Editorial
Editorial BLM means something more
than a fight against police brutality
Davell Gardner Jr. was eulogized
today by Rev. Al Sharpton. In his
message to the mourners was a
controversial suggestion that Black Lives
Matter means something more than a fi ght
against police brutality. It means all lives
matter in this case, as black-on-black shootings
and murder rage in the streets of this
city and nation.
He very eloquently said “Black Lives
Matter — it’s not supposed to matter when
we are doing it to each other?” He was
not only outraged by the murder and the
proliferation of guns by the gun industry,
but also that BLM means something more,
and those concerned about police brutality
should also take note of street violence.
For this, he’s taken some vitriol from critics
who say one of these manifestations of
violence has nothing to do with the other.
If BLM, then why was the Pleasant
Grove Baptist Church not fi lled to the rafters
with mourners and those concerned
with black lives? Where were those people
— mostly white —who have been marching
through the streets of Manhattan in the
last few days causing mayhem, vandalism,
blocking traffi c and starting trash can fi res
Op-ed
Time’s up: It’s now or never
for the New York City’s future
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
BY BETSY MACLEAN AND CITY
COUNCILMANANTONIO REYNOSO
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
CEO & CO-PUBLISHER
Since the beginning of the COVID-19
EDITOR IN CHIEF
crisis, the Brotherhood/Sister Sol,REPORTERS
a youth
development organization in Harlem, has
provided emergency fi nancial CONTRIBUTORS
support,
technology and nearly 100,000 meals to
their community of Black and Latinx youth
and their families.
Like most Community Based Organizations
ART DIRECTORS
ADVERTISING
(CBOs), they are doing all this while
facing a deeply uncertain fundraising landscape
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
as a result of the economic fallout
from the crisis. But it doesn’t have to be
that way.
Increasing rent is among the biggest
challenges facing CBOs today. Close to
80% of CBOs in low-income communities
expressed moderate to high concern about
the cost of rent on their organization’s longterm
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fi nancial sustainability.
CBOs buying and building their own
community spaces is one of the most
durable ways to combat the threat of
displacement and ensure long-term
sustainability.
A new report from Hester Street found
that one of the city’s programs that is supposed
to help these organizations leverage
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
ROBERT POZARYCKI
GABE HERMAN
ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL
MARK HALLUM
MICHELE HERMAN
BOB KRASNER
TEQUILA MINSKY
MARY REINHOLZ
PAUL SCHINDLER
MARCOS RAMOS
CLIFFORD LUSTER
(718) 260-2504
CLUSTER@CNGLOCAL.COM
GAYLE GREENBURG
JIM STEELE
JULIO TUMBACO
ELIZABETH POLLY
the benefi ts of ownership is failing to do so.
In fact, the program adds time and expense
to these kinds of nonprofi t capital projects.
The NYC Capital Grants Program
(CapGrants) was designed to provide city
funding to improve properties that serve
NYC communities. The program is meant
to ensure CBOs can deliver programs to
the city’s most vulnerable populations in
stable physical sites located in the neighborhoods
they serve.
These sites are crucial to the survival
of CBOs that support and strengthen our
neighborhoods. When the Brotherhood/
Sister Sol completes their new community
center in 2021, they will increase their
program space by more than 75% at the
same time ownership will protect them
from rising rents due to gentrifi cation.
This represents a clear win-win: the nonprofi
t secures a permanent Member place of the
in their
Minority Women Business Enterprise
neighborhood, and the City invests more
of its funds in community-based services,
not rent.
Op-ed
NYC Census needs full and accurate count for rightful resources
BY JULIE MENIN, DIRECTOR OF
NYC CENSUS 2020
New York City is facing an unprecedented,
multi-layered political,
economic, and public health crisis
like none other it has faced in the past.
After being the global epicenter of the
COVID-19 crisis for months, we are left
with an economy that is a shell of its recent
self, and we are rudderless in terms of the
sorely-needed federal response to our public
health and economic crises.
As Chair of Manhattan Community
Board 1 in the immediate aftermath of
9/11, I saw fi rst-hand the unthinkable
devastation wrought by the last disaster in
our city’s history, and l can assure you — at
least as far as the economy is concerned,
our current straits are seriously dire.
We’re going to need the boldest thinking,
the thickest elbow grease, and, let’s face it,
a serious infusion of cash if we’re going to
rebuild and recover from the calamity that
has been COVID-19.
While there’s sure to be interminable
debate and partisan political infi ghting that
will needlessly complicate the otherwise
at restaurants struggling to emerge from
COVID-19 shutterings?
While we completely support the right to
protest as a First Amendment privilege, is
this the most productive way to spend the
day and did any of the protestors attend
the funeral for this innocent child? Didn’t
hisblack life matter?
Down the block from the funeral home
is a food pantry where mostly black and
brown people struggling economically get
their meals. The people helping were also
black and brown. Where were the protestors
who profess to be so concerned about
BLM?
Yes, there are some who do volunteer
work, but where are the rest of these protestors?
They can’t say they didn’t know
about the funeral — so many seats were vacant.
There were those who stayed behind
at #OccupyCityHall helping the homeless:
true New Yorker’s and people who walk the
walk. But unfortunately, the words Black
Lives Matter are being used as an excuse
to rampage through a city that is struggling
to emerge from a pandemic.
If people are truly concerned for BLM,
get to know who you are fi ghting for.
straightforward conversation about what
we need into the future, there’s a faucet
that turns on every year, year after year,
that pours forth $1.5 trillion in federal
dollars for education, housing, healthcare,
job training, transportation, infrastructure,
and more — the things we need money for
— all based a few facts and fi gures.
What are those facts and fi gures? Census
data.
Census data — how many we are, where
we are, basic information about who we
are (ages, genders, and the like) is the basis
PHOTO VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
on which this faucet either fl ows freely or
drips dryly for New York City. If we don’t
have a complete and accurate count in the
census this year, we’re simply not going to
get the resources to which we are not only
entitled, but also that we will desperately
for our recovery into the future.
Achieving a complete census count will
take nothing short of an unprecedented
movement to ensure New Yorkers know
their rights, know what’s at stake, and know
what we need to shape our future. Fortunately,
these efforts are already underway.
In fact, we’re mobilizing volunteers in communities
across the fi ve boroughs every day
between July 27 and August 2 as part of our
new Census Week of Action. From social
media outreach to texting, phone-banking,
and socially-distanced canvassing, there
are countless ways to help make sure that
our communities get the full funding, resources,
and recognition that we rightfully
deserve. You can sign up now to join our
effort at nyc.gov/censusweek.
With our groundbreaking census campaign,
we’ve been fi ghting for a complete
and accurate count of all New Yorkers
since last year. Now, in the fi nal days
before the U.S. Census Bureau sends its
folks knocking on doors across our city,
we are making it clear to all New Yorkers:
self-respond before you miss your chance
to do your part for your city.
“Making Sense of the Census” is a
weekly column from Julie Menin, Director
of NYC Census 2020. Every week we will
be publishing pieces from Julie and guest
authors laying out the facts and answering
tough questions about this year’s census.
Fill out the census now at my2020census.
gov.
8 July 30, 2020 Schneps Media
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