Map Belonging

MAP BELONGING: POETRY READING 🗺️✨ Join co-facilitators Jasmin (@writeonjas ) and Yohanna (@emelindabaez ) in person alongside the inaugural Map Belonging Poetry Cohort LIVE featuring: @loosetoothpoetry @sainttreyw @xiodabomb @my_crumbled_thoughts @thomasfucaloro for an afternoon of in-person stories attuned to location and memory by voices who refuse to be erased. 💐 Deets: 🗓 Saturday, May 16th, 2026 ⏰ 2–4 PM ET (doors at 1:45 PM ET) 📍 325 Convent Ave, Harlem NYC ** RSVP Required ** 🎟️ RSVP (also in bio): /e/map-belonging-poetry-reading-tickets-1988350106694?aff=oddtdtcreator This event is free and open to the public, however, capacity IS LIMITED. DO NOT WAIT! RSVP does NOT guarantee entry if capacity is reached. ✨Thank you to our sponsors (@nycchr , @stophatenyc ) and partner (@_createtheroom ) for supporting this arts initiative! Come belong! 🫶🏿🫶🏼🫶🏽 #Mapbelonging #Poetryreading #NYCpoetry #Spokenword #NYCevents

Happy National Poetry Month! ✨📚 We’re so excited to feature artists and storytellers from the Map Belonging community. Say hello to Jasmine “JRose” Rosario (she/her) 🔥🌹 JRose is an international spoken word artist, teaching artist, and founder of The Rose Garden Events (@therosegardenevents ), repping Queens, NY with power, purpose, and poetry. A 2023 BRIC Brooklyn Grand Slam Champion and host of the iconic Nuyorican Poets Cafe Poetry Slam, she’s graced stages from Lincoln Center to NJPAC to Busboys and Poets – wowza! 🌺 Always blooming: Artist: JRose’s work is rooted in vulnerability, truth-telling, and emotional depth—bridging page and stage through poetry that heals, challenges, and resonates. ✍🏽Educator: Through workshops in schools, universities, libraries, and even Rikers Island, JRose creates transformative spaces where storytelling heals, yes, including incarcerated youth and women. Y’all hear that?👂🏾Yeah, that’s J Rose. We stan a multi-gifted 👑. We honor you and your impact, JRose. 💐 ✨ Stay tapped: @my_crumbled_thoughts 👌🏽Thank you to our sponsors (@nycchr , @stophatenyc ) and partner (@_createtheroom ) for supporting Map Belonging! #artist #storyteller #poetry #spokenword #mapbelonging

Happy National Poetry Month! ✨📚 We’re so excited to feature artists and storytellers from the Map Belonging community. Say hello to Xiolynn De La Rosa (she/her) 🔥✨ Xiolynn is an open-format independent artist from Uptown NYC whose sound moves fluidly across genres, blending into something uniquely her own. ⭐️ Just a glimmer: 🎙️ Artist: Xiolynn’s a versatile performer whose work spans genres, rooted in emotional honesty and sonic exploration. 🫱🏾‍🫲🏽Collaborator: Xiolynn’s known for building creative chemistry in both live and studio spaces, amplifying connection through music. We can attest to this! Oh, and this 🎼music? Yeah, that’s her! 😉 How fortunate are we to know you, Xio. 💫 Don’t miss out: @xiodabomb 💐 Thank you to our sponsors (@nycchr , @stophatenyc ) and partner (@_createtheroom ) for supporting Map Belonging! 👍🏽 #artist #storyteller #music #mapbelonging #independentartist

Happy National Poetry Month! ✨📚 We’re so excited to feature poets and storytellers from the Map Belonging community. Say hello to Thomas Fucaloro (he/him) 🔥✨ Thomas is a magnificent poet and educator whose work bridges page, performance, and community, creating spaces for connection, reflection, and transformation. Just a fraction: 🍎 Educator: teaching poetry and literature at Wagner College, BMCC, and the College of Staten Island; Thomas facilitates workshops across NYC, including The Harlem Children’s Zone and Prison Writes. Co-founder: Poetry in the Park, WORDPLAY, Creating Space, and Poetry in Motion 🖊️ His pen: Author of full-length collections It Starts From the Belly and Blooms and Inheriting Craziness is a Soft Halo of Light (Three Rooms Press), along with multiple chapbooks; latest release LE(t)GO (Neuronautic Press) We’re honored to be in your orbit, Thomas. 💫 Get familiar: @thomasfucaloro 💐 🙌🏽 Thank you to our sponsors (@nycchr , @stophatenyc ) and partner (@_createtheroom ) for supporting Map Belonging! #poet #storyteller #literature #mapbelonging #spokenword

Happy National Poetry Month! ✨📚 We’re so excited to feature poets and storytellers from the inaugural Map Belonging Cohort. Say hello to Saint Trey Wooden (he/him) 🔥✨ A writer, poet, and cultural worker, Trey’s work lives at the intersection of memory, Black queer life, and collective freedom. Rooted in the belief that storytelling can remake the world, his writing moves fluidly between personal narrative, political reflection, and lyrical meditation. Through essays and poems, he engages belonging, grief, care, and imagination—drawing deeply from family history and the living archive of Black community life. We stan! 🤏🏾 Forthcoming: And, I Did Not Let Myself Die 🖤 Columnist: Blueprints for the Unborn for Iansa Magazine Staff Writer: Gaye Magazine (@gayemagazine ) We’re honored to be in community with you, Trey. 💫 Watch closely: @sainttreyw 💐 Thank you to our sponsors (@nycchr , @stophatenyc ) and partner (@_createtheroom ) for supporting Map Belonging. #poetrymonth #poet #storyteller #blackqueerart #mapbelonging

Happy National Poetry Month! We’re so excited to feature poets and storytellers of the inaugural Map Belonging Cohort. 🗺️ Say hello to Scarlet Gomez (she/they) 🔥✨ A queer Dominican Bronx-based poet, writer, and zine-maker, Scarlet is out here building worlds and leaving their mark—on the page and beyond. Sheesh: Founder: Poetry House LLC Work seen in: Philadelphia Stories, The A3 Review, and Femme Dyke Magazine (!!!), Hedgebrook alum—yes, that kind of writer. 📚💅🏽 Scarlet’s just getting started. Guest editor: Archived As: I Said I Love You (coming via Sinister Wisdom in 2028) 👀 All while cooking up debut novel, No World Without You. Bronx brilliance. Queer storytelling. Big, bold literary energy. You go, Scarlet! 💫 Watch out for this one: @loosetoothpoetry 💐 Thank you to our sponsors (@nycchr , @stophatenyc ) and partner (@_createtheroom ) for supporting Map Belonging. #poet #storyteller #mapbelonging #identity #artist

THE POETS ARE HERE! Map Belonging welcomes you to a free and open to the public poetry reading featuring: @loosetoothpoetry @sainttreyw @xiodabomb @my_crumbled_thoughts @thomasfucaloro Co facilitated by: @writeonjas @emelindabaez Sponsored by: @nycchr @stophatenyc In Partnership with: @_createtheroom For an evening of storytelling rooted in identify, culture, and inclusion by undeniable artists across boroughs. RSVPs now live. Link in Bio. Come through, tell a friend! #belonging #mapbelonging #identity #culture

📣📣 Read all about it! We are in the New York Amsterdam News📣📣 Link in bio🥳

WE WERE TOTALLY SURPRISED! 🎉 We are 1 of 12 New Yorkers who walked in thinking this was a final interview. @writeonjas and @emelindabaez were so nervous, we even reworked our presentation to show the committee we had really listened and were ready for the Community Project Grant. Then came the shock: we didn’t just interview… we walked out as awardees. ✨ We’re still processing it, and we can’t wait to bring this vision to life. 💛 Participate! Link in bio!

Who taught you to speak? Who taught you to soften? Who taught you to survive? On Thursday, March 12th, from 8–9:15 PM ET, join us virtually for Map Belonging | Who Taught Me to Speak, a poetry + storytelling activation exploring linage and language. Co-facilitated by Jasmin Benward and Yohanna Báez, this gathering is part of The Map Belonging Project, sponsored by the New York City Commission on Human Rights (@nycchr ) and the New York City Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (@stophatenyc ) in partnership with Create the Room (@_createtheroom ) Together, we’ll trace the voices, relationships, and communities that shaped us, and redefine home in real time. Expect reflection, connection, poetry, and an interactive space rooted in shared experience. Belonging is in language. Come map yours with us. #MapBelonging #WhoTaughtMeToSpeak #NYCCHR #CommunityCare #PoetryEvent Belonging

Thursday, March 5th | 8–9:15 PM ET (Virtual) Map Belonging | Home is a Verb What if home isn’t a place… but a practice? Map Belonging | Home is a Verb is a live poetry and storytelling activation exploring what “home” really means, how we build it, carry it, lose it, and reclaim it. Together, we’ll reflect on belonging as something alive, something we create in relationship to ourselves and each other. Co-facilitated by Jasmin Benward and Yohanna Báez, The Map Belonging Project is sponsored by the New York City Commission on Human Rights and the New York City Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes. This interactive gathering invites you to connect, share, and redefine your sense of home through guided prompts and collective reflection. Whether you’re searching, rebuilding, or rooted in new soil, this space is about feeling grounded and fully alive, in ways only you can name. Home is something we practice. Come practice with us. Sponsored by the New York City Commission on Human Rights (@nycchr ) + the New York City Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (@stophatenyc ) in partnership with Create the Room (@_createtheroom ) #MapBelonging #HomeIsAVerb #Belonging #NYCEvents #CommunityThroughPoetry

We got the grant! ✨ Grateful to @stophatenyc and @nycchr for supporting Map Belonging. We’re building a city-made map of NYC stories—across all five boroughs. If a place shaped you, we want to hear from you. Interest Survey in Map Belonging bio. Comment “map” for more details. #poetry #storytelling #nyc #mapbelonging #belongingmap