Leslie Peterson

Abstract Interviewer: Mark Naison, Stephanie Robinson-Ramirez, Shellae Versey Interviewee: Leslie Peterson Peterson embodies community. Whether it be through her decades-long commitment to NYCHA and NAACP, or through her countless efforts to sustain and grow with Co-Op City, Peterson has shaped her surroundings. Being a ‘community-minded’ person reverberates throughout her academic and professional career, having even managed Edenwald houses at a point in her life. Through this and many other management opportunities, Peterson shares the impact of her understanding on the technicalities of how to progress a community. Peterson has beautifully contributed to all aspects of Co-Op City, especially in regards to relinquishing social constraints and talking to one another, providing economic affordability, as well as promoting and planning events to sustain the mental and physical well-being of Co-Op City’s residents. Having a father that was a member of the NAACP, and being a member her whole entire life, Leslie has grown up within this infrastructure, guided by her family. Also, being a Native New Yorker, and having both parents being Native New Yorkers, the way she views the city, specifically her community in the Bronx, has shaped the way she approaches life. It is all she knows, and it is the way in which she was first taught to perceive her surroundings. In turn, her upbringing has encouraged her to promote and guide others within this path of education and community-building. It is her nature, emboldening us to educate ourselves on how things came to be. She stresses the importance of causality, as it is deeply provocative and inspiring to know the origins and roots of our problems. Leslie Peterson demonstrates the beauty in those who are truly immersed in their community, maintaining the development and multigenerational, familial openness of Co-Op City. Leslie’s goal to maintain the affordability of housing shows her impending mindset to enact change within her community, especially in a way that is familial and stable. Her jubilant enthusiasm for community-building is prevalent in her contribution to Summer Fun Day, where families could interact with their neighbors in ways they had never before. People who would go to work and see eachother everyday had a chance to finally speak with their neighbors and fuel a united community. She has even contributed to the process of building and maintaining a community garden, promoting natural resources, Earth Day, Garden Bingo, and the importance of nature to everyone, whether older or younger. Peterson also establishes a sense of home and permanence by advocating for programs and activities that aid those that have lived there for decades, just as she has, and whose families wish to continue to share their life in Co-Op City. This resilience takes perpetual support and defense on Peterson’s end, allowing one to see how she is a symbol of community, but also a symbol of the efforts and strength it takes to preserve its development. Peterson truly embodies her community and the commitment to build and cultivate all of its entities. The way in which she perpetually fights to maintain a familial dynamic and a place where people can share in its sense of expansiveness demonstrates her tenacity and her ability to be a lifeline for Co-Op City.