Today, of course, it is open to all New Yorkers including the low-income residents of relatively nearby central and East Harlem, thus belying the increasingly-common canard the charitable giving of the wealthy provides no benefit to the poor unless it directly supports services in low-income neighborhoods.

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The nonprofit teaches mariachi to youth out of Saint Paul School in East Harlem.

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It reappeared shortly afterward, on the opposite side of the city, popping out from behind a cloud, bathing Harlem and the East River in a chalky light, and, as though caught by a gust of wind, it rolled toward the Bronx.

NEWYORKER: The Daughters of the Moon

This alternative scouting organization has its roots in a Boy Scout troop based in New York City's East Harlem neighborhood and sponsored by the Unitarian Church of All Souls.

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The MTA took extensive measures before the storm to limit the amount of water flooding into tunnels, including by boarding up ventilation grates in low-lying stations, piling sandbags at station entrances, inflating a rubber dam in the Long Island Rail Road's West Side yards in Manhattan and hastily erecting a floodwall across the mouth of the No. 3 train tunnel near East 148th Street in Harlem.

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He would ride his bike, or occasionally blade, to visit the Hagemans' school in East Harlem and other neighborhoods seldom frequented by those whose celebrity or wealth affords them the protection of limos and entourages.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | To Our Readers: A Legacy of Public Service