Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson - Community Resources & Updates

 

Dear Neighbors,

Thank you for joining us for another week in review. 

 

On Saturday, we hosted an African Heritage Celebration and Festival at Lou Gehrig Plaza! It was a day filled with musical performances, spoken word artists, backpack and grocery giveaways, a parade, face painting and free health screening! It was incredible to be in community to celebrate the various African cultures in our city! Thank you to everyone who joined us.

 

Yesterday, Council Member Kevin Riley and I introduced bills to combat the lack of gender and ethnic diversity in the FDNY. Our city agencies should reflect the great diversity of our city and the FDNY is no exception. We are dedicated to working with the FDNY, DCAS and the City’s Commission on Human Rights to build a more diverse workforce in every sector in our city and to dismantle systemic barriers that prevent women and people of color from joining our first responders. Thank you Speaker Adams, Council Member Riley, the NYC Black, Latino, Asian Caucus, the Vulcan Society, the Arc of Justice and everyone else for their support of these bills and commitment to equity.

 

On Sunday night, just days before the 5th year anniversary of Hurricane Maria, Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico. The category 1 storm caused massive flooding and an island-wide power outage. Hurricane Fiona graduated to a category 3 hurricane this morning as it continued to slam into the neighboring islands of Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos causing mudslides and heavy rainfall. This is a chilling reminder of the devastating effects of climate change but it is also a call to action and collaboration from all levels of government. We must act quickly and we must provide our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico the necessary resources to recover and prevent further damage in the future. For information on how to help and mobilize, please visit the Hispanic Federation here.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 718-590-3500 or email us at webmail@bronxbp.nyc.gov.

 

In partnership,

Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson

UPCOMING EVENTS

IN THE COMMUNITY  Our African Heritage Celebration was a success! A special thanks to our incredible sponsors, my team, and everyone who joined us. It was an honor to celebrate our borough’s vibrant African culture in community with community. We won’t forget the courage of our first responders and civilians during the attack on 9/11. We stand with all the families who lost loved ones on that day; and we stand as New Yorkers and Bronxites united and committed to lifting each other, especially during times of pain and grief. The Throgs Neck Little League has been serving our Bronx community, especially our youth, for 70 years. I’m proud to say that Council Member Marjorie Velasquez and myself donated $1.2 million to the Throgs Neck Little League.  The allocation will allow Throgs Neck Little League, in partnership with the Millennial Energy Project, to perform phase two of the improvement project that started in 2016.  The project includes energy generation and electrical storage that will create a net zero facility and reduce area pollution.