Fall 2015 Newsletter

WOOC 105.3 FM Update

Many thanks to everyone who contributed so far to our Low Power to the People fundraising campaign! With your help, we’ve made a lot of progress toward getting WOOC 105.3 FM on the air. The on-air studio at The Sanctuary for Independent Media is complete and volunteer training is under way. We’ve purchased our transmitter and antenna, too. We’re almost ready to go!

If you’re interested in getting involved in this radio project, check out the Be The Media! workshop series for upcoming classes. And stay tuned for more news as it develops!

Uptown Summer 2015

Working with the Rensselaer County Summer Youth Employment Program, we recruited ten young people for the five weeks of Uptown Summer 2015. The days flew by, as always, and once again it sure was fun! 

It’s the time we pause to really focus on youths in and around our North Troy neighborhood – and, for the past five years, we’ve been amazed by their hard work and great attitudes. They were a huge help with all the things that need doing on our block, especially maintaining the many green spaces.

This year we added a radio focus, training teens as media producers, laying the groundwork for youth programming.

NATURE Lab Update

Our environmental education efforts hit a fever pitch this summer, with a sharp focus on our block and the Hudson River a few feet away from us. 

Environmentally-concerned artists Aurore and Brandon Ballengée made a return visit to North Troy, and almost immediately ended up in the river with our youth workers in waders swinging fish nets. They brought a whole new awareness of the aquatic environment so many of us take for granted.

Author Amy Halloran stopped by with her friend Howard Stoner to harvest and mill the heirloom rye we planted last fall at the Collard City Growers garden, turning the occasion into a pancake party.

A summer highlight was The Great North Central Hive Harvest of 2015, led by our in-house bee whisperers Azure and Christian. They showed our young workers the ins-and-outs of apiculture from hive to honey, with super sweet results!

Freedom Square: Putting the Unity in Community 

It’s been a busy year at Freedom Square, with community-focused outdoor events every few weeks from spring through fall!

The fun started in June with our annual Freedom Festival, featuring great local bands, free food and lots of great art activities. 

We continued with the second annual Peacestock celebration in July – and even more music, food and art! 

In August, our whole neighborhood came together for the second annual Back To School/Stop The Violence event… hundreds of people attended for the greatest turnout ever at Freedom Square. 

Our outdoor activities came to a close on a beautiful late September day with the fifth annual StoryHarvest Festival, with the Joe Barna Quartet and TriBecaStan, fresh cider-making with lots of great food, and art activities galore!

Creative Crosswalks

Sixth Avenue was unusually car-free during StoryHarvest 2015, as artist Jillian Hirsch led a team of painters creating an incredible crosswalk mural near Freedom Square. The theme: sturgeons, the ancient fish species fighting extinction in the nearby Hudson River. This project is an inspiration to a community struggling for a hopeful and healthy future.