Questions about setting up a fund at The Trust? Contact: Jane Wilton, general counsel, at (212) 686-2563; Gay Young, VP for donor services, at (212) 686-2234; or Bob Edgar, VP for donor relations, at (212) 686-2564.

grantsDECEMBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

Sports+Studies=SuccessThe Trust’s grants bring kids to the ballpark and the classroom | page 3

The Trust gets so many proposals—how does your staff decide which to select?Our two dozen program areas range from biomedical research to strengthening arts groups, and from bettering the life of the elderly to helping poor people become more self-sufficient. We publish guidelines for the kinds of projects we support and the objectives we’re trying to meet, and judge every proposal against these guidelines.

What recent project made you proud? We’ve spent five years helping redesign the Sheridan Expressway, which slices through a neighborhood in the South Bronx. Thanks to private, City, State, and federal money, the area is now slated for new parks, new housing, and pedestrian-friendly amenities.

You often talk about The Trust’s strategic approach. What is it?Even though we make mostly one-year grants, we have long-term agendas. We support multiple organizations working on an issue from different approaches. For

example, educators are focusing on the challenges of the new national Common Core Learning Standards. We make grants at the State level to ensure New York’s policy focuses on helping students here, at the City level to see that public schools have resources to train teachers, and at the neighborhood level to make sure parents are involved in schools.

New York and its suburbs have so many pressing issues. What difference can The Trust’s grants make? Because we’re the City’s community foundation, we are here for the long haul. We do everything possible to make sure that our donors’ dollars alleviate poverty, improve quality of life, and create opportunities.

Why should someone set up a fund in The Trust now or name it in a will? We’re a leading supporter of nonprofits in New York. We know them, and we help them seize opportunities. If someone loves New York and wants to give back, this is the place.

The Trust makes donors’

charitable dreams come true by

funding the nonprofits that make

the City and its suburbs great

places to live, work, and play.

Words of Wisdom from NonprofitsWhat lessons can the best-run nonprofits teach other nonprofits? What can they teach for-profit companies? The Trust asked for words of management wisdom from a couple of finalists for the New York Community Trust-New York Magazine Nonprofit Excellence Awards.

2

BronxWorks offers job skills training, services for people with HIV/AIDS, preschool, summer camps, and eviction-prevention programs. Its tips:•Create an environment where quality

and excellence are the norm and mediocrity is frowned upon.

•Don’t be afraid to ask questions—they’re one of the keys to getting and staying smart.

•Use data to make decisions and do not be intimidated by it. Data is a powerful tool.

Legal-service provider Bronx Defenders says:•Never lose sight of who you serve, and

make sure that shapes every decision you make.

•Don’t be afraid to take on difficult, creative projects that could impact your clients’ lives.

•Schedule time to take a step back and consider the “Big Picture” for your organization, your cause, and your clients.

5 Questions for the New Grants GuruPat Jenny, our new vice president for grants, has spent 29 years at The Trust, primarily managing grantmaking for community development and the environment. A graduate of Brown University, she has a master’s in regional planning from the University of North Carolina.

An elder with dolls made in a BronxWorks senior center arts and crafts class.

October 2013 3nycommunitytrust.org

In the heart of East Harlem, a baseball diamond is a haven for children at an after-school program to drill students in sports—and much more.

Players at Harlem RBI learn teamwork and develop friendships on baseball and softball teams like the Kings and the Lady Royals. Off the field, they learn life skills: Educators share lessons on preparing for college, finding a career, and getting involved in the community.

Often the students come for the sports, but are enticed by academic opportunities. The program requires everyone to keep up school attendance and grades. Ultimately, the goal isn’t perfect innings; it’s graduating and going to college.

Manuel Vasquez, 16, hopes to study engineering, but doesn’t have time to research colleges. Harlem RBI helps by offering test-prep seminars and workshops on applying to

college. The program even organizes a scavenger hunt to get kids out to see campuses across the City.

Since 2001, The Trust gave $700,000 to Harlem RBI. Now, an additional $50,000 will expand the program to Mott Haven in the South Bronx. Organizers are recruiting children from several elementary and middle schools.

The safe environment gives kids a place to go after school, where they’re surrounded by close friends—their teammates. “I feel like this is our second family,” says 15-year-old Woizero Jarvis, a pitcher for the Harlem RBI Lady Royals.

Bronx Soccer Program Kicks Off With a $50,000 Trust grant, Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club started an after-school soccer program for kids ages 7 to 12 from immigrant communities in the Bronx.

“Baseball and football may be popular in the United States, but the world plays soccer,” says the Club’s foundation director Tony Santiago. About three-quarters of the participants are from Latin America and Africa. In addition to fostering sportsmanship and teamwork, the Club provides tutoring and homework help.

The Science of SkatingWith $160,000 in Trust grants, the young women of Figure Skating in Harlem are learning about the physics that makes their bodies spin, jump, and glide on ice. This approach is taught along with a strength-conditioning program.

This fall, the girls performed in Times Square for the Olympic Committee as part of the countdown to the 2014 Winter Games.

Trust grants of $315,000 to Row New York have helped girls from poor neighborhoods thrive on land and water. Graduates of the program have won athletic scholarships to row at Smith College, Michigan State University, Syracuse, and other schools.

“I feel like this is our

second family”

—15-year-old Woizero Jarvis

COVER STORY

Sports+

Studies=

Success

4

Linking Local Food to the CityThere’s nothing like the crunch of a just-harvested Gala apple or the sweetness of a fresh-picked grape tomato. The City’s 50-plus farmers markets are wonderful for families, but what if nonprofits, schools, and restaurants had their own wholesale source?

The demand is there, but less than five percent of produce sold at Hunts Point wholesale market—the largest food distribution center in the world—is local.

Trusts grants totaling $200,000 to the Natural Resources Defense Council and GrowNYC are helping suppliers push for a wholesale market featuring regionally grown produce in the renovation plans for Hunts Point.

The charitable passions of our donors and our grants program often dovetail to get results. To learn more, contact Jane Wilton at (212) 686-2563.

Better access would help small and mid-sized regional produce growers cut transportation costs, boost production and plan next year’s crop—creating jobs in rural areas. “Economic benefits radiate outward in all directions from this project,” says Mark Izeman, a senior attorney at the Council. “Part of our job is to tell decision-makers that preserving food production and keeping farms is good for our State, and good for everyone’s pocketbook.” The grant also helps send fresh and healthful produce to low-income communities.

With last year’s grant, the Council and GrowNYC set up a temporary wholesale farmers market next to Hunts Point; helped organize a standing-room-only mayoral forum on food; and enlisted the support of restaurants, schools, and local government, along with farm, health, and hunger organizations. Three New York governors have endorsed such a market and advocates will keep up the pressure when negotiations resume.

At the National Dinner Table •Federalpoliciesthatencourageconsumption

of fruits and vegetables “could save taxpayers billions and save lives,” says Ricardo Salvador, director of the Food & Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, in Cambridge, Mass. “But current farm policies favor unhealthy, processed food and they’re making Americans sick.” A $75,000 grant allows the organization to promote reforms.

•A$75,000 grant to the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation trains grassroots leaders—including New Jersey farmworkers and Louisiana fishermen—to advocate for sustainable food and farming legislation.

•Decomposedfoodmakesrichsoilthateliminates the need for chemical fertilizers. A $75,000 grant to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, based in Minneapolis and Washington,D.C.,promotescompostingbiodegradable household waste in New York and three other cities.

Cows grazing in the Hudson Valley on land conserved by the

Agricultural Stewardship Association, photo by Lawrence White.

October 2013 5nycommunitytrust.org

Memo from a DonorKatherine Roome

Chair of Agricultural Stewardship Association, Greenwich, NY;

former Vice President and Associate General Counsel

at the McGraw-Hill Companies

When I was a girl in nor

thern

Westchester, there were

plenty of

working farms. I watched

them all

disappear. It was heartb

reaking. Now I’m

working to make sure thi

s doesn’t happen

to my community. Every 3

.5 days, New York State

loses a farm to developm

ent.

In my part of the Hudson

Valley, we have great s

oil and

water. We also have trac

tor dealers, veterinaria

ns,

slaughter houses—infrastructu

re you can’t take for gr

anted.

I’ve always given to con

servation groups, but sa

ving

farmland is especially c

rucial. At the Agricultu

ral

Stewardship Association,

we help property owners

protect

valuable farmland and tr

ansfer their farms to th

e next

generation. We also intr

oduce kids to conserved

farms. They

leave with fresh produce

, then learn how to cook

it in our

camp programs.

Finding markets for this

local food is key. I’m

thrilled The

New York Community Trust

is behind efforts to put

a permanent

wholesale farmers market

in the City. For some f

armers, a

steady demand for upstat

e produce will make the

difference

between staying on the l

and or selling to develo

pers. It’s

that simple.

Katherine

The charitable passions of our donors and our grants program often dovetail to get results. To learn more, contact Jane Wilton at (212) 686-2563.

Edward and Sally Van Lier set up a fund to help gifted young artists with limited incomes. Since 1991, The Trust’s Van

Lier Fellowship Program has helped 1,638 artists, several of whom have gone on to become MacArthur “Genius Grant”

winners, perform and direct on Broadway, and show in museums. This year, 12 grants totaling $851,000 are helping

85 recent college graduates launch careers in the arts. Fellow Janelle Iglesias creates kinetic sculpture at Smack

Mellon in Dumbo, Brooklyn, photo by Etienne Frossard.

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New GrantsThe full list of grants approved at the October board meeting can be found in the Latest News section of our website, nycommunitytrust.org.

Many elderly New Yorkers can’t afford food and can’t get to pantries. The Trust helped start Citymeals-on-Wheels’ mobile food pantry, which delivered free weekly groceries to 850 elders last year. This year, a $100,000 grant keeps the project trucking along.

The nation’s first public library in a fine arts museum is scheduled to open in the Queens Museum of Art in 2015. A $100,000 Trust grant helps develop educational programs that bring together the museum and library collections.

Roulette Intermedium, a Brooklyn group

showcasing experimental contemporary music, creates programs for

online broadcast with a $60,000 grant, photo by

Boran Sadja.

An esplanade shouldn’t be an obstacle course. But with a three-mile series

of sinkholes, broken piers, and hard-to-find entrances, the East River waterfront from 125th to 60th Street sometimes feels more stressful than serene.

“Roped-off hazards make piers unusable, while potential gardening spots are fallow because there’s no irrigation,” says Lauren O’Toole, interim executive director of Civitas, a planning group working to improve life on Manhattan’s East Side.

With the City’s eyes on the waterfront in the wake of superstorm Sandy, a $55,000 Trust grant will help Civitas bring Upper East Side and East Harlem residents together to plan for an upgrade of the esplanade.

A recent Civitas competition challenged architects and planners to envision a welcoming space for bikers, walkers, gardeners, kayakers,

Suburbanites who struggle to find affordable rentals now have confirmation of what they suspected: Long Island has far fewer rentals than other areas around New York City, and fewer than 5% are vacant. Despite high demand, the Island is building townhouses and apartments slower than nearby suburbs. Rents have increased far more than incomes, undermining Nassau and Suffolk counties’ efforts to attract young workers and professionals starting careers.

Those are findings of a study by the Regional Plan Association and Long Island Affordable and Fair Housing Initiative Advisory Group, supported by an $86,000 grant from the Long Island Community Foundation, a division of The Trust. Other key findings: • 56%ofLongIslandrenterspaymorethan30%oftheir

income for housing.• 55%of20-to34-year-oldslivewithparentsorother

older relatives.• TheHudsonValley,northernNewJersey,andsouth-

western Connecticut have two-and-a-half times more available rental homes per household than Long Island.

The study found a major obstacle: Zoning regulations often prevent construction of residential buildings on small lots in tightly packed neighborhoods near train stations, where they’d benefit the most

local workers, and families. It received more than 90 submissions from 24countries.TheTrustgrantsupportscommunityeventsfeaturinganexhibition of these renderings and organizing residents to help plan and advocate for a new esplanade.

“The next twenty years are going to be awesome for this City,” says Sharon Pope, Civitas board member and urbanist. “With Brooklyn Bridge Park, Governors Island, and Hudson River Park to look to, it’s a wonderful time to be involved in the waterfront.”

people and take away the least green space.

Of course, the affordable housing crisis isn’t just in the suburbs. To address the problem in the City, The Trust helps groups to stabilize management and improve conditions of affordable housing; build or convert space into new apartments; support developers of such housing; and push for equitable housing policies.

Recent grants include $40,000 to Picture the Homeless, a group founded by the homeless, for research and advocacy to convert foreclosed and vacant properties into housing for the poor. Grants of $65,000 each to Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, a coalition of nearly 100 neighborhood housing groups, and Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, a tenant advocacy group, help promote the transfer of apartment buildings in foreclosure to responsible owners.

Renderings by David Elzer (left) and Gerard Cadger and Xenia Semeniuk (right) entered into the “Reimagining the Waterfront” competition.

October 2013 7nycommunitytrust.org

A New East Side Esplanade

Long Island’s Rental Housing Crisis

Solving a Rental Crisis

909 Third AvenueNew York, NY 10022www.nycommunitytrust.org

Address Service Requested

Nonprofit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No.5013

New York, NY

Make your philanthropic dreams come true.If you’re interested in the work in these pages, contact Jane Wilton, general counsel, at (212) 686-2563; or Bob Edgar, vice president for donor relations, at (212) 686-2564.

For more stories about our grants in New York City, Westchester, and Long Island, see nycommunitytrust.org

grantsInside: Linking Local Food to the City

An New East Side Esplanade

Solving a Housing Crisis

The Lower Eastside Girls Club opened a clubhouse with a planetarium, art studios, computer center, radio station, gym, and instructional kitchen. A $30,000 Trust grant funds a new website and technical support for the staff.

December2013 NEWSLETTER