By Bill Parry
Additional street cleaning crews are on the way to Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst after state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) secured $75,000 in state funds to help homeless New Yorkers gain work experience.
The allocation will allow the Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless, a nonprofit based in Long Island City known by its acronym ACE, to provide cleaning services along Roosevelt Avenue from 82nd Street and 90th Street, and Ditmars Boulevard from the Grand Central Expressway to the intersection with Astoria Boulevard.
“As we are facing a homeless crisis in the city, it is imperative that we help New Yorkers get back on their feet and one way of doing this is by helping those who are less fortunate with job training, work experience and ultimately a full-time job,” Peralta said. “The work experience and development will offer participants in the program a safety net that, I am hoping, will lead them to permanent, full-time jobs. This is a win-win situation. On one hand, the program helps New Yorkers with job training and experience, and on the other hand, the work they perform will help keep our neighborhoods clean for residents and visitors.”
The ACE workers will provide street sweeping, clean the sidewalks and remove filled garbage bags from Sanitation Department trash receptacles. Participants will work five days a week along the Roosevelt Avenue stretch and four days a week along Ditmars Boulevard.
“For more than 20 years, ACE has been helping New Yorkers with employment barriers get back into the workforce and on a path to self-sufficiency,” ACE Executive Director Jim Martin said. “We consider it an honor and a privilege to be invited back into this community again this year, and we look forward to getting to work.”
Peralta also announced Tuesday that he had obtained a $100,000 state allocation for the Dominico-American Society of Queens. The state funds will help the Corona-based non-profit to provide immigration services, adult literacy classes and ESL courses, job training initiatives, and youth development programs.
“The Dominico-American Society of Queens provides basic services to our hardworking New Yorkers from immigration services and adult literacy classes to job readiness and youth development initiatives,” Peralta said. “The organization is a staple in our community.”
Established in 1993, the Dominico-American Society of Queens works with the objective of improving the quality of life in the Corona area, but it now offers multiple services across the city.
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
