Local Non Profits eagerly await promised government money, by Brian Abate

On March 22, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez announced that she was earmarking $1 million of federal money to 11 community groups from Red Hook and Gowanus.

We followed up with as many of the groups that would return our calls and found out that the money has not yet been sent, and when it does arrive, it will be in four tranches over next year.

The one big grant is considered a ‘project,’ by government rules. Martha Bowers of Hook Arts Media suggested that the one project could be split up among the different non-profits.

It was decided to split the money depending on size of the organizations, meaning not equally divided. The funds will be administered through Pioneer. There be follow-ups to ensure that the money will be used as the organizations laid out in their plans.

It seems that these are not grants based upon new programs, but money that can be used for the general operating expenses of each group. The oversight is basically that the group continues in it’s mission statement, a function that each group’s board of directors also holds them to.

Laurel Repsha of Pioneer Works said that “our collective fundraising grant has been approved in full! That said, the grant is still in its early stages so we don’t have much to report on yet.”

Tiffiney Davis from the Red Hook Art Project (RHAP) explained that this is how federal grants work and that it always takes time before the organizations receive the funding.

“We all had to come up with a detailed plan to submit to show we will serve the Red Hook community. For RHAP, that will be through art and programs for youth, as well as helping with the move [to RHAP’s new location on Van Brunt St.]”

Another organization that will receive funding is Ray Hall’s Red Hook Rise, which “promotes literacy through basketball and uses basketball as a tool to get kids to want to read.”

The Alex House Project is a nonprofit that was founded by Samora Coles. She told us that

“we provided nurturing and parent education classes to young moms in Red Hook so this grant will go towards those nurturing and parent education classes as well as our program transitioning young parents towards education. It will be for parenting support and education.”

PortSide will also receive funding and look to help the community through education but in a different way.

“Back in 2018 and 2019 we started working with P.S. 676 and teaching the kids about the waterfront, resiliency and more, using hands-on teaching,” said Carolina Salguero, who, as many in the neighborhood know, runs the red ship docked in the Atlantic Basin.

“We were able to see how impactful that was for the kids and the funding we will receive will help start a partnership with P.S. 15 so we will have a maritime-education program there too.”

Hook Arts Media “focuses on Arts and Media education and we’ve developed a specialty in working with transfer schools,” said Heather Harvey. “These are schools for overaged and under-credited young people and we’ve actually helped open three of them. We’ve had programs with P.S. 15 since the ‘90s. We also have community-based arts and media programs in which we actually pay our participants as they learn pre-professional skills.”

I also asked about a success story at Hook Arts Media.

“One that really makes my heart sing, comes from our Program Digital Connections which is a bridge program which is designed to take young people from our after-school program and place them in New York City’s film industry. All of the students in that program get an internship and they’re paid by the hour and they create their own original films. One is a young man named Danny who completed his film, came out of the program, and instantly got another fellowship at DCTV and is now working on the television show New Amsterdam.”

Harvey also detailed how the funding will make a difference at Hook Arts Media and for the community.

“For us, the funding will support staffing and will make sure we can pay our teaching artists. We want to ensure that teaching artists at transfer schools who otherwise might not be able to afford to stay on, will be able to. The other big thing is ensuring continuity of staffing. A lot of times people don’t realize that so much of the structure for arts and media teaching is about not only finding well-intentioned teachers but well-intentioned teachers with the right training, pedagogy, skills, and experience. We are so proud of our teachers, they are amazing!”

The last person I spoke to was Marcus Scurry who is the deputy director of the Red Hook Community Justice Center.

“We have a partnership with an organization called Progress Playbook. That program comes in and facilitates entrepreneurship and workshops for participants here at the Justice Center. They teach about the basics of starting a business, owning a business, operating a business, etc.

“The money from the grant will allow us to offer an advanced level of this program where we can focus on adults. They will not only learn the basics of owning a business but also focus on walking them through how to apply for an LLC [Limited Liability Company] and get all of the necessary paperwork in place to make sure they can become a thriving business. The program is called How to Start an Empire. We also plan to have an LGBTQ program with a support group, which we’re calling LGBTQ Support Group.”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get in contact with Brother’s Dream and I did not get a response from the Red Hook Initiative despite repeated attempts in person, by email and by phone

Casey Fodge of Cora Dance, another grant recipient said “unfortunately we are unable to comment at this time but we appreciate you reaching out.”