NYC GREEN RELIEF & RECOVERY FUND ANNOUNCES $150,000 IN GRANTS FOR 112 GRASSROOTS VOLUNTEER GROUPS CARING FOR PARKS AND GREEN SPACES ACROSS NYC

 

NEW MATCHING GRANT OPPORTUNITY OPENING IN OCTOBER FOR VOLUNTEER GROUPS

Funding supports local groups sustaining New York City’s parks and open spaces as the pandemic enters a new phase and the parks system reels from last year’s budget cuts and increased use 

Today, City Parks Foundation announced the selection of 112 grant recipients through the NYC Green Relief & Recovery Fund’s grassroots grants program. These 112 NYC-based community groups will each receive a grant of up to $3,000 to support environmental stewardship and health & wellness programs in parks, gardens, and open spaces. Grantees are distributed across New York City’s five boroughs with a focus on Environmental Justice Areas identified through the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Sustainability, where communities are disproportionately vulnerable to environmental injustices because of systemic racism and inequitable resource distribution.

The 112 recipients were selected through an open call and application process. Funded projects range from launching new gardens led by Mujeres en Movimiento in Corona, Queens and Ujamaa Garden in the Bronx to maintaining the dog runs at Saint Nicholas Dog Run in Harlem and Maria Hernandez Dog Run in Bushwick, Brooklyn with new tools, equipment, and gravel. Additionally, grants are supporting open streets and street tree stewardship by community groups including West 103rd Street Open Street Community Coalition in Manhattan as well as NYCHA property beautification projects including expanding the garden areas maintained by Castle Hill Houses Tenant Associations in the Bronx. The NYC Green Fund is administered by City Parks Foundation with the grassroots grants portion managed by Partnerships for Parks (PfP)—a joint program of City Parks Foundation and NYC Parks.

Grassroots grant recipients include: 

The Bronx 

Wakefield 4 Change - Wakefield Street Tree Revitalization Project 

Eastchester Road Community Garden - Eastchester Road Community Garden

Havemeyer Garden Association - Havemeyer Garden

Stewards of Ewen Park - Ewen Park

Castle Hill Houses Tenants Association - Roxanne Reid Memorial Garden

Bruckner Mott Haven Garden - Bruckner Mott Haven Garden

Friends of Tremont Park - Walter Gladwin Park

Bronx Sole - St. James Park

Concrete Friends - Concrete Plant Park

Friends of Garden Kitchen Lab - Hunts Point Recreation Center

Bringing The Peace Incorporated - RFT Community Peace Garden / 169th Street tree beds 

Future Star Productions - Crotona Park, Playground #9

Woodycrest Community Garden - Woodycrest Community Garden

Friends of 4 Parks Alliance, Inc. - Andrew Freedman Home, Joyce Kilmer Park, Franz Sigel Park, Macombs Dam, John Mullaly Park

Mill Brook Garden - Mill Brook Houses

Kelly Street Block Association - Street Trees on Kelly Street

Stewards of Henry Hudson Park - Henry Hudson Park

Encouragement and Enrichment Motivational Services - Alexander Alley 

Ujamaa Garden - Ujamaa Garden

Friends of Astin Jacobo / Mapes Baseball Field - Mapes Baseball Field

BronxRockets - Mullaly's Park

Padre Plaza Success Community Garden - Padre Plaza community garden

Woodlawn Collective - Muskrat Cove - Bronx Park - along the Bronx River

The grants program also includes the launch of a new collaboration with ioby (in our backyards) for NYC Green Fund grantees to crowdfund for additional support. The NYC Green Fund Crowdfunding Challenge will launch in early October. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and will stay open as long as funds remain available. The NYC Green Fund will match funds raised up to $2,500 per grantee. For more information on the funding opportunity, please sign up for updates on City Parks Foundation’s website at cityparksfoundation.org/nyc-green-fund.  

About the NYC Green Relief & Recovery Fund 

In May 2020, a coalition of national, family, and community foundations launched the NYC Green Relief & Recovery Fund to support stewardship organizations that care for New York City’s parks and open spaces. The Fund is intended to respond to the most urgent needs facing the City’s parks and open spaces, while spurring policy-makers to address ongoing systemic challenges, and provide adequate funding to maintain and improve them. The Fund was launched in response to the efforts of the Parks and Open Space Partners – NYC coalition to raise awareness of the financial impacts of the pandemic on open spaces. The Fund is intended to grow, and we encourage those interested in supporting the NYC Green Relief & Recovery Fund to donate now or contact NYCGreenFund@cityparksfoundation.org for more information.