CHARISMA [Manhattan]

Charisma was working for the Parks Department when joined the City Cleanup Corps in April. Because of COVID complications, she soon found herself part of a core team of 10 people, responsible for maintaining 20 public parks in Alphabet City.

“For a long time it was eerie, there was nobody out at all. Then it opened up and everybody was here, which was kind of overwhelming, because so many more people were in the parks than usual! But we still had to make sure that everything was nice, even though there was so much more take care of! Most of the people in the parks also lived here in the community; they’d walk by and recognize us and thank us so much, because they knew that we did a hard job, which made us feel pretty good.”

“Working with the CCC… it’s elevated me. It was great to have a job during the pandemic, and the extra work meant that we each got a chance to take on different types of work. I took the opportunity to get my driver’s license, and now I am training to expand my position and become a park vehicle operator!”