As a youngster in the Sixties and Seventies, Stephen Ritz and his friends would drill a hole in a quarter, put a fishing string through it, and play infinite pinball games at Larry’s Luncheonette on the corner of Gun Hill Road and Tryon Avenue in Norwood. They got away with it for a few weeks.

 

Ritz recalls this little ploy with fondness and has an amalgam of other memories as well. He remembers learning basketball at Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, building little tree houses in Reservoir Oval Park, biking down Gun Hill Road, and meeting the Duncan “YoYo” man outside of school on Wednesdays.

 

It’s moments like these that he fondly recalls when he drives through the Bronx each week dropping off food for those who need it through his organization, Green Bronx Machine. The group completes the weekly, 26-mile food delivery run to support 55 families and 30 cancer patients who are currently experiencing food insecurity.

 

In fact, Green Bronx Machine does even more than that. Founded in 2011, it is an impact-driven organization that teaches kids about the art of healthy eating. According to Ritz, it started as an after-school alternative program for high school students at Community School 55 in the South Bronx.

 

It is now fully integrated into the school’s core curriculum and is also in dozens of other schools across the City, and in over 500 schools nationally and internationally.

 

“We were named Top Ten Health and Wellness Program in America by Harkin Institute and have made the Top 100 Educational Innovations in the World three times!” said Ritz proudly. “A replica of our classroom is in the U.S. Botanic Garden, and we were invited to the Obama White House three times and installed farms indoors and outdoors there.”

 

Their program aims to make healthy eating more accessible to students. So far, they have grown over 100,000 vegetables in the Bronx, and their Green Bronx Machine Facebook page is awash with fun, colorful, playful photos showcasing their “green” work.

 

A community school is a partnership between school staff, families, youth, and the community to raise student achievement by ensuring that children are physically, emotionally, and socially prepared to learn.

 

It serves as a center, providing access to critical programs and services like health care, mentoring, expanded learning programs, adult education, and other services that support the whole child, engage families, and strengthen the entire community.

 

Under the NYC Community School approach, each school is paired with a lead Community Based Organization partner that works collaboratively with the principal and the school leadership team to carry out the work at the school.

 

National studies have found that strong community schools have higher graduation rates and lower dropout rates; higher student attendance; higher reading and math scores; improved school climate, including teacher morale and student behavior; greater parent engagement; and lower rates of neighborhood crime and violence.

 

“My goal is to redefine the narrative and lifestyles for people, students, and teachers in the Bronx,” Ritz explained.

 

The hands-on, project-based curriculum has lesson plans and activities that help students meet their core academic requirements, while also teaching them about gardening, food production, health, and wellness. The lesson plan subjects range from science to math, and from language to the arts.

 

Since March, the school has shifted to online and socially distanced learning and has also implemented nightly, online tutorials with twenty-five of the most at-risk elementary school children. An after school cooking program has also been created where students deliver food door-to-door on Tuesdays, and then meet via Zoom on Wednesdays to cook.

 

Ritz explained that he and his colleagues have known since day one that children in the Bronx and communities of color and poverty are in danger. “The pandemic is symptomatic, is a manifestation of a much larger virus, or several viruses; the viruses of greed, corruption and racism” he said. Indeed, according to the 2020 New York County Health Rankings, the Bronx is the last county in health outcomes and factors in New York State.

 

During the teacher shortage in the eighties, Ritz, a former athlete, unexpectedly became a teacher. Earlier in his career, when he was teaching science at Middle School 319 on 184th Street, he created a biodiversity center which began with one tank of fish, and soon included frogs, turtles, and snakes.

 

His childhood visits to Mr. Chin’s pet shop on Gun Hill Road inspired this idea. Chin would tell the kids stories, talk to the birds and let them feed the fish. “The pet shop was really the moral equivalent of our Bronx Zoo,” Ritz said. “We loved watching them swim,” he said of the fish. “It was very calming. It was very educational, and it was something that I wanted to bring into my classroom.”

 

Ritz said he is still influenced by his childhood in Norwood to this day, especially the way the community shared resources and information. “Norwood is a community where we love people and use things, as opposed to loving things and using people” he said.

 

To learn more about Green Bronx Machine, visit their website at https://greenbronxmachine.org/who-we-are/.