About Us

Citizens Committee for New York City stimulates and supports self-help and civic action to improve the quality of life in New York City and its neighborhoods.

We believe that residents are uniquely situated to define and act on the issues affecting their communities. When provided with modest support, resident-led volunteer groups can effectively mobilize community resources to improve quality of life. Citizens Committee supports their efforts by offering workshops, grants, training, networking events, helpful publications, a lending library, a meeting space and one-on-one assistance. We currently support more than 225 resident-led efforts in all of the five boroughs.

Citizens Committee was founded in 1975 by Osborn Elliott and Jacob Javits to encourage ordinary New Yorkers to volunteer to fill the gaps left by the city's cutbacks during fiscal crisis. Today, this spirit of volunteerism and local engagement still drives our work.

We are fortunate to live in a city where people feel connected to their neighborhoods and genuinely want to make a difference, but volunteers can’t do it all alone, and that’s where Citizens Committee for New York City and our supporters make the crucial difference.