Grants Newsletter June 2013

Making your giving matter more . . . since 1924 June 2013 NEWSLETTER

GRANTS

You know that good feeling you get when you help make things better?

This newsletter highlights grants that were made possible in large part by generous New Yorkers who wanted to make a difference—and set up endowed funds with us. To find out how you can leave your own legacy, contact our general counsel, Jane Wilton at (212) 686–2563 or janewilton@nyct-cfi.org.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 Return of the House Call 3 How to Search for the Perfect High School— Just for You 3 Mending the Classroom Class Divide 4 Other Grants 5 Starting Small in the Bronx

A Win for Baby Fewer Toxic Chemicals in Gear for Tots

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hanks to pressure on manufacturers from Clean and Healthy New York, parents have one less thing to worry about. Fewer chemicals will be used in nursing pillows, mattresses, and other supplies for wee ones. The organization convinced Graco, Britax, and Orbit Baby to voluntarily remove some of the most toxic flame retardants from their infant product lines. Since 2008, $150,000 in grants have helped lay the groundwork for this victory. Most recently, the group co-authored a report on the toxicity of baby products featuring these and other companies. Halogenated flame retardants, commonly found in polyurethane foam, have been shown to cause reproductive, thyroid, endocrine, developmental, and neurological disorders, lowered fertility, and hyperactivity.

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This baby sits with a breastfeeding pillow made from polyethylene foam, which contains toxic flame retardants.

As part of his psychiatric residency, Dr. Suprit Parida met with formerly homeless man at Schermerhorn House in downtown Brooklyn.

Return of the House Call A doctor making house calls may seem a bygone practice now restricted to the set of Downton Abbey. But it’s still in use, though for a much different clientele.

“Homeless and formerly homeless people sometimes have difficulty cultivating ongoing relationships with anyone, much less doctors,” says Dr. Van Yu, medical director of the Center for Urban Community Services, an agency that serves this population. “Thirty years ago, we began borrowing from the wisdom of the traditional country or small-town doctor to build relationships and trust.”

Today the Center sends dozens of psychiatrists to 60 soup kitchens, shelters, supportive residences, and street outreach programs. This award-winning program has been successful in getting long-term treatment, housing, and disability benefits for thousands of New Yorkers with schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, delusional paranoia, and other mental problems.

Now a Trust grant of $100,000 is helping the Center add a primary care physician and two nurse practitioners to their cadre of roving doctors. “The homeless mentally ill often have diabetes, heart problems, and other physical chronic A Win for Baby Continued from page 1

This year, Clean and Healthy New York will use a $50,000 grant to build on this success and work with other members of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families campaign to pass the federal Safe Chemicals Act. On the State level, it will work to win passage of the Child Safe Product Act, which would identify the most dangerous chemicals in all infant and children’s products, require manufacturer disclosure of their use, and establish a timeline to phase them out.

“While passing broad safe-chemical legislation is absolutely essential for our health and safety, it is a slow process,” says Pat Jenny, acting vice president for programs

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diseases that go untreated,” says Irfan Hasan, Trust health program officer. “When things get really bad, they go to the emergency room and get sporadic and uncoordinated care—very expensive care—but not the care they need.”

The Affordable Care Act encourages Medicaid patients with multiple health problems to enroll in managed care, which provides preventative care and saves money.

The Center will first deploy the primary care team in its 650-unit Times Square supportive housing residence, the largest of its kind in the nation. Some offices there are being converted to exam rooms, but “because some patients are apprehensive about meeting with a doctor in a medical office,” explains Dr. Yu, “doctor and nurses will also make visits to apartments.”

at The Trust. “On the other hand, manufacturers and retailers can act quickly and are responsive to consumer demand and public pressure.” Continuing to fight on both fronts, Clean and Healthy New York also is creating a Getting Ready for Baby scorecard to move Babies “R” Us and Buy Buy Baby to curtail the sale of goods that contain one or more dangerous chemicals.

“Making sure materials containing toxic chemicals are replaced by genuinely safer ingredients in a global supply chain can be challenging,” says Kathy Curtis, director of Clean and Healthy New York. “We will continue to monitor what baby gear is made of to make sure manufacturers are on the right track.”

How to Search for the Perfect High School

—Just for You “Some young people think the High School of Hospitality Management has something to do with hospitals. Others spend hours applying to schools where their grades don’t make the cut,” says Jacquie Wayans of Insideschools.org. The high school choice process can be overwhelming and lead families to make rash and ill-informed decisions. Thankfully for eighth graders, finding the right high school (among the 500 in the City) is about to get much easier.

“Many eighth graders are searching for high schools with little help from their parents,” continues Wayans. “When we watched them use our website in a focus group, we realized we needed a search tool tailored just for them.” A $120,000 grant to The New School’s Center for New York City Affairs, which runs Insideschools. org, supports the creation of a search tool for eighth graders that identifies schools that best fit each student’s interests, commute preferences, grades, and test scores.

The website got started when author of New York City’s Best Public High Schools, Clara Hemphill, wanted to share her work with more City families. “We launched the site in 2002 when the word ‘choice’ wasn’t in the Department of Education’s literature and the average parent didn’t know they had one when it came to where they sent their child to school,” says Wayans. Since then, Insideschools.org has become the leading resource for independent research on City schools.

This work builds on a $150,000 grant from our Donors’ Education Collaborative that helped create Insidestats, a comprehensive set of public high school scorecards that succeeded in pressing the Department of Education to revise its own school progress reports.

It also complements the 16 “how-to” videos, made with a $70,000 Trust grant, which cover what to look for in an elementary school and a school for a child with special needs;

A student at Bronx Science is interviewed for an Insideschools.org video on how to choose a high school. Photo: Ken Browne Productions

how to apply to a specialized high school; and even what a commute from Staten Island to Bronx Science entails.

“Sometimes kids fixate on a school in another borough, get in, but drop out because the commute is impractical,” offers Clara Hemphill. “We created a video that shows kids what they would be getting into.”

Mending the Classroom

Class Divide

Despite the City’s diversity, our schools remain some of the most segregated in the nation and are increasingly divided by income, class, and race. But in many diverse school districts, there are opportunities to make room for kids of all races and walks of life to learn together as neighborhood demographics continue to change.

Last year, New York Appleseed worked with parents and community leaders to persuade the City Department of Education to reserve seats for poor students and English language learners at PS133 on the edge of Park Slope, Brooklyn. Chancellor Dennis Walcott has since called this policy a model for other schools.

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Class Divide Continued from page 3

“There is a lot of evidence that parents who raise their children in New York City want them to go to diverse schools,” says David Tipson, director of New York Appleseed. “But, until the PS133 plan, there were no City initiatives to directly increase school diversity.” He continues: “Many assume that any kind of diversity plan is automatically prohibited by the Constitution, but there is still a lot that can be done.”

The Department of Education can adjust school admission criteria and zoning to create more diverse schools. Students also can be recruited from particular neighborhoods, and seats can be reserved for students who qualify for free

lunch. A $40,000 grant supports Appleseed’s work with community groups, elected officials, educators, and parents across the City to help them understand and advocate for policies that increase poor and minority students’ access to good schools.

“The City’s schools, particularly at the elementary level, are often racially and socio-economically isolated, missing an important opportunity to allow students from different backgrounds to learn from one another,” says Shawn Morehead, program officer for education at The Trust. “The grant will help communities find ways to encourage more diverse schools.”

Other Grants Nonprofits Rebuild After Sandy With a $200,000 gift from Newman’s Own Foundation, we are helping the following nonprofits repair their own facilities and serve their communities: Blanche Community Progress Day Care Center, $10,000 | Far Rockaway, Queens Broad Channel American Legion Post No. 1404, $10,000 | Broad Channel, Howard Beach, Far Rockaway, Queens Dewitt Reformed Church Head Start, $10,000 | Lower East Side, Manhattan Eyebeam Atelier, $12,500 | Chelsea, Manhattan Five Towns Community Center, $12,500 | Nassau County, Long Island Good Old Lower East Side, $12,500 | Manhattan Grand Street Settlement, $10,000 | Lower East Side, Manhattan; Bushwick, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Hamilton-Madison House, $10,000 | Chinatown, Lower East Side, Manhattan Hudson Guild, $10,000 | Chelsea, Clinton, Manhattan Jewish Community Council of the Rockaway Peninsula, $10,000 | The Rockaways, Queens The Kitchen, $12,500 | Chelsea, Manhattan Long Beach Latino Civic Association, $12,500 | Nassau County, Long Island Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, $12,500 | Long Island City, Queens

Ocean Bay Community Development Corporation, $12,500 | The Rockaways, Queens Rockaway Artists Alliance, $12,500 | Arverne, Belle Harbor, Breezy Point, Broad Channel, Roxbury, Neponset, Queens Solid Rock Seventh Day Adventist Church, $10,000 | Far Rockaway, Queens Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, $10,000 | Lower East Side, Manhattan You Are Never Alone (YANA), $10,000 | The Rockaways, Queens Jobs for Youth Without work experience or an education, unemployed and out-of-school youth need help to compete in the City’s labor market. The following grants support programs that work closely with employers to make sure young people are equipped with the skills and experience that allow them to compete.

East Harlem Employment Service, $95,000 for a paid internship program and other job services tailored to unemployed youth. | East Harlem, Manhattan JobsFirstNYC, $200,000 for the new Young Adult Sectorial Employment Project, which will award grants to several groups to provide industry-specific training for unemployed youth. | Citywide Year Up, $80,000 to expand a paid internship program at Google, JPMorgan Chase, Facebook, and Goldman Sachs for unemployed New York City youth. | Citywide Continued on page 6

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CASE STUDY

Starting Small in the Bronx For New Yorkers who dream big—but often have limited education, assets, or English language skills—running one’s own business can be the right career choice, if not the only choice. But without the proper footing and guidance, one wrong move can end in financial ruin. “We see people who have not incorporated their businesses, and when a deal goes south, their personal assets are at risk,” says Jennifer DaSilva, founder and director of the three-year-old nonprofit Start Small, Think Big! The organization provides legal and financial help tailored to the needs of budding entrepreneurs, and in 2012, received its first-ever foundation grant from The Trust. Other foundations soon followed suit. This year, a $50,000 grant will help expand the agency’s services for entrepreneurs as it works closely with Business Outreach Center Network’s (BOCNet) new office in the Bronx.

“Our approach is to take into account the professional and personal needs of a client, even if that means advising the client to hold off on starting a business. For instance, when someone has unstable housing or is deep in debt, our advice would be to delay incorporating and save the $2,000 it costs. We would then try and connect them with housing and debt help.” For businesses that are ready to blossom, lawyers from prestigious firms accustomed to negotiating multi-million dollar deals provide pro bono help with commercial leases, patents, trademarks, and incorporation. DaSilva adds: “They apply the same laws—just on a different scale.”

Start Small, Think Big! and BOCNet will be situated next to one another at the Sunshine Bronx Business Incubator, where they will help entrepreneurs from throughout the borough, including those under the same roof. A $60,000 grant to BOCNet, which already has several offices in the other boroughs, will help provide guidance on improving credit, cash management, loan acquisition, and developing good business plans.

Of Love, Soap, & Trademarks Three years ago, a motorcycle accident left Daniel Grunes on a long road to recovery from multiple surgeries and battling an infection. On partial disability and without the paycheck from his job as a restaurant manager, the load of caring for a family of five fell on his wife Zaida. “The stress triggered several autoimmune disorders that made her skin extremely sensitive,” said Daniel.

He noticed that the commercial body wash she used was irritating, so as a gift he made her some soap from scratch. She loved it and her skin started clearing up. “When I was a kid, I made soap with my mother and grandmother— so I did some research and put my cooking and kitchen chemistry experience to work.”

Daniel Grunes representing his company, Taproot Organics, at a

He created new recipes trade fair at the Javits Center. and blends and started selling soaps at the local farmers’ market. Eventually, he needed some accounting and legal help and found Start Small, Think Big! It helped him with his company’s branding, referred him to a Fordham law clinic to help him submit a trademark application, and connected him with Kiva Zip, a microloan program.

“Start Small, Think Big! connected me with the services I needed so I could focus on expanding my customer base. I started more wholesale accounts so I could invest more facetime into building new markets. My products are now sold from Westchester to Brighton Beach and online.”

Taproot Organics is now Daniel and Zaida’s full-time venture.

Though his days are very long, Daniel is thankful that he can spend quality time with his family. “Yesterday I took my kids to the zoo and then after their bedtime, I made a few batches of soap.” www.taprootorganics.com

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Off the ice, these girls work just as hard in Figure Skating in Harlem’s academic program—developing critical thinking, grammar, multimedia, and research skills.

Smarter Spending Human Services Council of New York City, $80,000 to promote cost and time savings in government-funded human services. | Statewide

Other Grants Continued from page 4

Making It to Graduation Day Borough of Manhattan Community College Foundation, $150,000 to improve retention and graduation of minority students, particularly young women. | Manhattan Figure Skating in Harlem, $50,000 to enhance academic instruction and college guidance at a figure skating program for girls. | Harlem, Manhattan Fresh Air Fund, $40,000 to enhance an SAT and college preparation program for disadvantaged students who attend the Fund’s summer camps. | Citywide Good Shepherd Services, $60,000 to enhance Groundwork for Success, a four-year college preparation program for youth. | Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York, Brooklyn Graduate Center of the City University of New York, $55,000 to help first-generation college students matriculate. | Citywide Sadie Nash Leadership Project, $50,000 to add a collegebound program to its six-week summer leadership academy that teaches girls about women’s and human rights issues, democracy, and the environment. | Citywide LGBT Community Center for Anti-Violence Education, $25,000 to bring an anger-management program for homeless gay youth—created with prior Trust support—to a program for HIV-positive youth and to an emergency shelter. | South Bronx; Jamaica, Queens; Clinton and Harlem, Manhattan Griot Circle, $40,000 to strengthen an agency serving gay and lesbian elders of color. | Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

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Public Policy and Education Fund of New York, $60,000 to enable statewide civic and advocacy groups working in Albany to share technology and other resources. | Statewide Putting Foreclosed Buildings in Better Hands Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, and Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (U-HAB), $65,000 each to transfer apartment buildings in foreclosure to responsible owners. | Citywide Better Living Through Safer Chemistry Clean Production Action, $100,000 for BizNGO and GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals, two programs—developed with prior Trust support—that connect businesses and nonprofit organizations to promote green chemistry and safer products. | National Garbage In, Garbage Out Lower East Side Ecology Center, $50,000 to support an electronics recycling program that reduces the amount of toxic chemicals entering landfills. | Citywide New York Public Interest Research Group Fund, $50,000 to prevent the construction of experimental and potentially toxic trash incinerators and promote environmentally sustainable and equitable solutions for dealing with the City’s waste. | Citywide Helping Green Businesses in The Bronx Green Worker, $50,000 to help worker-owned cooperatives involved in recycling, energy conservation, and other green efforts build their businesses. | Bronx Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, $50,000 to expand the number of Bronx contractors that can retrofit buildings to be more energy efficient. | Bronx

New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation, $70,000 to help gay men and lesbians understand their legal rights. | Citywide

Respect for the Planet Forest Stewardship Council U.S., $100,000 to increase consumer demand for wood and paper products harvested using environmentally sustainable methods. | National

An Investment in Child Care Campaign for Children, $50,000 for a new coalition of 100 groups that promotes investment in public child-care and after-school programs. | Citywide

Nature Conservancy, $200,000 to reduce damage from extreme weather caused by climate change by identifying wetlands and other natural features that protect waterfront areas. | Tri-state region

Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, $149,000 to train teachers in publicly funded day care programs to teach language skills, involve parents, and use materials that help them observe children’s progress. | Citywide

Natural Resources Defense Council, $100,000 to promote post-Sandy rebuilding and disaster protection approaches that respect nature and protect public health. | Citywide

GRANTS Newsletter

More than 42,000 patients, including this little boy, are treated every year at the Wang Community Health Center.

Pesticide Action Network North America, $50,000 to expand the market for crops grown without hazardous pesticides. | National Riverkeeper, $50,000 to protect the City’s drinking water by monitoring land use and conservation in its watersheds. | Regional Sierra Club Foundation, $100,000 for the Green Fleets campaign, which aims to persuade U.S. businesses to reduce the amount of oil they use for vehicle fleets, shipping, business travel, and employee commuting. | National Arts and Artists ArtHome, $50,000 to send artists to entrepreneur boot camp to improve their finances through workshops on financial literacy, homeownership, self-sufficiency, and the responsible use of credit. | Citywide Cool Culture, $50,000 to help 15 museums serve poor three-, four-, and five-year-olds and their families from every borough. | Citywide HB Studio, $25,000 for an online registration system for lowcost acting, playwriting, directing, and improvisation classes. | Citywide Trust for Governors Island, $25,000 to start, market, and attract funding for a permanent public art program that will illuminate the history of the island. | Governors Island Preserving History, Right Now Heritage Preservation, $130,000 to help the City’s cultural institutions prepare for future disasters. | Citywide New York Landmarks Conservancy, $75,000 for emergency repairs of historic buildings owned by nonprofits. | Citywide NYC Landmarks50 Advisory Committee, $50,000 for programs marking the 2015 50th year anniversary of the Landmarks Law and to coordinate a historic preservation campaign. | Citywide Legal Help for People in Need Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, $160,000 to expand pro bono legal assistance for poor New Yorkers facing bankruptcy. | Citywide CUNY School of Law Foundation, $70,000 to provide legal help to tenants facing eviction. | Citywide Help for Immigrants Fund for New Citizens, $200,000 for our foundation collaborative that assists immigrants and refugees in New York. | Citywide New York Immigration Coalition, $90,000 to ensure that New York State’s health insurance exchange meets the needs of immigrants. | Statewide

Health Jobs and Services Center for Urban Community Services, $100,000 to add new primary care services to a mental health treatment program for formerly homeless, mentally ill adults. | Citywide Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, $75,000 to develop the first portal in the nation that enables Chinese-speaking patients to access their medical records. | Chinatown, Manhattan Community Health Care Association of New York State, $120,000 to train workers for community health center nursing, administrative, and managerial jobs. | Citywide Disability Rights Advocates, $50,000 to make City polling sites accessible to people with visual and physical disabilities. | Citywide Mental Health Association of New York City, $125,000 to expand mental health in primary care facilities that provide patient-centered care to those with multiple health problems. | Citywide Southern New York Association, $100,000 to help veterans get jobs in nursing homes. | Citywide UJA-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, $100,000 to improve the training of home health aides in order to improve the quality of care for homebound elders. | Citywide Elderly Help Their Neighborhoods Eat Healthier BronxWorks, $65,000 to train elders in public housing to build community gardens and distribute food. | South Bronx Just Food, $50,000 to operate an elder food project on Staten Island and strengthen elder-led healthy food projects run by grantees in other boroughs. | Staten Island, Citywide Queens Community House, $65,000 to train elders in public housing to build community gardens and distribute food. | Queens Myrtle Avenue Commercial Revitalization and Development Project LDC, $30,000 to train elders in public housing to build community gardens and distribute food. | Clinton Hill, Brooklyn United Community Centers, $30,000 to train elders to run and promote community gardens. | Brooklyn United Neighborhood Houses of New York, $80,000 to coordinate an effort that uses elders to improve the availability of healthy food in poor communities. | Citywide

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GRANTS

Elders and youth provide fresh produce from gardens and farmstands they run through The Trust’s Healthy Food, Healthy Communities program.

June 2013 NEWSLETTER

Inside: How to

The grants described in this issue were approved by The New York Community Trust’s governing body at its April 2013 meeting. For grantee contact information, or for more information about the grants, please call The Trust’s receptionist at (212) 686-0010, ext. 0.

Search for the Perfect High School Mending the Classroom Class Divide Return of the House Call and More . . .

This issue and past newsletters can be found at www.nycommunitytrust.org.

Most of the grants in our newsletter are made possible through the generosity of past donors who established permanent, charitable funds with us during their lifetimes or through their wills. To learn more about setting up a fund, now or in the future, please contact our general counsel, Jane Wilton, at (212) 686-2563.

Photo courtesy of Queens Community House