By Sadef Ali Kully
One of the oldest and largest city-based trusts has given almost $2 million in grant funds to nonprofit Queens-based organizations as well as nonprofits that do work in the borough and nearly $9 million to nonprofits across the city.
The New York Community Trust, founded in 1924, announced $8.7 million in grants to nonprofits across the city. The grants go to organizations that help to improve the environment, arts, education and health.
In Queens, the funds went to nonprofits from Long Island City to downtown Jamaica.
“We have an open door policy when it come to proposals. It helps nonprofits jump-start projects,” an NYCT spokeswoman said.
NYCT receives hundreds of proposals year round and between 40percent to 50 percent are approved according to the grant guidelines. NYCT focuses its grant-making in the five boroughs, with divisions in Westchester and Long Island.
An estimated $125,000 went to the Long Island City office of Planned Parenthood, which opened in April. In Jackson Heights, the Queens Community House, a recreation and social services space for gay and lesbian elders, and Desis Rising Up and Moving, which holds workshops for South Asian immigrants in leadership and civic involvement, received $40,000 each.
The Richmond Hill-based Outreach Project, which helps women struggling with addiction, received $85,000 in funds.
In Flushing, Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, a mental health clinic, was awarded $75,000 and the Historic House Trust of New York City was given $100,000 to be distributed between the Lewis Latimer House historical home in Flushing and Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Manhattan.
For arts and education programs in the borough, the Queens Theatre received $50,000 to help continue its program for non-native English speakers.
In south Queens, The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation received $150,000 to plan for the development of space for artists to live and work in downtown Jamaica.
The Trust for Public Land, the organization behind the Queensway project, received $100,000 to support the transformation of the former LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch, which has been abandoned since 1962, into a new public park. The branch used to run off the LIRR main line at Rego Park, heading south via Ozone Park and across Jamaica Bay in the Rockaways.
Over $900,000 have gone to city-based nonprofits such as the Education Through Music, Design Trust for Public Space, Creative Arts Team and the Urban Word NYC, which also provide services across the borough.
Reach Reporter Sadef Ali Kully by e-mail at skull
