Press Release
08-03-09
Zenaida Mendez or Jerry Carey
(973) 972-7273 or (856) 566-6171
mendezze@umdnj.edu or careyge@umdnj.edu
Health Disparities in Camden Captured in Photo Exhibit by Whitman Park Youths
STRATFORD, N.J. – The digital cameras gave each child a voice. For some children who live in Whitman Park, it was the first opportunity they had to share their stories from a neighborhood where more than a third of Camden’s murders occur.
In one photo, an 11-year-old posed in front of a makeshift memorial for his deceased uncle. Graffiti art and more than a dozen empty glass bottles of alcohol surround him. “It is a good photo because it lets you know what happens when you do the wrong thing,” he wrote.
In another picture, a seven-year-old captured the garden he proudly tends to. “These are our plants,” he wrote. “We put water in it [the garden] to feed them.” The plants are seen growing in front of an abandoned house with boarded windows.
On Aug. 6, these and other children’s stories will come alive. The “Whitman Park Youth PhotoVoice Community Photo Exhibition” debuts at UMDNJ. The event begins at 5 p.m. and will be held in the ground floor atrium of the University Educational Center at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health, 40 East Laurel Road in Stratford.
For seven weeks during June and July, UMDNJ students worked with 30 children, ages six to 17, on PhotoVoice. Its theme - “If Not US, then WHO? If not NOW, then WHEN?” – speaks to the project’s goal: to empower the children of Whitman Park, giving them a voice to, based upon their daily experiences, identify public health issues that stretch beyond the traditionally identified hospitals, clinics, and prescriptions.
The project is intended to be an innovative advocacy strategy that addresses the health disparities precipitated by social barriers and environmental injustices that confront Whitman Park. Project participants were assigned photo missions, to document various aspects of their lives. Approximately 30 photos will be displayed at the University Educational Center.
Sarah Nezworski, a student in the Master of Public Health/Master of Science in Physician Assistant dual degree program through UMDNJ’s School of Public Health and School of Health Related Professions, coordinated this project. She partnered with Hope Community Outreach Services Inc., a non-profit outgrowth of the community ministries of New Light Holiness Church of God, led by Pastor Odessa Edmond. Hope Community Outreach Services operates the Hope Community Outreach Center (HCOC) in the heart of Whitman Park, providing programs that give neighborhood youths positive alternatives to the lure of fast money and an illicit lifestyle.
Nezworski, David Pierre of the UMDNJ-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and Olumuyiwa Akerele of the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine, volunteered at the HCOC’s summer camp as interns through Bridging the Gaps. Each summer, UMDNJ students are placed in community agencies where they work on service projects of benefit to the Camden community. This is the third year that UMDNJ has participated as an affiliate of the Bridging the Gaps Network, a consortium of universities that encourages service learning.
“It has been interesting to see that the stories I expected are not the same stories they see,” Nezworski said. “Kids are kids no matter where they come from.”
But study these photographs closely. Look beyond the people and the objects in focus, and you see the stories you would expect an advocacy project to show, Nezworski added.
The needs of Whitman Park, a neighborhood in socio-economic decline, are evident. Older housing stock, a high housing vacancy rate, and lack of routine maintenance and investment in public and private properties have made this section of Camden an incubator for crime and poor quality of life for its residents, according to Nezworski. Substance abuse and drug trafficking also are rife in this neighborhood.
“This was an opportunity for these children to show and share their stories,” Nezworski said, “and to get them to identify and think forward about the health-related issues most relevant to them.” As demonstrated by their photos, the maintenance and cleanliness of neighborhood streets, sidewalks, homes and schools; educational options; the availability of safe recreation space outdoors; the availability of fresh, healthy meal options; and the presence of drugs, alcohol, and violence are among the children’s concerns.
The project was funded primarily with a Community Based Project Program grant from the Physician Assistant Foundation. Nezworski also received funding from the New Jersey Physician Assistant Foundation, Knights of Columbus Council 5959, and other private donations.
For more information about the Hope Community Outreach Center (HCOC) and its programs, please visit: http://hopecoc.org.
Reporters interested in attending the exhibit or who wish to arrange an interview with Sarah Nezworski should contact Zenaida Mendez, at (973) 972-7273 or mendezze@umdnj.edu, or Jerry Carey at (856) 566-6171 or careyge@umdnj.edu.
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is the nation’s largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,700 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing, and its only school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates The University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a statewide mental health and addiction services network.
