Latest news with #DeStefano
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Nassau County school opening book fair to homeschool students after librarian's kind gesture
A simple 'yes' from a Nassau County school librarian isn't just causing a change in one of the local schools, but could be allowing more possibilities in school libraries around the country. It's after she got a call from a mother in Fernandina Beach, Kasi DeStefano. DeStefano wanted to try asking if her homeschooled daughter, Panama, would be able to attend the Scholastic book fair at Yulee Elementary School, even though she's not a student. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] The librarian, Chandra Solis, said she could come shop at the book fair. DeStefano, who's also a social media influencer known as 'Kasi Comunale' on TikTok, took a video of the visit and posted it online. The video caught the attention of some of the people working for Scholastic, who reached out to her and said they loved the idea of having homeschooled students visit more book fairs. The company tells Action News Jax it's now working to have more schools around the U.S. open their book fairs to homeschooled students. As a thank you, Panama brought a flower and a handwritten letter to Solis for letting her visit the book fair at Yulee Elementary School. Action News Jax was there to watch the moment Solis was surprised with the gift. 'It was so heartwarming. I didn't know what to expect, so this was a really nice surprise,' Solis said, 'We don't know how we touch other people's lives and we need to be more cognizant of that and always welcoming.' [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Solis tells Action News Jax she's going to work to have Yulee Elementary open all of its future book fairs to homeschooled students. She even said she'll try to have a night dedicated for homeschooled students around Nassau County to be able to shop for books in person. This is the second time Action News Jax has covered the DeStefano family's love for books. In January, we told you when Kasi and Panama were making videos showing them stocking tiny libraries in Nassau County's public parks with books from their personal collection. Kasi says getting to continue making change in the community has been a deeply rewarding chapter of her family's story. 'This is like reliving my childhood. It's like seeing my best moments as a kid,' DeStefano said, 'this is beyond what I ever thought we would accomplish.' Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Winning the lottery: East Providence school site turned into income-restricted housing
EAST PROVIDENCE – What was once the Platt-Waters school complex in East Providence has been turned into eight new homes and three duplexes built by a nonprofit, sold via a lottery for well below market value. City and state leaders gathered at one of the three new duplexes on Hoppin Avenue on April 22, to celebrate the project, saying that adding the six new units will help alleviate, even a small amount, the state's housing crisis. The three new duplexes were sold for $239,000, well below the market rate and below what the eight other single-family homes sold for, around $550,000 to $600,000. The three duplexes cost SWAP, the contractors who built the duplexes, around $450,000 to $475,000, including the cost of the land. East Providence Mayor Roberto DaSilva said he grew up in a two-family house, on the second floor, in Washington Park in Providence. "Thanks to that, my family was able to achieve the American dream," DaSilva said. The three duplexes were sold via a lottery to people making up to 80% of the area median income, $62,950 for a single person, $71,950 for a couple. A family of four could have made up to $89,900. SWAP Executive Director Carla DeStefano is a huge proponent of duplexes because they add greater density and they give home buyers an income stream to offset the cost of their mortgage, although often times, family members move into the additional units. "We're essentially subsidizing almost one full unit," DeStefano said. In October of last year, DeStefano's group sold five duplexes for $309,000 in South Providence on Portland Street. The higher price point reflected the higher maximum income limit, 100% of the area median income, $78,680 for a single person or $112,400 for a family of four. The city's plan was to subdivide the former school site and sell eight 7,500-square-foot lots, which have all been turned into single-family houses, and three 10,000-square-foot lots for income-restricted housing, which were sold to SWAP. DeStefano had to ask the city for a zoning change to allow her to build duplexes, instead of single-family homes, on the three lots the city sold her organization for income-restricted housing. Those lots are big for a city. As an example, Providence allows buildings on lots up to 10,000 square feet to be totally exempt from parking requirements, which allows for dense apartment buildings. DeStefano said she teased DaSilva about East Providence's restrictive zoning requirements and that he takes to heart concerns over the need to increase density. Selling for $239,000 duplexes that cost $450,000 to $475,000 to build represented a significant subsidy to the homebuyer. Funding to subsidize the income-restricted houses was provided by: RI Housing's site acquisition grant RI Housing's homeowner investment fund RI Housing's pre-development grant Centerville Bank offered mortgages that did not require private mortgage insurance, or PMI. With the new single-family homes up on Hoppin and Burnside avenues, some decisions on landscaping, including fences, will be up to the new buyers. The other new homeowners on the eight smaller lots haven't put up fences yet, DeStefano said. "It's almost like a subdivision where everybody needs to decide," she said. When she was growing up, neighbors left their yards open and children treated them as one big field, although she suspects, with lots so large, some people might put up fences close to the house and leave much of their yards unfenced. While SWAP doesn't normally use vinyl siding on its properties because of its fragility in the dead of winter, the group did for these duplexes to make them fit in with all the other new builds. A few trees still need to be planted as part of the landscaping. SWAP has a drawer full of house designs that are usually pulled for any given project, which reduces costs because the nonprofit doesn't have to pay an architect every time they want to build a new house. In this instance, DaSilva did not want all of the houses to have extensive second floors, so SWAP reconfigured several past designs. One building, the most popular, was the "classic up-and-down" with three bedrooms on the first floor and a two-bedroom unit on the second floor. "We can put this house on, easily, 3,500 square feet in the city," DeStefano said. "These houses can literally go anywhere." "With all the hoopla about (accessory dwelling units), what we really need to focus on is the model that probably already exists in all 39 cities and towns in Rhode Island," DeStefano said. "It's these houses. They fit right into every community." Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Providence Journal subscription. . Follow Wheeler Cowperthwaite on X, @WheelerReporter, or reach him by email at wcowperthwaite@ This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Three income-restricted duplexes sold by lottery in East Providence
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New ‘SWAP' homes offer path to ownership, rental income in East Providence
EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — East Providence on Tuesday introduced three newly constructed homes as part of a new neighborhood built on formerly vacant school property. Stop Wasting Abandoned Property (SWAP) is a nonprofit community development corporation focused on providing affordable housing opportunities through neighborhood revitalization and new construction. The newly built 2,200-square-foot homes on Hoppin Avenue each include a main three-bedroom unit, along with a one- or two-bedroom apartment that can generate rental income for homeowners. The two-family homes were priced at $239,000 to remain affordable for low- to moderate-income families who may otherwise be priced out of Rhode Island's housing market, according to city officials. SWAP Executive Director Carla DeStefano encouraged residents to advocate for two-family housing in their communities. 'Every single city and town has this model: ownership, road to homeownership and creating a rental unit in the neighborhood,' DeStefano said. 'Are we going to solve the housing crisis two units at a time? Not likely, but you can still walk a mile with baby steps one step at a time.' Rhode Island Housing Secretary Deborah Goddard also emphasized the need for diverse housing types, including two- and three-family homes and townhouses. 'We need to start doing this housing again. We've zoned it out in so many of our communities but it fits—it provides homeownership, it provides affordable rental,' Goddard said. 'This is what we need. We need a lot more of this.' East Providence Mayor Bob DaSilva noted that he and his family, who immigrated to Rhode Island, were raised in a two-family home and were able to 'achieve the American Dream' because of it. 'It's difficult to rent nowadays. It's not affordable and homeownership is almost something far away in a dream you can't achieve,' he said. DaSilva added that the city is committed to working with organizations like SWAP to bring more affordable housing opportunities to East Providence. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Children's author says his faith-based books are a way to fight the culture war: 'Kids are on the frontline'
As Easter serves as a reminder of renewal and hope for many in the Christian faith, the author of a series of new children's books warns that the culture war and the fight for family values isn't over. Anthony DeStefano is a bestselling author renowned for his Christian-themed books for adults and children. His books often bring Biblical stories to life through vivid, animated storytelling. His latest, "From Bread and Wine to Saints Divine," introduces children to the Eucharist—a central element of Catholic and Orthodox communion—in a way that's simple and accessible. "If the electorate rejects wokeism, what other options does the left have? What's their most effective strategy? It's to go after the kids," DeStefano told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. "It's true that American voters have rejected the physical mutilation of children's bodies through puberty blockers, sex hormones and irreversible gender transition surgeries," DeStefano said. "But they also must recognize that the woke left, through the entertainment industry, is just as determined to mutilate the minds and souls of children through ideological propaganda. That's a tough statement, but it's true. Wokeness is not just about mutilating children's bodies. It's about mutilating children's souls." Pope Remarks On 'Blessing' That Comes With Frailty; Says 'War Appears Even More Absurd' In His Current State DeStefano's works have been published in 18 countries and translated into 12 languages. For him, the path to becoming a children's book author wasn't so clear-cut from the start. Read On The Fox News App A native New Yorker, he attended Manhattan's prestigious Stuyvesant High School, known for its rigorous academics programs—and where he met his English teacher. That teacher, Frank McCourt, won the Pulitzer Prize for his memoir "Angela's Ashes," later adapted into a film. McCourt's influence on DeStefano was immediate. "He assigned us to write children's books," DeStefano recalled. "He wanted to force us to stop writing elaborately, as teenagers often do." "I had always wanted to be a doctor," he said. "A surgeon, to be exact." Yet, obstacles like organic chemistry and integral calculus led him to reassess his goals, he joked. In his mid-to-late twenties, DeStefano's life took a turn in another direction, though. He found a deep connection to the Catholic faith, influenced by the writings of C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton, which led him back to writing. "I thought, 'Ah, maybe, maybe there's a way to combine both these great desires to be a writer and to be a doctor.' Maybe what God really wants me to do is to be a healer of some kind, but to heal people, not with surgery, but through my writing," he said. Catholic Bishop And Orthodox Artist Discuss Materialism, Scientific Arguments For Christ, Reunification "That's the genesis of my whole writing career, and writing simply," DeStefano said. "And then, of course, as I got older, and I recognized more and more that there was a culture war going on, I realized that children represented the front lines in that cultural war. And so I thought to myself, if I could write books that help instill timeless traditional values at an age when kids are still open, curious and impressionable, then I would be doing something meaningful to counterbalance the secular messages that bombard them from the legacy media and the entertainment world." In 2018, DeStefano deviated from writing children's books and wrote "Inside the Atheist Mind: Unmasking the Religion of Those Who Say There Is No God," which immediately drew criticism and negative reviews online. Of that experience, he said, "it was exhilarating," adding that "if you're attacked by the secular culture, then that means you're doing your job." For DeStefano, restoring "objective truth" of family values and faith to the current social landscape is one of the keys to reject "moral relativism" prevalent in the culture today. Concerned Parents Of Trans Kids Compared To 'Hate Groups' By Colorado Dem: Wouldn't 'Ask The Kkk' For Opinion "Now, Easter is the celebration of the resurrection, and that's the ultimate proof that light conquers darkness," he said. "The same power that rolled away the stone on Easter morning is available to us as we push back against the lies that are being fed to us."Original article source: Children's author says his faith-based books are a way to fight the culture war: 'Kids are on the frontline'
Fox News
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Children's author says his faith-based books are a way to fight the culture war: 'Kids are on the frontline'
As Easter serves as a reminder of renewal and hope for many in the Christian faith, the author of a series of new children's books warns that the culture war and the fight for family values isn't over. Anthony DeStefano is a bestselling author renowned for his Christian-themed books for adults and children. His books often bring Biblical stories to life through vivid, animated storytelling. His latest, "From Bread and Wine to Saints Divine," introduces children to the Eucharist—a central element of Catholic and Orthodox communion—in a way that's simple and accessible. "If the electorate rejects wokeism, what other options does the left have? What's their most effective strategy? It's to go after the kids," DeStefano told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. "It's true that American voters have rejected the physical mutilation of children's bodies through puberty blockers, sex hormones and irreversible gender transition surgeries," DeStefano said. "But they also must recognize that the woke left, through the entertainment industry, is just as determined to mutilate the minds and souls of children through ideological propaganda. That's a tough statement, but it's true. Wokeness is not just about mutilating children's bodies. It's about mutilating children's souls." DeStefano's works have been published in 18 countries and translated into 12 languages. For him, the path to becoming a children's book author wasn't so clear-cut from the start. A native New Yorker, he attended Manhattan's prestigious Stuyvesant High School, known for its rigorous academics programs—and where he met his English teacher. That teacher, Frank McCourt, won the Pulitzer Prize for his memoir "Angela's Ashes," later adapted into a film. McCourt's influence on DeStefano was immediate. "He assigned us to write children's books," DeStefano recalled. "He wanted to force us to stop writing elaborately, as teenagers often do." "I had always wanted to be a doctor," he said. "A surgeon, to be exact." Yet, obstacles like organic chemistry and integral calculus led him to reassess his goals, he joked. In his mid-to-late twenties, DeStefano's life took a turn in another direction, though. He found a deep connection to the Catholic faith, influenced by the writings of C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton, which led him back to writing. "I thought, 'Ah, maybe, maybe there's a way to combine both these great desires to be a writer and to be a doctor.' Maybe what God really wants me to do is to be a healer of some kind, but to heal people, not with surgery, but through my writing," he said. "That's the genesis of my whole writing career, and writing simply," DeStefano said. "And then, of course, as I got older, and I recognized more and more that there was a culture war going on, I realized that children represented the front lines in that cultural war. And so I thought to myself, if I could write books that help instill timeless traditional values at an age when kids are still open, curious and impressionable, then I would be doing something meaningful to counterbalance the secular messages that bombard them from the legacy media and the entertainment world." In 2018, DeStefano deviated from writing children's books and wrote "Inside the Atheist Mind: Unmasking the Religion of Those Who Say There Is No God," which immediately drew criticism and negative reviews online. Of that experience, he said, "it was exhilarating," adding that "if you're attacked by the secular culture, then that means you're doing your job." For DeStefano, restoring "objective truth" of family values and faith to the current social landscape is one of the keys to reject "moral relativism" prevalent in the culture today. "Now, Easter is the celebration of the resurrection, and that's the ultimate proof that light conquers darkness," he said. "The same power that rolled away the stone on Easter morning is available to us as we push back against the lies that are being fed to us."
