News, updates and more from NYC Council Member Rafael Salamanca, Jr.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW $3.22 MILLION FOR M.S. 302 IMPROVEMENTS 🏫 It was a beautiful morning at Luisa Dessus Cruz M.S. 302 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating their new state-of-the-art auditorium, gymnasium, and playground 👉 A fierce supporter of our Bronx schools and students, I was proud to obtain the $3.22 million in funding for these projects 👉 Our community’s educational facilities have long been overlooked, but with these upgraded amenities, we are ensuring that Bronx youth will have a safe, clean, and equitable learning center - where their only concern will be their education COMBATTING DRUG ADDICTION IN THE SOUTH BRONX   The South Bronx is all too familiar with the perils of drug addiction.  Since entering office, I’ve allocated more than $5.2m alone to groups  doing invaluable drug-prevention work. But areas like 149th Street need a comprehensive city agency approach to  prevent the scale of the epidemic. As such, I joined my colleagues in state & city government,  representatives from nearly a dozen agencies, and advocates to ensure  the South Bronx is getting the resources & attention it needs to address  these issues once and for all! WORKING TO INCREASE HOMEOWNERSHIP IN NYC  NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams for joining us at the Oversight Hearing we hosted at the New York City Council  Committee on Land Use to hear your bill aiming to create  homeownership opportunities in our City  While I am proud to have created the most affordable housing  units in the Council since I was elected, the crux of generational  wealth creation is homeownership - an existing lack for New  Yorkers that I called on NYC Department of Housing Preservation  & Development (HPD) to remedy WEEKEND WRAP-UP Team Salamanca wrapped up our last Friday of Summer  2024 by celebrating our community: Our first stop was a street co-naming ceremony held in  honor of Dave Valentin - a Grammy-winning musician  from the South Bronx & Casita Maria Center For Arts &  Education alum who never failed in giving back to the  program and community that shaped him We concluded our day with the final ‘Movies Under the  Stars’ screening of ‘Wonka’ at Al Quinones Playground.   to all the families who joined us this summer & to the  New York City Department of Parks & Recreation for  co-sponsoring this event every year 2024 BRONX CHAMBER OF COMMERCE GALA! Congratulations to the Bronx Chamber of Commerce for an  unforgettable 2024 Gala, celebrating the transformative power  where ‘Anything Is Possible’ A staple to our Borough’s continued economic development, I  greatly enjoyed hearing about the ways new advancements in AI  have elevated commerce throughout the Bronx - including  getting to converse with Sophia (the world’s first citizen robot),  our exceptional emcee last night MICHAEL MCCAULEY WAY STREET  CO-NAMING CEREMONY Michael McCauley truly committed himself to service, teaching our  youth for over 35 years at St. Raymond’s High School &  volunteering his time to countless organizations in the BX.  To commemorate this service, we renamed the intersection of  E152nd & Courtlandt in  Michael’s honor. 2024 BRONX DEMOCRATIC PARTY GALA Congratulations The Bronx Democratic Party on the success of the  Bronx Democratic Gala   Senator Jamaal T. Bailey for your continued tireless dedication  to our entire Bronx delegation UPCOMING EVENTS 2024 FIESTA DE FLORES 🗓️ Save the Date! 🗓️ Join us as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month on Thursday,  October 10th, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the New York  Botanical Garden. Be sure to RSVP your spot by visiting: https://www.nybg.org/event/fiesta-de-flores/ We’ll see you there! FREE MAMMOGRAM HEALTH SCREENING 🗓️ Please join us for a FREE Mammogram Health Screening  event hosted by Rainbow Garden of Health & Life.    We hope to see you there!