Kingsbridge Unidos turns pandemic pain into grassroots power in the Bronx

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and no other time in modern history made that more obvious than when the pandemic shut down the world in 2020, giving rise to several grassroots initiatives.

Kingsbridge Unidos was one such group.

Born and raised in Kingsbridge, where most of her family still lives, Jessica Woolford saw the need for critical resources in her own backyard. 

“There were a number of families — particularly undocumented, mixed-status, families — who were not getting critical information about where to get vaccines or where to find support,” she said. 

Seeing the elderly and vulnerable die around her inspired Woolford to start the effort to mitigate the disparity the Bronx was experiencing during COVID. 

In New York State, the in-hospital fatality rates for Blacks and Hispanics who died from the respiratory disease were 5.4 and 3.5 times higher than the fatality rate for whites, respectively, according to 2023 information from the National Library of Medicine. New York City data marked the 10463 zip code as one hardest hit by the pandemic — the area has a 50 percent Hispanic demographic. 

Woolford took a survey of the families in her grandmother’s building near West 238th Street and found individuals’ most common requests were the need for fresh foods. 

“She would go to the community and ask, ‘What do you need?’ and would get them fruit and vegetables, not canned stuff,” Selma Raven said of Woolford at the Kingsbridge Unidos fifth anniversary party in Van Cortlandt Park, where several other neighborhood grassroot groups were in attendance.  

Raven is co-founder of The Friendly Fridge BX, also born out of the pandemic, with the aim of feeding the food insecure in the neighborhood. The free food program has since expanded across the borough and neighboring counties. 

According to 2024 data from the Department of Health, the Bronx has the highest food insecurity rate in the state at nearly 40 percent.

As the head of public affairs for a state agency, Woolford was able to tap into her professional network and gathered the efforts of friends, family and neighbors, and fundraised to create a free Community Supported Agriculture program.

Former state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi connected Woolford with the Hunts Point produce market, where she was able to purchase items wholesale and started going door-to-door to the tenants in her grandmother’s building.

“I grew up in a household where food is everything,” Woolford said. “Food is how you care for people, how you love people, and so we said, ‘Let’s find a way to get produce into people’s hands.’”

With the help of Rabbi Katz at Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel in Riverdale, she was able to use the space as a hub for food distribution, expanding her reach. 

Over time, Kingsbridge Unidos grew and so did Woolford’s mission. She realized, while food was obligatory for sustaining life, so was exercise and socialization.

She started Buckets for the Bronx in 2023, an annual co-ed, teen basketball tournament out of Lehman College. Woolford’s commitment to making the Bronx a more sustainable place to live — not just physically, but mentally — caught the eye of individuals with the same vision in mind.

In 2024, Cash Cow NYC — a streetwear brand with a dairy farm in India working to give back to the community — co-sponsored the basketball event. 

Kingsbridge Unidos also started a bike and helmet giveaway program in which Jesse Wolmart, a volunteer and mechanic from Norwood, collects unused and abandoned bicycles and fixes them, making them ride-ready for children in the neighborhood. 

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera helped in this mission by securing a temporary warehouse space in Marble Hill, where Wolmart could do the necessary repairs in time for the bike giveaways. 

In 2022, Woolford ran against Jeffrey Dinowitz for state assembly of district 81, but lost against the long-standing politician who has held the seat for more than 30 years. 

“I’ve worked in national politics, I’ve worked in local, now state government, and people feel really disconnected from how decisions are made that impact their day-to-day lives,” she said of her decision to run for office. “I felt, and I still do feel, a major purpose of mine in life is to make sure that people aren’t isolated, that they feel cared for.”

Woolford works to instill the same values in her 5-year-old daughter Mila, who was knocking on doors alongside her mother as soon as she could walk and talk. 

As she delivered her speech at her fifth-anniversary party last month, the mom and community activist became overwhelmed with thanks.

“I am just so grateful,” Woolford said to the crowd as she fought back tears and shouted out individuals by name. “Whether I met you five years ago or met you today — none of this is possible without people like you.” 

For the future, she hopes to find a brick-and-mortar home for Kingsbridge Unidos where it can properly hold functions year-round and continue to serve the community Woolford holds so dear to her heart.