Neighborhood Revitalization Grant Recipients Announced

Community groups in all five boroughs are awarded $520,000 from The New York Community Trust to help families fight foreclosure, find jobs, and make ends meet.

New York, Dec. 16—Community groups in Washington Heights, Harlem, Midtown, the Lower East Side, Flatbush, the North Shore of Staten Island, University Heights, Jackson Heights, Long Island City, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Cypress Hills, and Far Rockaway will receive $40,000 each for:

• Supermarket lines, not bread lines—In Flatbush, Brooklyn, lines at local food kitchens start hours before the doors open. With a Trust grant, Flatbush Development Corporation is stationing social workers at feeding programs to reduce the number of hungry people by enrolling eligible families in food stamp and other benefit programs.
• Avoiding eviction and controlling clutter—Senior citizens in rent-controlled Manhattan apartments can face eviction over past-due rent and clutter.  A Trust grant to EIS Housing Resource Center is helping to prevent evictions by representing seniors in court, dealing with their clutter, and providing emergency cash for rent.
• Helping former foster kids—Youth aging out of foster care face many challenges—the most immediate being homelessness. Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement has set aside rooms in one of their buildings for these young people, and with a Trust grant, is helping them to become independent by offering career counseling, job placement, and paid internships.

“Despite some signs of economic recovery, the City’s low-income neighborhoods continue to suffer,” said Patricia Swann, senior program officer for community development at The Trust. “A growing number of people need help finding decent-paying jobs; more families are relying on government benefits and food pantries, and tenants and homeowners alike need help to hold on to their homes. The groups we chose have impressive track records and are anchors in their communities, but they often are restricted by the government contracts that limits who is eligible for help. Our modest grants go a long way to enable them to serve needy people who would otherwise be ineligible.”

Since 1978, The Trust’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) has awarded more than $14 million in grants to groups working in poor neighborhoods. This year’s grants follow:

MANHATTAN

• Community League of the Heights, Washington Heights, will enroll 60 residents in home health care aide/computer literacy training programs. The League will also help those living in 30 financially distressed buildings get repairs, fight landlord harassment, and move toward financial solvency.
• Cooper Square Community Development Committee and Businessmen’s Association, Lower East Side, to educate the community about a cooperative housing plan that will provide affordable home ownership opportunities.      
• EIS Housing Resource Center, Midtown, to prevent seniors and others from getting evicted by providing legal representation in housing court, helping to reduce clutter, and providing emergency cash for rent.
• Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, to help young people get jobs through career counseling, job referrals and placement, and paid internships.   
• Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, Washington Heights, to advertise its services in the community, help residents find jobs, and get food stamps and other benefits

BROOKLYN

• Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, to provide financial literacy workshops, job training and placement, and benefits counseling to residents, including formerly incarcerated youth.
• Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, for job training and placement for young adults.    
• Flatbush Development Corporation, to help people visiting feeding programs get food stamps and other benefits, and provide some families with ongoing counseling.

THE BRONX

• University Neighborhood Housing Program, Northwest Bronx, to refer low-income homeowners to housing and financial services. It will also expand a foreclosure prevention database and provide free tax-preparation services and financial literacy workshops.

QUEENS

• East River Development Alliance, Long Island City, to help families get food stamps and other benefits, tax assistance, and employment counseling, and to help public housing residents with rent arrears and other housing matters.
• Ocean Bay Community Development Corporation, Far Rockaway, to help residents with their taxes, and prepare for and find jobs.
• Queens Community House, Jackson Heights, to integrate financial literacy instruction into ESL classes, provide families with financial counseling, and help them enroll for food stamps and other benefits. It will also help tenants get emergency funds to avoid eviction, and involve local residents in advocacy for healthy, affordable housing.

STATEN ISLAND

• Northfield Community Local Development Corporation of Staten Island, to help homeowners at risk of foreclosure through targeted mailings and individual counseling.

# # #