04/28/2026
Nilka Martell, founder of Loving the Bronx, is leading a generational effort to cap the Cross Bronx Expressway in her Parkchester neighborhood. Nilka’s organizing has always centered around the community and bringing people along with her. Her journey started on her block, with her kids and continued when she transformed her local park. Today, she’s channeling that same energy into capping the Cross Bronx: a project that would reduce noise and air pollution while reconnecting communities divided by one of the first urban interstates built through a dense city.
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This is part of an ongoing project documenting women and nonbinary organizers across New York City. Over the past six years I’ve witnessed the depth and persistence of this labor as a force for change in our city. These organizers consistently transform their communities through planning, advocacy, fundraising, and presence. Much of this work goes unseen and uncelebrated, yet it creates lasting change. This project documents and uplifts this work so others can follow where they’ve led. Organizing work is kinkeeping in action, a form of care that stretches past the household and sustains broader communities.
This project is a part of my work at , under the mentorship of and
