A newly-awarded grant from Fordham University is assisting a local organization tackle gun violence in the borough.
This past summer, Fordham University allocated a two-year, $50,000 grant to the Angellyh Yambo Foundation to pair the university’s researchers with local organizations to generate actionable, community-led knowledge pertaining to gun violence in the Bronx.
The Angellyh Yambo Foundation is named after a 16-year old high school student from Kingsbridge, who was tragically killed by a single stray bullet from a ghost gun resulting from a nearby gang shooting on St. Ann’s Avenue and East 156th Street in April 2022.
Angellyh, who was an honors student at University Prep Charter High School located just blocks away, sustained the gunshot wound at around 1:15 p.m. that Friday afternoon and was pronounced deceased later the same day. She was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.
In response to the Mott Haven shooting, Angellyh’s aunt Mary Hernandez founded the organization the following year to raise awareness in the community regarding gun violence prevention and advocacy.
She also established the non-profit organization to identify root causes of gun violence, which has plagued the borough for decades, despite intermittent downward trends in Bronx gun crime statistics.
“Our goal was to honor Angellyh’s legacy and spread awareness about this issue, because it’s been too many decades of the same situation,” Hernandez said. “The gun violence programs we have had in place have not worked in the Bronx, and I felt like we needed new initiatives.”
Alexandra Maruri — Mary’s sister, Angellyh’s aunt’s and the foundation’s operations manager — emphasized the importance of understanding the dynamics of gun violence.
“We understood the first thing we needed was a crime map of the borough, which highlights areas of crime and the exact locations these incidents take place,” Maruri said. “We also needed to acknowledge that we have to face this situation, by learning about it, talking about it, and understanding the history and challenges.”
To develop these crime maps, the Angellyh Yambo Foundation reached out to RomoGIS, a national technology and urban analytics company which uses mapping, drone technology and data analytics to support public good initiative and community development.
RomoGIS CEO and founder Frank Romo, who has studied gun violence trends across the country for more than a decade, said the company’s Bronx Community Mapping & Youth Leadership Program, in collaboration with the Angellyh Yambo Foundation and La Central YMCA, is helping students learn more about their community and providing them with leadership skills to take action.
“The goal is to create safer neighborhoods, improve communities and boost economic development,” Romo said. “In order to do so, we need to take a closer look at our neighborhoods and be preemptive.”
Romo, who also has a career background as an urban planner, added it is important for people to be mindful of gun violence, even if they don’t live in a high-risk area.
“With the Bronx Community Mapping Program, we are teaching students how to be more geospatially aware, and we are using technology as part of the advocacy,” Romo said. “Students are learning how to control the safety narrative, such as by creating safer routes to and from their destinations or identifying poorly lit areas within the borough to improve nighttime visibility.”
Additional RomoGIS initiatives aimed to reduce gun violence in the Bronx include 500FEET, which provides mapping data of shootings which take place within 500 feet of schools, as well as the Bronx shooting tracker.
Fordham University’s $50,000 allocation will fund the project until June 2028 through the school’s Bronx Research Institute for Community Solutions initiative (BRICS), which aims to deliver crucial research services to convey community and policy needs as well as mobilize resources for impactful and transformative change, according to Fordham.
The director of Fordham University’s counseling program, Katheryn Roberson-Miranda, told the Bronx Times the $50,000 allocation will cover a variety of research-related activities over the next two years, including youth participation and stipends, research and evaluation activities, leadership training, educational materials and community engagement events.
“This project was selected because it reflects the mission of BRICS: to bring together university researchers and community organizations to generate knowledge that communities can use to advance their own priorities,” Roberson-Miranda said.
In addition, Roberson-Miranda said this project recognizes young people as valuable sources of knowledge about their communities and therefore creates opportunities for them to use their knowledge to help shape potential life-changing decisions.
“We are particularly excited about this project because it positions Bronx youth as researchers, leaders and advocates for change in their own communities,” she said.
Four and a half years following the tragic incident, Angellyh’s parents still feel the pain of losing their child, but they also acknowledge the impact their child still has on initiatives to make the community safer.
“Look at how much, even now, her story continues to inspire others, even now,” Angellyh’s mother Yanely Henriquez said. “I just want all parents to have good connections with their kids. Angellyh was my daughter, but we were also like best friends.”
Henriquez added the recent shooting of Javits Frimpong, a 15-year-old Ghanaian immigrant who was killed while walking to school in the Claremont neighborhood, has brought back those painful feelings for her.
“It becomes a reflection of what happened and you feel the same kind of pain you felt before,” Henriquez said.
She said her daughter loved horror movies, especially the “Chucky” movie franchise as well as Stephen King’s “It.” She also participated in beauty pageants, loved french fries and enjoyed playing softball, but also took time to give out food and money to the homeless on her daily school commute.
“She was so compassionate, so empathetic to others,” Henriquez said. “Many times, she would even give her own lunch money to a homeless person in need.”
Angellyh’s father, Manuel Yambo, said his daughter was a fun, caring and smart individual who made people laugh everywhere she went.
He still endures the agony, but also says he hopes her story can generate further awareness about gun violence and continue to save lives.
“It’s tough, and you learn to live with it, even though you never completely forget it,” Yambo said. “But moving forward, we need to figure out ways to prevent this from happening again.”
In April 2023, one year after her death, the Bronx community honored Angellyh’s legacy by co-naming the intersection of Bailey Avenue and Bailey Place near West 234th Street ‘Angellyh Marieh Yambo Way’, as previously reported by the Bronx Times.
“I just want people to remember my daughter’s legacy and never forget the caring, loving person she was,” Yambo added.
