BCM is a Symbol of NYC's Tale of Two Cities says Executive Director
New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito State of the City Address Response Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito referred to many initiatives today in her State of the City Address, including the opening of the Bronx Children's Museum facility in the South Bronx. The Museum’s Kids’ Power House Discovery Center will address inequities that she and Mayor de Blasio have together been focused on correcting since they both took office. Carla Precht, the Bronx Children’s Museum’s executive director, stated after attending the Speaker’s Address, “The Bronx Children’s Museum is a symbol of NYC’s Tale of Two Cities. On behalf of the children of the Bronx who cannot vote and do not have a voice, we applaud the Speaker's clarity about issues critical to the future of our great city — the empowerment of all vulnerable New Yorkers, including children like those of the Bronx, who for too long have been denied equal access to educational, enrichment and economic opportunities. There are 250,000 children in the Bronx under the age of nine. "Every other borough in the City has at least one accessible and affordable educational and cultural institution devoted expressly to its children and their needs and aspirations. Until very recently, the Borough of the Bronx only had the Bronx Zoo. With the upcoming opening of the Bronx Children’s Museum’s Kids’ Powerhouse Discovery Center, which the Speaker and our Borough President have been advocating for, the era of exclusion will finally be over. The development of the Museum's building near Yankee Stadium is finally on track and is slated to open in 2017. The Museum needs to raise approximately 4 million dollars to finish developing the site.” Sonia Manzano (“Maria” from Sesame Street), who grew up in the Bronx and also attended the Speaker’s Address, stressed that information and opportunity are knowledge and power. She said, "Children's museums today are just like libraries used to be when I was growing up in the Bronx. A children's museum can unlock a young child's imagination and creativity, inspiring a life-long love of learning. I am so happy that our Bronx children will finally be getting their own interactive educational and cultural institution — something I have been advocating for almost a decade. In order for our children to get ahead they need equal access to the arts, enrichment and children's museums.”
