Restoring Jessica's Home After the Allerton Fire (Bronx, NY)

We are the family and friends of Jessica Díaz, a 22-year educator, advocate, poet, and writer who was born and raised, and lives and works, in The Bronx.

We are raising emergency funds to facilitate Jessica's restoration and recovery from a fire which resulted in the loss of her beloved apartment.

The Fire

On January 10th, 2025, Jessica was one of 285 tenants displaced after a five-alarm fire broke out at 2910 Wallace Avenue in the Allerton section of The Bronx, where she has been living for the last fifteen years. The building and its owner, Parkash Management, had been the subject of numerous complaints to NYC's Housing and Preservation Department, and this is their third building in two years to catch fire in The Bronx alone.

The FDNY has determined that faulty wiring caused flames to spread through the shaft in between the topmost ceiling and the roof, resulting in catastrophic water and smoke damage on all floors, and a complete loss of both the roof and the sixth floor. Jessica's apartment is on the fifth floor.

She is safe and uninjured, along with her dog, and they are both temporarily staying with friends in The Bronx. With the help of her friends, family, and the Red Cross, her emergency needs are handled for the time being.

The FDNY allowed families approximately 90 total minutes to grab what they could from their units in the week following the fire, and Jess and her friends were able to retrieve a few key items. The building is now under a full vacate order, and there is no telling if the building can or will be restored to habitability.

Thus far, management has only been willing to assist tenants with new housing if they are willing to renounce their rights to the apartment, along with their rights to sue; cancel their current rent-stablilized leases; and agree to a new lease. This is not a tenable situation, and it is clear to us that Jessica now needs to find a new place to live, along with new furnishings in all rooms.

The Loss

If you know Jessica, you know what pride she took in her apartment. Every room has a theme. There is office and library space. The decor consists of dozens of priceless artworks from her travels over five continents, alongside her family keepsakes. Not a single surface in the apartment is unpainted or undecorated. This is her first adult apartment, and she has made it her refuge over the last fifteen years. NOTE: You can see pictures of Jessica's home from her update on 1/28.

While she was able to recover some key pieces of clothing, books, valuables, and artwork, the interior of the apartment suffered catastrophic water and smoke damage, and the walls of the apartment are visibly unstable. There are fallen ceilings. One closet had to be pried open with a crowbar. The vast majority of the art and one-of-a-kind decor had to be left behind. Nothing from the kitchen or bathroom was recoverable. Her electronic equipment was lost. Due to the building vacate order, there is no way to retrieve any of her living room or bedroom furnishings, her desk, her bookcases and books, or anything that had to be left behind in her closets.

Our Ask

Over the next week, Jessica will be searching for a new apartment in The Bronx. Finding a new living space is always a challenge in New York City. Doing so while working for the NYC Department of Education, in the middle of the school year…unplanned…even more so.

All money raised here will go toward paying the following fees and replacing the following items:

Jessica is beloved. She gives her heart and soul to her family and friends, her colleagues, her writing community, and most definitely to the students she has serviced and taught all her life. She has made it her business to remain here, at home, in The Bronx. She has served this borough as a teacher, a Pre-School Special Education Case Manager, an Assistant Principal, and a mentor to any who have sought her out. She writes and performs poems about her experiences as a proud Nuyorican woman from The Bronx; she put out her first award-winning bilingual book of poetry just last year.

If you know Jess, you know she does these things out of her own sense of community duty and responsibility, never asking for anything in return. She now needs her community's help.

As her friends and family, we are asking you to help us get this amazing woman back on her feet, so she can keep going with her life's work, where she belongs, with as little interruption as possible.

EDIT, 1/29: If you prefer to donate using a different platform than GoFundMe, you can send funds directly to Jessica:

Zelle: either her cell phone number or email. Contact us for the correct info.

Venmo: @JDiaz-12079

CashApp: $JDiaz193

The amount will be added to the total and listed as an offline donation, anonymously.

Please share this and spread the word to any and everyone willing to help out. Message us if you have any questions.

We thank you all from the bottoms of our hearts.

-The family and friends of Jessica Díaz:

Leisly Ann

Shanna Diaz

Christine Ramos-Diaz

Tanika Grant

Ellen Hagan

Marisol Lockhart

Aaron Lucas

Joyce Perez

Eric Rios

Corey Taylor

Rich Villar