HIGHER ED TODAY
COURIER LIFE,10 JULY 31-AUGUST 6, 2020
The family of Davell Gardner, Jr. held a funeral for the one-year-old who was shot to death
in his stroller in Bedford-Stuyvesant on July 12. Photo by Todd Maisel
‘He could change
anybody’s day’
BK mourns one-year-old shooting victim
BY ROSE ADAMS
Dozens of mourners gathered in
Bedford-Stuyvesant on Monday morning
for a funeral for Davell Gardner,
Jr., a smiley, one-year-old boy who
was tragically shot and killed in his
stroller on July 12.
The service, held at Pleasant Grove
Baptist Church on Fulton Street in
Bedford-Stuyvesant, drew community
members and local leaders who paid
their respects to Gardner’s family and
called for an end to gun violence.
“This young boy deserves the same
kind of attention that hopefully could
shake up this city,” said the Reverend
Al Sharpton.
Family members remembered
Gardner as a happy baby who lit up the
lives of friends and family.
“He could change anybody’s day.
He just had so many people that he
loved and they loved him back,” said
the boy’s father, Davell Gardner, Sr.
“My son is gone. I don’t have anybody
else.”
The boy’s father broke down while
eulogizing his only child.
“They took my son. They took my
family,” he said through tears.
Gardner, who was going to turn
two in September, was killed the night
of July 12 after a shooter opened fi re
on Raymond Bush Playground in
Bedford-Stuyvesant, where Gardner’s
family was at a barbecue.
The baby and three other shooting
victims were rushed to Maimonides
Medical Center, where Gardner died
of his injuries. The other three victims
survived.
At Gardner’s funeral, Attorney
General Letitia James said she’d work
to hold the shooter to account.
“My faith teaches me that in
heaven there’s a special place for children
… but my faith also teaches me
that there’s a special place in hell for
the person that did this and for all the
individuals who are responsible for
gun violence in our communities,” she
said. “Black lives do matter, but Black
lives and the lives of babies must matter
to us fi rst and foremost.”
Following the speakers’ remarks,
the family gathered around Gardner’s
little casket, where his Elmo doll and
Teddy bear sat surrounded by white
fl owers.
As the casket was placed in a hearse
outside the church, attendees reassured
the baby’s distraught family.
Gwen Carr — the mother of Eric Garner,
who was killed in 2014 by a police
offi cer’s chokehold — said her experience
losing a child moved her to attend
the baby’s funeral.
“This is the loss of a child. No matter
how young the mother is or how old
the mother is, this is still the loss of a
child,” she said. “When we say Black
lives matter, Black lives don’t only
matter when there’s a police killing.
It matters when theres violence in the
street, it matters when they mistreat
our mentally ill.”
On July 26, the family held a wake
for Gardner at the Lawrence Woodward
Funeral Home on Troy Avenue.
Both the wake and the funeral were
paid for and facilitated by New York
Knicks player Taj Gibson.
Gardner’s killing comes amid a
spike in shotings in Brooklyn, with
148 victims of gun violence over the
28-day period that ended on July 26 —
compared with just 34 over the same
stretch last year.
As a mentor in CUNY’s College
Bridge for All program, Sebastián Sepúlveda
is focused on helping high school
graduates navigate the tricky transition
to college and escape the so-called “summer
melt,” a phenomenon in which all
too many prospective students succumb
to uncertainty in the restless months after
high school graduation and abandon
their college dreams.
Sepúlveda, who is about to begin his
junior year at Lehman College, is part of
a critical group of CUNY students who
are supporting thousands of graduating
seniors from city public high schools
as they navigate pre-college paperwork
and financial planning, activities that
can easily trip up incoming freshmen
during the long summer break, particularly
this year.
“These are very difficult times for
everyone,” says Sepúlveda, a first-generation
college student who immigrated
from Colombia six years ago and says
the scope of his responsibilities has
grown because of COVID-19. “This is
about helping the community to make
sure that no one is left behind.”
Even in the best of times, the transitional
period can be a precarious stretch.
Studies show that as many as 40 percent
of low-income students accepted to college
can experience a “summer melt”
that prevents them from matriculating
in the fall. In the face of the pandemic-interrupted
spring, when graduates were
isolated from teachers and advisers, that
percentage could be even greater this
coming fall.
That’s why CUNY is proud to offer
College Bridge for All as an essential
service to increase access to postsecondary
education for high school
graduates. Thanks to an $877,000 grant
from Bloomberg Philanthropies and a
$250,000 grant from The Carroll and Milton
Petrie Foundation, the program is
poised to reach graduating seniors from
every New York City public high school
this year, a significant achievement that
has magnified CUNY’s ability to help
New York and its colleges rebound from
the pandemic.
Employing a near-peer approach,
CUNY student coaches share their own
experiences with graduating seniors to
convey the importance of continuing
to college. It’s the equivalent of having
access to a guidance counselor, a big
brother or sister and a college adviser,
all rolled into one.
Launched in 2016 in collaboration between
CUNY and the New York City Department
of Education (DOE), the program
also serves as a source of summer
employment, this year paying 176 CUNY
students and additional coaches from
partnering community-based organizations
to help thousands of recent high
school grads. All told, their efforts will
support the entire Class of 2020, about
55,000 recent high school grads.
The benefits to incoming students
have been clear. In 2017, participating
students enrolled in college at a rate 11
percent higher than the DOE average,
an impact that was driven by increased
college enrollment for students identified
as low income, Latinx and/or Spanish
speaking.
CUNY is now combating summer
melt on multiple fronts. We recently received
a $175,000 grant from the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation to pilot a new
summer bridge and persistence peer
mentoring program that mirrors the
goals of College Bridge for All.
College Bridge for All coach Cindy
Velíz, a junior at City Tech, describes
panicked texts from students who are
confused about paperwork and other
procedural hurdles, many of them
soon-to-be first-generation college students
who lack a support system to get
answers. Velíz walks them through the
process, easing their anxieties.
“I tell them stories about my own
experiences to make them feel comfortable,”
said Velíz, herself a first-gen college
student. “We talk about what they
may want to major in, their college
schedule, the kind of career they want to
pursue. ... We bond over our shared experiences,
and I feel like they’re more prepared
and excited to go to college after
our talks. It makes me feel good to know
that I’m making a difference.”
Recent graduates of city public high
schools who are looking to connect with
a Bridge coach can visit here.