The motivating force behind Deborah’s story…

I’m a city girl through and through—no question about it. I grew up at the northernmost tip of Manhattan, in the vibrant, tucked-away neighborhood of Inwood, cradled by the Hudson River and the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge—Dutch for "spite of the devil." It was a place where grit met grace, where towering sycamores stood guard over forgotten trails, and where the whispers of history echoed in the caves of Inwood Hill Park.

My sister Maria and I ran wild with a beautifully diverse circle of friends—Victor, Hugh, Krishna, Hector, Troy, Bessie—spending our days playing touch football on cracked courts, exploring the woods, and swapping stories over slices at Kings Pizza or sundaes from Francesca’s Ice Cream Parlor. We bowled at Academy Lanes, danced through sticky-floored movie nights at the Alpine Theater, and caught the A train downtown—where the whole city became our playground. To grow up there was to hold joy in your pocket like loose change, ready to be spent on wonder.

But even in that enchanted chapter of youth, I saw shadows.

Circles. That was the name our neighborhood gave the man who paced in endless loops at the corner of 207th Street and Broadway, carrying on conversations with a world only he could see. He was unhoused, often alone, yet somehow etched into the very fabric of our streets. And while others laughed, turned away or simply moved around him like he was invisible, I couldn’t. Something stirred in me—an ache, a knowing—that his story mattered. That he mattered. I watched the kindness of shopkeepers who fed him, the quiet dignity of those who slipped dollars into his hand. And when one day he vanished, the street corner felt hollower.

That moment never left me. It planted something—an awareness, a question, a calling.

In 2015, that seed finally bloomed into Defeat the Streets. A love letter to my city and a mission born of gratitude, heartbreak, and hope. This initiative is about seeing the unseen, honoring the overlooked, and restoring dignity where it’s been chipped away. It’s about stitching together the fabric of community with threads of empathy, action, and belonging.

As we continue to grow, our Executive Team is made up of brilliant, generous, big-hearted humans who bring their talent and time with grace and fire. There’s magic in that kind of alchemy—when people unite around purpose and compassion.

On behalf of all of us at Defeat the Streets, we invite you to walk beside us. Not to fix—but to care. Not to save—but to see..

Welcome to our mission.