Public Employee Press

District Council 37 activists help make Harlem Week festivities a success

Harlem’s soul and DC 37’s heart were on display as the union co-sponsored Harlem Week, the summer-long festival in the nation’s most famous African American community.

The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce honored the union, along with The New York Times and Harlem Hospital, for their role in this year’s celebration on Aug. 28 at Londell’s and the Flash Inn, two legendary uptown jazz clubs.

Harlem Week attracts visitors from around the globe, but participants from El Barrio, Morningside Heights and Sugar Hill — and thousands more New Yorkers — make the cultural celebration spectacular.

“For years I have been a part of Harlem Week,” said Jackie Rowe Adams, a longtime Harlem resident, activist and Local 299 member. “I watched this festival grow and got Local 299 to be a sponsor.” This year, as an Executive Board member, she got DC 37 involved.

The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corp. invited DC 37 to be a sponsor, and the board responded enthusiastically.

DC 37’s participation was coordinated by Barbara Ingram-Edmonds, director of Field Service Operations; Frances M. Curtis, program director; Kevin Smith, Local 1655 president and Black History Committee chair; and Rowe-Adams. Locals 372, 1113, 1549, and the union’s Health, Women’s, Black History, LAGIC and Citizenship committees and the Political Action Dept.’s Community Associations contributed with volunteers and giveaway items. “What a great day in Harlem!” said Smith, who was impressed “by the size of Harlem Week, the number of participants and the crowds of young people it attracted.”

DC 37 volunteers and staff were on hand at the Harlem Week Children’s Festival Aug. 18 and 19 to distribute hundreds of bags filled with T-shirts, hats and posters and goodies donated by locals.

Harlem Week began in 1974 as Harlem Day, a one-day tribute to Harlem’s glorious history. Today the festival lasts from June through August when uptown celebrates the many positive aspects of the African American, Latino, Caribbean American, and European American cultures that meld in Harlem.

“Opportunities and resources are not always available to our young people,” said Rowe-Adams. “At Harlem Week they got to ride horses, bowl, see entertainers and share in activities that would have cost a lot of money. With DC 37 and major corporations as sponsors,everything was free.”