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Library

Jenna Castillo

June 27, 2025

|

Hudson, NY

Song

Recorded by

Olivia Weitz

This interview is available in-person only. Please get in touch if you would like to listen.
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Summary:

This interview was with Jenna Castillo at the Hudson Youth Center on June 27, 2025. Jenna is the secretary at the youth center and has two children who participate in programming there. 

Jenna shares how the youth center has connected her and her kids to other families in Hudson who have shown them support and given them a sense of belonging. She highlighted a lack of programming for kids with special needs in Hudson and how the youth center has provided for her children and other families in the area. Her kids have been involved with basketball and soccer at the youth center, swimming lessons, Oakdale summer camp and more.

Jenna lived in Hudson between 2017 and 2019, then moved to Brooklyn and Long Island. She returned to Hudson in 2021. She shared about changes she’s noticed in Hudson since moving back and challenges related to affordable housing and rising living costs. She said she would like to see more voices included in affordable housing conversations and more housing options. 

This interview may be of interest to those who are interested in the impact the youth center has on parents and children, post pandemic family life in Hudson, the rewards and challenges of raising a family in Hudson, and how to include more perspectives in affordable housing solutions. 

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Themes:
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Interviewer Bio:
Olivia Weitz

Olivia Weitz is a public radio journalist and oral historian. She works out of a radio studio in Cody, WY, based at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a Smithsonian affiliate museum and research library. Her work focuses on the art, natural history and cultures of the American West. She is a deep listener who seeks to provide spaces where people can share their own story in their own words. 

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Additional Info:
Interview language(s):
English
,
Audio quality:
High

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Permissions: 

This interview is hereby made available for research purposes only. For additional uses (radio and other media, music, internet), please click here to inquire about permissions.

Part of this interview may be played in a radio broadcast or podcast.

Oral history is an iterative process. In keeping with oral history values of anti-fixity, interviewees will have an opportunity to add, annotate and reflect upon their lives and interviews in perpetuity. Talking back to the archive is a form of “shared authority.”

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