hypothesis: Discussion of HIV
– raises questions of gender inequality
– is connected to homosexuality and thus gives homosexuality a negative connotation. Some quotations he gathered were: “homosexuality is not favored by god…shameful” – Christian; “not natural” – Buddhist.
– raises questions of socioeconomic diversity
– it high lights racial stigmas : church going people have a harsh few on non-traditional Chinese and fear their safety at church with blacks and Hispanics around

The presenter concludes by stating that religious organizations can serve as a liaison between people and the community therefore a partnerships between policy makers and religious institutions may better ensure that the needs of the community are met.

Jacquelyn Lekhraj

William H. Whyte undertook the task of identifying what characteristics of open space (mainly parks and plazas) make them more visited and used in comparison to others. He did so by setting up cameras overlooking plazas and surveyed the types of people (gender, age, and profession) who used the space and whether or not they came alone or in groups. One conclusion that Whyte drew that I found particularly interesting was that, “the best-used places also tend to have a higher than average proportion of women” (Whyte 450). The justification he provided was that women are more particular about where they are willing to sit in terms of it’s cleanliness and the existence of “annoyances”. Based on my observations of Verdi Square, this seems true. Verdi Square had several bench areas, but very few people sitting. Those who were sitting were all male ages ranging from about 17 to 65. The main annoyance that existed at Verdi Square was the hustle and bustle of commuters entering and exiting the train station located in the center of the square. Whyte also observes the social interactions that take place in open space. He suggests that plazas are not ideal spaces for meeting people. Rather, an open street that’s filled of eateries is more likely to see socializing. An example he provides, that I have visited is the South Street Seaport. The rush and tight space capacity essentially forces people to be near each other during lunchtime (Whyte 450).

The basic conclusion that Whyte draws from all his research is that there is no more clear cut correlation between the popularity of a plaza or strip and “the amount of sittable space” (452). The amount of space that can be sat in is the crucial determining factor in people’s decision to occupy a space or not. This although seemingly obvious is a very accurate deduction that many plaza designers overlook. As a New Yorker, I myself look for an area with seating during my leisure time or breaks at work while I’m in the city. For example, in the summer, I will not take my break outside in Union Square Park (which is across the street from my employer) unless I can see that there is, as Whyte would call it “integral seating” available; that being steps in the entrance to the park. Whyte therefore suggests that removing impediments such as pikes, metal or jagged rock from steps would enhance the popularity by widening the seating area. However, “integral space” isn’t the most important seating asset according to white. On the contrary, it’s movable chairs. These provide people “with choice” (453). People can find a preferential spot to sit, and go there. I’ve participated in as well as witnessed this very act. For example in Bryant Park, people often move their chairs from the outskirts of the lawn, onto the lawn if they’d prefer to sit in the sun, and vice versa is also true if one prefers to sit in the shade along the perimeter. Therefore the aesthetics of the chair is not important to the popularity of the space, rather the move-ability is.

VERDI SQUARE:

OBSERVATIONS (conducted on Saturday March 6th from 3:15-4:00pm)
– The “square” resembles more of a trapezoid
– There are only two entrances both of which lead into the street. This guides pedestrian movement parallel to the subway station.
– High traffic area primarily due to the subway entrance.
– Only three people are sitting at the benches. One teenager, a middle aged man, and a senior citizen all of whom are male.
– There are two types of seating areas: granite benches and regular wooden benches
– The square is enclosed by black metal fencing
– People who enter the square are either entering the subway station or walking through it to the next street.
– There are many tourists and people shopping
– Verdi square is 0.06 acres and established in the name of Giuseppe Verdi a renowned composer.