Recently, this project received a $1,000 grant from Change by Us NYC in partnership with Citizens Committee for NYC. With these funds, the Glendale community hopes to start making positive, permanent changes to Edsall Avenue.
"We feel that this is a really good time to get more money into the neighborhoods and it's a great way for people to be connected.We want more applications to come from neighborhoods groups and residents in Chinatown to take advantage of this."
The funds, totaling $15,000, come from the Campaign for New York's Future and the Rockefeller Foundation, with support from the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City. They'll be administered by the Citizens Committee for New York City.
The Trust made a $100,000 grant to the Citizens' Committee for New York City's Love your (NYC) Block program. Through the program, Mayor Bloomberg and the Citizens’ Committee supported 60 volunteer-led neighborhood groups. With very small grants and planning assistance, the groups chose their projects for physically transforming their blocks.
The first order was received on Friday, May 13, from the Lancaster Farm Cooperative in Pennsylvania and last week, co-op organizers received a $1,500 "Community Groundbreaker" grant check from the nonprofit Citizens Committee for New York City (CCNYC), aimed at helping them continue to get their feet off the ground and to expand outreach.
“We’re launching [this website] for communities like this one because we know NYC has a commitment to be better and more sustainable,” said Peter Kostmayer, who is the CEO of Citizens Committee for New York City, an organization that supports self-help and civic action to improve the quality of life for New Yorkers.
“Do-It-Yourself Green Blocks” was launched by Citizens Committee for New York City as a series of intensive half-day skills-building workshops intended for volunteers of environmental and conservation organizations who would like to address serious environmental issues related to climate changes, and its effects on water conservation in urban farms and community gardens.
Cynthia Thompkins, 56, gathered about 40 residents to form a neighborhood association, organized walks for peace through dangerous streets, launched a women’s anti-violence group and in June, was elected president of the 46th Precinct Community Council. This Monday, Thompkins’ efforts to improve her community will be honored by the Citizens Committee of New York City.
In 2009, when Ms. Paniagua decided to plant gardens on the lawns at the Manhattanville Houses, she said, she had no idea that the process of getting permits and financing would take almost three years. She and others working with her ended up turning to a nonprofit group, Citizens Committee for New York City, for the $3,000 they needed for gardening supplies.