Grants Newsletter August 2009

GRANTS August 2009 NEWSLETTER

Most of the grants described 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. If you would like to learn more about how to do this, please contact our general counsel, Jane Wilton, at 212.686.2563

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2

Crunching the Numbers & Untangling the Budget Demystifying the Stimulus Package

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Helping Community Health Centers Compete Rethinking a Business Model

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Organizing a Maritime Renaissance

Playtime at Cypress Hills Child Care Center for these Brooklyn preschoolers is one of hundreds of programs provided by Community Development Corporations around the City. A grant to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation will help these groups restructure their business models to survive major losses in revenue. Photo courtesy of Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation

Filling Budget Gaps, Getting Stimulus Money, and Making the Bottom Line

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ven before the New York State and City budgets started looking like Swiss cheese, funding for public programs was spread thin. Groups such as the Fiscal Policy Institute, the Human Services Council, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and the Primary Care Development Corporation, were created to help build strong and fiscally sound nonprofits that serve millions of New Yorkers every year. Today, as we face grim budget shortfalls, the health and even survival of many nonprofits depends, in part, on the work of these groups.

“There are rules to decipher, myths to dispel, and plenty of questions to be answered. Before groups assume there is money there for their project, they need to learn more about how their work fits into the goals behind the stimulus money.”

Crunching the Numbers & Untangling the Budget Nonprofits that help New Yorkers fight eviction, escape abuse, or apply for Medicaid or food stamps often get the bulk of their funding through City and State contracts.

But with a tax base that has relied heavily on Wall Street profits and the real estate bubble, the money will now have to come from somewhere else. Unfortunately, the foundations, corporations, and individuals who provide support have also seen their assets decline.

“There is no doubt that some organizations are in danger of having to close their doors in the face of budget cuts—but if we can help find ways to minimize some of these cuts, and give nonprofit leaders a leg up on how budget trends are affecting their groups, the more likely they will be to survive this recession,” says Jo Brill of the Fiscal Policy Institute, an organization devoted to helping nonprofits, funders, legislators, and journalists understand the New York State and City budgets. “We help groups like the Alliance for Quality Education, the Citizens Committee for Children of New York, and the Empire Justice Center understand budget proposals and State finances, and develop ways to fund important programs.”

A $65,000 grant to the Fiscal Policy Institute will enable it to extend its analysis and expertise to the City budget for the first time. It will also help funders and nonprofits get a clearer understanding of the impact of the recession on the nonprofit sector and on the New Yorkers who depend on it. It will also hold budget literacy workshops and provide updates on the local implications of the State and City budgets.

“For instance, we trace the impact of lost property taxes on foreclosed homes in communities like Westchester and how that may impact a teacher’s salary in Bushwick.

But we are also calculating how much money would be made available for education by closing underused upstate prisons,” continued Brill.

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—Pat Swann, NYCT senior program officer

Kristin Brown Lilley of the Empire Justice Center advocates in Albany for funding for legal services providers. She says that when legislators ask where the money is going to come from, she can bring up the Institute’s cost-saving and revenue-generating recommendations, such as restructuring the State income tax and pooling the State’s prescription drug purchasing power.

Demystifying the Stimulus Package Some relief for City social service agencies will come from the federal stimulus package. There is a flurry of hope and desperation surrounding this grand sum of $789 billion, but it won’t be a cure-all for what ails many New York nonprofits.

Some of the money will go directly to organizations, but more than half will be used to fill City and State budgets gaps left by billions in lost tax revenue. “There are rules to decipher, myths to dispel, and plenty of questions to be answered. Before groups assume there is money there for their project, they need to learn more about how their work fits into the goals behind the stimulus money,” says Pat Swann, a Trust senior program officer.

A $30,000 grant to the Human Services Council of New York City will help it explain the stimulus package to the City’s nonprofits and notify them of funding opportunities as they become available. “This grant will allow us to monitor the stimulus money, and see where it’s going line by line, dollar for dollar. It’s important that we make this process as transparent as possible, and ensure that as much money as possible makes its way to nonprofits,” says Allison Sesso, deputy executive director of the Council. “After all, when it’s out in the field, the money works double for the economy: paying the salary of a social service worker who, in turn, helps others tap into job, housing, education, and health opportunities.”

Sesso continues, “Making the most out of this complex package also means recognizing its limits. Budget

Families can get quality primary care at community health centers—even without insurance. The Primary Care Development Corporation is helping centers in the City apply for $40 million in federal stimulus money. Photo by PCDC

constraints will last for years and will probably outlast the stimulus package. We need to identify the holes that will be left after the stimulus money dries up and push City and State government to fill them.”

Helping Community Health Centers Compete In neighborhoods such as East Harlem, Bedford Stuyvesant, and Jamaica, community health centers are the cornerstones of primary and preventive health care.

They are open late and on the weekends, and accept patients with Medicaid, Medicare, or no insurance at all.

Centers in the City are eligible for as much as $40 million in federal stimulus money, which will help them pay for capital expansion and upgrades to serve a growing number of poor and uninsured families. “By funding the expansion of prenatal and dental programs, renovation and construction of health centers, and the digitizing of medical records, this stimulus money can go a long way toward improving families’ access to primary care,” says Ronda Kotelchuck, executive director of the Primary Care Development Corporation. With a $125,000 grant, the Corporation is helping these centers compete for funding by helping

them with business plans; capital and program expansion budgets; staffing and recruitment strategies; and construction plans and timetables. “Increasing the capacity of community health centers means fewer people going to the emergency room for nonemergencies or problems that could have been easily prevented with basic primary care,” says Len McNally, program director for health at The Trust. “If all goes well, the Corporation will be able to turn our $125,000 into much, much more.”

Rethinking a Business Model For years, community development corporations (CDCs) have breathed new life into poor neighborhoods throughout the City, building and managing affordable housing, offering job training and day care, and providing commercial space. Although these enterprises have helped residents and businesses thrive, many are now in serious financial trouble. Their revenue often comes through government contracts, bank loans and grants, and developers’ fees, all of which have dropped drastically as the housing market and banking industry have collapsed. “If you are heavily dependent on only one source of revenue, and you’ve lost that source, then

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Bridge Street Development Corporation has helped support the revitalization of once-blighted areas like Lewis Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant (above), but, like many such groups, it is threatened by the current economic crisis. Photo courtesy of Bridge Street Development Corporation

your business model doesn’t work anymore,” says Danielle Pulliam, NYC director of capacity building for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), an organization that helps CDCs. “If these groups are to survive, they need guidance that will help improve their business models.”

A grant of $60,000 will fund LISC’s First Responder Initiative to help CDCs find solutions to alarming trends such as empty storefronts, unpaid rents, and buildings that cost more to maintain than they collect in rent. The Corporation will work with 40 CDCs with sizable real estate holdings, employing expert consultants to give them individualized help. After an extensive review of their cash flows, audits, and operating budgets, LISC will make recommendations to put the CDCs on sound financial footing. “Each group is unique and needs to take different steps to improve fiscal discipline and financial health,” continues Ms. Pulliam. “Some groups may decide that it is more efficient to combine assets with other groups, share back-office work, or make staffing adjustments.” Ms. Pulliam also noted that “it might

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make sense to focus on preserving existing rental housing instead of building new apartments for purchase. There are still subsidies available for renters, but financing to buy is a lot harder to get in this economic climate.”

To address the problem of unpaid rents, LISC is encouraging CDC property managers to direct eligible families to apply for Earned Income Tax Credits and rent subsidies. The Corporation is also helping to make CDCs more competitive in attracting stimulus money for weatherization and other energy efficiency upgrades.

To make sure that the groups develop long-term entrepreneurial thinking, the First Responder Initiative will also help recruit professionals with business savvy to the CDC boards.

“We have been working for years to strengthen the sustainability of CDCs by diversifying their revenue streams and the economic downturn has given many of them a needed push in this direction,” says Ms. Pulliam, “This is also an opportunity for a broader discussion on how to bring more resources to the industry.”

When they aren’t paddling around Governors Island at the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance’s City of Water Day Festival, kayakers and other alliance members are working to get more town docks built throughout the City. Photo by MWA

Organizing a Maritime Renaissance On the railing along the Hudson River in Battery Park City, a Whitman verse is inscribed: …City of hurried and sparkling waters!

City of spires and masts!

City nested in bays! my city!

Since the Dutch settled on the island of Manhatta in 1625, New Yorkers have been putting their 578 miles of shoreline to work—exporting, importing, ship building, fishing, ferrying, sailing, and yes, dumping.

Four hundred years later, New York City owes its status as a center for world commerce and culture to its blue highways, but a lack of planning, complicated permit processes, private development, brownfields, and other obstacles have stymied coordinated development of the waterfront.

More loading docks, ferries, and water taxis services would cut down on highway traffic congestion and air

pollution. More parks and town docks would give people places to bike, boat, picnic, or just soak in the views. Estuaries and better edge design can bring more wildlife back into the New York Harbor. Zoning and other incentives can expand businesses and other activities along the waterfront that create good jobs in shipping, boat repair, and transportation.

Since 2004, The Trust has funded the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, which has made sure this maritime renaissance moves forward in a way that makes sense for everyone. Started by the Municipal Art Society, the Alliance has brought together 380 organizations to transform the waterfront into a place where industry, housing, recreation, open spaces, and wildlife can coexist. With our support, the Alliance helped establish a Waterfront Committee that got the City Council to mandate a waterfront land-use plan and secure $261 million in federal transportation funding for infrastructure improvements, such as promenades, town docks, and ferry and vessel landings. A grant of $50,000 will allow the Alliance to advance some of the hundreds of projects on their

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“During a recession is a good time to

Other Grants

buy future park land because prices are ENVIRONMENT

lower, and there’s less pressure from developers to build before the waterfront plan is in place. The City government is also more responsive to putting design guidelines in place in anticipation of the next wave of development.”

—Andy Stone, director, Trust for Public Land

Waterfront Action Agenda, from reviving barge transport, to getting trucks off of the road, to reducing raw sewage from flowing into our waterways.

In addition to helping move this citywide planning and organizing effort forward, a grant of $50,000 will help the Trust for Public Land work with community groups in Staten Island and Long Island City to create plans for their waterfronts. Many families on the North Shore of Staten Island can’t get to their waterfront or don’t want to because of its derelict condition and lack of public amenities.

“Redevelopment of this area has been slow, but the Trust for Public Land is pushing it forward,” says director Andy Stone. “In 2004, using funds provided by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, we helped acquire a former marina in West Brighton from a family who no longer wanted it and then handed it over to the City Parks Department. We will work with the City and local groups to help plan a park that is accessible to residents.” He adds, “during a recession is a good time to buy future park land because prices are lower, and there’s less pressure from developers to build before the waterfront plan is in place. The City government is also more responsive to putting design guidelines in place in anticipation of the next wave of development.”

Breast Cancer Fund, $100,000 to advocate for national safe chemical laws and strengthen consumer protections against exposure to toxic chemicals.

Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, $75,000 to improve federal environmental legislation by educating members of Congress on the connection between the environment and human health.

Coming Clean Collaborative, $75,000 to advocate for safer use of chemicals and ensure that communities exposed to toxins are represented in federal policy discussions.

Environmental Health Fund, $100,000 for a national media and field campaign to bolster support for reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act. 1SKY Education Fund, $100,000 for a multi-state field organizing and lobbying campaign to build support for a comprehensive and aggressive national climate change policy.

New York Restoration Project, $50,000 for clean-up and landscaping at Highbridge Park in northern Manhattan.

TEDX, $75,000 to provide evidence of the biological harm caused by chemicals to policymakers and environmentalists advocating for better national chemical policies.

Tides Foundation, $100,000 to stop the expansion of tar sands oil production, toughen regulation, and promote measures that will reduce demand.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

Hispanic Federation, $65,000 to help Latino organizations that face losing government contracts strengthen their financial management systems.

YOUTH

Big Brother Big Sisters of New York City, $50,000 to recruit 900 black, Latino, and Chinese volunteers, particularly men, to mentor youth in poor and immigrant communities.

Girl Scout Council of Greater New York, $160,000 to continue and expand a career exploration program for sixth- and seventh-grade girls at low-performing Bronx middle schools.

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New York Academy of Medicine, $100,000 to continue and expand a science and health careers program for 125 black and Latina seventh-grade girls in Harlem.

Safe Horizon, $75,000 to avoid reducing staff and hours at Harlem’s only two child protection centers.

Youth Development Institute, $35,000 to help poor kids not working and not in school prepare for the General Educational Diploma (GED) exam.

EDUCATION

Hunter College of CUNY, Bellevue School of Nursing, $130,000 for counseling, academic support, and a Web site to help Hispanic students get their bachelor’s degrees in nursing.

LatinoJustice PRLDEF, $60,000 for academic counseling and LSAT prep classes for 30 Latino college students to help them go to law school.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION

ARTS

Bronx Museum of the Arts, $30,000 for a marketing campaign to build young, diverse, and local audiences for the Bronx’s only art museum.

New York Landmarks Conservancy, $100,000 for emergency repairs of historic buildings owned by nonprofits.

HUMAN JUSTICE

Elise Monte Dance Company, $75,000 (three years) for a modern dance company.

Fourth Arts Block, $50,000 to promote the arts groups in the East Fourth Street Cultural District in Manhattan through coordination of discounts, centralized ticketing, and free street performances.

Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, $75,000 to train first-year associates hired by private law firms to do pro bono work at legal service and public interest law agencies.

Immigration Equality, $40,000 to help gay people and people with AIDS get asylum and become legal residents.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, $75,000 for a discount ticket facility, similar to the TKTS booth in Times Square, with kiosks and staff to provide information about available shows.

Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, $100,000 for an evaluation of a State program that brings efficiency to caring for high-cost Medicaid patients.

Mercantile Library Association of the City of New York, $30,000 (three years) for public presentations of literary programs, including the New York Festival of Mystery, the Works of Shakespeare, and Emerging Authors.

United Neighborhood Houses of New York, $125,000 to expand a health education program and help middle school students cope with family and emotional problems arising from the recession.

Performance Space 122, $90,000 (three years) for an experimental performing arts center.

VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, $175,000 for a program that trains poor youth for jobs helping visually impaired seniors.

Staten Island Children’s Museum, $25,000 to bring field trips to the classroom by training artists to lead workshops in 16 Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens schools.

Stephen Petronio Dance Company, $90,000 (three years) for a modern dance company.

Target Margin Theater, $60,000 (three years) for a theater company that creates original interpretations of literary works.

White Wave Rising Dance Company, $60,000 (three years) for a Brooklyn dance company and presenter.

Wooster Group, $90,000 (three years) for an experimental theater ensemble.

HEALTH

ELDERLY

Griot Circle, $30,000 for social services, including financial counseling, for black and Latino gay and lesbian elders living in Brooklyn.

Medicare Rights Center, $100,000 to help seniors understand and apply for Medicare benefits.

New York Academy of Medicine, $100,000 for the development of a plan to restructure senior centers to meet a wider range of aged New Yorkers’ needs.

Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), $50,000 to expand financial counseling and social services for gay and lesbian elders.

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GRANTS August 2009 NEWSLETTER The grants described in this issue were approved by The New York Community Trust’s governing body at its June 2009 meeting.

For grantee contact information, or for more information about the grants, please call The Trust’s receptionist at 212-686-0010, Extension 0.

Filling Budget Gaps, Getting Stimulus Money,

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

If you’d prefer to receive our enewsletter, please e-mail us at newsletter@nyct-cfi.org.

and Making the Bottom Line. and More...

India Bolds, a dancer with Elise Monte Dance Company, which received a Trust grant.

Photo by Roy Volkmann

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, please contact our general counsel, Jane Wilton, at 212.686.2563.