DIVAS for Social Justice (DIVAS) received a grant from the Verizon Foundation to expand programming in 2021 to South Jamaica and the Bronx. The funding is specifically to work with youth living in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Developments. Each development provides a community center with after-school programming for youth, K-12. The NYCHA community centers are funded by The Department Of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) through the city agency’s Cornerstone contract. This contract is usually awarded to established non-profits. DYCD and NYCHA Public Private Partnerships acted as a liaison for DIVAS for Social Justice to facilitate programming at these sites. In an initial meeting, staff expressed interest in DIVAS history of interactive community maps addressing relevant issues in underserved communities. NYCHA pitched the idea of creating a map to address the issue of gun violence. DIVAS agreed on the basis of taking an asset based approach to the project as opposed to just addressing the violence through the map. The map would be reflective of the positive assets of a community that could alleviate the issue of gun violence if expanded on.
