People in the Projects Matter Too
How one woman is changing the narrative about public housing residents in New York
To most New Yorkers, the projects and the people who reside within them are to be avoided at all costs.
Many will pick up their pace or roll up their car windows in order to pass by one of the New York City Housing Authority’s 326 public housing developments, notorious for their association with crime and poverty.
While several household names were raised in NYCHA, Jay Z, Whoopi Goldberg, and former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein to name a few, the negative stereotype of the projects persists and disparages residents who are made to feel like their home is somewhere to survive as opposed to somewhere to live.
One NYCHA resident wants to change that narrative.
Jayah Arnett is the curator of My Projects Runway, an Instagram project dedicated to challenging stereotypes about residents of New York’s public housing. Established in April, the project already counts almost 600 followers.
Growing up in East Harlem’s George Washington Carver Houses, Arnett felt insecure about where she lived, largely due to how public housing and its residents are stigmatized by society at large. At one point, she even felt embarrassed when being dropped off in front of her building.
“People who live in public housing are often stereotyped and assigned to being single-parent families, welfare recipients, school dropouts and criminals,” she said in her project’s inaugural post.
To her credit, the only instances where NYCHA or its residents are featured prominently in the media are when violent crimes occur or because the buildings are dilapidated. If not this, residents of public housing are often depicted as hardened, “ghetto”, and in need of a helping hand to alleviate them from their predicament, forever searching for their “come up” or ticket to a better life.
Arnett aims to challenge that notion by telling the stories of everyday NYCHA residents, humanizing the people who didn’t end up at the GRAMMYs or on Rikers Island. In her words, “the people just trying to live day by day.”
The self-described “Unfiltered Storyteller” knows the positives and negatives of living in NYCHA, but hopes to make a difference with her project and uplift unheard voices in her community.
“What I hope to achieve is to spread positivity and real raw stories that are relatable to everyone. I want someone to read a story and be inspired about it that makes them feel confident about where they come from.”
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You can check out My Projects Runway on Instagram at @my.projectsrunway
