Into the Arroyo is a documentary film about Jose Arroyo and his family who lived at the Emergency Residence Shelter (ERP) of the YMCA in Newark, NJ. The film opens on Christmas 2001, and follows the family through the New Year into the early spring of 2002, when their welfare assistance was terminated. It then revisits Jose and his family eighteen months later in Comerio, Puerto Rico. In this ninety-minute documentary, we watch Jose, age 12, the middle of three children, struggle to cope with the multiple stresses of shelter life, uncertain meals, illiteracy, and parental abuse. To create a full and complex portrait of Jose, the film introduces the viewer to the characters that populate Jose's world: his family, friends and social workers-as well as the network of teachers, military drill sergeants, and guardian angels who support and educate him.
I met Jose early one summer morning in Military Park in Newark, NJ, while doing a video shoot for a local artist. A group of children approached me and offered their help. It was 7:30am and the children were unattended, so I naturally asked where they'd come from. "The Y," they said.
In the following days, I learned that approximately 200 children live at the YMCA at 600 Broad St. in the shadow of Newark's "Renaissance" and the headquarters of some of the nation's most powerful corporations. Forced into the shelter by unemployment, drug abuse, or, as in the case of the Arroyos, by fire, families may live for up to a year in the ERP. The Arroyo's stay at the Y was cut short, however, due to the Welfare Reform Act, first initiated in 1996, which permanently ended financial assistance for families that had been on Welfare for five or more years. Into the Arroyo plays itself out under the storm clouds of permanent, irreversible eviction.
The film has multiple purposes: 1) to make the greater Newark community, and other diverse communities across the country, aware of the enduring homeless problems and the potential epidemic unleashed by the 1996 Welfare Reform Act; 2) to shed light on the structural barriers to escaping poverty; 3) to explore the "flip-side" of charity and the ways in which welfare "benefits" are often anything but; and 4) to witness the love within a family even as it bends under the weight of its transitory existence. Equally important, the film will reach other children in similar situations so that they may relate to Jose's experience and see their own lives reflected through the eyes of a peer.
During my time with the family, I regularly followed Jose on his everyday adventures: midnight romps through the NJ Performing Arts Center, early morning reading lessons with Janice Bailey at a local café, and intimate moments at St. John's Church, where Jose often went for meals. Jose's charm, charisma and innocent wisdom suffuses and buoys the film. His hardships have not made him cynical or angry. His personality overturns any preconceptions about homelessness and hopelessness and creates a portrait of singular originality.
In October of 2003 I flew to Comerio, Puerto Rico to follow up on Jose's story. I found him, now 14, a reflective young man, trying to sort out his new perspective with his current circumstance. Now removed from the support systems he was once entitled to, the family continues to struggle with poverty, Jose's stepfather's drug addiction and run-ins with social workers. Despite it all, Jose still remains true to himself. The magnetism he projects is infectious and the way in which he continues to tell his story only affirms his courageousness.
By presenting the film in narrative form, I allow the experience of Jose and the Arroyo's to speak for the countless others, particularly adolescents, living in similar circumstances. Not only does Into the Arroyo render the simple details of children trying to cope with their everyday surroundings, it provides insight and understanding into the functioning and effectiveness of the current welfare and emergency relief systems in the United States, particularly as it relates to children. Into the Arroyo shows a family slipping through the fraying safety net of social services despite the best efforts of many caring individuals.
I believe this film will challenge the prevailing perspective on homelessness and family struggle and open our eyes to what inner city children are up against in every imaginable (and unimaginable) scenario. Above all, Into the Arroyo gives Jose a forum to tell his story, and for us to listen. Let us hope the social history the film presents wakes us up to the tragedy at our doorstep and gives us the courage to change the conditions that face the least protected Americans.
Anthony Spirito, Newark 2004
This film has been made possible with additional support from:
THE TURRELL FUND
THE HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION of NEW JERSEY
