News Blog

I found this video on Reddit and believe it deserves a wider audience. It's a mini (about 10 minutes) documentary on the effect that open-air drug markets have on the North Clinton neighborhood in Rochester. And it is heartbreaking. 

"Living With Open-Air Drug Markets" was produced by Zack DeClerck, the Ibero-American Development Corporation, and the Rochester Drug Free Streets Initiative. 

Ibero sent over the following statement to accompany the video: 

“Residents who reside in the El Camino neighborhood have been working hard to improve the quality of life of North Clinton Avenue; many have endured the challenges and are fed up. The Ibero-American Development Corporation has worked with residents to improve the overall health and well-being of their community through efforts such as Project HOPE, and the neighborhood has improved significantly over the last decade.

"However, often times the issues facing this community are much larger than just the neighborhood itself. Drug use is a regional problem, yet open-air drug sales are often a struggle occurring in many low-income neighborhoods facing poverty.

"This video demonstrates the gravity of the challenges and why you should care about how the drug use habits of the region victimize some communities more than others, often neighborhoods with hard-working people who care and strive to improve the environment they live in.

"For more information on all the positive happenings in this particular neighborhood, please visit http://www.myelcamino.org or like Project HOPE on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ProjectHOPERochester/." 

Living With Open-Air Drug Markets - Rochester, NY from Zack DeClerck on Vimeo.