Hi Miracle Makers,
 
I hope this message finds you well! We have our monthly update for you from The Miracle Crew and we are excited to share some news with you! The theme of our month has been “Hold on to yourself”.

June has been a very busy month for us and we have been moving, and working, and meeting, and dreaming. We’re in the garden, we’re fundraising, we’re moving our office, we’re planning for the building, and planning for our events coming up. In the midst of all the busyness, we have to remember ourselves, we have to remember to hold on to ourselves, who we are, why we are here, and what is important.

We had some great fundraisers this month and last month that were a huge success! Our dinners were a hit as usual! Thanks so much to Kanema Haynes for volunteering her time to cook for Miracle on Craig St. Thank you to all the Schools and County Offices that ordered dinners from us!

Our Yoga Fundraiser was also a very peaceful, pleasant, experience! Thank you to Chelle Pean for volunteering her time to guide our first outdoor yoga fundraiser! It was such a beautiful day, with beautiful people, and beauty in nature all around us.
On June 13th, we walked through the building at 700 Craig Street for the first time since 2015. There has been a lot of vandalism to the building, mostly notably a lot of broken windows. We will be taking another walk through the building in a few weeks once the building is cleaned up. At that time we will begin measurements with TAP Architect Firm and continue working on a rehabilitation plan for the space. We cannot wait to start this process with TAP!

In more exciting news, The Miracle on Craig Street Office is moving to The Hamilton Hill Arts Center at 409 Schenectady Street. We are expected to be set up there by the beginning of July. The miracle crew is very thankful and grateful to Rachel Conn and The Arts Center Family for providing space for our needs and welcoming us in. We look forward to working with the Hamilton Hill Arts Center on this important journey together.
​
Things are a growing slowly but surely in the garden. With all the rain, our plants are very well hydrated and I think we’re all looking for some dryer days. Speaking of gardening, we are taking a youth field trip up to Soul Fire Farm on July 12th! We are so very excited to be back up at the magical place that is Soul Fire Farm with youth from Schenectady!!!

Lastly, our Community Basketball League is starting back up in the month of July! Starting July 8th, and every Saturday thereafter we will be running our annual basketball league for ages 16+ at Jerry Burrell Park from 12-5pm. Come out and support some of our great local, talented, athletes here in Schenectady. DJ, live performances, snacks and activities for children every Saturday!

Until next month, much love and light and a million blessings from us to you!
​
Love,
Rosa Rivera

Dear Miracle Believers, 
​
May's Theme: Letting Go Letting God

We are practicing the art of letting go and the power of No! As change agents, healers, and activists, we give a lot. We work a lot for others and sometimes don’t take a moment for ourselves. We all need to remember to keep the balance and know when to let go and let god, when to take care of our selves (which should not be like a special holiday but, daily practices) and when to just say no and be selfish in a good way! Our community needs the best us, we have to be our own heroes first, if we are not good to ourselves we cannot be good for anyone else.


Building101
Hooray! The 700 Craig Street property and corresponding parcels of land are now city owned! This means that the City of Schenectady currently has title to the Carver building and remaining parcels of land surrounding Carver and, is in a position to sell the property. We are currently working with our Albany Law team and the development staff at the City of Sch’dy to assess the building in its current state, next month. We have not been able to do this since we started fundraising in 2015!!!
​
Growing Food & Gardening
Some of our plots have already begun growing sprouts. This year we chose to do a lot of planting from seed. We also chose to plant a few different crops than last year (specifically green beans, soy beans, and peas, because legumes are good for the soil). Our next garden work day is on May 20th from 10am-2pm at the Craig and Wiley Street, Capital Roots Garden. If you are interested, come out and get your hands dirty this Saturday! Stay tuned for details on our small CSA share that will benefit our work to re-open Carver Community Center.
Keeping Focus
As we get closer and closer to reopening The Carver Center. Our focus really begins to narrow on our mission. We would like to really bring clarity to the purpose of reopening Carver to “root a culturally competent network of people, resources, and opportunities in Hamilton Hill.” We are seeking to provide resources to existing organizations that already serve the neighborhood and make them well equipped to carry out their mission, foster collective work and responsibility, practice cooperative economics, and provide service to the people in the neighborhood. To get us closer to this end we will begin surveying several different organizations, groups, and individuals in our community about their scope, needs, and resources. This will help inform the direction and scope of our resources and opportunities at the center.


Our next open meeting is Thursday, June 1st at 6:30pm at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church at our office at 1055 Wendell Ave. Meetings are for the purpose of community and building and planning, therefore they are open to all community residents and organizations in Hamilton Hill. Other organizations and members from other communities are asked to make a separate appointment with our team, to learn more about what we're up to!


Much Love,