GrowNYC - Every harvest feeds New York City 🌶️

 All New Yorkers deserve to feed their families with dignity and respect, including the ability to put fresh fruits and vegetables on the table.

Because access to healthy food isn’t a privilege—it’s a fundamental human right.

From Governors Island to Bed-Stuy

Every other Friday before dawn, Jules starts the day harvesting as much as they can—swiss chard, kale, tomatoes, hot peppers—armloads of produce from GrowNYC’s from our one-acre urban farm in the heart of New York City.

“One of the main tenets of GrowNYC is that as many people as possible are able to access fresh food and local food…We try to get [fresh produce] from Governors Island, which is right in the center of the city, out into the boroughs–it’s about as local as you can get.” —Jules White, GrowNYC Teaching Garden Farm Coordinator

Support Fresh Food for Every New Yorker

By the numbers: Last year alone, over 5,000 pounds of freshly harvested food was donated to community groups feeding their neighbors across the five boroughs.

This season’s abundance is nourishing communities through partnerships with the 1 Pulaski Community Fridge and Food Not Bombs Bed-Stuy, where our produce is transformed into free, nutritious, plant-based meals for neighbors across NYC.

What they’re saying: As Keegan Stephan, who manages the 1 Pulaski Community Fridge, shared:

“The access to fresh, locally grown food to the people that we serve both at Food Not Bombs and at the community fridges is immeasurable. People love stopping by the fridges and seeing that the food is amazingly fresh.”

Why it matters: Federal cuts and disruptions to SNAP and other essential nutrition programs are leaving more New Yorkers wondering how they’ll put food on the table. When public systems fail, our communities step up.

The bottom line: Will you step up alongside us? Help us keep the harvest going strong and make sure every New Yorker has access to the food they deserve.

In addition to supporting programs like our Teaching Garden, here’s what your gift to GrowNYC will make possible:

•  Emergency food distributions through our Food Hub and our community partners in every borough.

•  Greenmarket Bucks distributions to help customers buy fresh fruits and vegetables directly from farmers.

•  Partnerships with local food rescue organizations to host donation food drives at select Greenmarkets, helping feed our neighbors in need.

•  Direct purchases from regional farms, ensuring that farmers can stay in business through this crisis.

Your support helps keep farming and New Yorkers nourished—thank you. 

With gratitude and hope,

Team GrowNYC

Weekly News from State Senator Gustavo Rivera!

 

Last week, Senator Rivera attended the 2025 SOMOS Conference in Puerto Rico, where he led a successful workshop with public health experts. They analyzed the impacts of the long-term federal policy changes and explored legislative strategies for coordinated advocacy and reinvestment for impacted communities. Here are a few more snapshots of that incredibly productive weekend! 

This week, Senator Rivera attended a panel discussion as part of "Primary Care First: Reimagining New York's Health System," an event organized by City and State and the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC).

Joined by moderator David Sandman, President and CEO of the New York Health Foundation and Assemblymember David Weprin, Senator Rivera spoke about the potential actions that the State Legislature can take to support primary care access for all New Yorkers.

Investing intentionally in primary care is one of the most effective ways to save lives, improve individual and community health, advance health equity, and save money to the State. Senator Rivera will work diligently this year in Albany to pass his Primary Care Investment Act bill (S.1634) and the New York Health Act (S.3425), which will establish a single payer system in New York.

This Thanksgiving holiday, the Senate is proud to sponsor a Thanksgiving Day Student Showcase across the state.

The year's theme is “What are you thankful for?” Students are invited to submit an original poem, short essay, or artwork that expresses what they are thankful for.

Showcase submissions must be uploaded electronically in JPEG or PDF format to be featured on Senator Rivera’s website. Participants will receive a personalized certificate from their Senator in recognition of their contribution.

The submission period will remain open until November 21, 2025, to ensure student work can be published online in time for Thanksgiving Day.

Lifeguard qualifying tests began October 25, 2025 at Truman High School!

Lifeguard Qualiry Test are taking place between now through later February 2026. All potential lifeguards must first pass this test before beginning training. Please use the following link for Lifeguard Qualiry Testing locations in the Bronx Lifeguard Qualifying Test Registration : NYC Parks

 

Upcoming dates:

• Monday, 11/24
• Wednesday, 1/28/26
• Saturday, 2/7/26

 

These qualifying tests are taking place at Truman High School.

SATURDAY 11/22: THE OFFICE OF BRONX DISTRICT ATTORNEY DARCEL CLARK IS HOLDING A GUN BUYBACK

Your Double Up Food Bucks are still good to use.

We know this time may feel uncertain, but Double Up Food Bucks NY is still here to help you stretch your food dollars. You can continue to use any Double Up Food Bucks you already have, whether they’re paper coupons, tokens, or electronic balances, even if your SNAP benefits are paused or your balance is $0. If you still have SNAP benefits that carry over into November, you can keep earning Double Up Food Bucks on fresh fruits and vegetables at participating locations.

 

What You Need to Know

• Grocery store coupons expire six weeks from the date they’re issued.
• Tokens and electronic balances do not expire.
• Some farmers markets will remain open through November 30.

For New York City Public School (NYCPS) students, CUNY is waiving the application fee to apply from Oct. 27 through Nov. 21. More than 80% of incoming CUNY students come from the NYCPS system. The fee will also be waived for New York State students outside of the five boroughs from Nov. 10 through Nov. 21 as part of the state’s College Application Month. 

New Yorkers for Parks - Have you planted your daffodil bulbs?

 

It was inspiring to see our community come together once again this fall to blanket the city’s green spaces with vibrant daffodils.

Each year, NY4P distributes bulbs as a living memorial and a symbol of New Yorkers' resilience. This year, our Daffodil Project expanded to include native wildflower seeds curated by the NYC Parks Plant Ecology Center and Nursery (PECAN), to support the city’s native pollinators. We gave out 400,000 bulbs and enough seeds to cover a football field - a mission made possible by the dedication of donors and volunteers like you.

Thanks to everyone who participated in meaningful effort. Stay tuned as we prepare to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Daffodil Project in 2026!

Support the Daffodil Project

Donate We’d love to see your daffodils! Please share photos from your planting events or of where you planted them this year, and again when they bloom. You can tag us on social media or send your photos to ny4p@ny4p.org. Daffodil FAQ When should I plant the bulbs and seeds? Before the ground freezes - so this weekend is a great time! How do I plant my bulbs? Plant the bulb with its top (the pointy end) about two to three times as deep as the bulb is tall. For example, place a 2-inch bulb roughly 4 inches deep, and a 3-inch bulb about 5 to 6 inches deep. (more) How do I plant my seeds? You can plant them 1/4 inch into the ground alongside the bulbs; they will bloom in 1-2 years! How do I sign up for bulbs next year? To be the first to know when registration opens, please subscribe to our email list  Be sure to select “Daffodil Project” as one of your interests. You’ll then receive an email next summer with details about registration dates, distribution locations, and more. Thank you again for your interest and support. We look forward to seeing you next year! Subscribe to our email list New Yorkers for Parks PO Box 431 New York, NY 10272

DHS Cracks Down on Visa Abuse as Trump Administration Ends Border Crisis and Drives Historic Drop in Foreign-Born Population

 

DHS secured the first decline in the foreign-born U.S. population in more than 50 years

The Trump Administration has done what no modern president even attempted: end the border crisis, restore control of America’s immigration system, and put American workers back at the front of the line. Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has shattered decades of failed policy, securing the largest increase in immigration enforcement funding in U.S. history and driving the first decline in the foreign-born U.S. population in more than 50 years.  

Thanks to aggressive enforcement, streamlined deportation protocols, and the restoration of real border security, hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens have been deported and over 2 million more have self-deported rather than face certain removal. And this is only the beginning: the first wave of newly trained ICE agents is beginning to deploy, expanding the administration’s ability to sustain record-high enforcement levels into 2025 and beyond.  

“President Trump and Secretary Noem said we’d secure the border, enforce our laws, reinstate integrity into our immigration system, and protect American jobs and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “The era of mass illegal migration, open borders, and visa abuse is over. The American people finally have a government that enforces the law, not one that apologizes for it.”  

Restoring Integrity to the Visa System  

As part of this broader effort to restore law and order, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has intensified scrutiny of America’s visa programs. Under the Trump administration, USCIS has restored robust screening and vetting capabilities, re-emphasized fraud detection and deterrence, and reduced exploitation of the immigration system through humanitarian and Temporary Protected Status programs, including significant achievements in just the past three months alone:  

• In August, USCIS updated their policy manual to include screening for factors relating to an alien’s past requests for parole and any involvement in anti-American or terrorist organizations, as well as the use of discretion in adjudication of certain benefit requests where evidence of antisemitic activity is present. Immigration benefits, including to live and work in the U.S., remain a privilege, not a right. 
• In September, through Operation Twin Shield— in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement—DHS focused on more than 1,000 fraud or ineligibility instances, conducted over 900 site visits and in-person interviews, and found evidence of fraud, non-compliance, public safety or national security concerns in 275 of the cases. 
• In October, DHS ended the automatic extension of certain employment authorization categories, putting a stop to a cycle of autopen signed screening and vetting applications. Ending this cycle ensures a higher vetting frequency of aliens who apply for employment authorization to work in the U.S. This extra step enables USCIS to better deter fraud and detect aliens with potential harmful intent and can expedite their removal process.   

 A Return to Law, Order, and American Prosperity  

Record Enforcement Funding: The Trump Administration secured the largest boost to immigration enforcement funding in U.S. history, ensuring DHS, ICE, CBP, and USCIS have the resources to carry out mass removals and protect the homeland.  

Mass Deportations and Self-Deports: In less than a year, hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens have been deported, while an estimated 2 million have left voluntarily to avoid prosecution or removal.  

New ICE Agents: The first wave of newly trained ICE officers will deploy in the come months, marking the largest expansion of field enforcement personnel in two decades.  

Historic Population Shift: In an era where unchecked mass immigration has ravaged American communities, depressed wages, and eroded national sovereignty for over half a century, achieving net negative migration represents a seismic reversal, and the dawn of sustainable sovereignty. 

Recidivist Fraudster Arrested For Stealing Gustave Courbet Painting

 

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging THOMAS DOYLE, a/k/a “AJ” or “Austin Doyle,” with wire fraud in connection with an alleged scheme by DOYLE to defraud the owner of the painting “Mother and Child on a Hammock” by the 19th-century French Realist painter Gustave Courbet.  DOYLE was previously convicted in the Southern District of New York in 2011 of a separate art-related fraud.  DOYLE was arrested yesterday morning in Norwalk, Connecticut, and presented in the Southern District of New York.  The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian.  

“The art market is largely based on trust,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “As alleged, Thomas Doyle breached that trust by telling the owner of a valuable painting a series of brazen lies to trick the owner into giving him the painting so he could keep the profits from the sale of the painting for himself.  The women and men of the Southern District of New York and our law enforcement partners will continue to work diligently to root out this type of bad actor.” 

As alleged in the Indictment unsealed yesterday in Manhattan federal court:

Between December 2022 and March 2025, DOYLE defrauded an art dealer (“Victim-1”) in connection with the sale of the painting “Mother and Child on a Hammock” (the “Hammock”) by Gustave Courbet.  In December 2022, DOYLE introduced himself to Victim-1 over email, representing himself to be in the business of buying and selling art.  Over the next few years, DOYLE and Victim-1 communicated over email and WhatsApp Messenger regarding artworks, and DOYLE made various misrepresentations to Victim-1 about himself, including falsely stating that he managed the “art side” of a family trust with assets worth billions of dollars.

In June 2024, DOYLE and Victim-1 began discussing the Hammock, which Victim-1 owned and was selling.  Victim-1 agreed to let DOYLE take custody of the Hammock to facilitate its viewing by a potential buyer.

In or about July 2024, DOYLE told Victim-1 that he had a potential buyer for the Hammock, and Victim-1 authorized DOYLE to sell the painting on his behalf for $550,000.  By early August 2024, DOYLE falsely informed Victim-1 that he had sold the Hammock for that price.

Instead, DOYLE’s associate (“Associate-1”), acting on DOYLE’s behalf, offered the Hammock for consignment to a Manhattan gallery (“Gallery-1”).  DOYLE provided Associate-1  with a false provenance for the Hammock that was passed on to Gallery-1, stating, among other things, that the Hammock had been purchased from Victim-1 in 2019.  Gallery-1 sold the Hammock on October 1, 2024, for $125,000 to an art collector.  On October 3, 2024, Gallery-1 wired $115,000, which were the sale proceeds of the Hammock minus commission, to Associate-1.  That same day, Associate-1 paid DOYLE $109,250 for the Hammock.

DOYLE never remitted to Victim-1 any proceeds from the sale of the Hammock.  By February 2025, DOYLE had spent all the proceeds from the sale of the Hammock on personal expenses and his own debts.  DOYLE subsequently falsely blamed his failure to pay Victim-1 on the purported buyer, fraudulently claiming the buyer had yet to pay when in fact DOYLE had been paid and was spending the proceeds of the Hammock sale.

On March 4, 2025, DOYLE admitted by email to Victim-1 that DOYLE had “betrayed” and “lied” to Victim-1 about the Hammock.

DOYLE, 68, of Connecticut, is charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years.

The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Art Crime Team.