Stephen Reiss

PROJECTS: Sugar and Luis

Wilfredo "Sugar" Gonzalez and her husband Luis San Oguel, both HIV-positive, are a same-sex couple living in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx. Sugar provides child care for parents in the neighborhood, which is among the top zip codes with the highest unmet need for child care services in New York City, according to a study by the New York Child Care Resource & Referral Consortium. 

With a lack of affordable child care resources for parents in the area, many of whom are immigrants, Sugar and Luis provide an unconventional but essential alternative. The children Sugar cares for are affectionately known as "Sugar Babies" by their parents and people in neighborhood.  

  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JUNE 24: Wilfredo {quote}Sugar{quote} Gonzalez and her husband Luis San Oguel, both HIV-positive, in their apartment in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, June 24, 2013.
  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JUNE 22: Tamia Osorio, 10, hugs Wilfredo {quote}Sugar{quote} Gonzalez, while Kiara Asan, 6, plays in a park in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, June 22, 2013.
  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JULY 17: Wilfredo {quote}Sugar{quote} Gonzalez views an exhibit at the Bronx Zoo with the neighborhood children she cares for, July 17, 2013.
  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JULY 24: Savannah Downing, left, and her sister watch television in the University Heights apartment of Wilfredo {quote}Sugar{quote} Gonzalez and her husband Luis San Oguel, July 24, 2013.
  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JUNE 27: Luis San Oguel and his pit bull China, in his apartment in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, June 27, 2013.
  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JULY 17: Wilfredo {quote}Sugar{quote} Gonzalez takes the bus to the Bronx Zoo with the neighborhood children she cares for, July 17, 2013.
  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JULY 17: Wilfredo {quote}Sugar{quote} Gonzalez views an exhibit at the Bronx Zoo with one of the neighborhood children she cares for, July 17, 2013.
  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JUNE 22: Luis San Oguel watches children on a playground in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, June 22, 2013.
  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JULY 24: Wilfredo {quote}Sugar{quote} Gonzalez and her husband Luis San Oguel, both HIV-positive, make dinner for the children Sugar cares for in their apartment in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, July 24, 2013.
  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JULY 24: Wilfredo {quote}Sugar{quote} Gonzalez and her husband Luis San Oguel, both HIV-positive, make dinner for the children Sugar cares for in their apartment in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, July 24, 2013.
  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JULY 24: Luis San Oguel shows a photograph of himself and his daughter taken while he was in prison, and which hangs in the apartment he shares with his wife Wilfredo {quote}Sugar{quote} Gonzales in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx July 24, 2013.
  • BRONX, NEW YORK - JULY 24: Wilfredo {quote}Sugar{quote} Gonzalez, right, and her husband Luis San Oguel, both HIV-positive, on the fire escape of their University Heights apartment with their pit bull China, July 24, 2013.
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