The side of a building on 125th Street and Broadway has become a focal point of AIDS awareness in Harlem. Until March, two huge billboards on the building combined to declare, “We’re not taking it lying down!” – the tagline of an ad campaign by The Women’s Institute at Gay Men’s Health Crisis. The posters were replaced by twin ads for the “HIV stops with me” effort sponsored by the state and city health departments.

The messages and their prime Harlem placement come at a time when African-American women are the group with the highest rate of HIV infection in the city – and the nation.

First-time businesswoman Doris Wade looked around her South Harlem neighborhood two years ago and saw a need: services for pets.

So she opened Posh Paws - the first of four pet-services businesses that have opened within three blocks on Frederick Douglass Blvd. in the past two years. The newest is Harlem Hound, a dog-walking and cat-sitting service that debuted in April.

“I’ve worked for animal care services before. They would never go beyond 101st St.,” said Oliver Rhee, the entrepreneur behind Harlem Hound. “It was as if there was an imaginary line that you just didn’t cross.”

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Their eyes met for little more than a second. “Cool” J.C. Rocwell acted instinctively. He sprang from where he sat and fell into step with the white-haired passer-by. At 6’2”, Rocwell towered above his new friend.

“Hello buddy,” he said as he intercepted the man’s path and pulled papers from the black Polo Sport bag slung around his shoulder. He thrust the bundle towards the captive observer. “Let me ask you a question,” he said. “Do you like poetry?”

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The Rev. Calvin Butts, the politically influential leader of Harlem’s famed Abyssinian Baptist church, endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton last month. But that didn’t stop volunteers from Harlem For Obama from distributing flyers outside the W. 138th Street church, trying to sway voters.

Djenny Passe-Rodriguez spoke with Harlem churchgoers about the appropriateness of religious leaders endorsing candidates from the pulpit.

Harlem4Obama, a grassroots political organization, has been pounding the streets of the community in an effort to deliver the presidency to Senator Barack Obama.

“His message is very clear. It’s a message for the future,” said Michael Washington, the group’s president. “He’s shown extreme ability to cross numerous lines that have divided us for a long time.”

Dana L. Oliver spoke with members of the group.

Harlem4Obama
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At first it sounds like a typical tale of gentrification: Spanish Harlem residents battle to save a community garden from being bulldozed to make way for apartments.

But the gardeners are fighting neighbors they’ve known for decades, not outside developers. The 116th Street Block Association, a nonprofit founded by locals in 1976, plans to build 55 apartments on the garden site for families making $40,000 or less.

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Like many of her neighbors, Ethel Thaim grabbed the bare essentials from her apartment before the Fire Department evacuated her unsafe West Harlem building. Now the displaced resident of 305 W. 150th St., is living in an uptown shelter, trying to piece her life back together. More »