About Tommy Harris Jr.

Tommy Harris Jr. was born in Metropolitan Hospital in 1958 and raised on 155th and Edgecomb Avenue–in the “Sugar Hill” section of Harlem.  He attended PS 28 and John F Kennedy High School and them worked for the Department of Sanitation and the Board of Education.

He has worked with youth in various Harlem neighborhoods to help them change their lives around and get them off the streets.  He organized the Youth Block Association on Edgecombe Avenue from 150th to 155th Street.  Harris received a commendation from the 30th Percent where he organized the Mobile Tenant Patrol in order to increase neighborhood safety.

He became a head coach for Southern Heights Basketball program at PS 128 in Washington Heights.  One of Harris’s players became a McDonald’s All-American star and earned a degree from Georgia State University.  Tommy also coached in Harlem.

Tommy Harris Jr’s faith has grown tremendously while attending the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.

Harris’s passion for working with young people is a testament to his father who counseled and supported young people all of his life.  His father was an Ironworker who led him into the Ironworkers Union Local 40 in 1981.

Tommy Harris Jr. has worked on many buildings in Harlem, including the Henry Brooks Senior Housing (154th& 8th); John Paul II Senior Housing (141st & 7th Ave); McCombs Dam Bridge 155th Street; Pathmark Building (145th & 8th Ave); Bradhurst Court (148th Street & Bradhurst); The Sutton located (147th Street & Bradhurst); Strivers Gardens (134th & 135th & 7th Avenue); The Larkspur (117th & 118th Street); St Charles Brownstones (136th & 137th Street) and Thurgood Marshall High School.

One of Harris’s most noteworthy accomplishments was assisting the clean-up committee’s efforts at Ground Zero.  His humanitarian work has been covered in the New York Post, New York Times, Guideposts and Readers Digest, and he has been featured in the documentary, Metal of Honor, he has also received an award from the Learning Tree Multi-Cultural School Inc.