The Syracuse Housing Authority aims to increase homeownership with 50 new homes This upcoming spring, the Syracuse Housing Authority will begin yearlong construction of 50 homes for low-income families on the South Side. The program aims to increase homeownership in the city while also filling its many vacant lots.

Bell Grove dance troupe puts on a play to fight street influence Friday, Dec. 3 You’ll eventually find your way back home. This is 40-year-old Nicole Hudson’s message to young people on the streets. It’s a lesson she says she had to learn the hard way. She grew up in a religious family. But around age 20, she began straying …

In tough economic times, his restaurant manages to survive Growing up in Kingston, Jamaica, Irvin “Bongo” Hanslip learned the value of hard work from his parents. “My parents were only rich in culture, poor in finance,” said Hanslip, 63, whose parents were both farmers. “By seeing how they provided for us, so we could have a better education, it give …

Valley Worship Center food pantry is a portrait of hunger in Syracuse When Brenda Taylor thinks of the starving and the hungry, it’s not another country on the other side of the globe that comes to mind. She thinks of herself and her neighbors.

Chief of Police Frank Fowler arrived at City Hall Monday, Nov. 15, night armed with numbers, statistics, and the results of his own racial profiling study to construct a passionate defense of his police department from accusations of racial profiling. Nearly 50 members from the community, Syracuse Police Department and the Syracuse Common Council gathered to hear researchers present their …

Lynn Olcott will return to lead a writing workshop entitled “Finding The Writer Within.” She plans to be as supportive to writers/reporters as possible, and she will also discuss how to write and develop ideas for columns and the nature of writing over time to a public readership. This workshop is free and open to the public. It will be …

Around 150 students, from sixth through 12th grades, participated in free writing workshops at the second annual Writing Our Lives community event held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13, at Percy Hughes Magnet School. Students came from the Syracuse City School District and the greater Syracuse area.

A “Stop the Violence” call to action brought together 150 people Saturday, Nov. 13, to the Mary Nelson Youth Center. The theme of the event was to discuss and find solutions to halt violence in the community.

Minority contractors in Syracuse, mostly on the South Side, are banding together to improve access to training and certification programs and to demand more work on private and government contracts. But they face an array of stiff challenges, including shortcomings in expertise, funding and networking.

A one-man recycling operation picks up recyclables from residents A year ago, Tyrone Cannon sat in his living room joking around with friends, drinking a few beers. “Save your bottles,” he told them. “One of these days I’m going to start a bottle return business.” Today, he runs Cannon Street Recycling, a door-to-door pickup service for can and bottle returns.