In the highly demanding work environment of New York City, where dress is a key for success, some successful young Muslim women venture into the workplace without sacrificing their hijab headscarf.

In the middle of a walk in Central Park on a sunny day, she sits on a hard seat for a short break making sure that her hair is properly covered, while a jogger passes by in her shorts and t-shirt.  Four years ago, Kimberly Joseph, a recent Hunter College graduate, could dress like the jogger.  But having converted to Islam, she decided to comply with Islamic dress standards.

Joseph says her boss and coworkers at Starbucks, where she has been working for seven years, haven’t treated her differently when she first put on her headscarf, but they couldn’t hide their curiosity about the sudden change in her appearance. Yet, customers’ reactions varied. “One day, a customer sent a written complaint saying, ‘I saw a partner (a Starbucks waitress) wearing a headscarf two days in a row!’”

While this one customer thought that what he saw was worth reporting, others tend to associate a woman wearing a  headscarf with terrorism even if she is a blue-eyed white American.   “I was walking down Lexington Avenue on a nice spring day, and heard a woman saying ‘f. terrorist,’ ” said Joseph. “I heard it after I passed her already.”

Although such incidents may occur, reactions are not always spoken.  “I can see it in their eyes.  People don’t wrap around the idea that an American is a Muslim at the same time, but it’s part of my freedom of being an American.”

Hijab is an Arabic noun meaning “cover.”   In Western countries as well as Arabic-speaking countries it refers to women’s modest clothing that covers the hair and entire body.  Although hijab is a religious obligation, not all Muslim women comply with it.  Those who wear it are not restricted from pursuing higher education or professional careers. While some may be faced with less tolerance, many others enjoy a wider degree of acceptance and freedom.

The number of the Muslim population in the United States is debatable, as the US Census Bureau is prohibited from collecting data on religious affiliation.  However, estimates by various institutions show that the population has been growing.  “Faith Communities Today,” a 2001 study coordinated by the Hartford Institute for Religious Research in Connecticut indicates that the US has 1,209 mosques and two-million American Muslims associated with a mosque, 30 percent of whom are converts to the faith.

Regina Richter converted three years ago.  To the 26-year-old education researcher and graduate student, hijab is not merely an expression of faith; it’s rather a responsibility.  “Hijab has had an incredibly powerful effect on my life.  It’s a very real reminder of how I should act.  I am also acutely aware that it means every one of my actions has the potential to be perceived by others as a ‘Muslim thing.’  If I’m rude, it no longer just reflects poorly on me; it reflects poorly on women in hijab, on Muslim women, even on Muslims in general.  That in itself is a powerful attitude-check.”

Richter started wearing hijab last year.  She says the supportive reaction of her boss and coworkers eased her tension on her first day with a headscarf.  “I was nervous.   Would my coworkers understand? Would my supervisors?  I arrived early, before our supervisors arrived. I felt the need to explain, almost as if I needed to apologize.”

To the faithful, hijab is an obligation, but to others, it’s a national dress as it is in Saudi Arabia, where women must wear long black garments and cover their faces.  In the West as well as in more open Muslim countries, such as Egypt, Morocco, and Syria, hijab has become a stylish fashion. There, hijabed women wrap headscarves in different fashionable styles, and wear loose Western attire, standing at a middle point between religious limits and fashion allure.

“As a woman in general, I’m concerned with the way I look,” says Noor Bilbeisi, a 27-year-old Arab-American New Jersey pediatric dentist. “When I shop, I look first for something that is loose and long and adheres to Islamic dress code and secondly I look for something that is nice and fashionable and reflects my personality. And I think it is very possible to have both.”   But, some women tend to favor one side at the cost of the other.  “Some Muslim women completely disregard fashion and that alienates them from the rest of society. At the same time, other Muslim women compromise their Islamic values in the name of fashion and “fitting in” and if that’s what it would cost, then it wouldn’t be worth it.”

“Wearing hijab doesn’t make me less human,” says Nazia Ahmed, a research scientist at a large New Jersey pharmaceutical company. “I still pride myself on dressing well and looking nice. I make a conscious effort to wear stylish clothing with well-coordinated, matching hijabs. I try to ensure that my clothing is within the limits of Islam and is still modest and covering without sacrificing style and fashion.”

Islamic dress code has assumed greater significance recently.  It has raised debates in non-Muslim countries with large Muslim population as well as some secular Muslim societies, such as Turkey.  The most striking anti-hijab action was France’s ban on overt religious symbols in public schools.  The legislation, effective in September 2004, raised questions about human rights to religious freedom in secular democratic countries.

Muslim women in the United States, especially in cosmopolitan cities like New York, enjoy a higher ceiling of freedom.  Under Specific Protections, the city’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy requires city agencies to provide accommodations for the religious beliefs and practices of employees including those “related to dress and appearance.”  Yet, the public tension toward Islamic fundamentalism promoted by the media along with stereotypes about hijab as a sign of submissiveness and oppression have complicated the situation for hijabi women, especially those of Arab origins following September 11.

“The media portrayal of Muslim women adds fuel to the fire, and subsequently to people’s stereotypes,” says Ahmed.  “It is these negative images and associations that make American Muslim women’s role in the public sphere all that much more critical, to dispel these biases.”

Arab-American women in particular suffered from bias and serious backlash following the tragic events not only in the workplace, but on the streets, schools, and public transportation.  A survey by the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee Research Institute reports over 700 violent incidents targeting members of the community or those perceived as Arabs or Muslims, and over 800 cases of employment discrimination against Arab Americans.  Concerned about their personal safety, many women had either to take off their hijab or stay home most of the time.  “Many women stayed home after 9/11.  Many of them were afraid to even go shopping.  Our center had volunteers to escort them to go shopping,” says Maha Atieh, health program manager at the Arab-American Family Support Center. “I remember a mother and her daughter were harassed in the train.  They were cursing them and were trying to pull the hijab off their heads. We also had cases of women who were fired, and others who were denied jobs. They were told they weren’t qualified.  Some of them knew they were qualified, but they were wearing headscarves.”

The American Community Survey prepared by the US Census Bureau in 2005 estimates the city’s Arab population at 85,821.  This is 1.1 percent of the entire city  population, a 14 percent increase since 2000, at a time when the Federal government is cracking down on immigration from Arab countries. The small community is visible in Manhattan and vast areas of Staten Island, but the southeastern corner of Brooklyn as well as the eastern part of Queens remain areas of the highest concentration.

Atieh says things seem to have calmed down now not only because the larger environment in the city seems more tolerant. But questions persist. Arab-American women, especially immigrants, usually tend not to report such cases.  “They don’t have enough courage to report discrimination incidents. Although the Center has a legal department, women who were discriminated against after 9/11, did not go there seeking legal help, they rather were seeking advice on how to avoid discrimination or protect themselves.”

Employers may not explicitly comment on the job applicant’s attire, but may cite different reasons for rejection.  “They will be afraid to lose their clients if they hire a woman in hijab.  But this shouldn’t be the case in the States, where people enjoy freedom of religion.”  Therefore, these women are more likely to work within the community.

“I feel that as American Muslim women, we are just as much a part of society as all other women, We are just another subset of the population, looking to succeed and provide for ourselves and our families with successful careers.  Others may not accept our expression of faith…The reality is that America is a country founded on my personal freedoms, so in a sense, we are a shining examples of the freedom of expression and religion that the American people pride themselves on,” says Ahmed.

“I think there will be some obstacles, but I think there are lots of opportunities as well.” says Safia Hussain, a 27-year-old attorney at a corporate law firm.  “A hijab-wearing Muslim woman adds a lot of diversity to a workplace and also a lot of people who are opposed to the widespread prejudice against Muslims would probably support a Muslim woman. But I think Muslim women will always have to deal with the same gender discrimination that all women face.”

These young women leave their houses everyday realizing that both tolerance and bias are out there, but they also realize their role as good citizens, who enjoy freedom of expression while adding their own flavor to the melting pot.

“I think in the professional field we have an edge because we are very open-minded and are hard working. I think that even though there is bias against us, we are in a much better position than we might think,” says Bilbeisi.

For Joseph, entering the world of veil has inspired her to pursue her dream profession as a writer.  She’s currently busy writing two books, her memoir and an anthology on convert Muslim women.  “I want to create a change in the way the world views Muslim women through my American voice,” says Joseph as she gets up to resume her walk.

By Hager Abouelkhair

The Islamic faith requires both women and men to dress modestly, and sets standards, especially for women’s dress.   The Muslim world is tremendously diverse encompassing various cultures.  People from different regions and civilizations had embraced this religion infusing their own cultural traditions and tastes to the Islamic culture. Many of these cultures had traditionally required their people, especially women, to dress modestly and wear certain types of head and face covering.  Today we find different types and names for Muslim women’s dress.  Many Muslim men, especially Arabs, wear different types of head scarves.  This traditional outfit  protects people’s heads and faces from heat and sand, given the geographical nature of their lands.

Types of Women’s Dress:

Hijab is the Arabic term for “cover.” It is generally used to refer to the modest attire of Muslim women; however, it specifically refers to a piece of fabric wrapped around the Muslim woman’s head covering her hair and neck.
Burqa is an outer garment worn by Muslim Afghani women.  It covers the entire face and body.
Niqab is a veil that covers the face with a place cut out for the eyes (worn in Saudi Arabia and by conservative Muslim women throughout the world).
Jilbab  is an outer garment that looks like a long rain coat.
Gulf-style Abaya is a large, traditionally black, square of fabric that falls from the head or shoulders, or a long caftan.

Types of Men’s Head Covers:

Taqiya is a round knitted cap, usually white, that is worn by Muslim men, usually during prayers.
Ghutra is a square piece of cloth folded into a triangle and placed loosely on the head.  This is traditionally worn in the Gulf area.Igal is a black rope-like cord placed on top of the ghutra to secure it.
Kuffiyya is a checkered scarf worn by Palestinian, Jordanian, Lebanese, and Syrian men.  It traditionally comes in black and white or red and white and can be worn loosely or styled into a turban.
Turbans can be wrapped in different styles.  Usually, their color and style indicate a religious significance and differences between sects.

In the male-dominated International Brotherhood of Teamsters, where she blazed a trail to a top leadership position, Sandy Pope was never mistaken for a guy, with one exception.

Many years ago, Pope applied to the A&P for a warehouse job as a food selector. The manager promised the job, even before the interview. “They called me in thinking I was a man, Alexander Pope and in fact I am Alexandra Pope. The guy dropped his teeth when he saw me and said, ‘Oh well, I guess I have to. I called you in, and I can’t tell you no now.’ So I went to work in the produce warehouse, the first woman they hired.”

Pope, five feet four inches tall, moved on to a succession of jobs traditionally held by men: orderly, warehouse worker and tractor trailer driver before becoming active with the teamsters. Today, as president of Local 805, a 1,200 member union headquartered in Long Island City, Queens, Pope is a front line organizer of immigrant workers in the wholesale and retail food industry.

Most days, Pope, 51, puts in at least 12 hours. Recently, she was on the streets leading a noisy demonstration outside the warehouse of gourmet food retailer Fresh Direct seeking to organize the workers after several of their colleagues had been fired.

She says that under current labor laws, management has the upper hand. “The laws are against us and it is very hard to negotiate good contracts,” she said. “We’ve got to change a lot of things in this country. We’ve got to get health care cost under control. We’ve got to get those CEO’s under control that are making three hundred and fifty times what their workers are making now.”

Strong words from the daughter of a New England stockbroker. Pope, born in the Boston area, the sixth of seven siblings, is the only one to have embraced unions and labor relations. She was raised in a traditional middle class setting. Her Panamanian mother insisted that Pope speak proper English, and today her voice no hint of her Boston roots.

She was on a path to college when she detoured to union activism, beginning with a stint as an orderly in a state hospital in North Hampton, Massachusetts. A strike at the hospital, her involvement with the union and their eventual win elicited an epiphany: she decided she wanted to help working through union activism.

It would be a hard sell for the young Pope, whose new-found vocation into the world of unions was tainted with the stench of mobsters, crime, and corruption, misappropriation of fund, malfeasance and sexism. She is the first to admit, that being a woman has garnered a lot of unwanted attention.

“It’s been a rough road,” she said. “I’m used to being the only woman on the job, so I took a lot of abuse doing that. The guys they respect me after they deal with me.”

Pope concedes that her job is made even more difficult but not totally insurmountable by the anti-union sentiment pervasive in the country.

“Unions are the ones that produce to help people go from laborers to become middle class, buy houses and send their kids college,” and so we have to keep them going, she said.

Pope is passionate not only about defending her members’ rights, but changing the perception of unions as being mob affiliated and using the member’s dues to fatten their pockets. As a staff person for Ron Carey, the president of the teamsters international from 1991 to 1998, Pope witnessed the reformer Carey become embroiled in a scandal that resulted on his indictment on perjury charges. Carey was deposed as president but fought . In October, 2001, a federal jury found him not guilty of all charges.

Those years in the Carey camp strengthened Pope’s resolve in adhering to the tenets of her members. She joined Portland, Oregon Local 206 Secretary Treasurer Tom Leedham ticket in 2006 vying for the office of national Secretary Treasurer against the team lead by incumbent James Hoffa Jr. The hotly fought campaign resulted with Hoffa and his team retaining their positions.

Unsure of whether she would seek office of secretary treasurer again in 2011 when elections will be held. Right now she wants to do everything to help keep the union strong and making it stronger.

“The unions are going to be there,” she said. “They are going to need to remake themselves and have better connections in the community so people learn to trust that we represent all workers not just the workers in the places we represent. We need to be advocates for all workers.”

As a rambunctious nine year old, Antonio Centeno spent his after-school hours immersed in games or anchored to the television. Focusing on homework was another matter.

“My problem was being able to work without watching television” he recalled, adding that even, today, as an adult, “I just seem to gravitate to multi-tasking between two to three activities at a time.”

As concern mounted over her son’s learning issues, Centeno’s working mother faced a second challenge: limited time at home to help her son and no money for expensive medications that doctors often prescribe for attention-challenged children.

She found solution in Unitas, a group located near her neighborhood that connects children with Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder, or ADHA, and other cognitive conditions to a network of caretakers and peers to teach communication and conflict resolution skills.

For over forty years, this program served as a cost-effective alternative to traditional medication for thousands of kids in the South Bronx. Today, as ADHD rates spiral upward, the techniques and treatments developed by Unitas are gaining wider interest.

More than over 4 million children have been diagnosed with this affliction since the 1980s when the diseases was first identified, while the prevalence of children ages eight to 15 having ADHD has risen from around three percent to nine percent of the child population, according to national health statistics.

Along with this rise has come a marked increase the prescription of medication. Nationally, there has been a 500% increase in the number of prescriptions written for ADHD since 1991, while the average cost of an ADHD drug has nearly doubled, from $39.03 in 1999 to $76.49 in 2003, according to a recent report.

Though Medicare and Medicaid have shouldered some of the burden of costs for low income families, what becomes of children who cannot afford medication?

One approach taken up through Unitas is addressing factors in a child’s unique social environment to build a network of community supporters.

“Unitas began as a result of a non-response to traditional mental health care for low income youth in the South Bronx,” explained Dr. Edward Eismann, a Columbia University trained psychologist and Unitas founder. “When I immersed myself in the neighborhood street and in the company of a child’s own social networks, the flood gates to connections and responsiveness opened.”

By engaging a child in that child’s environment, Eismann said he was able to use his clinical skills to help youth build helping relationships toward each other, creating a community of young people who became the watchdogs and caretakers of each other in a “therapeutic community.”

“And so I dubbed the organization Unitas Therapeutic Community by name. The word ‘Unitas’ meaning unity, comes from the Bible: ‘How good it is and how noble for people to live together in unity,’ ” he added.

Matching older caretakers with each Unitas child (usually beginning at the age of eight or nine), the Unitas program “mentors” each child to resolve conflicts and communicate without aggression.

The program focuses on developing self-control and self-esteem to compliment and lessen the need for traditional medication. Coming from single parent households, the program’s community focus is a drastic departure from the norm for many Unitas kids.

“Everytime that a conflict started you would see the caretakers sit the kids down at a table and talk out their differences” recalled Centeno, who is now employed as a teacher. “This was the first time I had actually seen work out their differences talking versus acting it out.”

During his three years in Unitas, Centeno says the program began every Thursday with the “family circle,” a gathering in which members of each symbolic family sit together. The symbolic parent, or head of household, is responsible for overseeing the caretaker system within their symbolic family. The children are invited to communicate, problem solve and contribute as resources for the good of all community members present.

The children are then given “caretaker” time to work on homework, play games and discuss individual issues.

For Centeno, a former who attended a parochial school in his neighborhood, the Unitas program served as the ideal outlet to better grades and shared experiences. “To this day I’m not really sure my mother understands what Unitas is all about, but she recognized the progress I made through the program, ” he said.

While never officially diagnosed with ADHD, Centeno says that only years later did he realize UNITAS was intended specifically for ADHD children. “Never did I feel as if I were different or singled out,” he said. “That was I choose to remember the program is sitting in the sun, having fun with my friends.”

Founder over forty years ago by Dr. Eismann, Centeno says the program’s community based approach lessens the need for medication by moderating extreme behaviors brought on by inattention.

“The reality of behavior is that it is influenced by others.” he explained. “This program has proven extreme behaviors associated with ADHD can be dramatically diminished by integrating the child atmosphere of support”

Starting with a few dozen children in the 1960s, the Unitas network has grown to help thousands of ADHD children reach their full potential. But with at least 85 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD treated with some form of stimulant medication, necessity continues the demand for a quick fix.

For Barbara, a mother of three on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, simply getting her three girls to the table at the same time proved a struggle. So when Becky, her youngest daughter, struggled to cope with the demands of kindergarten at Manhattan’s prestigious Loyola school, she decided to take no chances.

An inquisitive and well tempered child, Becky was never a problem for her teacher, but seemed unable to concentrate on her lessons at school. Every day after class, she would come home, immerse herself in the computer or games and block out a long day of self described “torture.”

Harkening back to similar problems in her own childhood, Barbara decided enough was enough. On the recommendation of her daughter’s teacher, she sought answers from a local psychiatrist.

“As a mother, it is difficult to work with Becky, go to Tracey’s soccer games and make sure Allie does her homework,” she explained. “When Becky started having trouble paying attention in class, I wanted to make sure she had the best treatment immediately”

Defined as impulsive behavior, an inability to concentrate and hyperactivity, ADHD seemed to perfectly fit Becky’s symptoms. But because these general symptoms are shared by many disorders, parents and clinicians alike find diagnosis difficult.

The American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual, the DSM, lists 18 behaviors, from which a teacher can check off behaviors she observes in the potential patient or student. Likewise, the parent or caregiver does the same thing. In the current DSM, if one checks six or more of the nine, the individual is deemed to have ADHD.

To be sure, Barbara was able to foot the expense of a detailed evaluation—which includes a full battery of tests and two to three follow up sessions. According to Sejal Vyas, a clinical neural-psychiatrist in Manhattan, such evaluations—crucial to proper diagnosis– typically run anywhere from $2000-3500 dollars.

“Often the hyperactive – impulsive symptoms in children may be at risk for a wrongful diagnosis of a Childhood Bipolar Disorder—making intervention from an experienced professional imperative,” explained Vyas, who often continues to treat older children who have had a history of ADHD, who no longer show the symptoms, as a follow up to medication.

As the first step in the treatment process, Vyas says medication helps to suppress short term symptoms while cognitive therapy administered by a psychologist treats the longer term causes.

And sure enough, after being prescribed Ritalin in conjunction with behavioral therapy, Becky exhibited an almost immediate improvement in her learning and language skills.

But after speaking with at least seven other parents whose children were on medication, what baffled Barbara—who exhibited many of Becky’s problem growing up– is that ADHD was never mentioned during her school experience. But this comes as no surprise to many experts who say better diagnosis and treatment have led to greater prescriptions.

“ADHD started to be diagnosed by that name about 25 years ago; since then, as physicians and psychologists have gained more knowledge about the disorder, diagnoses have risen,” said Susan Caughman, editor of ADDitude Magazine, a publication covering ADHD treatment and symptoms. “Prescriptions rise as diagnoses rise, as there is a body of research to support the positive impact of a treatment plan including medication for people diagnosed with ADHD.”

Even with the risks—side effects including depression, cardiovascular disease, and addiction, medication and the dangers of stimulant medication such as depression, cardiovascular disease, and addiction — Barbara is just happy to see Becky getting help. But even she sometimes questions paying $78 dollars for a 30 day supply of Adderall, on top of the $250 dollars per visit for behavioral therapy– indicating the cost of medication has risen “at least twenty dollars in the last two years.”

How did the marked growth of ADHD diagnosis and medication use begin? In 1987, an H was added to the label and the illness became, “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.” Within one year, 500,000 children in the US were diagnosed with this disorder.

A few years later, it was classified as a disability and a cash incentive program was initiated for low-income families with children diagnosed with ADHD. A family could get $450 a month for each child diagnosed with the disorder, and the cost of treatment and medication would be covered by Medicaid and most major insurances.

Then in 1991, schools began receiving educational grants of $400 annually for each ADHD child. The same year, the US Department of Education classified the disorder as a handicap, which required special services to be provided to each disabled child.

Today, the annual cost for ADHD is $77 billion and the annual cost for drug use is $58 billion. In recent years, these growing numbers have led many experts to speculate that economic status may increasingly influence diagnosis.

“To the extent that diagnoses appear more in one neighborhood or another, that’s going to be driven by affluence leading in turn to more frequent visits to pediatricians and other health professionals, thus leading to greater likelihood of diagnosis,” said Caughman.

While no statistics exist on the prevalence of ADHD between New York City communities, a quick scan of the local yellow pages revealed a staggering 194 practicing psychiatrists within a one mile vicinity of Manhattan’s Upper East side compared to a mere eighteen in Centone’s the South Bronx community.

These numbers come as no surprise to Unitas founder Eismann. “Cost for psychotropic medications is outrageous and for the bulk of middle class America a cost is incurred under great sacrifice.” said Eismann. “My stance on the use of medication for ADHD is the same as that regarding any psychotropic drug: Hyper cautious.”

Eismann says by focusing on the psychological, social and environmental components experienced by children, there is a lessening need of medication, even to its elimination in less than severe case because the emphasis is on self control, being in charge of oneself and the impact of the influence of the caretaker network of Unitas in reinforcing this capacity.

Because ADHD is the product of extreme behavior, the goal of the program is to help youngsters find balance in the middle somewhere being neither unduly inhibited nor unduly aggressive. While Eismann insisted he is not “anti-medication,” his stated objective is to also help children find this balance through a variety of options.

“If medications are used because they are quick fixes to satisfy social controls, one is deluded into thinking that a true solution is found,” he said. “But to find that a particular low dose medication for a particular person truly helps together with interventions of a rich psychosocial nature is addressing the person holistically.”

While Unitas has never formally expanded organizationally into other neighborhoods, its thousands of youth participants, many of whom entered social service professions and the many who served as interns over 40 years from schools of social work and departments of psychology and psychiatry, have brought what they experienced and learned into their professional practice.

Centeno says the training he received in Unitas later allowed him to recognize and positively influence ADHD children as a religion teacher. Today as a member of the

“Often eight or nine year olds who begin as Unitas kids become caretakers themselves,” he explained. “That is how a family is, older brothers and sisters coming back to take care of their own.”

By Phyllis Cox

Amid new slides, swing bars, and volleyball, basketball and tennis courts, third and fourth graders Eric, Charlie, Sabrina, Nathaniel, Kayanna, Marquis, Tamia and Elizabeth were bounding about excitedly on a frigid pre-winter morning outside P.S. 93 in the Bronx.

The once asphalt-paved and rarely used former schoolyard is now a new field of dreams, and these young students had an extra-special cause for celebration: their schoolmates helped design the playground–pint-sized running track and soccer field included.

Student participation is the formula that has worked for this playground and at least 13 new school-based playgrounds throughout the city built under the supervision of the non-profit Trust for Public Land.

Landscape architects introduce students to the basics of playground design. Students request features for the playground but must remain within space and budget limitations. Next, they were shown slides and took trips to other schools to gauge what their playground could look like. They were given tools to measure the land and they were given templates resembling a miniature playground.

The students’ wish list included swings, monkey bars, rock climbing, courts for handball and a playground maze. They quickly learned the art of compromise, said Melissa Martinez, the program director of Phipps Community Development Corporation, which served as the community sponsor for the project.

Among the benefits of this approach: children learn through playing and develop imagination, creativity, reasoning, problem solving, motor and social skills, not to mention an appreciation for the environment, according to the Trust.

Architects also consulted closely with the community. The goal, according to the Trust, is to listen and ensure that the space is developed in accordance with the community’s needs. At P.S. 93, the design and consultation process with students, faculty and community took about three months. Construction began in the spring and concluded with an official opening in late November. The final result was a pleasing outdoor space offering a variety of recreational activities including the possibility of having a picnic lunch beneath the gazebo– when the weather warms up of course. Best of all for the students, all the outdoor activities are just a few steps from their classrooms.

Eric has seen his dream of a basketball court come to life. But he is even more excited because “there is so much we can do.”

In the shadow of the Bruckner Expressway’s speeding cars and trucks and despite the freezing temperatures, Eric and his schoolmates’ enthusiasm and excitement was apparent as they celebrated with their parents, faculty and invited guests with a ribbon cutting ceremony to launch their new playground.

The final cost was $1 million, with portions funded by the city Department of Education and private dollars donated by the Dell family, the personal computer maker.

The exuberance was not contained to the students as a fourth grade teacher commented on how much they could do with the playground. Perhaps Anthony best described it when he said he wanted rock climbing because “trees break.” He didn’t get his rock climbing wish, but the basketball courts was just great, he said. After all, he had “helped” design it.

They’re big, they’re bulky and they’re based on technology from another century, but don’t dismiss New York City’s 800-pound mechanical voting machine just yet.

With the move to modern electronic voting machines stalled by lawsuits and pending legislative approvals, the old crank-and-lever style machines, a fixture in city elections for nearly half a century, are expected be back tabulating votes in 2008, a busy presidential election year that will feature separate state and federal primaries as well a general election next November, according to the city Board of Elections.

Even if the lawsuits are settled and the Legislature approves the use of several computerized voting machines within the coming months, the board faces major obstacles as they seek to purchase thousands of new machines, train staff and educate the electorate on how to use them, said George Gonzales, deputy director of the board.

New York, which has the most registered voters of any state except for California, has the distinction of being the last state to implement the Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in 2003 requiring that updated voting machines be installed for the 2007 elections.

Albany has pre-selected designs from several manufacturers. Gonzales said localities may able to select among these, but purchasing is on hold until the new models get state Board of Elections approvals. Meanwhile, the federal government has filed a lawsuit to force the state Legislature to act, and penalties have been assessed.

State legislators, charged with the responsibility of drawing up new guidelines for assessing submissions of digital machines from manufacturers, are expected to have completed the certifications by mid to late January, 2008, said Gonzales.

“We don’t know what we are playing with because of these unanswered questions today,” said Gonzalez, explaining that the new machines will not be ready in time for the February, 2008 federal primary election.

But Gonzales and his office still face other problems once the machines are selected. The goal is to have the new machines in place for the state primaries in September, 2008 leaving the board with eight months to have the systems up and running efficiently so that New Yorkers have a chance to cast their votes.

“People who have not voted in four years are going to come out in droves to the general elections and say ‘What is this?’ when they see these new machines,” said Gonzales. “Remember, most people in this city are used to voting one way; they are comfortable with that [mechanical] machine.”

According to New York State law, Gonzales and the board is responsible for ensuring that city voters are well informed and aware of how to use the new machines. As such, the board is in the process of creating a voter education plan in response to this problem. Gonzales said they plan to place the machines in community centers, churches and synagogues prior to the elections to allow voters a chance to get comfortable with using the machines.

But the Board of Elections does not plan on getting rid of the 800 pound, 6 feet tall mechanical machines just yet. They plan on keeping them as a back up just in case there are problems with the digital ones. Currently, the city owns 7,000 mechanical machines and with the renewal of the system Gonzales said he expects the city to purchase up to 21,000 electronic machines at $8,000 apiece.

New York City doesn’t have the manpower to set up these new machines and deploy them to polling sites. Technicians trained in the new technology, perhaps as many as a hundred or more, are needed to respond to the election day equipment breakdowns that inevitably occur. Right now there are about 60 voting technicians whose job is to service and conduct preventive means testing of the mechanical lever machines.

According to election records for 2004 presidential race, New York City had 4,493,514 registered voters followed by Los Angeles with 3,901,106 registered voters.

Twenty years ago, George Gonzalez took his first job at the New York City Board of Elections answering calls from voters at the agency’s phone bank. Over the years, he’s moved up, taking on various positions that have exposed him to just about every aspect of ballot access, from primaries and general elections for the lowly party committee positions to counting the large city vote in mayoral and presidential campaigns.

Now, as election season approaches and a presidential campaign looms in 2008, the Puerto Rican born and Harlem raised Gonzalez is serving as the deputy director and acting head of the agency following the recent departure of longtime director John Ravitz, who left to take a job with the American Red Cross of Westchester in October.

But despite being thrust in to a sole leadership role, Gonzalez, who was appointed deputy director in 2003, maintains the agency has never skipped a beat.

“t was a great loss when he left, but I didn’t really have to adjust because we were both equals and I’ve been doing this for so long,” said Gonzalez, a Democrat, who explained that he serves as an equal partner with executive director at the bi-partisan agency, where Democrats and Republicans controlling five seats apiece on the ten member board. “We were basically doing the same job,” he said, noting that while Ravitz, a Republican, held the executive director’s post, “I had just as much say in day-to-day operations.”

With four elections now under his belt, Gonzalez explained his daily responsibilities range from answering voter questions and processing registration forms by the hundreds to managing a budget of over $80 million. “My main task is to ensure that every office and department is doing their job and is up to speed,” said Gonzalez, who reports and oversees policy to a board of ten commissioners each week.

In the week before the November 6th election, Gonzalez begins each day at his desk at 5 a.m. in order to make sure any host of problems—from phone bank malfunctions to voting machine maintenance– is addressed so all polling stations can open smoothly at 6 a.m.

“There is never a dull moment” said Gonzalez, who oversees offices throughout the five boroughs. “The kind of voter issues we deal with during elections range from people wanting to know where their polling site is located to questions about absentee ballots. ”

After overseeing the November 6th election, Gonzalez will quickly turn his attention to installing new, electronic voting machines in time for the 2008 presidential election. Following the 2000 presidential vote that elected Republican George Bush despite placing second in the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore, the nation moved forward with modern electronic voting systems in 49 states. New York State remains the sole holdout, with the issue locked in a dispute among Albany legislatures.

In 2006, the federal Justice Department sued to force the Legislature chose from among several available electronic voting designs and to have them ready for the voters in 2008. Working alongside Ravitz, Gonzalez has spent the last year haggling with contractors, educating voters and preparing his 350 man staff for the changes which lie ahead. With the end of 800 pound mechanical voting machines drawing near, Gonzalez says his main task will be educating the public on the ins and outs of the new system. This will begin with a voter education campaign about the new system set to kick-off early next year, assuming the Legislature can come to an accord.

“Keep in mind, this system has to be in place several months before the election, so it is important to begin preparing now to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible for next year.” He added that the uncertainty is complicating their task.

Gonzales said he expects to be considered by the board for the executive director’s post, he intends to remain as deputy director and will continue to function as the acting director until a successor to Ravitz is named. But despite the uncertainty surrounding this post, Gonzalez remains optimistic about his task at hand. “I just love what I do every day,” he said.

In the wake of recent court decisions, more reporters are going to jail to protect their confidential sources, putting a robust press at risk unless Congress approves national legislation to shield journalists and their sources, according a top First Amendment litigator for ABC News.

“It’s very scary,” said Indira Satyendra, an attorney and an expert in reporter’s privilege and libel law. “The reporter is at risk for doing his job.”

Satyendra, speaking at a conference for student journalists on October 12 at the City University of New York Graduate Center, cited cases in Rhode Island and California as well as New York Times reporter Judith Miller’s 86-day jail stay for refusing to disclose her source to federal prosecutors investigating the leaking of classified information.

Forty-nine states have laws that offer partial or full protection for reporters and their sources, either by state statute or judicial interpretation of state or federal law. New York State Law is very protective of its reporters, yet according to Satyendra, her department is constantly battling subpoenas from litigants who want ABC News to disclose their reporters notes and sources.

She explained that recent court decisions are slowly and effectively chipping away at reporters’ protections. In a 1972 split decision, Branzburg vs. Hayes, the Supreme Court left the protection of sources to be determined on a state-by-state basis.

More recently, with the case of Miller, a federal appeals court unanimously agreed with a lower court that held journalists cannot take refuge under the First Amendment when refusing to disclose their confidential sources, according to a report issued Media Law Resource Center Institute. In June 2005, the Supreme Court refuse to consider the Miller case, letting the appeals court decision stand. The next month, several representatives lead by Rep. Michael Pence (R-IND.) proposed legislation for a national shield law for reporters and their sources unless “imminent and actual harm to national security” can be demonstrated, according to the bill.

Supporters are hopeful that the measure will become law, but similar efforts in the past have failed

“Reporter’s can’t live without sources,” Ms. Satyendra said. She cited several recent investigative stories that relied on confidential sources, including the examination into unsafe conditions at the famed Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A series of stories by the Washington Post detailed how soldiers returning from combat zones were subjected poor treatment in unsafe conditions. Another instance where unnamed sources provided tips and images was the abuse by U.S. military of prisoners held at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

As a First Amendment lawyer for ABC News, Satyendra said she reviews material that a reporter wishes to put on air, so that if a reporter is ever subpoenaed for charges of false information, she can confidently step in and tell the court that the reporter has thoroughly checked their sources; this is essential to ensuring a strong defense should reporter eventually be forced to respond to a court order demanding private notes, phone records, source identification or other investigative materials essential to the reporter’s craft.

She cited Rhode Island investigative reporter Jim Taricani who had been given an FBI tape of the mayor’s assistant accepting brides. A court ordered him to reveal his source and after refusing, he was sentenced to six months of house arrest.

Closes to home, Satyendra spoke of a situation where in 2003, a young Hunter college student Ramona Moore was brutally tortured, raped and murdered in downtown Brooklyn by two assailants. ABC News was filming the detectives who were working on the investigation, as well as when they interrogated the witness to the case. The defense of the assailants went to court requesting the tape stating that it would help the case, but the judge refused, citing a New York law which protects sources.

In this uncertain environment, how can a reporter protect themselves and their sources. Some reporters are resorting to untraceable cell phones. She also stated that companies advise their reporters to keep their notes separate from their work computer. But the number one rule, she said, is always be honest with your sources.

Because reporters use confidential sources to cover sensitive news and news stories about powerful institutions

‘ “Without the assurance of confidentiality, many whistle-blowers will simply refuse to come forward, and reporters will be unable to provide the American public with information they need to make decisions as an informed electorate,” he said.

Reporters have been coming under attack to reveal the sources of their story. In the past reporters were rarely, if ever asked for their sources but recent events have many asking, how safe are sources from being discovered?

Indirya Satyendra, an attorney for ABC spoke at Cuny’s annual media conference in a panelt titled “Ho to Protect Your Sources.”

Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s new chairman of the state Parole Board unveiled a comprehensive series of reforms that seek to prepare prisoners for their return to society “from the moment they enter prison.”

“From day one,” said George Alexander, “we find out what they are lacking and fix it, whether it’s substance abuse problems
or anger control.” And long before a prisoner’s release, corrections officials should be working hand-in-glove with parole officers to ease the inmate’s return by setting up employment opportunities and pre-approving them for food stamps and other benefits to help them get back on their feet.

Alexander presented his vision for the parole system at a September 18 conference on prisoners returning to society and hosted by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes. The new chairman’s emphasis on social services for parolees was in stark contrast to his Pataki-era predecessors who stressed enforcement against those who violated the terms of their release.

But Alexander had another message for parole officers in his department: be the advocate of the inmate– not the enemy. He urged them to support parolees and celebrate their achievements. As an example, a parolee who succeeds in going drug free for several months should be praised, he said.

“Recognize that this might be a big achievement for them, because that’s all they have,” Alexander said.

Thousands of young men incarcerated over the last decade are scheduled for release or will come before the Parole Board in the next few years. Many of these inmates are black and Hispanic.

Alexander, who headed up probation efforts for the city of Buffalo for many years, said that many of his ideas were successful during his tenure in Buffalo. Shortly after taking the state job, he installed many of his techniques for inmates being released to communities in western New York. Now, he says, he’s ready to bring his plans to New York City.

Alexander highlighted an important issue. Many times prisoners are stigmatized because of their past criminal record. He spoke of changing certifications that prisoners receive in jail from Department of Corrections to Department of Labor. That will ensure that the inmate won’t be punished for his past mistakes.

To be effective, Alexander said he needed the support of many partners such as Com Alert, Department of Labor, Department of Social Services, Local Department of Social Service, Department of Corrections and the clergy.

Helen Garrett of The Quaker Society posed a question about more education in the prison system, and Alexander responded that the board has been in talks with both the State University and the City University to expand services in the prisons.

Brooklyn District Attorney Hynes, who hosted the conference at the New York City College of Technology, said that his office began special efforts in 2002 to assist recently released felons after observing that as many as six of ten parolees wind up arrested and back in jail within six months of their release.
The numbers are much lower for those who are accepted into his special program. He proudly announced that only 12% of his 2006 graduates were back in prison, compared with 41% nationally.
His program offers GED classes, computer labs, partnership with Medgar Evers College and other higher education opportunities for prisoners being released. They also have an expansion of services by Doe Fund’s “Ready, Willing and Able” program. In 2007 they expanded their program to include 1,200.00 inmates, a third of the 3,500 expected parolees.

Hynes spoke of replicating his program nationally and noted that a successful and similar program exists in San Francisco. Hynes said that once question him about these efforts and asked, “What about the victims?”

Hynes offered this response, “Reduce the number of defendants, and in turn reduce the number of crimes.”