Newsday Features Baldwin UFSD's Hello Neighbor Project
![Student]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1723568400/baldwink12nyus/zvdmqwjyb8rgfuz2mffn/HelloNeoghborNewsdayDistrictNewsx260.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1723568400/baldwink12nyus/zvdmqwjyb8rgfuz2mffn/HelloNeoghborNewsdayDistrictNewsx260.jpg","width":310}])
"Baldwin School Project Starts Conversations"
"I hope people will not be mean to each other because of the color of their skin.” “I dream that people will stop littering.” “I hope to solve world hunger.”
These are just some of the issues on the minds of about 150 Baldwin elementary school students, who — as second-graders — were photographed for an ongoing project called “Hello Neighbor.” Launched in the spring of 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative’s goal is to not only foster kindness and cultivate inclusion, but also to give young children a voice and forge connections between different age groups in the community.
“The elementary students have been given the opportunity to be part of a meaningful project, to think about their future and to say their thoughts and ideas,” said Baldwin schools Superintendent Shari Camhi.
Inspired by a similar project in Oregon, “Hello Neighbor” started at Brookside Elementary and has since been expanded to the Steele and Plaza elementary schools, with plans to bring it to the other two elementary schools in the district — Lenox and Meadow — this school year.
As part of the project, Baldwin High School advanced photography students snapped portraits of second-graders in the district. Those photos were then blown up into 2-by-3-foot weatherproof banners, with each student’s hopes and dreams printed on them. The banners have since been hung on fences outside district schools.
Baldwin — the only school system in New York State to implement the project — was recognized by the New York State School Boards Association last year for its use of “existing resources to introduce unique learning environments.”
“One of our goals is learning how to be meaningful and relevant, and one of the ways is to connect them to something bigger than ourselves,” said Camhi. “In many instances, it’s about civic responsibility.”
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