Community Survey Project
Tiffany Pabon & Zobaida Hossain
March 7, 2016

P.S. 064 Joseph P. Addabbo Elementary School Address: | 82-01 101 AVENUEQUEENS, NY 11416 | Phone: | 718-845-8290 | Student Enrollment: | 671 | Grades Served: | 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 0K, SE | I.A. PRINCIPAL | ELIZABETH MITCHELL | Parent Coordinator: | Ines Gronda | PA President: | Homawattie Habib | Police Precinct: | 102 |

Guiding Questions:
1. Brief description of the community from documents researched. What is the cultural and linguistic representation of the community? If this information is not found on the Internet, from your observations, what culture/language do you think is represented?

Ozone queens is a working class residential community with a lot of commercial real estate that will appeal well to the public. Asian and Hispanic are the cultural and linguistic representation of the community.

2. What are the distinguishing physical features of the school? Surrounding area? What year was the school built? Include a picture of the front of the school in this area of your paper.

The school has an attached playground floor, a one way school zone designated street and a local city playground. -> Front of school

3. Does the school have a playground? What are its distinguishing features (if so, include a photo of it in this section of your survey)?

Yes the school has a playground both in front of the school and behind the school. The playground floor in the back of the school has the planets on the ground, a couple of areas to play hopscotch, and various other games. A community garden also exists in the back. There are boxed off areas where the remains of old plants put there by students can be seen. The Ampere Playground in front of the school is gated and kept clean by park staff.

4. Describe the surrounding housing, street, sanitary conditions.

There are multi-dwellings and private houses, the streets are well kept and there is a high level of maintenance displayed in the Ozone community. The streets are mostly clean with a few exceptions here and there. It seems like a very quiet neighborhood. 5. What are the closest means of transportation to arrive at the school?

The Q24 bus runs down the main ave. The bus stops are very close by the school. Walk a little bit further and you can find the A train which can take you directly to Manhattan, the airport, and the beach. A few blocks down and you can find the City Line Car service which provides taxi service to everyone in the neighborhood.

6. What are the religious institutions? Does this area have a historical significance?

We heard the Azan coming out of a Mosque near by. We could also hear church bells. This community is definitely religiously active.

Revival Time Assembly - Church

7. What are the civic, social service organizations? Where are they located?

The couple of social service organizations in the area are the Ferrini Welfare League organization located at 10141 91st St, Ozone Park, NY 11416. There is also the American Legion Veterans and Military Organization located at 9111 101st Ave, Ozone Park, NY 11416.

Day care near by

8. What restaurants exist? Do they reflect the diverse makeup of the community? Do they provide healthy food options to the youth?

The restaurants that do exist around the community are Pollo Inka a Peruvian Restaurants, a Mexican Cuisine Restaurant, Ozone Pizzeria and a Chinese Fun 1 Chinese Restaurant. These restaurants do not provide healthy food options for the young they mostly serve deep fried and fatty food. These restaurants reflect on mostly the hispanic part of the community and not as much as the Chinese community. There definitely isn’t a presence of a gentrified neighborhood. There aren’t any vegan shops, no bakeries, no starbucks near by. The shops in the neighborhood are tailored to the needs of the community and are an accurate representation of the community.

9. Are there any distinguishing features in the streets of the community (landmarks, museums, special street names)? What are they?

There are no distinguishing features. In fact this location lacks art. There are no school murals or sculptures. The park is however very clean and well kept. Two repairmen were making repairs to the swing set.

10. What other community resources are present? Do they reflect the diverse makeup of the community? Do you hear other languages spoken or on billboards, placards, store fronts, etc.?

We heard several people speaking bengali and many others speaking spanish. We walked down the main road and found signs written in both Bengali, English, Chinese, and Spanish. There were several bengali grocery stores and ethnic restaurants nearby. Sylhet Pharmacy is a Bengali pharmacy highly populated with both Bengali and Spanish people. The names of the bigger shops in the area reflect this diverse makeup of the community.

Stores & Churches in the Neighborhood * Fultoli Jame Masjid * Ema Supermarket * Ozone Park Supermarket * Sylhet Pharmacy * El Pollo Inka Peru * Revival Time Assembly (Church) * City Line Car Service

11. From the perspective of a new teacher to the school/community, what are your first impressions? What assumptions did you have before your walk? What are your thoughts now after your community walk and research?
As a new teacher to the school and community my first impressions was that it is a nice safe community for the kids and everybody in general who works and lives there. My assumptions before the walk were similar as my impression due to friends and families description of the neighborhood. It’s fascinating how the makeup of the community has changed over the years. As the Italian Americans moved out and the Bengali Americans moved in, the neighborhood shifted to fit their needs.

12. Are there any signs or informative placards in the community? If written in English, what level of English is reflected? Are there any in a different language? Include in this section a picture of 3­5 samples of signs, ads, placards, etc. that are used in the community and reflect the cultural makeup of the community.

There weren’t many signs in the community. Those we did find showed various languages. The English signs were standard English. The sign outside the Ampere playground was in four languages, English, Chinese, Spanish , and photos. I think this encompasses a very self aware community that tries to incorporate all kinds of people. Sign posted on the wall of the school in English. Sign written in English, Spanish, Chinese.

13. Is there a culture of reading or literacy present in the community? If not, what kind of leisure or entertainment activities are present for youth? (Include photos that demonstrate recreational/educational areas for the youth of the neighborhood).

There is a culture of reading present in this community. They have a family reading night coordinated by the school librarian. They offer all students an opportunity to share an evening of stories and books with teachers, parents, and siblings. Children return to school in bedtime attire and gather with classmates and families in designated locations. Our teachers volunteer their time to tell stories and model effective ways to read aloud. The Queens Public Library (which a few miles away) representatives are available to take library card applications.

14. What are your final reflections from your walk? How does the environment impact the learning experience of the students in this school/neighborhood?

We think that we’d love to work here. The community seems very diverse. It looks like a lot of different cultures are celebrated and welcome. There are many forms of transportation nearby (the bus, the train, and the car service). It feels like a safe neighborhood. The neighborhood expresses that it’s acceptance of the community and the children learn a lot from it. They see a diverse community where their language is accepted and used regularly.