Bronx Times: Your neighborhood, your newsBronx Times: Your neighborhood, your news
  • Home Pros
  • Jobs
  • News
    • All
    • By Neighborhood
    • Arts
    • Business
    • Coronavirus
    • Development
    • Education
    • En Español
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Police & Fire
    • Politics
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Transit
  • Best of
  • Things to Do
    • Local Events
    • Post an Event
    • Business Events
    • Games
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Our Network
    • amNY
    • Bronx Family
    • Brooklyn Paper
    • Brownstoner
    • Caribbean Life
    • Gay City News
    • QNS
  • Digital Editions
  • Print Subscriptions
  • Webinars
  • Podcasts
Bronx Times: Your neighborhood, your newsBronx Times: Your neighborhood, your news
  • Home Pros
  • Jobs
  • News
    • All
    • By Neighborhood
    • Arts
    • Business
    • Coronavirus
    • Development
    • Education
    • En Español
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Police & Fire
    • Politics
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Transit
  • Best of
  • Things to Do
    • Local Events
    • Post an Event
    • Business Events
    • Games
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Our Network
    • amNY
    • Bronx Family
    • Brooklyn Paper
    • Brownstoner
    • Caribbean Life
    • Gay City News
    • QNS
  • Digital Editions
  • Print Subscriptions
  • Webinars
  • Podcasts
Bronx Times: Your neighborhood, your newsBronx Times: Your neighborhood, your news
  • News
  • All
  • By Neighborhood
  • Arts
  • Business
  • Coronavirus
  • Development
  • Education
  • En Español
  •  
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Police & Fire
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Transit
  • Things to Do
  • Post an Event
  • Business Events
  • Games
  • Our Network
  • amNY
  • Bronx Family
  • Brooklyn Paper
  • Brownstoner
  • Caribbean Life
  • Gay City News
  • QNS
  • Home Pros
  • Jobs
  • Best of
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Digital Editions
  • Print Subscriptions
  • Webinars
  • Podcasts
Community

Bronx students map their communities to address challenges and envision change

By Emily Swanson Posted on January 24, 2025
map
Frank Romo (right) is using his GIS mapping expertise to help Bronx youth identify community challenges and propose solutions.
Photo courtesy Angellyh Yambo Foundation

With the support of the Angellyh Yambo Foundation and Geographic Information System (GIS) expert Frank Romo, Bronx students are creating maps to better understand the challenges of their communities, along with what they wish to see.

Nearly 200 Bronx students from elementary to high school have begun mapping their neighborhoods with Romo, who has created a map of shootings in New York City searchable by borough and zip code. 

Even a simple hand-drawn neighborhood map can be a powerful tool to open up discussion about gun violence, trash on the streets and other issues that students see every day. 

Close

Get the Full Story

News, events, culture and more — delivered to you.
Thank you for subscribing!

“Our vision is to give them a voice,” said Alexandra Maruri, who co-founded the foundation in honor of her niece, 16-year-old Angellyh Yambo, who was shot and killed near her South Bronx school in 2022. 

Mauri and family members established the foundation to engage with Bronx youth and prevent further violence in the community — especially given that Yambo’s killer was also a teenager when he opened fire in the street, killing Maruri’s niece and injuring two others. 

“We’re trying to do everything we can to prevent another tragedy,” she said. 

Photo courtesy Angellyh Yambo Foundation

Technology meets community 

Through Maruri’s contacts in national advocacy against gun violence, she became connected with GIS expert Frank Romo, who lives in Los Angeles and is a former community organizer with a master’s degree in urban planning from Columbia University. Maruri, who has worked for decades as a historical tour guide, instantly knew that Romo’s work with community maps should come to the Bronx.

Using technology to envision stronger neighborhoods came naturally to Romo, who said his “aha moment” came during his work with an urban farm in Red Hook, Brooklyn, just as Hurricane Sandy hit. 

In surveying the needs of the community amid the disaster, Romo and his team intuitively knew where resources should go, but coordinating the logistics required a tool to stay organized. They quickly pivoted to capturing various GPS points where efforts were needed. 

As Romo described it, “Mrs. Robinson needs diapers, Mr. Davis needs insulin — we were just really hitting those community needs.”

That was his first time using technology to organize, and the idea stuck with him. Romo has taken his work to Detroit, Tennessee and all around the country to help young people map their neighborhoods while making sense of the challenges around them and envisioning the possibilities for change. 

Photo courtesy Angellyh Yambo Foundation

Maruri was completely on board with Romo’s work and eager to get it started in the Bronx. She knew students could bring a lot to the table in community problem-solving. From gun violence to drug activity to trash on the streets, kids are “very vocal about the things that bother them in their neighborhoods,” she said. 

Romo agreed: “These students have a voice. Ask them about any topic, I bet they can tell you what’s going on in the community.”

He worked with Bronx students in April during the Yambo Foundation’s Youth Violence Summit at the YMCA, where he opened their eyes to the power of GIS maps. For example, Bronxites often hear about high asthma rates or shootings, but rarely is there a comprehensive, easy-to-understand source of data — which speaks to a power dynamic. 

Asking who controls the data, who does it impact and what information is missing can reveal stark imbalances, said Romo. 

“I believe GIS is really inherently tied to power,” he said.  “Even the absence of data tells us something.” 

A new narrative  

GIS mapping — combined with Maruri’s extensive knowledge of Bronx history — is a powerful way for youth to string together the past, present and future, said Romo. 

With high school students, he often emphasizes envisioning what’s next. If their maps are filled with areas to avoid due to violence or drug activity, what else could they imagine — instead of settling for “that’s just the way it is”? What kind of third spaces could they create? 

“Some of those maps were really heavy,” he said. “This is really valuable data.” 

With Bronx elementary-aged kids, Romo talked them through simple, hand-drawn maps that still yielded meaningful results. They drew relatives’ houses and local stores but also naturally identified some issues in their surroundings. For instance, some said they didn’t like seeing trash on the ground, so Romo talked to them about how a neighborhood cleanup could offer a solution.

Equally importantly, students discussed what they love about their communities — living close to grandma’s house, being near parks and shopping, nice neighbors. “We’re building up a new narrative,” said Romo. 

Student-made maps are not yet publicly available because he is still working on redacting students’ names and other measures to prevent the information from being used out of context. But he said there is plenty for adults — teachers, counselors, even elected officials — to gain from hearing students’ needs and allocating resources accordingly. 

“[Youth] are observant, and we have allowed them a space to showcase their expertise in their neighborhood and articulate what they want to see different,” Romo said. 

Photo courtesy Angellyh Yambo Foundation

Looking to the future 

Romo and the Yambo Foundation are paired up for the long haul, they hope. They just applied for a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to work with kids on environmental justice mapping. The grant would allow students to get paid for their work while learning valuable STEM skills that enable them to train others. 

So far, Romo has worked with over 200 Bronx youth — and a grant could scale it up to thousands. “Before you know it, we’re gonna have a bunch of students in the Bronx who know about GIS and know how to map their community,” said Romo.

Romo will continue working with students at a Feb. 15 event with the Yambo Foundation at the YMCA and other school visits around that time. 

Maruri said she hopes the mapping project will encourage more Bronx youth to continue speaking out about the world around them and help create positive change so that they continue living in the borough as adults. As she often tells them, “I am not the future, you are.”

This story was updated Jan. 24 at 1:30 p.m. to correct the spelling of Maruri’s name. 


Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes

About the Author

Emily Swanson

Emily Swanson is a reporter at the Bronx Times and recent graduate of the CUNY Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Originally from Minneapolis, MN, she now lives in the South Bronx neighborhood of Port Morris. She enjoys cooking, photography and rooting for the Knicks, Liberty and Yankees.

More in Community

  • Bronx General Post Office sold to Maddd Equities for $44 million
  • bally's Bronx electeds express disappointment with Bally’s vote
  • optimum $4,000 in Optimum-supported grants given out by Bronx Chamber of Commerce to eight local small businesses
  • Bronx music festival Summer Jam 2025 boasted record turnout

Jobs in New York

Add your job

  • Hahn's Old Fashioned Cake CompanySE BUSCA AYUDA EN PANADERÍA
  • MDG Design & Construction LLCM/WBE Job Opportunity
  • OTG ManagementLine Cook

View all jobs…

Crime

  • Tom Donlon sworn in as interim NYPD commissioner in September 2024, a role he now claims in a federal lawsuit was undermined by systemic corruption and political interferenceBombshell lawsuit: Ex-Police Commissioner Tom Donlon claims Mayor Adams and NYPD leaders ran department as ‘criminal enterprise’
  • police officer with yellow tape at crime scene where person was stabbed with blood-covered cloth on groundBronx teen girl stabbed to death during smoke shop brawl
  • A taxi passes under an unused congestion pricing gantry.Bronx senior charged with attempted murder for shooting taxi driver who drove him home
  • drone footage shows four people riding on top of moving subway car while subway surfingSubway surfing: Drone footage shows cops catch teen daredevils in the Bronx in 200th arrest since crackdown began
  • allerton Displaced Allerton fire victims rally for third time for housing assistance and speedier repairs

Things to do in the Bronx

Post an Event

Bronx Legends & Landmarks: A One-of-
Tomorrow, 9:30 am

Bronx Day Tour – Yankee Stadium, Arthur Avenue & Bronx Zoo
Yankee Stadium

You’ve seen the paintings, now see them
Tomorrow, 10 am

Van Gogh’s Flowers
New York Botanical Garden

Play and plant with your little one! Sup
Tomorrow, 10 am

Super Seedlings
Van Cortlandt Park Alliance Garden & Compost Site

Celebrate the efforts to revitalize
Tomorrow, noon

Summer on the Sound Festival: Where the City Meets the Sound
Soundview Park

  Join us on Saturdays our Builder
Tomorrow, 1 pm

Saturday Builder's Club
Grand Concourse Library

This event will take place in person at
Tomorrow, 2 pm

Family Movie: An American Tail (1986)
Pelham Bay Library

View All Events…

News

  • Bronx-born rapper and entrepreneur, Joseph Cartagena, also known as Fat Joe autographed bottles of Sonrisa rum at a Throggs Neck liquor store Tuesday. The hip hop legend partnered with the brand, which gives back to small business owners in Puerto Rico, where the rum is distilled. Sonrisa rum tasting draws Fat Joe fans to Throggs Neck
  • Man with beard and suit talking into microphoneMamdani clarifies stance on ‘globalize the intifada,’ says distance between phrase’s intent and reception is ‘bridge too far’
  • Jamaica's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Sen. Kamina Johnson Smith.Wrongfully deported to Africa? Jamaica says it didn’t turn anyone away
  • bally's Bronx electeds express disappointment with Bally’s vote
  • Bronx Select Bronx neighborhoods experience increased cost of rent in June 2025: report

Things to do in the Bronx

Home Pros

More from Around NYC

Where to Celebrate Shark Week in NYC, Long Island & Beyond: Great Events, Live Cams, and Family Fun
New York Family

Where to Celebrate Shark Week in NYC, Long Island & Beyond: Great Events, Live Cams, and Family Fun

Eric Adams stands with several individuals in front of Chinese dragon dancers.
amNY

‘AAPI for Mayor Adams’: Adams campaigns in Chinatown, earns support from local leaders

Angela-Boyer-Stump
Schneps Podcasts

Dan Rattiner speaks with Angela Boyer-Stump, a real estate advisor and licensed sales associate with Sotheby’s International Realty – Episode 240

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 16, 2025.
Gay City News

Federal government restores $6.2 million in funding for LGBTQ non-profits

  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Networking Events
  • Home Pros
  • Advertise
  • © 2025 Schneps Media
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Sections
  • Jobs
  • Home Pros
  • Events
  • Contact