Ijaaza EL-Nuwaubun is a resident of the Gowanus Public Housing Complex. She is a published poet, writer, and singer and has been writing poetry and singing since seventh grade. She is a current member of the Poetry Club at Nami (National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York City) and a member and lead singer of the Baltic Street Band. Ijaaza grew up in the Fort Greene Public Housing Complex and lived with her family at the Ingersoll houses for the past 40 years. A Pioneer of NYCHA, Ijaaza embodies our theme this year. Her mother raised her and her siblings as a single parent. She has two daughters and two sons and four grandchildren whom she calls her “whole heart” and has been dedicated to their protection.

Determined to do more than just survive, Ijaaza believes that success can be defined by what anyone has the power to be and become. Proving that in so many ways, she is graduate of the Metropolitan College of New York (formerly known as Audrey Cohen College), earning a bachelor’s degree in Human Services. A lifelong lover of literature and poetry, she has kept a diary since she was seven. Although she describes her diary as “private, simple and comforting to me,” it has also provided a world of inspiration for her poetry writing. Her written poems are her words from “today, yesterday and the past” and her hope is they teach people kindness, patience and love that will forever last.