Grants Newsletter April 2013

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

GRANTS

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

This newsletter looks at 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.

The Great Thing

About Garbage TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Revolutionary Civics in Action 3 Legalize Me 4 Do You Send Your Child to a Toxic School?

5 A Rebuilt and More Resilient City 6 Other Grants

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hat can create new American jobs while transforming our throw-away society into a greener, healthier, and more responsible one? One answer may be sitting on the curb.

“You create 10 jobs recycling and reusing these materials for new products for every one job produced pushing stuff into the ground or burning it,” says Bill Sheehan, executive director of the Product Policy Institute. “Tellus Institute estimates that 1.5 million jobs can be created by recycling 75 percent of our garbage rather than the 33 percent that we recycle now.”

Drink containers, grocery bags, and other packaging accounts for almost a third of the U.S. solid waste stream, greater than any other type of trash, yet most packaging materials are recyclable.

Photo: GreenerPackage.com

“You don’t need to tell companies how to get the job done, how many bins to put out and where, but you do need to tell them to get it done.”

—Bill Sheehan, executive director of the Product Policy Institute

One way to get to 75 percent is to hold the makers of products and packaging responsible for their collection, recycling, and reuse. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies have drastically reduced the amount of wasted garbage in the European Union, Canada, and Japan, and are proliferating here.

“You don’t need to tell companies how to get the job done, how many bins to put out and where, but you do need to tell them to get it done,” continues Sheehan.

“How they achieve recycling and reuse is up to them.

After all, it was Coca Cola and Pepsi that came up with the deposit on their glass bottles in the first place.

Companies know how to push their product out; they can use that ingenuity to bring these materials back to the original producer.”

Nestle Waters North America, the corporation behind Deer Park, Poland Spring, and San Pellegrino, agrees. It has been a vocal supporter of laws to enforce corporate responsibility for packaging waste. A $100,000 grant

to the Product Policy Institute will help the group work with Nestle Waters to get Coca Cola, Procter & Gamble, and other consumer packaged goods companies to support producer responsibility policy reform.

The Institute’s Make It, Take It campaign will develop model legislation, work with other groups to organize producer responsibility campaigns in seven states, pressure reluctant brands, and educate legislators.

“We’ve learned from prior successes that involving manufacturers is very effective in limiting toxic waste,” says Patricia Jenny, program director and acting vice president of programs at The Trust. “Our grant to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition helped California pass the first-ever electronics recycling law in the country, while other grants helped pass producer responsibility laws in dozens of other states. Funding for the Lower East Side Ecology Center and Basel Action Network has also prevented thousands of tons of toxic and metal-rich electronic waste from entering landfills.”

Many consumer products and packaging are made with fossil fuels and then thrown out, creating miles-wide toxic trash islands in our oceans and adding to landfills.

It’s time to stop throwing away $11 billion worth of materials every year and change the way we design, produce, consume, and dispose of products.

The Lower East Side Ecology Center collects e-waste in Park Slope and other neighborhoods, preventing toxic metals from entering landfills and refurbishing some equipment for reuse.

Image: Jessica Kingdon

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(Below) In the participatory budgeting project’s inaugural year, New Yorkers at an East Harlem neighborhood assembly for seniors helped decide how capital dollars in their district would be spent. Photo: Office of Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito (Left) Councilmember Brad Landers joins PS 124 students at the ribbon cutting for their newly renovated kindergarten bathrooms, one of the winning projects in his district.

Revolutionary Civics in Action Every New Yorker has things they want improved— broken playgrounds, outdated library computers, park paths that become ponds when it rains, just for starters. Last year, for the first time, residents in some neighborhoods got to spend millions of City dollars to fix some of the more pressing problems.

Four City Council members gave a portion of their capital funds to a participatory budgeting project, making New York the second city in the country to try it. Last year, a $70,000 grant to Community Voices Heard supported the project. Thousands of New Yorkers submitted and voted on hundreds of proposals, eventually allocating $5.6 million to 27 projects in the participating districts. Some projects that didn’t garner enough votes to “win” still got funded through their City Council member.

Winning projects included security cameras and refurbished playgrounds at public housing developments; technology upgrades at schools and libraries; a community composting system in Gowanus; and new bathrooms in a Park Slope kindergarten (which were so bad that children avoided them and risked classroom accidents).

Although the money spent on the participatory budgeting (PB) project was only 0.06 percent of the City’s capital budget, it had a broader impact. In the words of City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito: “Unlike general elections, PB voters were not excluded due to immigrant or parolee status. Historically disenfranchised groups such as people of color, low-income people, and residents whose primary language is not English, participated at higher rates in the PB process than they did in the general election.”

Because of the experiment’s success, this year four more Council members are giving part of their purse to the cause, and so are we. A $70,000 renewal grant to Community Voices Heard will support management of the expanded $10 million project and try to bring participatory budgeting to community development block grants, public housing expenditures, and allocation of other discretionary funds.

Legalize Me Undocumented immigrant children who’ve been abused, neglected, or abandoned by one or both of their parents may be eligible for permanent residency, but few knew it.

After all, who was going to tell them?

So when these children, living in the shadows, heard the drumbeat of immigration activists and learned about President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the number of young immigrants seeking legal help at The Door–A Center of Alternatives tripled.

“DACA, a program that helps undocumented youth live and work without fear of deportation, has brought people out of the woodwork,” says Eve Stotland, director

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of the legal services center at The Door. “Young people are coming to us who didn’t know anything could be done. For many, it is their first time meeting with a lawyer, and though they came for help applying for DACA, many are eligible for more permanent forms of relief.”

with Trust support. A $50,000 grant in 2011 helped it win permanent legal residence for 161 youth and open nearly 200 more cases. This year a renewal grant of $50,000 will allow The Door to help hundreds more have a promising future.

Children who have little family here, or have been victims of abuse or neglect, may be eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), which allows those under 21 to apply for permanent residency. The Door is one of the few places to go for free help applying for SIJS.

Do You Send Your Child to a Toxic School?

A pioneer provider of legal help to young people, the organization created a civil legal services center in 1992

CASE STUDY A BUDDING FASHION DESIGNER MAKES HER WAY IN AMERICA

The good news is that the City is spending $11 billion to renovate and build new schools. The bad news is it is still installing toxic vinyl flooring and using other dangerous building materials. Young children are most vulnerable to the chemicals in vinyl, which are linked to learning and developmental disabilities, obesity, diabetes, and asthma—the number one reason children miss school.

Vanessa came to the U.S. from Jamaica when she was 2 years old, with only her father and without documentation. Despite the imprisonment of her father and an uphill battle from poverty, she was on track to graduate from high school.

She knew she needed a green card to pursue any kind of future, let alone her passion: a career in fashion. She came to The Door and was shocked at how supportive the staff was—she called it a “judge-free zone.” She got a green card within a month and went on to get a new job. Vanessa plans to continue coming to The Door for help applying for financial aid and other grants for college.

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Safer materials are available (such as good old linoleum made from natural linseed oil), but stronger green building policies are needed to ensure that they are used.

Since 2001, The Trust has supported the work of the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice to limit children’s exposure to toxic chemicals in schools and to successfully convince retailers such as Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys “R” Us to phase out polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and other toxic chemicals in toys, shower curtains, and other products.

“We are using these national victories to make an impact on the largest school system in the country,” says Mike Schade, campaign director at the Center. “School systems are lagging behind hospitals and other institutions in using healthier building products. If we can continue making progress with the New York City school system, we can set a model for the rest of the country.”

(Left) Linoleum, shown here, is a healthier and more durable alternative to vinyl flooring. (Below) An emergency grant to Heritage Preservation helped purchase supplies for the Cultural Recovery Center in Brooklyn. Conservators and others are volunteering their time to salvage artwork damaged in the superstorm.

With a grant of $50,000 in 2011, the Center convinced the City to stop buying carpeting and electronic equipment made with PVC and reduce the amount of office and school supplies it purchased containing this harmful plastic. This year, a $60,000 grant will help the Center expand its coalition and pressure the City to commit to more rigorous green building standards.

It will continue to demonstrate the dangers of PVC and phthalates on children’s health and academic

performance, and produce case studies demonstrating the viability of safe, cost-competitive alternatives that reduce toxic indoor air pollution and toxic materials in the waste stream, and put parents at ease.

A Rebuilt and More Resilient City Two weeks after Sandy hit, The Trust made $1,500,000 in emergency grants, helped by contributions from our donors. But immediate assistance is only the beginning of recovery. Whether responding to a terrorist attack, a recession, or a superstorm, The New York Community Trust provides emergency grants to groups providing urgent relief while we plan for the future well-being of the City. We are starting the year off with the following grants: Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, $250,000 for a housing and neighborhood recovery fund that will strengthen existing affordable housing, involve poor residents in planning and rebuilding efforts, evaluate the needs of vulnerable residents in flood zones, and address environmental health concerns.

New York Academy of Medicine, $185,000 to develop a disaster preparedness and response plan for elderly New Yorkers.

New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, $60,000 to protect Superstorm Sandy workers from hazardous conditions.

Pro Bono Net, $120,000 to provide online legal resources on insurance issues, FEMA applications, homeowners’ and tenants’ rights, and disaster assistance for immigrants.

Pratt Institute/Pratt Center for Community Development, $50,000 to manage a community planning process to figure out the best way to rebuild and support Sandyaffected neighborhoods.

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Other Grants Housing Services & Financial Help New York University, Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, $40,000 to advocate for improvements in the City’s housing courts. | Citywide Northwestern Queens Financial Education Network, $80,000 to coordinate a network of four groups providing financial education and counseling services for immigrant residents. | Northwestern Queens Picture the Homeless, $40,000 for research and advocacy to move foreclosed and other vacant properties back on the market to house poor families and individuals. | Citywide Pratt Area Community Council, $70,000 to provide financial education and counseling to public housing residents. | Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Gowanus, Prospect Heights, and Red Hook in Brooklyn

Picture the Homeless staff and volunteers surveyed vacant buildings and lots throughout the City, and in its report (inset), estimated that many of the 40,000 vacant properties could be used for affordable housing.

Union Settlement Association, $50,000 for projects in East Harlem that will screen and refer job seekers, create an online guide of local social services, and design an online business-tobusiness directory.

Help for Cancer Patients Cancer Care, $800,000 for financial aid to needy cancer patients. | Citywide God’s Love We Deliver, $100,000 to provide nutritious meals for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiation. | Citywide New York Legal Assistance Group, $100,000 to help people with cancer get treatment. | Citywide A Changing Health Care System United Hospital Fund of New York, $150,000 to advise State officials developing a health insurance exchange. | Statewide Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, $75,000 to train young practicing physicians to advocate for health care reform. | Manhattan The History of AIDS New-York Historical Society, $50,000 for an exhibit and educational program about the first five years of the AIDS epidemic in New York City. | Citywide Care for the Elderly Jewish Association for Services for the Aged, $100,000 to help a leading elder-serving agency become a managed

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GRANTS Newsletter

long-term care provider. | Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens Visiting Nurse Service of New York, $100,000 to train home health aides to provide posthospital rehabilitation services to chronically ill elders. | Citywide A Better Future for Young New Yorkers Day One, $60,000 to prevent teen dating violence by training professionals in the field and building a coalition to advocate for improved policies and services. | Citywide Harlem Children’s Zone, $65,000 to bring sports, dance, fashion design, and swimming lessons to three of its afterschool programs for youngsters living in the Abraham Lincoln and St. Nicholas housing developments. | Central Harlem MFY Legal Services, $50,000 to expand legal advice and representation for grandparents and other relatives caring for abandoned children. | Citywide Public Interest Projects, $200,000 to raise the age of criminal responsibility in New York from 16 to 18 and increase funding for alternative-to-incarceration programs. | Statewide Resilience Advocacy Project, $53,000 to improve policies and enforce laws that could help young fathers get an education, good jobs, and be a part of their children’s lives. | Citywide

Civic Affairs Citizens Committee for New York City, $100,000 for 50 “Love Your Block” cash awards to volunteer groups that work with City agencies on neighborhood improvement projects. | Citywide Graduate Center of the City University of New York, $25,000 to create a centralized source of online information about political districts and City, State, and federal elected officials. | Citywide A Less Toxic Tomorrow Blue Green Alliance Foundation, $75,000 to train union and business leaders to advocate for stronger state and federal chemical policies and to help workers identify safer alternatives to hazardous substances. | National Multi-State Mercury Products Campaign, $75,000 to phase out mercury in consumer products. | National New Partners for Community Revitalization, $50,000 to make sure that community groups have the know-how and funding to remediate local brownfields. | Citywide Urban Planning Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, $100,000 for partnerships between public sustainability directors and local foundations throughout the country. | National Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance, $50,000 to ensure a community voice in the redesign of the Sheridan Expressway. | Hunts Point, Bronx Young Immigrants & their Families Center for Family Representation, $100,000 to provide legal and social services for immigrant families involved in child protective proceedings. | Queens Stronger Nonprofits EmcArts, $150,000 to strengthen arts service groups and help them be more effective. | Citywide New York City Arts Coalition, $35,000 to hire a new coordinator for an arts advocacy group. | Citywide

Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, $125,000 for an awards program promoting excellence in nonprofit management. | Citywide Urban Arts Partnership, $60,000 for a strategic alliance between Urban Arts Partnership and Manhattan New Music Project. | Manhattan Art Spaces New York Naturally Occurring Cultural District Working Group, $50,000 to conduct and coordinate research and advocacy on naturally occurring cultural districts, places where artists live and work together, and promote their collective creativity. | Citywide Opera America, $75,000 to promote a new rehearsal center for opera companies. | Citywide Improved Learning In & Out of School Center for Arts Education, $60,000 to ensure that City public school students receive a well-rounded education by including the arts. | Citywide Fund for Public Schools, $175,000 to provide summer instruction and enrichment in several Bronx public schools.

Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, $80,000 to help principals in Brooklyn and the South Bronx improve the social and emotional skills of their staff and students.

(Above) At the Fund for Public Schools’ NYC Summer Quest, Bronx middle and elementary school students had summer camp fun while keeping their academic skills sharp. (Left) PlaNYC is one of the first and best-known urban sustainability plans. Grants to the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities are helping municipalities get private funding to create sustainability plans and meet energy efficiency, transit, and other environmental goals.

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GRANTS April 2013 NEWSLETTER

Inside: The Great Thing About Garbage, Revolutionary Civics in Action, Legalize Me, Do You Send Your Child to a Toxic School? and More...

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The grants described in this issue were approved by The New York Community Trust’s governing body at its February 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.

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

If you’d prefer to receive our newsletter by e-mail, write to newsletter@nyct-cfi.org.

The arts help children with special needs express themselves, work together, and think creatively in all their subjects. A grant to Urban Arts Partnership is helping it form an alliance with Manhattan New Music Project to keep teaching artists in classrooms. Image: Jessica Kingdon

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.