NYC NOW - September 20, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

President Joe Biden is in New York City this week, but he hasn’t met with Mayor Eric Adams. The mayor says he thinks his rhetoric may rub some people the wrong way. Plus, thousands of New Yorkers are waiting more than a month to get food stamps. And finally, WNYC’s Michael Hill talks with Sabrina DeQuesnay, manager of the Bell Audio Journalism Project, and one of this year’s cohorts.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre. New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he thinks his choice of wording might have led to President Biden's decision not to meet with him. Biden has been in town all week for the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly. The president met with Governor Kathy Hokel Tuesday night during a reception at the Metropolitan Museum. But notably, Biden hasn't asked to meet with them.

mayor who's been critical of him on the migrant crisis. Adam says his rhetoric may rub some people the wrong way. There's an authentic communication style that I have and sometimes that offends people, but I'm not going to be dishonest to New Yorkers and finding a word in the the sororist to make it sound politically correct. We're in trouble. The mayor was criticized earlier this month for saying the migrant crisis, quote, will destroy New York City.

Thousands of New Yorkers are waiting more than a month to get food stamps or cash assistance. WNYC's Karen Yee has more on the delays. These are the worst numbers the city has reported in more than a decade. The city is supposed to process food stamps or cash assistance applications within 30 days. But between last July and June of this year, more than half the applicants were waiting more than a month for help. David Greenfield is the CEO of Met Council, an organization that operates several food pantries. He says more people need help than ever.

before. You used to be able to pay the bills. The rent went up, the electric one up, the food went up, the gas went up, all their expenses went up, and their salaries have not kept pace to that. The city is also under a federal court order to eliminate its backlog and process applications on time by March 2024. Stay close. There's more after the break.

As the new school year gets underway, one New York City-based youth journalism program is teaching high school students how to tell stories that directly affect them. Like WNYC's own radio rookies, the Bell Audio Journalism Project puts the mics into the hands of public school students. Sabrina Dukinney is the program manager at the Bell. Tovi Tenquano is a junior at the Marble High School for International Studies in the Bronx. He recently participated in the Bell's Miss Education internship program. The two talked with WNYC's Michael Hill. Sabrina last year, WNYC Studios partnered with the Bell for a podcast series centered on a girls' volleyball team.

team in a school in Brooklyn. This year, your program is focused on getting students to question this status quo. Why is it so important for a program like the Bell or journalism in general to be available to middle and high school students in the city? It's so important, especially in New York City, the media capital of the world. What a lot of people don't know is that, unfortunately, fewer than a quarter of high schools actually have a student newspaper. And for students of color specifically, journalism opportunities are just really lacking. So it's just really important that we actually highlight that issue. And, you know, to be able to have, you know, stories accurately represented as well. Tell us more about questioning

the status quo. Our season title of questioning the status quo basically came up through just a series of just ideas that we had as a team, actually just just thinking about, you know, what are some things that we've taken for granted in the school system, specifically, you know, issues that that we kind of just fly over. Like, why do schools start early? And, you know, why does school lunch, you know, why is the quality not so high? And Toby's going to actually talk about that because he actually covered that in his episode. But our students all got the chance to, like, do some hard-hitting investigative reporting throughout the school year. We taught them pretty much about narration, script writing, audio editing. And they did just a amazing.

amazing job. Oh, that's so good to hear. Sabrina, you were a student podcaster yourself. You hosted the Bell's Miseducation podcast in its earlier seasons when you were in high school. What was that experience like for you? You know, when I was in high school, I was really shy, but, you know, having that mic in front of me and feeling like, you know, people were listening and they cared about what I had to say. It was just really empowering. That was just a really formative time in my, I was 17 when I actually, you know, had joined the miseducation program. But, you know, we were just a bunch of kids that just wanted to tell really meaningful stories. Toby, the Miseducation podcast included your episode this summer. It was called Food Fight, the Battle for Better School Lunchers. Let's listen to a bit of it now.

Today is Tuesday, February 7. What's your name? Chris. And what do you have for lunch today? Dumplings with the side of fried rice. And what's the condition of it? What does it taste like? It tastes pretty good. You're not going to lie. What's your name? Nadia Zama. What did you have for lunch today? I had dry chicken, some crusty buns, and soggy, coffee. And what does it taste like?

It tastes weird and wet, and I don't like it. Toby, you did most of the reporting last school year. What kinds of skills did you come away with when it ended? I came back with a variety of skills. I enhanced my ability to talk to people in a better way in a professional term while reporting. because in the reporting sense, you've got to look at them, you've got to talk to them. You're holding a mic to them. So then you need to make sure they don't feel intimidated so then you can get their true opinions

and their true feelings about the topic that you're reporting on. I also came back with kind of better analytical skills because I was able to research things on the topic that I did, which was school lunch quality. What was the experience like for you? Are you nervous? I did start off pretty nervous. I wasn't really used to putting my voice out there. I was just really scared that I'd mess something up, but then when I finally did it, it was kind of like it really isn't so bad.

It's just, you know, you get to talk and you get to tell people about your experiences and other people's experiences, too. You got some varied opinions there about the school lunches. How did you decide to report on school lunches in the first place? Well, I have been in the public school system, the York City public school system most of my life. and I just was noticing that the quality was just, it was just not, it wasn't good, but it also wasn't getting better. And a lot of kids came back to me and they were like, or like, you know, how like usual when I was talking to my friends, it was like some kids wouldn't even enter the cafeteria. They just be like, it smells so bad. I don't even want to be in there.

So it's like, this is an actual issue. And then when I had the opportunity of being in the bell, I was like, you know what, I can actually report on this because it's, you know, people are very, very motivated by this one issue. and they really want to have their voice heard. So I was kind of their voice in the whole process. In the episode, Toby, you mentioned that it's not easy feeding students in the nation's biggest school system. From your reporting, how do you think the city could improve school lunches? I think they can improve in a variety of ways. I think the core aspect of school lunch is putting the students first

and having them be at the front lines of what they're eating. Because, you know, school lunch is very, very important. if you don't have a proper school lunch, and even if you do have a school lunch, but if people refuse or avoid eating it, you're going to have a lot of issues because some kids might not even perform well on their classes right after lunch or they might, you know, divert themselves and like go to a fast food restaurant after just because of the quality of the school lunch. So putting the students first, like having them maybe be part of like a menu planning session or maybe looking over the kind of ingredients they use in the foods could really make a difference in the school lunch. Toby, I'm going to say this. I'm going to bet I know the answer to this question. Do you think you want to keep doing journalism after high school?

Yes, I do. I am mostly interested in finance. That is one of the reasons, another one of the reasons why I did the school lunch because, you know, school lunch is provided. by the government or public school lunch is provided by the government through funding and finance is a part of that. Sabrina, how does the Bell help students who want to continue their reporting even after their program ends? Yeah.

So the Bell actually has a dual mission. We train the next generation of journalists, specifically, you know, young people through our audiojournalism internships like miseducation. And we advocate for systems level change that allows for more diverse voices. to be represented in the news for greater opportunities for young people and just an expanded career pathway in journalism. And specifically, we actually have spearheaded the Youth Journalism Coalition, which is actually a coalition of nonprofits and organizations just across New York City

who are all dedicated to amplifying youth voices and advancing opportunities in this arena. That's Sabrina Dukinney and Toby Tancuano with The Bell. Audio Journalism Project talking with WNYC's Michael Hill. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. We'll be back tomorrow.