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.
“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.
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.
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.
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
