Giving back
New York Women’s Foundation provides $1 million
to support women affected by COVID-19
BY BETH DEDMAN
The New York Women’s Foundation
launched the 2020 Resilience-NYC:
COVID-19 Response and Recovery
Fund March 26, which will provide $1
million in grants to organizations helping
women, transgender, gender non-conforming,
non-binary people and their families
who have been affected by the coronavirus
pandemic.
“Women are the major hubs,” said Ana
Oliveira, President & CEO of The New
York Women’s Foundation. “We have the
responsibility of raising children and caring
for older family members. We also have a
greater economic importance. There is
research that has shown that when a dollar
is given to a woman, 80% of it is invested
back into the community. We know as a
way to multiply results. Investing in women
has the greatest effect.”
The fund will provide resources that address
the immediate and long term needs
of organizations that support marginalized
communities during crises.
“COVID-19 has quickly become one
of the greatest challenges of our lifetime,”
PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
Columbia University librarian kickstarts 3D printing production of protective face shields
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
As COVID-19 spread further
into New York City,
Madiha Choksi knew she
couldn’t sit back and do nothing.
Little did she know, Choksi
would end up producing hundreds
of face shields in a matter
of weeks.
Choksi works as a librarian
at Columbia University and also
runs the 3D printing program at
the library. On March 19, Choksi
received an email that put her face
shield production into motion.
“I got an email from Dr. Pierre
Elias from New York-Presbyterian
Hospital. He mentioned how
there’s a shortage of PPE equipment
for hospital staff,” said
Choksi. “He attached some
crowdsource fi les of protective
face shields and asked me if I
could 3D print some prototypes.”
Choksi got right to work. She
reached out to Columbia University’s
Provost to see if she could
gain access to the 3D printing lab.
Oliveira said. “As a society, we have a
responsibility to ensure that communities
impacted by this crisis are provided
with necessary resources. During these
unprecedented times, we must exercise an
abundance of caution and operate with an
abundance of support. Our hope is that this
fund will provide our grantee partners the
critical tools needed to provide relief in this
Seeing how urgent the need for
face shields, on March 20 Choksi
not only received permission to
use the lab, but she was allowed
to bring 2-3 printers home to do
the work.
“I had all the supplies in hand
and by Friday evening I have 5
prototypes in hand,” said Choksi.
“I sent them over to Dr. Elias to
test out. He came back to me a
day later and asked me how many
of these I can produce.”
The face shield that Choksi
produced is reusable and washable,
and the materials used
have already been approved by
the National Institute of Health.
Choksi began to reach out on
social media looking for more 3D
printers to use.
Through her outreach,
Choksi made two very important
connections: Tangible
Creative, a 3D printing startup,
and MakerBot, a manufacturer
of 3D printers. They came together
to form COVID MAKER
RESPONSE (CMR) – Choksi
moment of crisis.”
The fund was created to align with the
New York Women’s Foundation’s understanding
that “problems and solutions are
often found in the same place,” and focuses
on smaller organizations that often go unseen
by other foundations.
The foundation is supporting organizations
that prioritize low-income
Columbia librarian Madiha Choksi used the 3D printer to
make her prototype (right) before scaling up production at
the 92nd Street Y (left).
streamlined the design to make
printing the face shields more
effi cient and sent them to the
two companies to help print out
the face shields.
Before she knew it, Choksi’s
apartment was full of face shields.
She knew she had to upgrade her
space to continue to produce the
face shields, which ultimately lead
her to the 92nd Street Y.
immigrants, survivors of gender-based
violence, Chinese and other East Asian
communities, Muslim/Arab/South Asian
communities, individuals with disabilities,
LGBTQ, TGNCNB individuals, older adult
women, women small-business owners and
worker-owned cooperatives.
“Our research in NYC has shown us that
the biggest life disparities, you can understand
them when you use a racial lens and
how economic differences will be between
women,” Oliveira said. Among women, the
differences will cluster based on race and
ethnicity. We want to be effective in our
interventions, so we know that we have
to take that into account and we have to
aim to help those with the highest need,
who have the least going towards them. We
want women in NYC to thrive.”
The fund is intended to support organizations
needs, such as meal delivery services,
access to healthcare and housing, easing
fi nancial burdens of those who have lost
wages or income.
More information about the foundation,
including information on how to donate, is
available at www.nywf.org.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MADIHA CHOKSI
“By March 25, I had over 400
face shields in my apartment,”
said Choksi.
Choksi and her team of volunteers
at CMR were set up in the
92nd Street Y by March 26 and
have been working from 11 a.m.
to 8 p.m. each day since to produce
more face shields for those
who need them.
“I haven’t had a break since
to be responsive to urgent community
March 19 when this all started,”
said Choksi.
CMR is collecting donations to
support Tangible Creative’s labor
and material costs. Donations can
be made directly on their website,
covidmakerresponse.com.
“We are infi nitely grateful for
our team of volunteers. None of
this would have been possible
without them or support from
Columbia Libraries, Tangible Creative
or MakerBot,” said Choksi.
“We’re trying to make things happen
quickly and fi ll in gaps where
we can, and we rely on donations
to be able to do so.”
So far, CMR has produced
masks for Bronx Lebanon Hospital,
Elmhurst Hospital, Brooklyn
Methodist Hospital, Mount Sinai
Hospital, St. Charles Hospital,
Washington Heights Hospital,
Montefi ore Medical Center, and
New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
If your hospital or medical center
is in need of masks, you can visit
covidmakerresponse.com to fi ll
out an intake form.
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/covidmakerresponse.com
/www.nywf.org
/www.nywf.org
/covidmakerresponse.com
