The Day: Free Meals for Children, Atlantic Yards on the Radio and a Local Actress Talks Fort Greene

Good morning, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

The 42nd annual International African Arts Festival took place from Thursday, July 4 to Sunday, July 7 in Commodore Barry Park. Basil Mchawi, the festival’s chairman, estimated that 10,000 people attended the event each day. We brought a video camera with us this weekend and saw part of a symposium, visited vendors and representatives of cultural organizations, and also watched the IAAF parade at Vanderbilt and Fulton Avenues. Look for our post and video this week. Locals, if you took photos of the festival don’t forget to share them on The Nabe’s Flickr page.

• The United States Department of Agriculture has begun providing free meals to children ages 18 and under at two locations in the nabe. Monday through Friday, at the corner of Flushing Avenue and North Elliot Street in Commodore Barry Park, breakfast is available between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m., and lunch is available between 11:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. The times shift slightly at P.S. 067 on Saint Edwards Street, when breakfast occurs between 8:00 and 9:15 a.m., and lunch occurs between 11:00 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. For more information, visit No Kid Hungry online.
• WNYC mentioned the Atlantic Yards project in a radio piece focussed on how Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has helped New York City grow vertically. The project comes up at the 4:23 mark of the piece and includes audio clips from construction workers rallying for jobs, and Council Member Letitia James advocating for affordable housing. Candidates for James’ seat also talked about the Atlantic Yards project, housing and jobs at a forum hosted by Families United for Racial and Economic Inequality on June 28.
• Actress Gaby Hoffman, who co-stars with Michael Cera in the upcoming film “Crystal Fairy,” talked about loving life in Fort Greene in an interview in DNAinfo. Hoffman said that the return of white residents to the neighborhood has not displaced the “middle and upper middle class intellectual African American community.” What’s your perspective on her view, locals?