Art has the power to preserve history, honor heritage, and spark social change.
Eva Lopez, Executive Director at Crossroads Connection, Inc., harnesses this power to bring New Yorkers together and address the challenges facing their neighborhoods through creative expression. Her approach is grounded in the Act4Change model, rooted in a participatory theater technique known as Theatre of the Oppressed, encouraging actors to create original performances that reflect local challenges and discourse.
Since 2018, CitizensNYC has proudly partnered with Eva and Crossroads Connection to amplify local voices and transform shared experiences into meaningful change. Touching on issues from community violence and public health to environmental justice and immigrant rights, art has become a powerful catalyst for making New York City’s neighborhoods more connected, resilient, and healthier.
Now, Crossroads Connection is bringing this innovative approach to Brooklyn’s Sunset Park community, where families are navigating rising energy costs, housing instability, and financial uncertainty. Through support from CitizensNYC’s partnership with National Grid, Eva is launching Speak My Language: Energy Affordability for Us in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. The initiative is designed to make energy education more accessible through original theater performances, multilingual educational materials, and a community Energy Affordability Fair.
The partnership reflects a shared understanding that expanding access to energy affordability requires more than making assistance programs available. By channeling resources through trusted grassroots leaders like Eva, CitizensNYC and National Grid are helping bridge the gap between existing resources and the residents who need them most. Eva’s ability to draw on the trusted relationships she has cultivated within her community allows her to share critical information and resources through the stage.
Crossroads Connection believes that art breathes life into the unimaginable. Eva elaborates, “How can we come to solutions that change and make our lives better? Theatre allows us to imagine what’s not already there, what seems impossible.”
Through Speak My Language, Eva is putting that belief into practice, using creative expression to help neighbors navigate real challenges, access critical resources, and imagine new possibilities for their communities. With National Grid’s partnership, CitizensNYC is proud to support grassroots leaders like Eva who are finding innovative ways to make essential information more accessible and empower residents to shape their own futures.
