FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 1, 2022 • THE QUEENS COURIER 20
Mayor hosts Girl Scout Troop 6000 fi ve years after their founding in LIC
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Future leaders were celebrated at City Hall
as Mayor Eric Adams hosted young members
of Girl Scouts Troop 6000 in honor of the fi ft h
anniversary of their founding.
In 2017, the fi rst-of-its-kind program serving
girls and women living in shelters for the
homeless held its very fi rst meeting at a shelter
for homeless families at the Sleep Inn Hotel in
Long Island City with just seven girls.
Giselle Burgess and her children were living
aft er the home she rented in Flushing was sold.
Burgess, a community development specialist
for Girl Scouts of Greater New York, approached
then-COO Meredith Maskara about
creating a troop for her daughters and other
children living in the shelter.
Th e program has since expanded to 23 shelters
across all fi ve boroughs and has reached
more than 2,000 girls and women, in a partnership
with the city’s Department of Homeless
Services and with Mayor’s Fund support.
“For fi ve years, Troop 6000 has celebrated
community, and helped young girls make new
friends and learn new skills,” Adams said. “Th e
Girl Scouts have given our children support
and confi dence, helped build community and
encouraged leadership. Th e hard work and team
spirit that these young girls have achieved will
take them to places they never thought they would
go, building the skills to shape their own futures.”
During the City Hall reception, the Girl
Scouts received a Civic Participation badge
for engaging with public service. Troop 6000
brought a selection of their cookies. Earlier
this month, Troop 6000 held their Girl Scout
Cookie sale in-person at the South Street
Seaport.
All proceeds from the cookie sales fund
Troop 6000’s activities such as merit badges,
fi eld trips and trips to Girl Scouts Camp. Th e
program helps girls develop fi ve essential skills
that set them up for success: goal setting, decision
making, money management, business
ethics and people skills.
Th ere are two weeks left in Girl Scout Cookie
Season in New York City. Maskara, who lives
with her family in Sunnyside, is now the chief
executive offi cer of Girl Scouts of Greater New
York.
“As Girl Scouts continue to work towards
their 2022 cookie goals, they are building their
skills in leadership, entrepreneurship, creativity
and more,” Maskara said. “Cookie season is a
tradition that girls look forward to every year,
and that helps power the Girl Scout experience
for the whole year with all the funds staying
right here in New York City.”
Th e Girl Scouts are closing out the season
with booth sales across the fi ve boroughs, including
11 locations in Queens. Use the Cookie
Finder to fi nd a booth sale near you.
Sunnyside councilwoman woman introduces legislation legislati
to improve emergency communications
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
In an eff ort to improve citywide disaster
communications, Councilwoman Julie Won
introduced two pieces of legislation that would
require the city to provide emergency information
in many languages and create an infrastructure
for agencies to access communityintegrated
translation services.
Intro 137 would require the city to translate
and disseminate any information from emergency
declarations from the state and federal
government and provide emergency notifi cations
where applicable in designated citywide
languages. Meanwhile, Intro 136 would see
public-facing city agencies create comprehensive
procurement lists on community
integrated translation services to provide effective
services in languages outside of English.
“In our city, over 200 languages and dialects
are spoken and 1.8 million New Yorkers
have limited profi ciency in English,” Won
said. “Th is reality must be refl ected in how
our city government operates and services
the people of our city. Emergencies require
clear, quick and eff ective communication, and
it must be done in the languages of our city
or we are purposely excluding almost 25% of
New Yorkers who are limited in their English
profi ciency. As a fi rst-generation immigrant
and with English as my second language, I
am honored to advocate on behalf of all immigrants
to get these bills passed to make
language access a pillar of New York City.”
Won explained that the lack of translation
services was made very clear during the last
two years with the COVID-19 pandemic and
the fl ooding from Hurricane Ida last September,
which took the lives of some of her constituents
in her District 26 including three members
of a family, including a 2-year-old child who
died in a basement apartment on 64th Street in
Woodside. Many of the fl ooding victims across
the borough had limited English profi ciency
and may not have had access to information
about storm safety due to the language barrier.
Last month, Attorney General Letitia James
called on the National Weather Service and U.S.
Commerce Department to expand language
accessibility for severe weather alerts. Currently,
warnings from the NWS, which are issued in
advance of a severe weather event, are not accessible
in any language except for English and
Spanish.
“Languages should never be a barrier to getting
critical and lifesaving information,” James
said. “New York is home to people from all
around the world, and it is our responsibility to
protect and provide for all of our communities
regardless of their primary language. To ensure
the safety of New Yorkers, I urged the federal
government to expand language accessibility
for severe weather warnings, and I am grateful
to Council member Won for taking action at
the city level to provide multilingual emergency
notices, expand language accessibility and protect
all our communities.”
Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
Mayor Eric Adams presents members of Girl Scouts Troop 6000 with Civic Participation merit badges during a
celebration of their founding in Long Island City fi ve years ago.
Courtesy of Won’s offi ce
Councilwoman Julie Won introduced legislation to
make emergency notifi cations more accessible to
residents with limited English profi ciency.
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