‘Why Did Mayor Adams, DYCD and Others Allow Wealthy White Children to Replace Low-Income Kids in My Program?’

Pictured are children from the 2019 “Summer Rising” program. At the time, the camp consisted of kindergarten, first or second grade students. Many are now in third or fifth grade and still participate in the program. According to Bisi Ideraabdullah, founder and executive director of Imani House, 62 parents were inexplicably locked out of the program, which will prevent a majority of the students from attending the 2022 session.  

Founder of “Camp Imani,” Angry Parents
Allege They Were Unjustly Forced Out

The G-Man Interviews: Bisi Ideraabdullah
(Hosted & Produced by Gary Glennell Toms)

Note: Many have emailed the news office asking how the audio can be accessed. Click on the white arrow on the black bar above to listen the interview in its entirety. 

 

Welcome.

My guest for this special edition of The G-Man Interviews is Bisi Ideraabdullah, a Brooklyn-born educator, activist, humanitarian and writer. Known in and outside of the United States as “Sister Bisi,” she is the executive director of Imani House (IHI), an award-winning nonprofit she founded in 1986 in Liberia, W. Africa, where she and her family had relocated. She returned to her native Brooklyn in 1997 and began to address the needs of the youth and families in the communities.

Through Imani House, she set up a food pantry and English classes for the many immigrants who lived in Park Slope. By 1999, she created free after-school and summer camps and expanded her adult literacy and support programs for marginalized children, families and immigrants in the borough.

Sister Bisi, on the right, is pictured with her students and assistants.

Her after school program and summer camp have been housed at P.S. 282 in Park Slope for the last 18 years, and the programs primarily consist of children from low and moderate income families. The after school programs provide performance arts, archery, a steel pan band, athletics, academic support, social development and more. Imani House’s adult education program offers classes for immigrant women that include learning English, basic education and GED preparation.

Sister Bisi during one of the earlier registration drives for her camp.

Sister Bisi is accompanied by four parents, Shanna Garrick, Carmen Caraballo, Yarniris Fernandez and Tiffani Hope, whose children were allegedly removed from the Summer Rising program without justification or warning by the Department of Youth and Community Development, also known as DYCD, and the Department of Education. Sister Bisi and the mothers will provide details, and the executive director will explain what happened when she reached out to the offices of Mayor Eric Adams, elected officials in her district, and the noted agencies.

Photos courtesy of Bisi Ideraabdullah.

UPDATE: September 5, 2022, @ 3:33 p.m.

A source informed The G-Man Interviews that New York State Senator Jabari Brisport submitted a letter of inquiry to the Office of Mayor Eric Adams, the Department of Youth and Community Development and the Department of Education regarding this matter.