Partnerships for Parks - Congratulations NYC Green Fund Grassroots Grant Awardees

NYC Green Fund Grassroots Grant Program Awardees Announced

We’re excited to announce that we have just awarded $343,900 in grants to 58 community groups across the five boroughs through the NYC Green Fund Grassroots grant program. Part of the NYC Green Fund, a pooled grant program supporting an equitable and resilient network of parks and open spaces to benefit the well-being of all New Yorkers, the NYC Green Fund Grassroots grant program supports community-led initiatives specifically, prioritizing Environmental Justice Areas, majority BIPOC-led community groups, and groups with budgets under $50,000. The program targets communities that are most vulnerable to environmental injustices and advances the viability of grassroots initiatives across parks and open spaces in all five boroughs. Some highlights for the coming season include:

• Liminal in collaboration with the Brownsville Community Justice Center will create “Beyond Memorial,” a youth-led art and healing justice response to gun violence and loss through temporary light installations as an alternative to NYPD light towers in Brooklyn

• La Finca del Sur will lead monthly learning circles in the Bronx facilitated by the South Bronx Farmers around the rewards of growing and eating healthy, organic foods, with a focus on special needs community members and intergenerational knowledge sharing

• Seed Healing Network will host a holistic clinic for community members at and near the NYCHA Queensbridge Houses, providing acudetox and reiki therapy, Narcan supplies, and a multilingual zine and local resource guide highlighting shelters, primary care, food pantries, and affordable holistic services

• Uptown Soccer, Inc. will expand a youth soccer program by hiring new coaching staff and providing material resources to children of newly arrived immigrants in Manhattan 

• Friends of Olmsted Beil House  in Staten Island will create a lecture series to educate community members around Olmsted Beil House, a 324-year-old historic site, to galvanize restoration of the house 

For more information about the awardees, click here. The next round of NYC Green Fund Grassroots grant applications will open in July 2024. For the latest updates, check our site or sign up for our mailing list. 

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PfP Grantee Owl's Head Park Volunteers

NYC Green Fund Crowdfunding Challenge

Looking for funding to support your local park, community garden, green street, or street trees? There's still time to apply to the NYC Green Fund Crowdfunding Challenge, which provides up to $3,000 in matching funds to approved community projects that are hosted through an ioby crowdfunding campaign. If approved, the NYC Green Fund contributes one dollar for every dollar raised-up to $2,500 ($3,000 for organizations based in Environmental Justice Areas)! Learn more here.

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PfP is a joint community engagement program of City Parks Foundation and NYC Parks working to sustain local parks and green spaces across New York City. We’re currently hiring a fiscal sponsorship manager. Apply now and become part of the PfP family!

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Partnerships for Parks is a joint program of City Parks Foundation and NYC Parks that supports and champions a growing network of leaders caring and advocating for neighborhood parks and green spaces. We equip people and organizations with the skills and tools needed to transform these spaces into dynamic community assets. 

Line Workers Recruit Apprentices

 

The Northeastern Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee for the Outside Electrical Industry will conduct a recruitment from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025 for 50-70 Electrical (Outside) Line Worker apprentices, the New York State Department of Labor announced today.

Please note that the 50-70 openings listed for apprentices represent the total number for all regions of the state.

Applications are available and accepted the 1st Monday of every month during the recruitment period from http://www.NEAT1968.org, with a maximum of 30 applications per area, per month. All applications must be submitted on the website. Please note, there is a $25.00 test processing fee required with all completed applications. Applicants may request that this fee be waived. Fee waivers will be approved upon showing verifiable proof of financial need. Applicants who do not have internet access should visit their local library or their nearest New York State Department of Labor Career Center (see: dol.ny.gov/career-centers). All applications must be received no later than June 30, 2025.

The Committee requires that applicants:

• Must be at least 18 years old.
• Must have a High School diploma or High School equivalency diploma (such as TASC or GED).
• Must pass DOT physical, at the expense of the sponsor, after an offer of employment.
• Must take and obtain a qualifying score on the NJATC aptitude test (3 or higher).
• Must pass a drug test, at the expense of the sponsor, after selection and prior to enrollment in apprenticeship.
• Must pass a background check, at the expense of the sponsor, after selection and prior to enrollment in apprenticeship.
• Must attend all the related classroom training at the approved school.
• Must have a valid driver’s license and a commercial driver’s permit or license (class A or B, with the air brake restriction removed) in order to operate commercial vehicles.
• Must be able to read, hear, and understand instructions and warnings given in English.
• Must be able to crawl and work in confined spaces such as attics and manholes.
• Must be able to climb and work from ladders, scaffolds, poles, and towers of various heights.
• Must be willing and able to travel to worksites anywhere within 11 Northeastern states such as Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland (eastern shore), Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

For further information, applicants should contact Northeastern Joint Apprenticeship & Training Committee at (610) 326-2860. Additional job search assistance can be obtained at your local New York State Department of Labor Career Center (see: dol.ny.gov/career-centers).

Apprentice programs registered with the Department of Labor must meet standards established by the Commissioner. Under state law, sponsors of programs cannot discriminate against applicants because of race, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, disability, or marital status. Women and minorities are encouraged to submit applications for apprenticeship programs. Sponsors of programs are required to adopt affirmative action plans for the recruitment of women and minorities.

D.A. Bragg Announces 34-Count Felony Trial Conviction of Donald J. Trump

 

Jury Finds the Defendant Guilty of 34 Counts of Falsifying Business Records

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. announced the all-count trial conviction of DONALD J. TRUMP, 77, for falsifying New York business records in order to conceal his illegal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election. TRUMP was convicted by a New York State Supreme Court jury of 34 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree. He is expected to be sentenced on July 11.

“Donald Trump is guilty of repeatedly and fraudulently falsifying business records in a scheme to conceal damaging information from American voters during the 2016 presidential election. Over the course of the past several weeks, a jury of 12 every day New Yorkers was presented with overwhelming evidence – including invoices, checks, bank statements, audio recordings, phone logs, text messages, and direct testimony from 22 witnesses – that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Trump illegally falsified 34 New York business records. Mr. Trump went to illegal lengths to lie repeatedly in order to protect himself and his campaign. In Manhattan, we follow the facts without fear or favor and have a solemn responsibility to ensure equal justice under the law regardless of the background, wealth or power of the accused. The integrity of our judicial system depends on upholding that principle,” said District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

As proven at trial, TRUMP engaged in a scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election and went to extraordinary and illegal lengths to hide this conduct from the American voters and public, illegally causing dozens of false entries to be made in New York business records of his Manhattan-based company to conceal attempts to violate state election law.

The genesis of the scheme was a 2015 meeting at Trump Tower where an agreement was hatched between TRUMP, his former attorney Michael Cohen, and David Pecker, the CEO of American Media Inc. (“AMI”). TRUMP, David Pecker and Michael Cohen agreed that AMI would prevent damaging information about TRUMP from becoming public. AMI, which owned the National Enquirer, purchased stories as part of a “catch and kill” strategy in order to protect TRUMP. 

In one instance, American Media Inc. paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman, who claimed to have a story about a child TRUMP had out of wedlock. 

In a second instance, AMI paid $150,000 to a woman who alleged she had a sexual relationship with TRUMP.

In the weeks before the election, a video from the TV show Access Hollywood became public in which TRUMP was recorded on a hot mic saying in part, “You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women, I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet, just kiss, I don’t even wait, when you are a star they let you do it, you can do anything, grab them by the p****, you can do anything.”

The following day, the Editor-in-Chief of the National Enquirer informed Michael Cohen that the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels was planning to come forward about a sexual encounter she had with TRUMP.

Cohen and TRUMP, knowing how devasting Daniels’ story would be to the campaign, agreed to buy her story to defraud the voting public and prevent them from learning the information before Election Day. Cohen, with the approval of TRUMP, set up a shell company called Essential Consultants, LLC and wired $130,000 to Keith Davidson, the attorney for Stormy Daniels. Cohen used false information and records to disguise the true nature of the shell company. Phone records shown at trial and testimony from witnesses proved that TRUMP was in the loop every step of the way.

After winning the election, TRUMP reimbursed Cohen through a series of monthly checks, first from the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust – created in New York to hold the Trump Organization’s assets during TRUMP’s presidency – and later from TRUMP’s bank account. In total, 11 checks were issued for a phony purpose. Each check was processed by the Trump Organization and illegally disguised as a payment for legal services rendered pursuant to a non-existent retainer agreement. In total, 34 false entries were made in New York business records to conceal the initial covert $130,000 payment. Cohen was paid $420,000 in total so he would be made whole on the payment, which was being disguised as income and therefore would be taxed.

Assistant D.A.s Matthew Colangelo, Christopher Conroy, Katherine Ellis, Susan Hoffinger, Becky Mangold and Joshua Steinglass are handling the prosecution of this case, with the assistance of Steven Wu (Chief of the Appeals Division), Alan Gadlin (Deputy Chief of the Appeals Division) and Assistant D.A.’s Philip Tisne, John Hughes, and Caroline Williamson. Paralegals Georgia Longstreet, Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, and Nishant Bhaumik also provided assistance.

D.A. Bragg thanked the members of the NYPD and the Office of Court Administration for their professionalism and tireless efforts to maintain a safe environment throughout the duration of the trial.

Defendant Information: 

DONALD J. TRUMP 

Palm Beach, Florida 

Convicted:

•   Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony, 34 counts

Governor Hochul Celebrates the Beginning of LGBTQ+ Pride Month

 

Issues Proclamation in Celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride Month

LGBTQ+ Progress Flags Will Be Raised Across New York Stat

State Landmarks to Be Lit on June 1 and June 23 to 30

Governor Kathy Hochul issued a proclamation designating June 2024 as LGBTQ+ Pride Month to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in New York State. Additionally, LGBTQ+ progress flags will be raised across the state, and state landmarks will be illuminated in the colors of the LGBTQ+ pride flag on June 1 and between June 23 and 30.

“Pride Month is a time of celebration and a reminder to continue in our efforts to uplift the rights of the LGBTQ+ community here in New York State,” Governor Hochul said. “New Yorkers of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions deserve to be safe, heard and valued. The State of New York stands with and supports the LGBTQ+ community.”

Governor Hochul also announced that the progress pride flag will be flown at State Parks across New York to mark the start of Pride Month. In addition, the flag will be raised at the State Capitol, Plaza and Governor's Mansion on June 1.

The flag will also be flown at the following State office buildings for the duration of Pride Month:

• 44 Holland Avenue, Albany
• 50 Wolf Road, Albany
• 328 State Street, Schenectady
• 625 Broadway, Albany
• Alfred E. Smith State Office Building
• Empire State Plaza
• Hampton Plaza
• Harriman Campus
• New York State Capitol
• Ten Eyck
• Binghamton State Office Building
• Dulles State Office Building
• Henderson-Smith State Office Building
• State Preparedness Training Center (Oriskany)
• Homer Folks Facility
• Senator John H. Hughes State Office Building
• Utica State Office Building
• Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building
• Eleanor Roosevelt State Office Building
• Hudson Valley Transportation Management Center
• Perry B. Duryea State Office Building
• Executive Mansion

The following State landmarks will be illuminated in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple tonight:

• One World Trade Center
• Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge
• Kosciuszko Bridge
• The H. Carl McCall SUNY Building
• State Education Building
• Alfred E. Smith State Office Building
• Empire State Plaza
• State Fairgrounds – Main Gate & Expo Center
• Niagara Falls
• Albany International Airport Gateway
• Lake Placid Olympic Center
• MTA LIRR - East End Gateway at Penn Station
• Fairport Lift Bridge over the Erie Canal
• Moynihan Train Hall
• Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park

Governor Hochul has championed policies and made investments to support families and lift up the most marginalized New Yorkers. She signed legislation to make New York a safe haven for LGBTQ+ youth and began the process to enshrine an Equal Rights Amendment in the New York State constitution. The FY 2025 Budget builds on this legacy through advancing equity statewide, including a $1 million expansion to the Lorena Borjas Transgender and Non-binary Wellness and Equity Fund to support workforce development programming targeting the transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary community.

In June 2023, Governor Hochul advanced several announcements in honor of Pride Month, including a $33.5 million investment to increase support for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, $20 million for LGBTQ+ affirming senior housing projects, $12.5 million for the American LGBTQ+ Museum, and $1 million in youth suicide prevention funding to support TGNCNB New Yorkers. Governor Hochul signed legislation to protect and affirm the LGBTQ+ community by creating a shield law for youth seeking gender affirming care and those that assist them.

Empire State Development’s Division of Tourism/I LOVE NY will continue to encourage LGBTQ travelers to discover all the events and destinations awaiting them across New York State. Throughout Pride season, I LOVE NY LGBTQ will be promoting travel at events throughout New York State and New England as part of its largest Pride tour ever. I LOVE NY is also partnering with NYC Pride – the organizer for the annual New York City Pride March and Festival – around its activities at the end of June.

The I LOVE NY LGBTQ website features content including travel guides and blogs – including a new piece spotlighting LGBTQ-owned businesses – and a Pride event calendar currently featuring more than 60 events throughout the state. Additional social media efforts include new videos featuring Fire Island and the new Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center. More information on LGBTQ travel and Pride events is available at iloveny.com/things-to-do/lgbtq/.

Retired Navy Admiral and Business Executives Arrested for Bribery Scheme

 

A retired Navy Admiral and two business executives were arrested on criminal charges related to their roles in a bribery scheme that involved a U.S. government contract.

As alleged in an indictment unsealed, from 2020 to 2022, Robert Burke, 62, of Coconut Creek, Florida, was a four-star Admiral who oversaw Naval operations in Europe, Russia, and most of Africa, and commanded thousands of civilian and military personnel. Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger, both of New York, are the co-CEOs of a company (Company A) that provided a workforce training pilot program to a small component of the Navy from August 2018 through July 2019. The Navy terminated a contract with Company A in late 2019 and directed Company A not to contact Burke.

Despite the Navy’s instructions, Kim and Messenger then allegedly met with Burke in Washington, D.C., in July 2021 in an effort to reestablish Company A’s business relationship with the Navy. At the meeting, the charged defendants allegedly agreed that Burke would use his position as a Navy Admiral to steer a sole-source contract to Company A in exchange for future employment at the company. They allegedly further agreed that Burke would use his official position to influence other Navy officers to award another contract to Company A to train a large portion of the Navy with a value Kim allegedly estimated to be “triple digit millions.” 

In furtherance of the conspiracy, in December 2021, Burke allegedly ordered his staff to award a $355,000 contract to Company A to train personnel under Burke’s command in Italy and Spain. Company A performed the training in January 2022. Thereafter, Burke allegedly promoted Company A in a failed effort to convince a senior Navy Admiral to award another contract to Company A. To conceal the scheme, Burke allegedly made several false and misleading statements to the Navy, including by creating the false appearance that Burke played no role in issuing the contract and falsely implying that Company A’s employment discussions with Burke only began months after the contract was awarded. 

In October 2022, Burke began working at Company A at a yearly starting salary of $500,000 and a grant of 100,000 stock options. 

Burke, Kim, and Messenger are each charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and bribery. Burke is also charged with performing acts affecting a personal financial interest and concealing material facts from the United States. If convicted, Burke faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, and Kim and Messenger each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia; Deputy Director of Investigative Operations Grant A. Fleming of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS); Special Agent in Charge Stanley A. Newell of the DCIS Transnational Operations Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Greg Gross of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Economic Crimes Field Office; and Assistant Director Michael D. Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division made the announcement.

DCIS, NCIS, and the FBI are investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Trevor Wilmot and Kathryn E. Fifield of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Rothstein for the District of Columbia are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

MAYOR ADAMS ANNOUNCES TENTATIVE CONTRACT AGREEMENT BETWEEN CITY, CIR-SEIU, AND NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS TO BETTER PAY OVER 2,300 ESSENTIAL HEALTH CARE WORKERS

 

Once Ratified, Agreement Will Deliver Wage Increases, Bonuses, Benefit Enhancements for Medical Interns and Residents  

 

Agreement Conforms to Pattern Established With DC 37, Numerous Additional Unions City Has Negotiated Contracts With  

 

Administration Has Negotiated Contracts with Unions Representing More Than 96 Percent of City’s Workforce — Quicker Than Any Mayoral Administration in Modern History 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Office of Labor Relations (OLR) Commissioner Renee Campion, and NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz today announced a tentative five-year and six-month contract agreement with the Committee of Interns and Residents Service Employees International Union (CIR-SEIU) that will provide fair wage increases to more than 2,300 medical interns and residents who work for NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest municipal health care system in the nation.

The tentative agreement is retroactive — beginning on December 16, 2021 — and expires on June 15, 2027. The agreement includes compounded wage increases totaling 16.21 percent over the term of the contract and the starting salary for residents will go from the current $66,247 to $81,238 in December 2025. The agreement also includes lump sum payments, an adjustment to the resident salary schedule to help address recruitment and retention, and other benefit enhancements. In two-and-a-half years — and less than 16 months after negotiating its first contract — the Adams administration has successfully negotiated contracts with unions representing more than 96 percent of the city’s workforce and 100 percent of the city’s uniformed workforce — the quickest any mayoral administration has reached that milestone in modern city history. 

“Our hospital workers were on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, risking their lives to save ours. The least they deserve is a fair wage for their work,” said Mayor Adams. “Today’s announcement will ensure 2,300 medical interns and residents receive the pay and benefits they deserve, while also helping our public hospitals recruit and retain talent so they can keep serving New Yorkers. Whether it’s medical residents, nurses, or teachers, our administration will always invest in the working-class people of New York City, and we are proud to achieve these crucial labor agreements in record-time.”

“This contract is a win-win for all parties involved,” said OLR Commissioner Campion. “It provides significant salary and benefit increases to our residents in recognition of the important care they provide to our fellow New Yorkers every day. It will also help NYC Health + Hospitals remain competitive in recruiting and retaining quality residents, and it is fiscally responsible and fair to the taxpayers of our city.”

“NYC Health + Hospitals is proud to provide an environment where residents can learn, train, and provide high-quality care to New Yorkers,” said Mitchell Katz, president and CEO, NYC Health + Hospitals, MD. “This contract supports everyone’s goals in continuing that effort, and I want to thank Commissioner Campion, the Office of Labor Relations, and the Office of Management and Budget for their work on this negotiation.”

The total cost of the tentative CIR-SEIU agreement through Fiscal Year 2028 is $211 million and it is fully funded within the city’s Labor Reserve.

The tentative agreement includes:

• Fair Wage Increases: 16.21 percent in compounded general wage increases.

• Lump Sum Payments: Lump sum payment of between $4,000 to $6,000 to residents, depending on their date of hire.

• Salary Schedule Adjustment: Effective May 16, 2024, the resident salary schedule will be adjusted by between $1,131 and $4,000. The $4,000 adjustment will be to the early salary steps in order to help address recruitment.

• Meal Payment Increase: The annual meal payment for residents will increase by $300 per year, from $3,500 to $3,800.

• Increased Fund Contributions: There will be significant contribution increases to various contractual funds, which pay additional compensation to residents and improve patient care.

• Labor-Management Committee: There will be continued Labor-Management discussions on various issues affecting the residents’ work and well-being.

The tentative agreement must be ratified by CIR-SEIU's membership.

The Adams administration has delivered fair wages and benefits to hundreds of thousands of municipal workers, many who went years without a wage increase. Following the pattern established by the agreement with District Council 37 (DC 37) in February 2023, the Adams administration continued to reach settlements with unions representing nearly all of the city’s workforce, including the United Federation of Teachers, the Communication Workers of America Local 1180, Teamsters Local 237, the Council of Supervisors and Administrators, and the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association, as well as with unions representing uniformed workers including the Police Benevolent Association, the Uniformed Officers Coalition, and the United Sanitation Workers’ Union Local 831, among dozens of others.

Earlier this month, Mayor Adams and NYC Health + Hospitals CEO Dr. Katz announced that more than 1,000 new union nurses have been hired over the past eight months at the city's public hospital system, replacing many temporary nurses. With these 1,000+ nurses, the NYC Health + Hospital system now has more than 9,600 full- and part-time nurses across the system.