Gala Honors Community Leaders Rebuilding NYC
NEW YORK, New York
“Over a billion pounds of nutritious food goes to waste in New York City every year,” said Douglas Silver, co-founder of the Gotham Food Pantry, an organization that redirects food waste, after his organization received a $3,000 grant from CitizensNYC. “It doesn’t need to be that way,” he said, noting the absurdity of people going hungry in a city that could feed its entire population several times over, if distribution was more equitable.
On June 6, the New Yorkers for New York gala in the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers will honor Douglas, and other city luminaries for their community work. Honorees include New York City Council Speaker Adrienne E. Adams; Yin Kong, Director/Co-Founder, Think!Chinatown; Peter H. Kostmayer, former congressman and CEO, CitizensNYC & Douglas Hirn, Counsel, Debevoise & Plimpton; Andrea Markezin, President, Table Management & Joel Press, President, Press Management; Brandee McHale, Head of Community Investing and Development, Citi and President, Citi Foundation; Kelly Vilar, Founder and CEO, Staten Island Urban Center; Nitiya Walker, Executive Director and Founder, Seeds of Fortune; and Douglas Silver, Founder and Executive Director, Gotham Food Pantry.
“New York City is the best city in the whole world,” said Joel Press, as he presented a microgrant to Doug. “It evolves and changes. We went through a pandemic. We're coming back. This city’s about helping people, and people help people.”
Thanks to neighborhood organizations like the Gotham Food Pantry and Think!Chinatown, New York will never stop doing its thing.
The gala is also a celebration of CitizenNYC’s work. For 47 years, the nonprofit has supported neighborhood-level enterprises for community building in the city of New York through “microgrants and technical assistance”. The organization's support gets to the deepest roots of the grassroots.
Citizens Committee for New York City’s mission is to help New Yorkers – especially those in low-income areas – come together and improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods. Residents are uniquely situated to define and act on the issues affecting their communities. When provided with modest support, neighborhood and school groups can effectively mobilize with the assistance of grants, skills-building workshops, and project planning assistance.
In 2021, CitizensNYC provided 278 projects with $1.1M in direct cash grants, impacting the almost 8 million NYC residents in 123 neighborhoods across all five boroughs. Since 1975, CitizensNYC has promoted the spirit of volunteerism, local engagement, and social justice that drives its work.
CitizensNYC’s All in Neighborhood Grants program funds community development projects, CitizensNYC’s Neighborhood Business Grants program funds community businesses that drive economic growth. CitizensNYC thought leadership (CitizensNYC:LIVE) and capacity building programs come together in a strong portfolio of communication channels and networking spaces that bring New Yorkers together to strengthen New York communities
Visit citizensnyc.org to learn more.
Webpage: https://www.citizensnyc.org
Contact: Scott Young syoung@citizensnyc.org