Bed-Stuy Students Tell Borough President Showers Are A Right

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN -- Advocates rallied in Brooklyn Borough Hall Thursday to request a progress report from the Brooklyn Borough President on plans to provide homeless people with a place to shower.

None of the advocates was over the age of 12.

"It felt very nerve-wracking, it was a huge thing that was going to happen," said organizer Jada Warren, 10. "I brought my classmates in because I believe in them. They have very smart minds."

"I just feel like everyone has a right to have a shower, to brush their teeth, to have clean clothes," added Serenity Dixon, 11, a fellow fifth grader at P.S. 5 - Dr. Robert McNair. "We need to make a difference with that."

Warren, Dixon, their classmates and teacher Cindi Van Petten were invited to meet with the borough president Thursday after launching a campaign to bring Shower Bus — a nonprofit that remodels school buses into places where homeless people can shower — to Brooklyn.

Adams announced in January he would partner with Turning Point and Brooklyn Community Services to purchase the two mobile units that will drive around the borough offering access to free showers, and the students wrote letters to ask Adams to move forward with their plans.

"The letters were powerful enough that we got him to invite us here," said Van Petten, who helped the kids contact the nonprofit, write letters and design signs.

"I only go with the flow of the children. It's about them."

Adams, who insisted the kids line up their signs on a long conference table in front of him so he could reach each one, agreed.

"There's something else that I'm excited about," Adams told the group. "You're not saying 'I need a Shower Bus, you're saying other people need a Shower Bus."

"I'm seeing young people marching for better food in their schools, for their environment, for anti-violence. I'm seeing this whole energy."

Adams talked to the kids about the role young activists played in ending Apartheid in South Africa and who faced dogs and fire hoses to march during the Civil Rights movement in the deep south.

"There's a window of time when you change the globe," Adams said. "When you are young."

The Borough President also recounted a time from his childhood when his family was on the brink of homelessness but were saved by friends and neighbors who made sure the Adams family had clothes, new shoes and holiday dinners.

Dixon brought the conversation back to the bus program and several students questioned Adams about the obstacles and barriers for getting such a program passed.

"We want it to come to Brooklyn," the 11-year-old said. "We want it to be able to help people as soon as possible."

"People are afraid to do what's new," Adams said.

A representative from Adam's office estimated the Shower Buses would launch within the next several months.

After the meeting, Warren, who hopes to join the military one day and become a nurse, said she was happy with the outcome and to have overcome her nervousness.

"I feel very empowered, like I can do anything now."