The 300 East 5th Street Block Association's Seed to Table project brings neighbors out in Kensington.
Citizens Committee in the News
Recent press about Citizens Committee for New York City and our inspiring grant winners!
Growing on Vacant Brooklyn Lots, Reclaiming Public Space
May 16, 2012 | MetroFocus
Back in April 2010, a group of people used a tool called MapPLUTO, a product of the earthbound Department of City Planning, to pinpoint the amount of unused, city-0wned land in Brooklyn. They found both the answer and their project’s name: 596 Acres. Since then, the 596 group has worked to connect individuals and organizations with the proper city agencies in order to transform three empty Brooklyn lots into community gardens. Read more...
Painting for Pride (and Trash) in Oval Park
May 7, 2012 | Norwood News
Friends of Williamsbridge Oval Park, with support from a Citizens Committee for New York City grant, organized the event in hopes of getting people to clean up after themselves and “engendering a sense of pride in the park and the garbage cans,” said Eileen Markey, who was there with her two sons, Hugh and Owen. “This isn’t some faceless park, it’s the park that people use and love.” Read more...
New Plants and Trees in Newkirk Plaza
May 7, 2012 | Ditmas Park Corner
Thanks to all the volunteers who showed up on a very grey morning this past Saturday (and what turned into a rainy afternoon!) to plant trees and flowers on Newkirk Plaza. Read more...
I Love the Bronx: Little Green Garden/Rock Garden
May 2, 2012 | The Bronx Free Press
Last year, Citizens Committee of New York City offered “Love Your Block” grant awards for up to $1000 for block beautification projects and projects addressing an array of urban environmental issues. Read more...
April 22, 2012 | New York Post
Kensington residents who say they are fed up with the city's waning trash collection on Church Avenue took to the street last weekend in a semi-spontaneous street-cleaning mob armed with brooms, rakes, and gloves. Read more...
Bronx Teens Win Ped Safety Improvement After Three Years of Activism
April 24, 2012 | Streetsblog
Thanks to three years of dedicated activism from middle- and high-school students, one Bronx intersection is getting a little bit safer. The Bronx Helpers, a community service organization run by the New Settlement Apartments, has successfully lobbied the city to daylight the dangerous corner of E. 172nd Street and Townsend Avenue. Read more...
April 22, 2012 | New York Post
Some doo-doo-gooders are launching the city’s first-ever dog-waste composting project, hoping once and for all to stop stinky land mines from clogging tree beds and streets. “This is a call to action,” said Saleen Shah, program director with the Citizens Committee for New York City, the nonprofit behind the big stink. “Dog poop is everywhere. It gets into tree beds and kills trees.” Read more...
April 9, 2012 | Daily News
Catherine Green, 35, started ARTs East New York in 2009 to make it easier for residents of the east Brooklyn neighborhood to create and experience art, and in part, to counter East New York's reputation as a too-often violent place to live. "We want to highlight the beauty of the people who live here and are making art and culture in the community," she said. Read more...
$1,000 Grant Presented for Bayswater Park Mural
March 30, 2012 | The Wave
LaKia Echols, of MakeMyMotherProud, is presented with a $1000 Love Your Block grant from Joe Eastman, a project coordinator for the Citizens Committee for New York City, at a meeting at the Far Rockaway Library on March 17. The funds will be used to paint a mural on the white wall outside Bayswater Park in June. Read more...
Changing Brooklyn One Acre at a Time
March 27, 2012 | The Epoch Times
Last December, the duo began clean up on the lot with other neighborhood volunteers. With help from the unusually warm winter, Jackson was able to work through the winter. The Community Gardens at 462 Halsey will open its gates Sunday, April 1. Read more...
District Attorney Charles J. Hynes Honors Brooklyn's Extraordinary Women
March 14, 2012 | Home Reporter and Sunset News
Sonia has been a volunteer and community activist for over 30 years... She secured a "Love Your Block" grant as well as founding the "Friends of John J Carty Park." Read more...
March 4, 2012 | The New York Times
The Citizens Committee for New York City, founded in 1975 to improve neighborhoods and schools, had its annual awards dinner at Gotham Hall. Read more...
Scene Last Night: Henry Cornell, Robert Reffkin, Fred Armisen
February 28, 2012 | Bloomberg
According to a study by Deloitte & Touche LLP, 80 percent of these groups would have nowhere else to go for funding, “because they’re too small and they’re not part of the philanthropic mainstream,” said Peter Kostmayer, chief executive officer of Citizens Committee. Read more...
February 28, 2012 | New York Social Diary
The idea: get ordinary New Yorkers to volunteer to fill the gaps left by the city’s cutbacks during the fiscal crisis. Thirty years later that spirit of volunteerism and local engagement drives their work. Read more...
Young Adults Learn Skills to 'Rebuild' Communities
February 26, 2012 | Staten Island Advance
"Let's say the issue is safety, beautification, food justice, tenant rights, what ever it may be, as long as you identify what the issue is and you put together a project that addresses that issue, we will help fund it," said one of the event's presenters Saleen Shah, associate director with the Citizens Committee for New York, which provides funds from $500 to $3,000 for community projects. Read more...
New Civic Group to Monitor Square's Q-o-L
February 22, 2012 | Bronx Times
The association has received its first grant for beautification of $1,000 from the Love Your Block grant award from Citizens Committee for New York City. "We were one of 50 to receive the award, out of 150 that applied," Rocco said. Read more...
May More School Gardens Be Enchanted
February 16, 2012 | Riverdale Press
The garden has been a popular choice among my students at the High School of American studies for community service work. We have recently been working with Citizens Committee for New York City, a group that partners with major firms in the city with community based projects. Read more...
February 12, 2012 | Daily News
A group of plucky Bronx teenagers are calling on the city to make their neighborhood safer for walking and biking. The Bronx Helpers, youngsters from an after-school program operated by New Settlement Apartments, have requested a "slow zone" in Mount Eden. Read more...
Set Contest for Bayswater Park Mural
February 10, 2012 | Wave
"The Love Your Block grant was awarded for beautifying Bayswater Park," said Echols. "I wrote the grant for creating a mural on the white wall outside the park. I believe the mural will add more life and color to the park." Read more...
Bath Beach Homeowner Wins Grant for Her Block
February 9, 2012 | Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Sonia Valentin loves her block and she wants you to love it, too... First, she formed a block association, the Benson Avenue Block Association. Next, Valentin applied for a “Love Your Block” grant from the Citizens Committee for New York City to beautify the street even more. Read more...
January 31st Deadline for Citizens Committee Playstreet Grants
January 26, 2012 | New York Nonprofit Press
In recent years, Citizens Committee for New York City has supported several community Playstreet projects with grant money to purchase sporting equipment and cover other costs associated with running a Playstreet. This year, Citizens Committee has significantly increased the amount of funding available to support year-round Playstreets projects. Read more...
Transportation Alternatives Works With Local Groups to Support PlayStreets
January 25, 2012 | Transportation Alternatives
Groups interested in applying for funds to support their Play Streets are encouraged to apply to the Citizens Committee for New York City's New Yorkers For Better Neighborhoods grants program. Groups interested in applying for a grant should submit both their grant application and Play Streets application to the Citizens Committee by January 31. Read more...
Street Kids: Groups Want to Make NYC Roads Child Safe
January 25, 2012 | The Village Voice
Remember, back in the day, when you used to go outside and scamper around the streets of New York with all the other rosy-cheeked neighborhood kids, playing stickball and tag and hopscotch as the summer sun sank gently into the horizon? Read more...
King's Legacy Remembered in Charitable Workshops
January 25, 2012 | Bayside Times
Outreach coordinator Wilfredo Florentino represents Citizens Committee for New York City, a 40-year-old nonprofit that provides grants to volunteer-led community groups. "Last year, we gave out over 260 grants totaling half a million dollars," he said. Read more...