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Cover Story: The Politics of Paint by Cassi Feldman and Debbie Nathan.
Other stories include Paul Fain on why AmeriCorps is melting down; Emily Biuso on the inability of many families to reenroll in Medicaid after its revamping; Alex Ulam on the rezoning of a huge chunk of land in Brooklyn for residential development, without any promise of affordable housing; Alyssa Katz on New York's awful employment situation; Mark Wallace on who's benefiting from the $280 million downtown real estate bailout; Matthew Schuerman on day laborers in Woodside looking for a dependable place to receive work; Hakim Hasan's book review of "How East New York Became a Ghetto" by Walter Thabit; and more.
Cover Story: The Politics of Paint by Cassi Feldman and Debbie Nathan.
Other stories include Paul Fain on why AmeriCorps is melting down; Emily Biuso on the inability of many families to reenroll in Medicaid after its revamping; Alex Ulam on the rezoning of a huge chunk of land in Brooklyn for residential development, without any promise of affordable housing; Alyssa Katz on New York's awful employment situation; Mark Wallace on who's benefiting from the $280 million downtown real estate bailout; Matthew Schuerman on day laborers in Woodside looking for a dependable place to receive work; Hakim Hasan's book review of "How East New York Became a Ghetto" by Walter Thabit; and more.
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Cover Story: The Politics of Paint by Cassi Feldman and Debbie Nathan.
Other stories include Paul Fain on why AmeriCorps is melting down; Emily Biuso on the inability of many families to reenroll in Medicaid after its revamping; Alex Ulam on the rezoning of a huge chunk of land in Brooklyn for residential development, without any promise of affordable housing; Alyssa Katz on New York's awful employment situation; Mark Wallace on who's benefiting from the $280 million downtown real estate bailout; Matthew Schuerman on day laborers in Woodside looking for a dependable place to receive work; Hakim Hasan's book review of "How East New York Became a Ghetto" by Walter Thabit; and more.
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Скачайте в формате PDF, TXT или читайте онлайн в Scribd
UNITED WAY OF NEW YORK CITY'S new restruc- turing plan is doubly ambitious, aiming to save its own skin while helping New York's poor more effectively than it has before. To accom- plish that, the venerable charitable organization is promoting a newly intimate relationship between charity, nonprofits and government. From now on, United Way's success will largely depend on making that eclectic marriage work. Struggling with declining donations, Unit- ed Way's leadership had to prove their worth. After gathering a task force from all reaches of the human services and compiling exhaustive research on poor communities' needs, they decided to stop spreading resources thin-on everything from cancer cures to soup kitchens-and start targeting five crucial areas: housing, education, health care, workforce development and the nonprofit sector. Senior Vice-president Lilliam Barrios-Paoli says the idea is to fund organizations and parmerships that already work in these fields, on projects that attack the roots of social problems and fill in structural gaps left unaddressed by existing public and private programs. A ptototype for the new wave of funding is a food stamp outreach program-a "partnership with the Human Resources Administration." That's sure to be the Mt of many such alliances. Welfare, children's services and youth commis- sioners were all on the task force, and Barrios- Paoli, a former housing and welfare commission- er, is breathless when she discusses possible col- laborations between non profits and government. Thankfully, the hostility between govern- ment and human services agencies under Mayor Giuliani is mostly a memory. The city's best service organizations were so tempered by the heat of those years that they hardened into gems for Bloomberg. Now he's taking full advantage. His housing advisory panel, for instance, has brought in the city's most suc- cessful community developers as advisers. United Way is now encouraging similar parmerships in human services. Anti-hunger groups agree that promoting food stamp enrollment will do more to alleviate hunger than dribbling pennies to soup kitchens. With HRA on board, they can ensure that new clients will get on the rolls. Such cooperation is vital. Yet it's also highly dependent on commitment from City Hall, which is filled with fickle creatures called politicians. Even in the liberal and largely inde- pendent Bloomberg administration, we cannot trust that politics are out of the picture. HRA itself has resisted adopting some rea- sonable initiatives enhancing services to the poor, including education programs for welfare recipients and food stamps for the long-term unemployed. With the Republican convention coming to town, we can expect the Bloomberg administration to keep steering clear of public assistance policies that could make New York City look like a welfare state. The United Way is doing enormous good by opening safe space for non profits and gov- ernment to experiment and innovate. But at a time when City Hall is aggressively raising pri- vate funds to supplement the city budget, let's not forget that charity must also seek to do what government can't or won't. -Alyssa Katz Editor Cover photo by Joshua Zuckerman. David LewisFontanez, 15 months, has low levels of lead in his blood-enough, new research suggests, to cause him harm. C()\IPI.LI'I: PHI\ n\(;. BI\I>I\(; . &. \1 \11.1\(; Sm\ ICLS FOI{ 'Ol R \O\ -PIWFIT Ol{(; \\11 \rIO\ Admiral Communications has been dedicated to servicing the business cornrnunity with full service cornrnercial printing since 1946, through some of the best and some of the most challenging times - especially now. Specializing in non-profit services including: Promotional & Marketing Materials Newsletters & Periodicals Booklets & Brochures Pocket Folders & Information Kits Solicitations & Direct Mailing Article Reprints Stationery Full Bindery Services (perfect Bind & Saddle-Stitch) Mailing House Fulfillment & Warehousing Free onsite cost saving & time saving consultations Admiral Communications Printing. Mailing. And Much More. 47 West Street New York. New York 10006 t. 212.422.6848 f.212.514.9565 www.admiraI47.com sales@admiralcommunications.com CONTENTS 16 THE POLITICS OF PAINT Just weeks away from voting on a new law on lead poisoning, the city has yet to acknowledge what some scientists have known for years: Blood levels once considered safe may be causing irreparable harm to New York's children. By Cassi Feldman and Debbie Nathan 22 HELP WANTED The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was given $2.7 billion in federal funds to help New York recover from 9111. Two years later, irs failing to relieve the city's second disaster: unrelenting unemployment. By Alyssa Katz 26 RENT STABILIZATION Rent subsidies helped revive lower Manhattan's flagging housing market after SIll-and helped lUXUry landlords far more than downtown's poor. By Mark Wallace 27 A HOME FOR WORK Battling long hours, lousy pay and angry neighbors, day laborers in Queens say a permanent ''workers' center" could help them turn things around. By Matthew Schuerman 5 FRONTLINES: A BRONX BROGUE AMERICORPS' MONEY MESS ... HOMELESS SOCCER TAKES OFF MEDICAID'S (MIS)MANAGED CARE .. NEW LIFE FOR CONEY ISLAND CREEK .. TENANTS BALK AT MITCHELL-LAMA BILL 1*81 36 CITY LIT How East New York Became a Ghetto, by Walter Thabitj A Way Out: 11 THE GROWTH DIVIDEND The Bloomberg administration wants to spruce up Brooklyn's waterfront and create affordable housing. But will developers build it if they don't have to? By Alex Ulam The Future of Public Life 33 THE BIG IDEA The Bush administration's new public health priorities push HIV prevention back into the closet. By Kai Wright SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 America's Ghettos and the Legacy of Racism, edited by Joshua Cohen, Jefferson Decker and Joel Rogers. Reviewed by Hakim Hasan 38 NYC INC. New York's awning regulations may seem petty, but sleek signage actually helps small businesses thrive. By Jennifer Gerend 2 EDITORIAL 42 JOB ADS 47 PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY 51 OFFICE OF THE CITY VISIONARY 3 LETTERS EVALUATION WANTED The article by Rachel Blustain regarding dual-track child welfare services Guly/August], while giving much detail, unfortunately did not once mention the word "evaluation." The new legislation does not include a requirement for a scientifically sound impact evaluation, nor any funding for such an evaluation. Without such an evaluation-which has to begin up front (and not simply be based on administra- tive summary data)-nothing but political hot air will surround any talk about the effects of whatever demonstrations are mounted. Although the article mentions preliminary results ftom Minnesota, it omits fmal results from Diane English et al.'s published evalua- tion, and her cautionary comments, on Wash- ington State's dual track program. Prot Trudy Festinger Shirley M Ehrenkranz School of Social Work PREVENTION PLAN IS KIDS' BEST HOPE For many months last year, this is what a sin- gle mother in the Bronx named Rose Mary Grant had to do every week, just to see her 11- year-old son, Issa, as described in a keenly observed story in the Westchester County Jour- nal-News: "Starting from her brick apartment tower, Rose walks a block to Gun Hill Road, takes the 28 bus to the subway station, catches the 5 train to Harlem, makes her way down 125th Street, boards the Metro-North train to Dobbs Ferry, and rides a shurtle. At each step, she places rwo metal crutches ahead of her and swings forward on rwo prosthetic legs." The journey would have been worth it, were there something worthwhile at the end of the line. But there wasn't. Issa was warehoused at a "residential treatment center." Issa is not paranoid, he's not schiwphrenic, he's not delusional. The only label pinned on him is Artention Deficit Hyperactivity Disor- der. Sometimes, at home, he was seriously out of control. But his handicapped, impoverished single mother couldn't do what middle-class and wealthy families do: find a good psychia- trist and hire home health aides. That's because there is no open-ended fed- eral entitlement program to help the City of New York help Ms. Grant cover those costs. But the feds gladly pony up half the $85,000+ per year it costs to trap such children in "resi- dential treatment." That is the precious "right to foster care" that City Limits and writer Paul Fain are so des- perate to defend ("The Prevention Preten- sion," July/August]. 4 Fain's commentary declares that "it would be a mistake to artempt to shoot down the Bush administration's trial balloon"-a plan to allow foster care funds to be used for preven- tion "before its details come into focus." Then he devotes much of his commentary to trying to do just that. He is wrong on several counts: First, this is not a block grant, at least not as the term is generally understood. Under a block grant, several different categorical pro- grams are lumped together, and then some money is lopped off the top. That's what the state did to localities concerning child welfare in the mid-1990s. But this plan involves only one "funding stream," the huge open-ended entitlement for foster care. And crucially, while the plan lets foster-care money be used for pre- vention, it does not allow money now reserved for prevention to be diverted to foster care. And no money at all is cut. Therefore the plan does not "jeopardize federal funding." On the contrary, under the flexibility plan, states may get more money. The plan guarantees states a fixed amount for each of the next five years, with no cuts. If a state doesn't think this flat amount of money is enough, it can simply turn down the entire deal and stick with the status quo. Fain offers no evidence that "it's a safe bet" the plan won't help New York's vulnerable children, citing only the facr that the city could be stuck with the tab if"a glut" of children suddenly need- ed foster care. But the flexibility plan includes an emergency fund to deal with such a glut. No one knows yet if that fund is good enough. But until we know that and more, the only "safe bet" is that nothing about this plan is a safe bet, and one ought to genuinely withhold judgment. And again, once states see the details, any state that doesn't like it doesn't have to opt in. What part of "voluntary" don't my fellow liberals understand? Worse, Fain seems to be suggesting that more foster care is an acceptable response to Mayor Bloomberg's cuts in prevention funding. On the contrary, the reason prevention is ofren the first thing to go is because there is no feder- al entitlement to support it, whereas there is such an entitlement for foster care. One of the benefits of the Bush plan is that it reduces the incentive to treat prevention as a luxury item that's always first on the chopping block. Most "gluts" of foster children have nothing to do with actual increases in child maltreatment. More ofren they are political responses to high- ly publicized tragedies--or they are responses to financial incentives. Change the financial incen- tives and you dramatically reduce the chances of such an explosion in needless foster care. Fain apparently confined his efforts to con- firm ACS Commissioner William Bell's artack on the Bush plan-and his distortion of its pro- visions-to one call to the ACS press office. continued on page 40 CITY LIMITS Volume XXVIII Number 8 City Limits is published ten times per year, monthly except bi monthly issues in July/August and September/October, by City lim its Community Information Service, Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to disseminating information concerning neighborhood revitalization. Publisher: Kim Nauer nauer@citylimits. org Associate Publisher: Susan Harris Editor: Alyssa Katz Managing Editor: Tracie McMillan Senior Editor: Jill Grossman Senior Editor: Debbie Nathan Senior Editor: Kai Wright sharris@citylimits.org alyssa@citylimits.org mcmillan@citylimits.org jgrossman@citylimits.org debbie@citylimits.org kai@citylimits.org Associate Editor: Cassi Feldman cassi@cityl imits.org Contributing Editors: Neil F. Carlson, Wendy Davis, Geoffrey Gray, Kemba Johnson, Nora McCarthy, Robert Neuwirth, Hilary Russ Design Direction: Hope Forstenzer Illustrator: Mathew Vincent Photographers: Lindsay France, Margaret Keady, Carey Kirkella Contributing Photo Editor: Joshua Zuckerman Contributing Illustration Editor: Noah Scalin Interns: Megan Kenny, John Toui , Clem Wood Proofreaders: Allison Alpert, Robin Busch, Mary Anne LoVerme, Lawurence Seville General EMail Address: citylimits@citylimits.org CENTER FOR AN URBAN FUTURE: Director: Neil Kleiman Research Director: Jonathan Bowles Project Director: David J. Fischer Deputy Director: Robin Keegan Research Associate: Tara Colton neil@nycfuture.org jbowles@nycfuture.org djfischer@nycfuture.org rkeegan@nycfuture.org tcolton@nycfuture.org Editor, NYC Inc: Andrea Coller McAuliff Interns: Stephanie Jenkins, Juan Rivero BOARD OF DIRECTORS' Beverly Cheuvront, Partnership for the Homeless Ken Emerson Mark Winston Griffith, Central Brooklyn Partnership Celia Irvine, Legal Aid Society Andrew Reicher, UHAB Ira Rubenstein, Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership, Inc. Karen Trella, Common Ground Community Pete Williams, Consultant 'Affiliations for identification only. SPONSORS: Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development Urban Homesteading Assistance Board Subscription rates are: for individuals and community groups, $25/0ne Year, $391Two Years; for businesses, foundations, banks, government agencies and libraries, $35/0ne Year, $501Two Years. Low income, unemployed, $10/0ne Year. City Limits welcomes comments and article contributions. Please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for return manu- scripts. Material in City Limits does not necessarily reflect the opin- ion of the sponsoring organizations. Send correspondence to: City Limits, 120 Wall Street, 20th FI., New York, NY 10005. Postmaster: Send address changes to City Limits, 120 Wall Street, 20th FI. , New York, NY 10005. Subscriber inquiries call: 1-800-783-4903 Periodical postage paid New York, NY 10001 City Limits (lSSN 01990330) PHONE (212) 479-3344/FAX (212) 344-6457 email : citylimits@citylimits.org and online: www.citylimits.org Copyright 2003. All Rights Reserved. No portion or portions of this journal may be reprinted without the express permiSSion of the publ ishers. City Limits is indexed in the Alternative Press Index and the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals and is available on microfilm from ProQuest, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. CITY LIMITS FRONT LINES Stories from Irish Survival Guides TONY CASEY IS TALKING ABOUT HIS GRANDFATHER, who raised him in Ire- land. Perpetually grumpy from 14-hour shifts in the barbershop, he had few tender words for his kin in that little house in Listowel. Eventually it was time for Casey, then 23, to depart for New York. "Grandpa was lying in his bed with his legs roning away from cancer, fmgering his rosary beads. All he said was, ' Mind yourself, boy.' But his eyes were full of tears." Casey tells stories like this one as part of Anam Cara (Gaelic for "soul ftiend"), a performance by Irish immigrants living in Yonkers and the north Bronx. Since the late 1980s, an immigration boomlet has brought many young Irish to the neighborhood. Mclean Avenue, which meanders from the Bronx border through Yonkers, is lined with Irish gift shops, pubs, and small, sharnrock- adorned businesses that offer newcomers the comforts of a "little Irish village, " says Linda McCormack of the Aisling Irish Center. Men come for construction jobs, young women to babysit and wait tables. Siobhan Dennehy of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in Woodlawn esti- mates the neighborhood is three-quarters Irish. They stay for the craie, the uniquely Irish fun that storytelling, singing and joking add to a warm pint. Their brogue-laced stories got to Holly Villaire, a theater director and SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 drama instructor at Mercy College. After overhearing young neighbors swapping arrival tales, she invited some to perform with her stage com- pany, Hamm and Clov. They were shy. She planted herself at their kitchen tables with a tape recorder and helped work through stage fright. And she recruited Dermot Henry, a well-known singer and pub entertainer, to up the blarney quotient. The result was Anam Cara, a pastiche of memories and song overlaid on a traditional Irish instrumental backdrop. The telling and singing of stories, says Henry, are pillars of Irish culture on both sides of the Atlantic. Casey's story is bittersweet. He eventually found a construction job, but then injured his back. Out of work, he turned to telling stories, par- ticularly about the revolving door between Ireland and the Bronx. Future storytellers, however, may tell of returning home for good. Since 9/11 , "there's no work in the building trades," says Casey, adding that plenry of people are heading back to Ireland. Still, he notes, a new generation is ready to replace the returnees since the Irish economy, suffering from the collapse of the 1990's tech boom, isn't doing great, either. Whatever the situation, Irish people will keep on swapping tales in New York, Henry says. The craie will not dry up soon. "For us, story- telling is genetic. " -Marion Jacobson and Tom Hilliard 5 FRONT LINES Too Many Volunteers? Why AmeriCorps is melting down. By Paul Fain RASULllEWIS has been with AmeriCorps since its inception a decade ago. So this March, when word filtered down that funding might not be available for the 85-member AmeriCorps project that he runs at the Harlem Children's Zone, he knew not to sweat it Funding problems are "not a new experience for AmeriCorps," Lewis jokes. But Lewis was floored when he heard in June that his program would receive no money for the next fiscal year, which begins in September. This meant he would not be able to bring back any of his AmeriCorps volunteers-and he would lose his job. "We made promises to the that we had ro fulfill, " he says. It s very awkward for us. Congress authorizes AmeriCorps to enroll 50,000 members a year, who each work with nonprofit groups on projects ranging from tutoring to building new homes. About 6,000 of those members serve in New York, coordi- nated by a state commission that acts as liaison 6 between Washington and the local nonprofits. Everyone involved in the program knew it faced some financial challenges in the coming fiscal year, due to what seemed to be relatively nig- gling accounting problems. But this spring, AmeriCorps' parent agency, the Corporation for National and Community Service, stunned both the state commissions and the nonprofits by announcing it would have to cut more than 20,000 volunteers. This means that, of the approximately 3,000 AmeriCorps members who serve in New York via locally based groups, only 150 will be able to return to work next year. Barry Ford, vice presi- dent of external relations at The After-School Corporation, confirmed that all of those posi- tions are expected to go to his organization's New York program. Another 3,000 New York-based AmeriCorps members serve through national organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity or the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. The announcement means that at least half these members will lose their funding as well. Congress was debating $100 million in emer- gency funding for AmeriCorps at press time. But even if legislators were to approve the new money-which appeared unlikely-local non- profits doubt it will be enough to save many of their programs. And observers, from the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) to longtime staffers at the program's Washington-based head- quarters, warn that the immediate crisis stems from deeply entrenched problems at the agency. The full-time members working at the Harlem Children's Zone and at other Ameri- Corps sites receive health insurance and a $4,725 education grant, money that they have seven years to claim. AmeriCorps' financial troubles stem from the Corporation's failure to keep track of these modest educational awards, according to the GAO. Last November, with congressional fighting over the fiscal year 2003 budget delaying new funds for all federal programs, the Corporation got nervous about its money. In fiscal year 2002, it had enlisted 67,000 members-even though Congress authorizes it to enroll only 50,000 a year. With no new money on the way, it decided to abruptly freeze enrollment. This drew the artention of the Corporation's congressional overseers, who promptly ordered a GAO investigation. In April, the GAO released its initial findings: The trust fund that pays for members' education awards was in utter disarray. The Corporation, the GAO said, poorly monitors its local grantees, allowing them to enroll more participants than are budgeted for. There is "little to no" communication between the executives who handle the AmeriCorps program itself and those who run the educa- tion trust. And owing to these factors, as well as to general accounting practices that the GAO found questionable, the agency has enrolled about 25,000 more members than its trust has money to fund scholarships for- though no one, from the GAO to the Corpo- ration, can say exactly by how much Ameri- Corps is over-obligated. The Corporation is now forced to cut next year's new enrollment by 22,000 members, so that it can flow the money it would have used on general program expenses for those slots into its education grant trust fund. The GAO emphasized the disconnect between the trust and program managers. Cor- poration execs told the GAO they had believed the trust's fmances were robust. In the program's early years, it had actually enrolled fewer mem- bers than the trust was funded to support, and those members have largely collected their edu- cation grants at a slower pace than predicted. As CITY LIMITS a result, the Corporation's reports to Congress painted such a rosy picture that Congress took back $111 million it had budgeted for the trust during fiscal years 2000 and 2001. This is the money the program's legislative support- ers are now trying to put back.. Several New York City-based AmeriCorps grantees vigorously contest the GAO claim that local grantees drove the over-enrollment. Ford says that the After- School Corporation keeps a close accounting of all of its members. "We have worked very, very closely with the state commission," Ford says. "They know who is partic- ipating." Both the state commission and the Corporation failed to respond to requests for comment. Much of the blame, local groups and Corporation staff say, lies with a new mechanism through which each pro- gram reports its membership. In 2000, all AmeriCorps programs began using a web-based reporting system. According to one former national program officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Corporation badly botched the introduction of the computer system, offering minimal testing, training or tech support. Harlem Children's Zone's Lewis says the system is simply unreliable as a result. He claims that one of his former AmeriCorps members, whom he logged into the system as having com- pleted her required hours two years ago, is still receiving calls from the national office, where officials are charging that she has not yet met her terms of service. Lewis says he relies on paper copies of all of his records. "You just have to save everything," he says. The details of the disaster mean little to Samara Kauf- man, a Brooklyn site manager for the education non- profit Jumpstart. Kaufman says that losing her Ameri- Corps funding will cut her project by half, including her salary. "As sad as it would be, I would have to leave, because I would not be able to sustain myself," she says. Even if more money comes in the future, she says her program might have to completely shut down and restart later-a process Kaufman calls unworkable. "In terms of business, it makes no sense," she says. "I don't believe that a disagreement over what's been called an accounting glitch is causing preschool students to be underserved by amazing college students." At the Grosvenor Neighborhood House on West 105th Street, 40 part-time AmeriCorps members work as mentors and tutors for over 120 elementary school chil- dren, primarily from Harlem and the Bronx. According to Robert Kee, the director of Grosvenor's AmeriCorps program, his members, who range from middle-class women to college students, are a "saving grace" for the Grosvenor House. But Kee can do nothing with the 50 resumes that have landed on his desk for next year's AmeriCorps positions. And, as it stands now, his last day on the job is August 29. "If the money doesn't come through, our program will shut down," Kee says. "Unfortunately, it's always the kids who lose out. " Paul Fain is a Washington, D. C. -based freelance writer. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 FRONTLINES URBANLEGEND A Year-Round Coach UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYE of the television cameras, Ron Grunberg was having a tough day. The editor of two city street papers, BigNews and Upwards, Grunberg was trying to hustle his soccer team out the door and to the airport for the first-ever Homeless Soccer World Cup in Graz, Austria. One of his best players was nowhere to be found, and three others couldn't get passports- one owes $5,000 in child support. Though he was frazzled, uncertainty and nonstop action are noth- ing new for this editor, writing teacher, fund raiser, job skills counselor and soccer fan. Just two weeks later, he was back in his office searching for funding to send the July issue of BigNews-already weeks late-to the printer. Not typical concerns for a professionally trained journalist who has worked for the Boston Globe, CBS Radio and New York Press. After years of covering Watergate and other political stories, Grunberg "wanted more than just racing to the airport to stick a microphone in the face of news makers." So he returned to his hometown of New York and drove a cab until his brother, Jeffrey, executive director of the Grand Central Neighbor- hood Social Services Corporation, asked him to start a magazine for his clients. Five years later, BigNews is the most widely distributed street paper in New York City, with a monthly circulation of 25,000. Sold exclusively by the homeless, Grunberg tries to prevent it from being a "charity buy" by filling it with arts and culture articles, some written by established writ- ers; a recent issue included a tribute to Marilyn Monroe and political cartoons. The money ven- dors make off the sales-80 cents per issue-goes right into their pockets. Upwards, written by and for the homeless, includes information for "the poorest New Yorkers" such as how to obtain an ID, free health care and subsidized housing. Grunberg sees the publications, the soccer team and his weekly writing group as gateways to the social services, meals and employment counseling that Grand Central Neighborhood offers. "They are tricks of a sort to get homeless people indoors and into a better plan," he says. "And these things work. You can't just go up to people and say, 'Hey, you. lime to go indoors.'" It worked for James Burch. Once living on the subways, he now spends his days soliciting ads, writing articles and making press kits for BigNews. He is pursuing a Bachelors degree in psy- chology and credits Grunberg and the paper for "providing opportunities to meet people and bet- ter understand them." As for the soccertoumament, Grunberg is pleased with his team's 9th-place finish out of 18 teams. Yes, organizing the team was harrowing enough to push him to take up smoking again. But, he says, "Seeing them all out on the field was the most beautiful sight in the world." -[lana Berkowitz 7 FRONT LINES Despite Medicaid revamp, families fail to reenroll. By Emily Biuso CHILD HEALTH PLUS has been a savior for Bon- nie Ray since she signed up her 4-year-old son for state-run health insurance. Without it, she says, he would not be able to go to the doctor or take medication when he gets sick. But in March, she received unexpected bad news: The city Human Resources Administration had cut her son off the plan. The agency claimed Ray had failed to send in the required renewal forms-but she knew she had spent hours filling them out and dropped them in the mailbox before the deadline months earlier. "I was very frustrated, " she says. Ray is one of thousands oflow-income New Yorkers who have lost Medicaid or Child Health Plus insurance for months at a time because of foul-ups with the city's renewal process. In theory, the problem was taken care of last year. In January 2002, the state legislature passed a bill allowing Medicaid recipients to reregister 8 Careless Cutoffs by mail rather than requiring that they come in for an in-person meeting. The new law also scaled back the documents needed to renew, eliminating Social Security cards and certain financial statements. The reason for the change: According to HRA, 50 percent of the 24,000 New Yorkers on Medicaid each month were falling off the rolls when the renewal period came around. Under state law, Medicaid recipients must reapply for benefits every year. But more than six months after the city inau- gurated the new system, the reenrollment rate has barely budged. In March, city officials announced that only half the city's Medicaid recipients had reenrolled-no bener than in prior years. By July, the response rate had inched up to 55 percent. "It's still not what it should be," says Beth Ostheimer of the Children's Defense Fund. "There's still an awful lot of documentation that doesn't need to be there." To help more than 100 of her clients who've lost coverage, Legal Aid Society anorney Elisa- beth Benjamin has been taking their cases to HRA. While she says the agency has success- fully resolved most of these cases-including Ray's-she adds, "We're very concerned that this doesn't address the needs of the thousands of people who are just being cut off and don't happen to get into Legal Aid. " So she has asked the city to extend the grace period for processing renewal packets from five days to 10, to allow for delays in mail delivery. And she hopes the renewal process can be strearnlined further to require even fewer docu- ments and to shorten the 14-page application. HRA's response so far: It plans to work with a professional mailing house and to develop a voice-response system that will call consumers to remind them to recertifY. Benjamin is wait- ing to see how that pans out. If the retention rates stay low for another six months, she warns, Legal Aid may file a lawsuit. The city and state may also soon have to contend with managed-care companies. "Plans are extremely frustrated, and ptobably for the last three years their number-one priority ... has been to address the problem of enrollment- churning, " says Deborah Bachrach, an attorney representing the New York State Coalition of Prepaid Health Services Plans. HMOs invest heavily in enrolling new members. But the stakes are not just financial, says Kathryn Haslanger, director of policy analysis for United Hospital Fund. "Churning challenges the whole model of managed care, which is to invest in prevention to get benefits down the line," says Haslanger. For the last few months, Health Plus, an HMO, has been calling its clients to let them know their renewal dates are approaching. "The non-recertilication rate had been extremely high," says CEO Tom Early. "We thought it would be in everyone's best interest to reach out." Since then, he says, the company's recerti- fication rate for Child Health Plus A has reached about 70 percent. Other companies have hired new staff to handle similar outreach efforts. Meanwhile, the HMOs are planning to lobby the state to come up with a way to make sure eligible Medicaid recipients can reenroll. "Our hope would be by the fall we have enough data to demonstrate that there's a contin- uing problem with enrollment-churning, which would put us in the position to go back to the leg- islature when they reconvene in January," says Bachrach. "We would hope to be able to resolve it short of litigation." Ray hopes something will prevent a health care cut-off in the future. "The mail-in program is a good idea if it's going to work, but they need to get a better system to support that idea." Emily Biuso is a Brooklyn-based fteelance writer. CITY LIMITS Coney Island Creeks Along THE SHElLFISH and the fishermen are about to get a second chance at life in Coney Island Creek. For 60 years, the gas manufacturing opera- tions of the Brooklyn Borough Gas Works contaminated the creek and its shores with dozens of hazardous wastes. The company closed in 1966, but chemicals continued to seep into the soil and the waterway while the property's owner, KeySpan, argued with the state over how clean-up work should be done. In the mid-1990s, the state deemed the area a brownfield. Considered carcinogenic and closed to the public, the creek became perhaps best known for its stench, and for its use as a dumping ground for boclies, most famously by mass murderer Joel Rifkin. But in late June, KeySpan officials finally penned a deal with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and plan to begin testing and decontaminating the area in September. For local fishermen, this will mean a new, safer source of fresh fish. For Coney Island residents, it will mean less pollution both in the water and farther inland. Nearly 20 years ago, local Community Board 13 voted to build a new garage for the city's garbage trucks on the shores of Coney Island Creek. The indoor lot, which currendy houses Department of Sanitation vehicles, sits in a resi- dential section of Neptune Avenue. Because it is too small for all the trucks, many spill into an outdoor lot, adding to the stench from the creek. When the relocation was approved, the community board was promised it would hap- pen within a few years. In fact, the Astella Development Corporation built an affordable housing complex as part of then-Mayor Ed Koch's housing initiative in the mid-1980s with the understancling that the garage would soon be gone. "I moved in during July of 1983, and I was told the garage would be gone in absolutely no more than three years," says tenant Louis Rodriguez. But negotiations over the cleanup stalled the project for decades. Planning for Communities, Cities and the Environment at Pratt. Pratt's planning programs prepare students with the theory and skills necessary to respond to the diverse needs of communities and foster comprehensive social, physical, economic and environmental development. Through courses, studios and fieldwork. students leam both the principles and the practice of participatory, equityfocused urban planning. The faculty, which includes practitioners from every arena of planning, introduces students to the reallife challenges of urban development by engaging them in projects in New York City. The Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment offers: Master of Science degree in City and Regional Planning Master of Science degree in Environmental Planning Joint degrees combining planning with law or undergraduate architecture Concentrations include: Community development with a focus on diversity issues. participatory planning, housing, economic development Environmental planning with a focus on environmental justice, environmental policy, monitoring, regulatory controls Preservation planning with a focus on integrating historic preservation with community development Physical planning, land use and urban design Pratt Draw it . Build it . Make it. Courses are offered in the evenings at Brooklyn and Manhattan campuses to accommodate working professionals. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 FRONT LINES "Everyone wants the land cleaned and the garage built," says Charles Reichenthal, clistrict manager of Community Board 13. Still, amid the celebrations, some local environmentalists are expressing concerns about whether KeySpan's cleanup plans go far enough. "The work being done now is good, but it still leaves the land somewhat contaminated," says Ida Sanoff, a member of Community Board 13 and vice president of the Natural Resources Protec- tive Association, a citywide conservation coali- tion that has been following the cleanup cliscus- sions. "If we have another Hurricane Floyd, I don't know if the work done will be enough to stop the contaminants from spreading again. " A spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, responsible for overseeing the clean-up, assures that the neces- sary work will be done and the site will be mon- itored for years. At least one local fisherman can't wait. The way things are now, he says, "I would never fish in there. "Many of us use the area as a dock, but we always drive our boats out of the creek before we do any fishing." -Daniel Hopard Pratt Institute Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment 200 Willoughby Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11205 (718) 399-4314 ext. 100 e-mail: gradplan@pratt.edu 9 FRONT LINES Mitchell-Lama Drama NEW LEGISLATION to protect residents of city- run Mitchell-Lama apartment buildings was announced with much fanfare on the steps of City Hall on July 22-but not everyone is cheering. Some longtime tenant activists say the law, which applies to only 13,446 of the nearly 120,000 Mitchell-Lama housing units in New York City, threatens to divide the broader movement. A statewide program started in 1955, Mitchell-Lama offered tax breaks and low- interest loans to developers in exchange for keeping buildings affordable for 20 years. Now these contracts have begun to expire, giving owners the right to opt out of the program- and, in some cases, dramatically raise rents. The new bill, sponsored by Councilmem- bers Gale Brewer, Alan Gerson, Christine Quinn and Speaker Gifford Miller, would Commitment is require owners of city-supervised, post-1973 Mitchell-Lamas to give tenants 18 months' notice before leaving the program, and to pay the city $1,000 per unit in administrative fees. Meanwhile, the city's department of Housing Preservation and Development would make sure owners had fully complied with the terms of their contracts, and would conduct a "com- munity impact study" for each building on how the conversion would affect residents. The owner would have to mitigate any negative consequences by working with the tenants or with HPD. At face value, the bill looks great, and sev- eral tenant associations and community groups have already signed on. But some members of the Mitchell-Lama Task Force, created by Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields in 1999, worry that the bill is too narrowly focused to help most tenants, and could divert attention from more expan- sive bills pending in Albany, where the fates of most Mitchell-Lamas are controlled. One bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Vito Lopez, would offer landlords another period of tax breaks if they stay in the program. It has already passed both houses and only awaits Gov. George Pataki's signature. "This is directed at city-owned Mitchell- Lamas, not state-owned ones, and it's geared mostly toward rentals and not co-ops. I think there is a danger in pitting tenants [against each other]''' says Louise Sanchez, co-chair of the Mitchell-Lama Residents Coalition. Others have expressed concerns that the leg- islation might not stand up to a constitutional challenge. "My prediction is it's going to be beaten down by the courts," says Bob Woolis, also a coalition co-chair. Councilmember Brewer, who has 21 Mitchell-Lamas in her district, hopes Woolis is wrong. The legislation, scheduled for hearings in September, isn't a cure-all, she says, but it brings new energy and publiciry to a battle she's been fighting for years. ' ~ b a n y can really fix the problem and they either will or they won't," she says, "But I don't think this legisla- tion will come in the way." -Cass; feldman Tomorro\N starts today Deutsche Bank's commitment to global corporate citizenship recognizes a responsibi lity to improve and enrich the com- munities throughout the world in which we conduct business. With a focused strategy of support for com- munity development, the arts and the envi- ronment. Deutsche Bank partners with local organizations to build a brighter future. leading to results TM Our commitment to a better tomorrow starts today. Deutsche Bank IZI 10 CITY LIMITS INSIDETRACK The Growth Dividend The city opens Williamsburg and Greenpoint to redevelopment- and won't promise affordable housing. By Alex Ulam Rezoning aims to put lUxury towers where trucks now park. Nearby residents want guarantees those buildings will include low-cost apartments. NOT SINCE THE DAYS of urban renewal have New York City neighborhoods faced such sweeping transformations. The City Planning Depart- ment is proposing to rewne about a fifth of the land in Greenpoint and Williamsburg-prop- erty now mainly devoted to manufacturing- in order to open it to residential development. The area is ground zero for two of the Bloomberg Administration's top priorities: cre- ating affordable housing and opening up the city's waterfront. But with community unrest growing over the city's proposal, the adminis- tration faces a potential political showdown. In late June, the Department of City Plan- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 ning released its long-awaited proposal for rede- velopment of a nearly two-mile-long stretch of city waterfront and 170 blocks of warehouses and old factory buildings. In place of the rub- ble- and trash-strewn waterfront, the proposal calls for a 1.6-rnile-long esplanade with 49 acres of open space and residential towers ranging from 15 to 35 stories. Inland, amid the dusky, low-lying manufacturing areas, the city would permit construction of six- to 12-story residen- tial buildings. Up to 7,000 new units of hous- ing could eventually be built. City housing offi- cials say the proposed rewning will help relieve housing pressures on the low-income residents of Williamsburg and Greenpoint. But while community groups and local elect- ed officials support the city's stated goals, many strongly oppose its proposal. They say the cur- rent rewning plan represents a financial reward for speculative real estate investment more than it does a workable plan for affordable housing. At issue is the claim by city officials that developers will take advantage of some of the $3 billion in subsidies that the Bloomberg administration is offering, as part of its pledge to create 65,000 units of affordable housing throughout the city. According to city officials, the financial incentives are so attractive that developers will create affordable housing even in super-hot real estate markets such as Williamsburg and Greenpoint. "Developers will gladly develop properties using these pro- grams," says City Planning spokesperson Katie Maccracken, "because there is no sweeter deal." City planning officials say it is significantly more complicated to build along the water- front than elsewhere, and they maintain that the added expenses make the city's affordable housing subsidies that much more attractive to developers working there. "Because of the inherent risk of developing along the water- front, developers are likely to look at bond fmancing and other ways to reduce their equi- ty," says Regina Myer, Brooklyn Director of the Department of City Planning. "Waterfront development doesn't just include construction of buildings but also street construction, public utilities, public access and bulkhead repairs. All of those things require significant investment." City housing officials are also confident that developers will take advantage of the city's affordable housing programs, such as 421-A bond financing, which offers 25 years of tax exemptions in exchange for making one in five units affordable to low- and moderate-income tenants. "We really do expect that the housing that will be developed along the waterfront will be financed with tax-exempt bonds," says William Traylor, deputy commissioner for the New York City Department of Housing Preser- vation and Development. "Developers are going to make a financial decision based on 11 12 LEGAL ASS ISTANCE FOR NON PROFITS & COMMUNITY GROUPS N Y L P I New York Lawyers For The Public Interest 151 W 30 St, New York, NY 10001 21 2-244-4664 Your Neighborhood Housing Insurance Specialist for over 25 Years INSURING Low-INCOME CO-OPS, NOT-FOR-PROFIT COMMUNITY GROUPS AND TENANTS Contact: Ingrid Kaminski , Senior Vice President 21 2-269-8080, ext. 213 Fax: 21 2-269-8112 Ingri d@8ol li ngerlnsurance.com Bollinger, Inc. One Wall Street Court, New York, NY 10268-0982 www.Bollingerlnsurance.com/ny whatever limits their risk. " But many Williamsburg and Greenpoint community leaders are skeptical that developers will voluntarily take advantage of financial incen- tives with affordable housing requirements when their neighborhoods are in the midst of a luxury housing boom. For one thing, developers can already qualify for a 15-year version of the 421-A program that comes without any mandate to include affordable housing. Skyrocketing land prices are another deterrent to developing afford- able housing in the area, say local nonprofit developers. "In the late 1990s we were looking at the $30 to $50 range," says Paul Parkhill, a devel- oper with the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center, a nonprofit group that develops manufacturing space in the area. "It's gotten very difficult to find industrial property for less than $100 a square foot. " Virtually all the land in the proposed rezoned areas is privately owned. Property prices are so high that the city's fman- cial incentives to build middle-income housing, such as the New Housing Opportunities Program (NewHOP), won't be attractive to developers, say builders who have worked with the program. "All of the sites where NewHOP has succeeded are in places like Harlem, where developers have gotten the property from the city for a dollar or substan- tially less than market rate," says Jaye Fox, an independent real estate development consultant. Fox notes that the city's financial incentives are generally used solely for construction costs. In Williamsburg, she says, "incentives under the existing NewHOP programs are not enough to compensate for the higher acquisition costs." In a recent rezoning controversy at the edge of Park Slope, another gentrifYing Brooklyn neigh- borhood, affordable housing advocates say that the city's refusal to implement inclusionary wning precludes the development of affordable housing. The housing market in Park Slope is so hot that developers can make substantial profits without taking advantage of affordable housing programs, says Brad Lander, executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee. "So far there are several hun- dred units being built along Fourth Avenue," lan- der says, "but not one unit of affordable housing. " INSTEAD OF GIVING developers the choice of build- ing affordable housing, many community groups and local elected officials want the city to create more aggressive incentives or legally require it, through a process known as inclusionary zoning. "The administration representatives said that 'we're confident that developers will take advantage of the programs and do affordable housing,'" says City Councilmember David Yassky, chair of the coun- cil's Special Committee on Waterfronts. The City CITY LIMITS Council will ultimately have to voce on the wning as part of the city's Uniform Land Use Review Process. "My response to that is, well, if you are confident, then there's no harm requiring that it be written right into the wning." Yassky asserts that the proposed rewning will at least quintuple the value of former industrial property. "When property owners are getting a windfall like that," he says, "there's no reason part of that windfall cannot be used to generate affordable housing. " One coalition of community groups, Mobiliza- tion Against Displacement (MAD), is demanding that a full 40 percent of the housing developed in the rewned area be made available for low- and moderate-income residents-people now being forced out of the area. In the last decade, Green- point lost 5,500 affordable rental units, more than half the neighborhood's stock, according to a report issued by the Northern Brooklyn Religious Cluster. "This is a golden opportunity to create affordable housing," says Martin Needelman, chief counsel for Brooklyn Legal Services, one of the organizations in the MAD coalition. "Our community is dead without the immediate cre- ation of large amounts of truly affordable housing for current residents." Other groups in the coali- tion include St. Nicholas Community Develop- ment Corporation, Los Sures and North Brooklyn Development Corporation. Inclusionary wlling has been used in cities throughout the United States and Europe. It can be an outright mandate or a voluntary pro- gram, in which a developer can construct a larg- er, more profitable building than wning would otherwise permit and must build a cerrain num- ber of affordable units in exchange for the bonus. In New York City, inclusionary wning has been implemented only in expensive, high- density neighborhoods of Manhattan and a small part of downtown Brooklyn. The Citizens Housing and Planning Council, an independent civic group, recendy released a proposal calling for the Bloomberg administration to expand inclusionary wning citywide-imple- menting a voluntary policy in which developers would be allowed to construct bigger buildings as a bonus for incorporating affordable housing. Says Executive Direcror Frank Braconi, "In the propos- al that we issued last fall, we designed [inclusion- ary wning] in a way we think would encourage all development, not just affordable housing. It would be a pro-development initiative. But city officials maintain that an inclusion- ary wning requirement could deter the deep- pocketed developers they're counting on to take on the redevelopment of manufacturing areas in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. "We're very, very concerned that a requirement for inclusionary SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 JOHN DANIEL YOUNG Independent Office Support II WHEN EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS" A main concern of the not for profit organization is to how to make the most out of every dollar. Even with careful planning staffing your organization may eat away at your yearly budget. Independent OffICe Support can lower costs by providing compre- hensive Clerical and Administrative services for your organization. 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Ie's a blue- prine for a Utopia that's reachable. Read the book, think, and then get busy. Soft Skull Books are available at www.softskull.com and bookstores everywhere. Visit our bookstore at its new location: 71 Bond St. , Brooklyn, New York housing might possibly discourage housing pro- duction," says Myer. "It essentially becomes another burden on the developer." If the city imposed inclusionary wning, Myer adds, it would also have to allow developers to build bigger projects. "An inclusionary require- ment would require more density-raller build- ings," she says. "That's not something the com- munity wants." WILLIAMSBURG AND GREENPOINT have been plan- ning for redevelopment since 1989. Afrer more than a decade of community workshops and public forums, Brooklyn Community Board 1 generated planning documents for development of the waterfront, known officially as 197 -A plans. The plans, approved by the City Council last year, stressed industrial growth, open space along the waterfront and affordable housing. The city's rewning proposal doesn't fully address the community's need for affordable housing, says Christopher Olechowski, chair of the board's rewn- ing task force. 'Mordable housing wasn't really explored-it was touched on pro forma," he says of the city's June presentation of the plan to the board. To win the community's support, the city is going to have to provide some kind of affordable housing guarantee, says Olechowski. This September, City Planning will start put- ting together an environmental impact state- ment-the first of many steps in the rewning process. The statement is supposed to analyze the effects of the rewning plan as well as different alternatives to it. Yassky says it's urgent to make sure an inclusionary wning option gets included in the document. "What we cannot let happen is [to let] the folks who oppose affordable housing in the administration get to a year ftom now, and tell people like me, 'Well it's too late, we didn't study the affordable housing option,'" says Yassky. While it opposes inclusionary wning in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, the city is planning to help local nonprofit community development organizations build affordable housing in the area. It is in the process of establishing a special $15- to $20-million revolving acquisition fund to enable them to buy land in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. But even with the fund, it will be difficult to compete with the private sector for development sites, says Michael Rochford, executive director of the St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Cor- poration. The acquisition fund "is an essential tool," he says. "But we're scill somewhat handi- capped competing against private developers." The slow processing of government funds, he explains, makes it difficult to snag real estate deals before big developers with readier access to capital get them. Nor will the acquisition fund stretch very far, CITY LIMITS say affordable housing experrs. "That $15 million has to underwrite the difference between the cost of acquiring city land," says Jaye Fox, "which is basically nothing, and the amount that a develop- er would expect to pay on the open market." According to Fox, a similar, $6 million acquisition fund that the city made available to Park Slope nonprofirs would "probably pay for one building with approximately 40 affordable units." Those high land prices aren't just a reflection of the neighborhood's popularity, says Ron Shiff- man, former director of the Pratt Institute Cen- ter for Community and Environmental Develop- ment and one of the authors of the neighbor- Mandates on developers "might discourage housing production," says a planning official. hoods' 197 -A plans. Shiffman says speculation on the rezoning plans themselves has been a big fac- tor. Speculators "anticipated because of the city's actions in the last five to 10 years that the area would be rezoned, so many of them bought man- ufacturing land at excessively high prices," says Shiffman. "Land that was worth $10 to $15 mil- lion was being sold for $20 to $24 million." While city officials say that an inclusionary wning policy could make Williamsburg and Greenpoint unattractive to market-rate develop- ers, Shiffman says that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. In the event that inclusionary wning depressed real estate prices, affordable housing would still emerge, says Shiffman, who served on the City Planning Commission in the early 1990s. Developers "drove out manufacturers; they held the land out of development for many years for a speculative reason. We don't have to reward that," he says. "If these developers don't want to [build affordable housing], the land val- ues will go down so that other developers can do it. If this a free market economy, let's really make it a free market economy." Alex Ularn is a Manhattan-based freelance writer. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 To order by credit card, call t oll-free 1-877-869-5762. To receive a free trial copy. clip & return this ad. If you choose to subscribe. you'll pay only $18.95 for one year (6 issues)-30% off the cover price. Name __________________________ __ Address _______________________ _ CitylState/Zip _____________________ _ Return to: Dollars & Sense. PO Box 3000, Denvi ll e, NJ 07834-9810 3MClTY The Network o a Black Professionals And Small Business Magazine For Professionals, Small Business Owners and Mobile Indhiduals who striYC rOJ- the CompetitiYC www.tnj.com in N EW YORK CI'IY an academic degree fOJ: practi oners in Industrial and abor Relations "Part -me Master's program " Ren _ ned Cornell faculty .. SmaU, Saturday classes " Alf(l'daibie Ny-League education eol'lective Barga'ining Law & Pub'lic Policy .. Research Human Resource Man Bement - labor Economics Organizational Behavior 1t234O.2886 - mpsnydkOmelLedu www.ikcomelLedulmpsnyc Ilr 15 The New York City Council is poised to pass tough new lead paint poisoning protections. But we've yet to reckon with new science showing that II safe" levels of lead are harming kids. B edford-Stuyvesant resident Maria Sal- vatierra doesn't know Ohio pediatrician Bruce Lanphear, but if the two ever met, their conversation might turn quickly to low IQ, tooth decay, juvenile delinquency and delayed breast development. Hardly upbeat topics, but these days all of them worry the doctor-and parents, like Salvatierra, who are raising their kids in old buildings contaminat- ed with lead-based paint. For years, Lanphear, a pediatrician and public health researcher at University of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, has been studying the bad things that can happen to children who eat or breathe lead. Now, one of those children is Sal- vatierra's daughter. Her name is Alexandra. She is a petite, dark- haired 2-year-old with a shy but ready smile who entertains herself by hugging a teddy bear and exploring the crannies of her family's cramped, knickknack-filled railroad apartment near DeKalb Avenue. The unit's faded exterior, pocked foyer and scaly window sills suggest it was built generations ago and has barely had a facelift since then-certainly not since 1960, when New York City banned the use of lead paint. Toddlers in aging homes like this one often chew lead-based paint chips that peel off the walls, or lick their fmgers after touching surfaces where invisible dust from the paint has settled. Alexandra's elders know the place is decrepit. "My son keeps telling me to find something better," says her grandmother, Ada Luz Moran, the matriarch of the apartment. But at $283 a month, the rent can't be beat, and the family, Nicaraguans who came here in the 1990s, must pinch pennies. Maria Salvatierra got nervous after special- ly trained high school students volunteering with Pratt Area Community Council (PACC) 16 By Cassi Feldman and Debbie Nathan Photographs by Joshua Zuckerman knocked on doors in Bed-Stuy earlier this year. Located in a so-called lead belt running ftom Williamsburg and Fort Greene through central Brooklyn and into Queens, Bed-Stuy shares with all these neighborhoods a high rate of childhood lead poisoning. When the students checked Salvatierra's apartment, they found up to 12 times more lead dust on the floors and window sills than the city considers safe. Worried, Salvatierra took Alexandra to the doctor for a blood test. Her lead level turned out to be more than twice the national average for American children. Yet the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOH) has shown little regard for children like Alexandra. According to policy, her lead levels are too low for the department to recommend treatment or case management. This angers Salvatierra, and it concerns Lanphear. The health of kids like Alexandra is at risk, he and other public health experts believe. "There is no magic number for lead poisoning," Lanphear has said. "What we must do is reduce children's exposure to lead at every opportunity." That view is backed by a disturbing study that Lanphear and several other researchers pub- lished this spring in the New England Journal of Medicine, which suggested that even low levels of lead contamination can damage the intelli- gence of children. This means, according to an increasing number of public health researchers and policymakers, that there may be no minimal acceptable level of lead exposure for kids. Dr. Herbert Needleman, a psychiatrist at the Uni- versity of PittSburgh who has studied the ill effects of such exposure on children's behavior, sums up the issue. "Science," he says, "strongly suggests there's no threshold for safety. " New York's City Council has lately been rak- ing a hard look at lead, too. On July 1, the state's highest court ruled that the city's existing law governing lead paint cleanups was invalid. That ruling has opened a precious opportunity to reinvent how New York City deals with lead poi- soning in children. Council members have seized it, pushing forward a proposed law, Intro 10 I-A, that had been sidelined by Council Speaker Gifford Miller for more than a year. Intro 101-A offers strict new rules for pre- venting childhood lead poisoning, as well as responding to incidents once they have hap- pened. Despite a major drop in the last decade, those incidents are still too frequent: Nearly 4,000 New York City children under age 6 were reported poisoned last year alone. The Bloomberg administration has opposed 101-A, calling it impracticable and less effective than current city practices. Council sponsors are hellbent on passing it. They've taken their case repeatedly to the steps of City Hall, joined in mid-July by a trio of mayoral hopefuls: City Comptroller William Thompson, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields and .ex-Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. But despite all the news conferences and speeches and stories of contaminated kids, few politicians are grappling with the new medical research, or how we should respond to it. No one is talking about what it may really take to keep New York's children safe: a fundamental rethinking of what it means to be "poisoned. " W hen he first turned his attention to childhood lead poisoning a decade ago, Lanphear and his colleagues thought the problem was nearly licked thanks to years of education and cleanup. By the 1990s, a century had passed since doctors first recognized lead as a highly toxic substance. CITY LIMITS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 17 Back then, adults often got poisoned in indus- trial settings rife with lead dust and vapors. Dizziness, stomach pain, amnesia, kidney dam- age, lowered sperm count and miscarriage were just some of the problems triggered by even tiny amounts oflead in the body. Today, these amounts are measured in micro- grams. To imagine how small a microgram is, consider that there are 250,000 of them in a pill the size of an aspirin. Now, imagine an aspirin made of fme lead dust. A small child whose body contained the contents of only a hundredth of the pill-a vinually invisible tad--could experi- ence loss of balance, hearing problems, slurred speech, coma, convulsions---even death. People are tested for lead by measuring micrograms of the metal in a tenth of a liter of their blood. The hypothetical, gravely ill child in the above example, who ingested a smidgen of lead dust, could have a reading of 60 to 80 micrograms. Two generations ago, many Amer- ican children tested in this range. Their levels were high because house paint commonly con- tained lead, as did tin cans, toothpaste, ceram- ic dishware, water pipes and gasoline. Kids who got sick from lead poisoning typ- ically recovered from the immediate symp- toms, but many were clearly not well. A 1943 study of 20 children who'd had convulsions and other serious complications found a num- ber of them acting severely antisocial long after they supposedly recovered. Three were expelled from school: one for setting fires, one for danc- ing on desks, and one for sticking a fork in another child's face. Others attacked teachers with knives and scissors. In 1960, the government told doctors and 18 local health departments to take action-by giving medication and seeking the source of contamination-if a child's lead level tested at 60 micrograms or more, even if he or she seemed in good health. Over the next three decades, public health authorities increasingly lowered this number, which they call the "level of concern." In 1971, it dropped to 40. In 1985, it came down to 25. And in 1991, the Even more harm to intelligence seems to occur at low levels of lead contamination than at high ones. The damage appears irreversible. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) again decreased the level to 10. The number has dropped mainly because of massive cleanups that have led to dramatic decreases in U.S. kids' lead levels. The first came in the late 1970s, after lead was removed from house paint and phased out of gasoline and metal food containers. Before these changes, half of all American kids younger than 6 years old were scoring at least 15 on their lead tests, and 88 percent exceeded 10. By 2000, the national average was down to slightly below three, and only one in 50 preschoolers was esti- mated to be scoring more than 10. Today, the government's level of concern is still 10 micrograms per deciliter. Officially, children are deemed safe as long as their blood stays in the single digits. Bruce Lanphear started his lead poisoning work in the early 1990s by reviewing earlier studies, such as one that looked at lead levels and intelligence in a group of middle-class 10-year- olds. The kids were divided into two groups: one whose lead scores had gone up at least 10 micro- grams since they were toddlers, and another whose levels stayed below 10. Compared to the low-lead group, the more contaminated children scored six to nine points lower on IQ tests. Though these results were disquieting, by the late 1990s blood lead scores of 10 or more in children were a rare occurrence. "Because so many kids in the United States were below 10," Lanphear remembers, "many of my advisers said I should get out oflead research. People were say- ing if there were no adverse health affects below 10 micrograms, we should move on to another problem-asthma, for instance." But Lanphear worried that lead could be hurting children even at lower levels. Ominous new studies were emerging, further linking lead to juvenile misbehavior and delinquency- everything from hyperactivity ro temper tantrums, stealing, aggression and fire setting- even though children in the new studies had not been exposed to enough lead to make them visibly sick. In addition, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study in 1999 linking tooth decay in children to lead levels of only five. All this led Lanphear and others to study several thousand Cincinnati children whose lead scores were less than 10. Their fmdings, published in 2000 in the jour- nal Public Health Reports, strongly suggested that even at low levels, these kids' reading and math abilities were harmed by lead exposure. And now, a study published in April in the New England Journal of Medicine-which Lan- phear also coauthored-is creating shock waves among public health advocates. It reveals that even more harm to intelligence seems to occur in the single-digit levels of lead contamination than in the double digits. Statistically, by the time children reach 10 micrograms per deciliter, they have already lost seven IQpoints. Alexandra Salvatierra has lead in her blood-enough to harm her health, but not to trigger Health Department intervention. CITY LIMITS During the last year and a half, the city housing agency spent $43 million cleaning lead paint. Nearly 4,000 kids still get poisoned every year. The damage appears irreversible. Average IQ is 100, and for any given child, dropping a few points may not be due to lead levels, and it might not be very important any- way. But Lanphear and other researchers point out that elevated lead levels are most common among children who are poor and live in big cities in decrepit housing. Blacks and Latinos are overrepresented in these demographics. Losing even a few IQ points means there will be more mentally disabled people in these communities, and fewer gifted ones. If all this weren't bad enough, another study, also published in the April New England Journal of Medicine, found that African- and Mexican- American girls with only three micrograms of lead in their blood started puberty a few months later than girls with lower levels. Getting breasts or starting to menstruate a bit late might seem trivial. But these are hormonal processes. Their delay may be only the tip of an iceberg of other, more serious bodily disruptions that may be trig- gered by lead levels lower than 10. The puberty and IQ fmdings inspired a pol- icy-oriented summary article in the same issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. It noted that safety might not be assured "even when all children have blood lead concentrations of below 10," and concluded that "prevention"- keeping kids from being exposed in the first place-"is thus the only plausible strategy." R ight now, New York City does make some meaningful efforts at prevention. Parents who see peeling or deteriorating paint can call the city's new 311 hotline and get an inspector in from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). If the inspector finds a lead hazard, the agency orders the landlord to do a cleanup; if the landlord won't comply, HPD does the remediation itsel HPD also operates a "primary prevention" program, which provides forgivable loans to landlords conducting lead abatement in high- risk neighborhoods like Bed-Stuy, Jamaica, and Washingron Heights. More than 1,600 apart- ments have been or will soon be cleaned up. The Department of Health does its part as well. Following state law, DOH tries to make sure every New York City child gets screened for lead poisoning at ages 1 and 2. If a child's lead level is between 10 and 14, DOH sends letters to the child's parents and doctor, encouraging a second test and providing information on lead abatement. At higher lev- els--one test over 20 or two at 15 to 19 over a three-month period-the city automatically provides medical care if warranted and con- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 ducts an environmental investigation of the child's home and other places he or she spends time, such as a day care center. DOH can also pass the case on to HPD for remediation. The agency does not, however, respond to tests lower than 10. And even at higher levels, it does not always intervene. Bed-Stuy resident Abby Bah says she was turned away when she asked for help. When Bah's toddler, Omar, test- ed at 18 last year, her doctor advised her to have his blood drawn every three months. Omar's next few tests registered below 15, so DOH never conducted a formal investigation. "They said I should just continue washing his hands and clothes often and use cold water in his formula," Bah says. Health and housing officials argue that they are simply following the federal CDC guidelines. "If based on scientific consensus, CDC recommendations change, the Depart- ment will review the changes and propose appropriate revisions to the Health Code," said DOH commissioner Thomas Frieden at a recent City Council hearing. But health advocates challenge this wait-and- see approach, arguing that the current CDC lev- els are hardly a reliable measure. Even 10, the number at which CDC recommends advising parents their child might have a problem, "is just a round number that has no biological signifi- cance whatsoever," says Harvard Medical School neurology professor David Bellinger, who has done landmark research showing negative effects of lead exposure on children's intelligence. Anne Guthrie, director of health policy for the Alliance for Healthy Homes, a national advoca- cy group, agrees. "Ten was chosen in 1991 because at that point it seemed like an appropri- ate number," she says. "But we're getting to the point where we don't think a single cut off helps things-it might actually confuse things." The process of deciding minimal levels for action has also become mired in politics, notes Guthrie, who sits on a committee that advises the CDC on lead policy. Late last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the panel would likely recommend cutting the level of concern from 10 to five. But that prediction was soon abandoned as the Bush administra- tion loaded the committee with experts widely considered sympathetic to the lead industry. One newly chosen member, William Barmer, testified on behalf of paint manufaeturers that lev- els below 70-the same level that had sickened children in the World War II-era study-do not damage the central nervous system. "Your recent appointments undermine public confidence in [the U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser- vices') comrnitrnent to end childhood lead poi- soning," wrote hundreds of environmentalists, doctors and advocates in a letter to Department of HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson. Meanwhile, the Secretary rejected the nom- inations of experts like Bruce Lanphear and the reappointment of Michael Weitzman, known to favor lowering the CDC level of concern below 10. Weitzman does still chair the work group focused on blood levels, which is now reviewing relevant research and will release its findings to the full panel this fall. New York Senator Charles Schumer is among those who want to speed up this process. After learning of the New England Journal of Medicine study conducted by Lanphear and his colleagues, Schumer called on the CDC to change its legal threshold. "It's in everyone's best interest," he said in a statement, "that we address this lead poisoning issue as soon as possible. " H ealth advocates say there's no reason New York City can't move more quick- ly than the feds. It certainly has done 19 so in the past. The city was one -of the first municipalities to ban lead paint. In 1982, it enacted Local Law 1, which required landlords to cover or remove lead paint in any apartment where a child under age 7 lived. The law was considered sweeping and vision- ary at the time, one of the strongest in the coun- try, but it soon proved impossible to enforce. Because landlords only had 24 hours to make repairs, hundreds of violations piled up on the city's desk. Meanwhile, even health advocates had begun to question the necessity-and safe- ty--of removing intact lead paint. Faced with a class action lawsuit from ten- ants, the city looked for a compromise, but ended up with what many tenant advocates considered a sellout to landlords. The City Council passed Local Law 38 in June 1999, under heavy pressure from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Speaker Peter Vallone. Anti-lead activists were incensed. Although Local Law 38 required owners of pre-1960 buildings to 20 inspect for peeling paint each year and quickly correct problems, it failed to define lead dust as a hazard, despite the fact that even a tiny bit of dust can make a child sick. It also mysteriously shifred the age cut-off from 7 to 6. After years of angry protests, and a lawsuit filed by 20 community groups, the activists final- ly won their case. This July, the state Courr of Appeals ruled that the proponents of Law 38 had failed to conduct a proper environmental review. The timing couldn't have been bener for Intro lOlA, a stronger bill already proposed by Councilmember Bill Perkins. Among other changes, it would require more thorough HPD inspections, label lead dust an official hazard, and require a DOH inspection any time a child tests over 15. One of its most important and controversial provisions requires HPD to "estab- lish an inspection program to identifY dwellings where children are at risk of lead poisoning," rather than waiting for problems to arise. The bill is supported by a veto-proof 37 of the council's 51 members, but Council Speak- er Gifford Miller has refused to sign on. He has yet to release details on what is likely to be a compromise between activists and the mayor's office. Remembering Vallone's sly push through of Law 38, many observers fear that the speaker's final version will be watered down in favor of landlords. According to Common Cause, which tracks campaign donations, Miller has collected $148,675 from real estate interests for an unspecified race in 2005-pre- sumably for mayor. Meanwhile, the Bloomberg administration seems dead set against Intro 101-A. At a June 23 hearing, the city's top officials argued that the new law was not only unnecessary, but also dangerous. The city had already corrected almost 10,000 lead hazard violations since 2001 and spent approximately $43 million on lead paint enforcement, said HPD Commissioner Jerilyn Perine, who also repeatedly emphasized that parents could seek inspections through the 311 hotline. Puning new mandates on the city "would divert scarce resources," she said, mak- ing the problem worse, not bener. Frieden echoed Perine's concerns, arguing that the current law was obviously working: the number of kids with blood levels over 10 dropped a whopping 79 percent between 1995 and 2002. Council members angrily accused the two of trying to minimize the problem. Last year, 3,985 children under age 6 still tested over 10, and only one in three children were tested at both ages 1 and 2. "If [these regulations] work, why have we not stopped the numbers?" Councilmember Margarita Lopez demanded of Frieden. "Why do we still have 20,000 chil- dren poisoned in four years?" W hen it comes to lead paint, liability, and the expense of lawsuits, are inevitably considerations. They are for the Bloomberg administration, which paid out $4.2 million in lead paint tort cases in fis- cal year 2003. In her testimony, Perine said the measure establishing a proactive inspection program, which would require the ciry ro decide how and when to investigate high-risk apartments, was vaguely worded and could open city coffers to lawsuits. Landlords, not surprisingly, agree that the law's tight timelines and complicated paper- work are a tort lawyer's dream. Its "primary pur- The Department of Health tells parents like Cheri Lewis-Fontanez and David Fontanez, Sr., to wash their children's hands and keep their house clean. CITY LIMITS pose is not to protect children," testified Dan Margulies, executive director of Community Housing Improvement Program, a landlord group. "It is to set traps, place blame and ensure liability so the negligence bar can get its share." In order to avoid lawsuits, the Bloomberg administration says it would have to interpret the law strictly, taking clean-up measures that it esti- mates could cost as much as $260 million per year. But City Comptroller William Thompson stands by the Independent Budget Office's much lower estimate-just $8.2 million per year. "By any calculation," Thompson testified, "this is many millions of dollars less than the amount the city will have to spend on medical care and spe- cial education for lead poisoned children." Thompsons claim is borne out by the stud- ies of researchers like Mary Jean Brown, cur- rently at the CDC, who reckons that it takes a one-time outlay of only about $16,000 to remove dangerous lead from the average three- unit residence. Compare that to the calculations of Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrics professor who heads the Mount Sinai School of Medi- cine's Department of Community and Preven- tive Medicine and is chair of the state's Adviso- ry Council on Lead Poisoning Prevention. In a briefmg he presented to City Council recently in support of 10 I-A, Landrigan noted that the annual cost of lead exposure in New York City children is at least $1.2 billion armually. And as the years pass, that figure multiplies. The cost, Landrigan notes, comes from decreased earning power due to lowered intelligence-even in kids whose blood-lead levels are at the national average of just below three. There are ways to respond to findings like these. Some counties and states have already dropped their levels of concern. The Miami- Dade County, Florida, health department does a home inspection if more than one child in a residence tests at 10 or more. Harris County, Texas (which encompasses Houston) actively follows up on all kids with rwo tests of 10 to 14. "We call the doctor to get the child in for a visit, and if the family doesn't respond we do a home visit," says Kathleen Ingrando, program manager of the county's Childhood Lead Poi- soning Prevention Program. A single test of 15 or more triggers an investigation of every place where a child spends a lot of time. Ingrando explains that in 2000, when Harris County decided to use blood levels lower than the CDC's, the county was responding to the emerging science. "We know there's [damage] already going on at levels of 5 or 7," she says. Miami-Dade County Child Lead Poisoning Prevention Program director Dr. Vukosava Pekovic agrees. Of CDC policy, she says that given the chance, "I would vote for decreasing continued on page 40 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 LAYERING ON THE BLAME It will be a while before David LewisFontanez, Jr. understands anything about passing the buck or racism. Right now, he doesn/t even know from the five senses. Seeing, hearing, smelling-and especially touching and tasting-they/re all the same to the cheery, curly-haired 15 month old as he gallops, colHike, through his apartment. "No, David, no! Don/t eat that tay! * his mother warns. "Stop licking the fan! // scolds his father. David Fontanez, Sr. and Cheri Lewisfontanez weren/t thinking dark thoughts either a few months ago, back when they were laughing at their toddler's oral antics. But this spring, a Pratt Area Community Council inspection of their home found windowsills with 28 times the level of lead dust considered safe for children. Cheri and David, Sr. are fast-talking, quick-moving people who spend workdays in midtown - he does billing for on ad agency; she/s on accountant. They seem capable of handling any problem, but these days both are a bundle of nerves. They wipe and sweep more than they used to. They chose David Jr. around, trying ta censor what he puts in his mouth. He often gets the better of them. Cheri is shocked that her apartment is contaminated. We/re not poor-we/re middle class!" she protests. At least eight of every 1 0 New York City children with high degrees of lead contamination are black, Latino and Asian; and most come from low-income families. Cheri is African American and David, Sr., is Latino. They live in Clinton Hill on the border of Bedford-Stuyvesant, in the building David, Sr. grew up in. They are frustrated by the advice they/ve gotten: to wash David, Jr.'s hands and do better housekeeping. It implies they/re not good enough parents, and that the danger to their son is their fault. According ta two New York City scholars, the point industry has for decodes blamed children, porenting, poverty, race - any- one and anything except - for lead poisoning in kids. That attitude has often been picked up by public health In their book Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, published lost year, Columbia University his- tory and public health professor David Rosner and John Joy College historian Gerald Markowitz reveal that by the 1920s, medical journals were olready running articles about lead-poisoned children and warning that leaded paint was dangerous. But instead of removing lead from paint-os was done in more than a dozen countries by the early 1930s-the U.S. lead industry tried to divert blame. As a 1924 article put it, children were living in a "Iead world." It was a world celebrated by the lead industry. Point advertisements touted lead as sofe for children, and brands like Dutch Boy produced coloring books and other fun literature that encouraged kids and their parents to use lead point. Bock then, even well-heeled white kids used cribs and toys point- ed with lead. Sprucing up one/s apartment in glossy lead paint was a mark of status. Kids did get lead poisoning, of course. As any parent of a toddler could guess, studies show that half of all young dren put practically everything in their mouths. But in the 1920s, the lead industry had its own ideas about child ogy. Some doctors joined the industry in citing on obscure condition called pica to explain it. Pica comes from the word "magpie/" and harks to that bird/s habit of consuming anything it sees. Pica sufferers have on abnormal urge to eat non- food substances like dirt, clay or hair. Even so, their psychological malady was only a minor problem, claimed representa- tives from groups such as the Lead Industry Association (LlA) . Lead did not hurt most children. Thirty years later, continuing research and growing press coverage hod alerted the public that leaded point was truly dangerous. Industry officials could deny it no longer. And so they mixed pica with something new-the race cord. Historically, paint manufacturing has been concentrated in the urban Northeast and Midwest - the some places where waves of poor African Americons and Latinos relocated in the 1950s, into formerly middle-doss housing that was now falling apart. Faced with increasing pressure to put warning labels on point cans and otherwise regulate their products, trade groups like the LlA blamed these migrants for the lead poisoning of their offspring. The problem, wrote LlA/s health and safety direc- tor/ was "slum dwellings" and "ineducable" "Negro and Puerto Rican" parents who didn/t watch their children closely enough. The president of the Notional Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association suggested that youngsters raised by emo- tionally neglectful parents ate flaking point to "gain the comfort and reassuronce they crave." Markowitz and Rosen have presented much of this history lately in court. The state of Rhode Island and cities includ- ing Chicago, Milwaukee ond St. Louis have sued paint companies for millions of dollars in damages, which would be used to remove lead paint from contaminated homes. So far, the lawsuits have not prevailed. But public health lead experts like pediatricion Bruce Lanphear say it/s wrong and impractical to blame anything for childhood lead poisoning except lead "Putting out brochures, educating mom about washing the children/s hands-from 0 public health standpoint there/s no evidence it helps, // Lanphear says. "The only thing shown to work is control of leaded dust from house paint." HPD come to the Lewis-Fontanez apartment right after Pratt Area Community Council called a press conference and talked about the windowsills where DaVid, Jr./ lives. "The inspector found 13 lead violations/" sOys Cheri. "If the landlord doesn/t fix them, the earliest HPD can come bock is late August or early September. "Meanwhile, we/ve got a health hazard here. And we pay middlei:lass rent. All the poor people in this neighborhood- they/ve probably got it worse. // - ON 21 TWO YEARS AFTER 9/11, NEWYORK HAS 330,000 UNEMPLOYED, OVER 2 BILLION FEDERAL RECOVERY DOLLARS-AND NO PLAN FOR GETTING BACK TO WORK. By Alyssa Katz "IT WAS A SITUATION where all income disappeared," remembers James Connor, chief executive of the Manhattan branding and marketing agency the James Group. It was a sec- ond shock wave following September 11, 2001: His four-person business ground to a halt. Deals in the works, deals that had closed, even money he was already owed-none of it came through. He didn't want to lay anyone off. So Connor stopped paying himself, and his was one of the few businesses to succeed in getting a disaster loan from the Small Business Administration. But in the mess, Connor also came to real- ize there was a major opportunity. A lot of companies out there needed to reinvent them- selves to stay competitive, and the James Group could help them do it. Through volunteer work he was doing to help downtown companies get back in action, Connor learned about the Center for Workforce and Economic Development, a disaster relief program run by the Consortium for Worker Education. The Center wouldn't just help him hold onto his staff, Connor found, but help him expand. When the James Group signed on, he 22 received more than $38,000 in subsidies to his payroll, allowing him to add an office manager and a creative director. Connor had to put up the money first, then submit time sheets to the consortium. For the next three months, he received cash back, equivalent to about 50 to 60 percent of the new staffers' wages. Hundreds of other companies got the same deal. By the time it wrapped up earlier this year, CWE's wage subsidy program-paid for with $32.5 million from Congress, secured through joint lobbying by New York City busi- ness and labor groups-kept more than 2,800 workers employed following 9/11. The pro- gram helped nonprofits, too, like the tenant advocacy group Good Old Lower East Side, which found itself in a $30,000 hole. "We did- n't want to let people go," says GOLES Execu- tive Director Margaret Hughes, "but the money wasn't there in the short term." Consortium staff specializing in sectors of the city's economy-from information technology to food services-recruited companies and made sure that the dollars got spent quickly and CITY LIMITS effectively on jobs that carried decent wages and benefits. "It's structured to privilege the best jobs in the community," says Bruce Herman, direc- tor and architect of the CWE program. The investment appears to have paid off. Three months after their subsidies ended, three out of every four companies were able to hold on to all of their formerly subsidized employ- ees, and most of the rest were able to retain at least half. The wage subsidies made entrepre- neur Connor a born-again believer in govern- ment's power to help, nor hinder, small busi- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 ness: "It was a beautiful education process." It was also the sort of success story New York desperately needs more o From the very early days following September 11, economists predicted a second disaster: a wave of mass job- lessness. They proved all too prophetic. After 9111 , an emerging recession snowballed. The city has lost more than 230,000 jobs since December 2000, and an estimated 300,000 residents are unemployed. The Independent Budget Office projects the city will lose 38,000 more jobs this year. New York City's official unemployment rate is now 8.6 percent-2.2 points higher than the rest of the nation. This spring, Herman and allies sought more funding for wage subsidies. CWE found enthusiastic private support: $1 million from the September 11 Fund to subsidize about a hundred more workers. But they've had no luck so far with public money. New York's congressional delegation has still not succeeded in renewing the initial fund- ing. Now CWE plans to turn to what should be a natural source of support: the Lower Manhat- tan Development Corporation. Joindy governed by the city and state, the LMDC oversees more than $2.7 billion in federal redevelopment funds, channeled through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Commu- nity Development Block Grant program. A lit- de over $1.1 billion remains to be allocated. In theory, the LMDC is giving that money away for projects like Herman's. In May 2002, it issued a broadly worded solicitation for pro- posals, including projects helping lower Man- hattan's economy. LMDC won't derail how many proposals it has received since then. Bur in January, an executive from the agency told a meeting of business owners that it had received more applications than it had funding for, according to a source present at the meeting. Numerous organizations Like CWE--estab- Lished groups with track records in community and economic development-say they have submitted ideas aimed specifically at tackling the jobs crisis. Many of those projects focus on Chinatown, which is still reeling from the dou- ble whammy of 9/ 11 and SARS hysteria. But over a year later, the LMDC has approved few grants. Most recently, it gave $25 million to the Battery Conservancy for improve- ments to Battery Park; LMDC also helped fund the River to River Festival and the Listening to the City rebuilding forum. It has not approved any of the economic redevelopment proposals. LMDC told one applicant that it won't be considering any until at least this November, and suggested to others that the agency will eventually issue a new set of solicitations look- ing for specific projects. But the LMDC has not even indicated whether, in the end, it will commit to funding programs to aid employ- ment and the economy. "There are lots of pro- posals pending, and no clarity on the process," says Herman. "It's not clear whether they're 23 interested in near-term programs or squirrel- ing money away for infrastructure." "From what we understand, everything's been put on hold," says Cao 0, executive director of the Asian American Federation, which has sub- mined a proposal for a Chinatown Rebuilding Parmership. The plan, drafted in conjunction with local business and arts groups, seeks to invest in developing Chinatown's leading economic sec- tors, including the import, jewelry and tourism industries. It would market the neighborhood to tourists, launch a Business Improvement District, and make improvements to the area's strained infrastructure, repairing sidewalks. "People are frustrated, " says 0. "Almost two years have gone by and Chinatown is still struggling." Roben Weber, director of policy for Asian Americans for Equality, is involved, along with the New York Industrial Retention Network and the union UNITE, in planning another project seeking LMDC funds, a major center offering affordable real estate and support services for the struggling garment indusrry. "For large business- es, some of them would have stayed anyway- they need to be at the heart of Manhanan's financial district, and they weren't going any- where, " says Weber. "The small businesses, where the margin for failure is greater-that's where the help should be targeted. There are over 4,000 small businesses in Chinatown alone-they're the backbone of our economy. " THE IDEA THAT LMDC is neglecting lower Manhattan's economy might sound strange at first. After all, the agency has spent $650 million so far on grants assisting enter- prises south of Canal Street. But the bulk of that money, $485 million, was intended simply to help companies survive in the short term: 12,400 small businesses got compensation for business they lost in the weeks following September 11. With LMDC dollars, the city and state eco- nomic development agencies have also given more than $130 million so far to 34 large com- panies, each with more than 200 employees, in exchange for their promise to remain in lower Manhattan for at least seven years. These Job Creation and Retention grants include penal- ties for companies that don't follow through on their commitments-should they leave lower Manhattan prematurely, they will have to return twice the amount of their grant, and they're also penalized for shifting jobs out of the area. (If they downsize as a result of "eco- nomic says EDC spokeswoman Janel Paterson, companies are not obligated to repay: "We don't punish them for that. ") 24 Twelve of the companies stand to receive additional payments of up to $900,000 each for adding new employees. But a number of others-including American Express, which received $25 million, and institutions and businesses like NYU Downtown Hospital, the Municipal Credit Union, Pace University, the Legal Aid Society, J &R Music and Computer World, Medical and Health Research Associa- tion and the American Stock Exchange-are either anchored to New York City or have made clear that they never intended to leave. Others relocated from midtown. What they didn't do was create jobs for New Yorkers. Business leaders concede as much. "In terms of the city's tax base, you're right, it does not make a difference. From the standpoint of not wanting to see a hollowing out of downtown Manhanan, yes it does make a difference," says Patty Noonan, vice-president of research and policy at the Part- nership for New York City, which advocates on behalf of the city's leading corporations. ''The dol- lar value is important, but so is the symbolic value, to other firms whose leases are expiring, and small firms that are dependent on them." That's the idea that underpins the EDC/ESDC strategy, and it has a compelling rationale. Retail or food or printing businesses located in lower Manhanan will be viable in the long term only if they have enough customers to keep them going. High-paid, large-staffed Wall Street firms are their main sustenance. The LMDC program to help small business- es hold onto their staff is accordingly modest. Its Small Firm Attraction and Retention Grant was available only to fums whose leases expire prior to September 31, 2004, without an option to renew. As a result, many fums are not even eligi- ble: just 952 have received a total of $31.3 mil- lion, most of them gening $1,750 per employ- ee. They'll receive a second installment in 18 months for each staff member they hold onto. "We told ESDC, there isn't enough money, " says Jeannine Chanes, an attorney assisting From the Ground Up, a group of lower Man- hattan businesses agitating to make relief pro- grams more responsive to their needs. "They said, 'We're not going to help businesses that are going to go under anyway.'" Small businesses that have managed to get the small firm subsidy dollars say the money has helped them hold on to their employees. "I don't know how I'd be in business without it, " says Arthur Gregory, a Community Board 1 member who owns the A&M Roadhouse restaurant on Murray Street. But Gregory got the aid only because, at the suggestion of an ESDC represen- tative, he signed a new lease for basement space. He still doesn't have the money to equip it-and as a result, ESDC now wants its $24,000 back. "I said, 'What the hell are you talking about?' " recalls Gregory. "They said, 'What are you doing with the additional space?'" Chanes' group is yet another applicant for the phantom LMDC funding. "The silence was deafening," says Chanes, who applied nearly a year ago for money to help fund her group and its activities to help downtown businesses obtain loans and other aid. When asked how long it would take to process applications, LMDC told her it would happen soon. "Soon like this month, this year, this decade?" she recalls responding. Chanes says LMDC officials told CITY LIMITS TWO YEARS AFTER SEPTEMBER 11, CHINATOWN her they needed ro do more outreach ro differ- ent groups before making funding decisions. TWO YEARS AFTER September 11, Chinarown is still New York's other ground zero. Vinually every business reports a perma- nent decline in sales, and one in 10 workers has lost his or her job. Even before then, one-third of families in the area lived below the poverty line. Every job here is precious. Not only were its small businesses and gar- ment facrories slammed economically-the neighborhood has seen little in the way of rede- velopment dollars. Of the projects LMDC is funding directly, only twO, the renovation of SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 IS STILL NEW YORK'S OTHER Columbus Park and a transportation study, focus on reviving Chinatown. A survey by the Asian American Business Development Center found that just 11 percent of businesses got LMDC job retention aid, an average of $7,000 each; grants under the lost-business program added up ro under $1,900 per firm. A number of the reinvestment pitches lan- guishing at LMDC focus on rebuilding China- rown and stabilizing jobs ro the area. The Asian American Business Development Center, which srarted its conversations with LMDC last year, has been trying to convince the agency to sup- port an initiative to bring in more rourism and help upgrade companies' business operations. Another, the New York Fashion Space, pro- poses to help revive the area's battered garment industry by opening several workspaces as afford- able homes for businesses, keeping them near their workers, suppliers and customers in Man- hattan. It would also offer marketing services and cutting-edge production facilities, to give shops occupying the spaces a competitive advantage. In attempting to convince LMDC to invest $25 million in the Fashion Space, AAFE is also trying to get the agency ro target its economic recovery dollars more carefully. Says Weber, "One of the things we'd like LMDC and [Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Daniell Doctoroff to do is examine strategy, rather than focus on individual businesses-to take a sector-by-sector approach." Floating the possibility that the garment center model could be expanded ro benefit other kinds of business- es too, Weber proposes: "Why not, say, look at the jewelry sector-what does that sector need to stabilize and grow again? We're looking at manufacturing. We want to bring rourists back, connect rourists visiting ground zero, make it easier to go from there ro Chinarown." But the prospects of getting funding for the Chinarown projects remain fuzzy. In the mael- strom of competing demands for lower Man- hattan redevelopment, the dollars are quickly running out. Mayor Bloomberg has an ambi- tious plan for rejuvenating lower Manhattan and building and rebuilding parks, the FDR Drive and other infrastructure. For its part, the Pataki administration has come out with a major study that identifies the remaining money as a likely source of funding for major transportation improvements. Some activists are still holding out for direct investment in job growth. Labor and neighbor- hood groups, under the umbrella of the Labor GROUND ZERO. Community Advocacy Network ro Rebuild New York (LeAN), issued a call this spring for an ambitious package of wage subsidies for both business and public sector jobs. They want rebuilding to focus on supporting good wages for well-trained workers, and met in May with Deputy Mayor DoctorofE "He rook it seriously," says LCAN coordinaror David Dysegaard Kallick. "His response was, This is very big. Let's talk about particular things.'" In June, Mayor Bloomberg proposed legislation requiring big construction contractors working on ground zero ro have apprenticeship programs that bring new minority workers into the field at decent wages. But any chance labor and community groups had ro influence the political decision- making on lower Manhattan funds was most likely lost last year, when most big labor unions decided ro endorse George Paraki for governor. The February replacement of former LMDC director Lou Tomson with Paraki appointee Kevin Rampe has only strengthened the gover- nor's role. "The governor was rolling into office with an endorsement from everyone," notes Jonathan Rosen, until recenrly the direcror of the New York Unemployment Project, an orga- nizing group advocating for the jobless. "We couldn't even have a conversation about subway fares-the idea that we could talk about New Deal-level strategies was preposterous!" Rosen suggests it's time for labor advocates to leave behind the battle over rebuilding dol- lars and to set their sights instead on major new subsidized development projects as they emerge around the city, such as the Potamkin car dealership slated to open in East Harlem. The Unemployment Project, Rosen says, "is looking at organizing successes" in Los Angeles and other cities where labor-affiliated groups got elected officials to require developers receiving government incentives to provide community benefits in rerurn, such as appren- ticeships, jobs and affordable housing. "It's a long conversation, over a long period of time. Rebuilding lower Manhattan is not the place to start," says Rosen. Others in the labor movement are adamant that unemployed New Yorkers still have plenty at stake in the downtown dollars. "We've been trying to have a policy conversation about how to shape economic development," says KalJick. "We're nor applying for a billion dollars. We're saying they should have a policy for jobs." Research assistance by John Tozzi. 25 RENT STABILIZATION WHO'S BENEFITING FROM A $280 MILLION DOWNTOWN REAL ESTATE BAILOUT? By Mark Wallace RESIDENTS OF THE PRICEY high rises of Banery Park have a powerful experience in common with those in the tenements of the Lower East Side: Both witnessed firsthand the destruction of the World Trade Center on Sep- tember 11,2001. But when it comes to a gov- ernment grant program that has helped pay the rent since then, lower Manhanan is as clearly split as ever into two different worlds. The Lower Manhanan Development Cor- poration-the agency created in the aftermath of the anacks to help revive lower Manhat- tan-set aside $280.5 million in a grant pro- gram to encourage the residents of lower Man- hanan not to leave, and to draw new residents to an area that saw vacancy rates shoot up to 25 percent after the attacks (and to 60 percent or more in some large buildings). From August of last year until this past June, the LMDC accepted applications from residents living around the World Trade Cen- ter, in Tribeca and below Delancey Street on the Lower East Side. More than 80 percent of the 47,554 eligible households in lower Man- hattan submined applications. Over 30,000 have been approved, and more than $160 mil- lion granted. The LMDC is still processing thousands of additional applications. Since the program started, the area's housing market has recovered impressively. Vacancy rates in lower Manhanan-variously defined as the area below Chambers, Canal, Delancey or Houston Streets-have dropped substantially. Today, the neighborhood, at less than 5 percent vacancy, is more populated than the rest of the island, at 9 percent. And the area has not seen rents go down nearly as much as they have else- where in Manhattan. Real estate brokers say the federal funding helped bring those numbers up. "The grants really attracted people to come to the neighbor- hood," says Yuval Greenblan, manager of the rental department at real estate broker Insignia Douglas Elliman. In the area closest to the Trade Center site-south of Chambers Street and west of Nassau--eligible residents receive 30 percent of their monthly rent or mortgage, up to a total of $12,000 over two years. South of Canal, residents receive up to $6,000. The dollars also appear to be keeping rents artificially high. The Real Estate Board of New York reports that prices are about 95 percent of 26 what they were prior to 9111-and might be even higher were it not for the LMDC's cap on rents at that precise level. Elsewhere in Manhat- tan, rents are 15 to 22 percent off their peaks. Greenblan acknowledges that the grants may be affecting housing prices. "Without that," he points out, "someone would have to make up that gap. Either tenants would have to pay that money or owners would have to reduce rents." Some observers call the grants an outright giveaway to propeny owners. "It's really just a pass-through to the landlords," says an aide to one local elected official. "If the true market had gone down, the exact same [number of] people would have come in because the rent would have been lower. It's a huge waste of money." The LMDC disagrees, of course. Asked whether it props up rents, Amy Peterson, the LMDC vice president who manages the pro- gram, says, "I don't know if that's true. But I think the added incentive for people to move downtown brought people back to the neigh- borhood, and stabilized the market." Frank Braconi, executive director of the Cit- izens Housing and Planning Council, a non- profit research group, cautions against giving the grants too much credit. Housing subsidies, he says, normally sway only a small fraction of the housing market: residents who have already decided to move but who are weighing one neighborhood against another. "I question what it's accomplishing," Braconi says. "I would be very surprised if [the LMDC program] had played a big role in the location or relocation decisions of many of the existing residents" in lower Manhanan. "I think for the most pan people were either going to leave or they weren't, and the subsidies played very little pan in that." RESIDENTS OF THE Lower East Side south of Delancey are also eligible for grants-much smaller ones. There's a one-time $1,000 "Sep- tember 11 grant" for ongoing residents of lower Manhattan, and a "family grant" of up to $1,500 for residents with children. These households are strikingly different from the ones getting two-year grants. In the wne where residents are eligible for $12,000 grants, 77 percent of households have incomes above $50,000 a year, according to the 2000 Census. In the $6,000 wne, 45 percent do. Between Canal and Delancey, just 25 percent earn more than that. The LMDC has declined to release figures showing the distribution of grant money across lower Manhanan. But Hyeon-Ju Rho of the Urban Justice Center is determined to see them. Rho has heard numerous reports from other advocacy groups that low-income residents have had difficulties applying for the benefits, partic- ularly because of lack of documentation. Many Lower East Side residents, for one thing, don't have leases. LMDC has a policy of ensuring that no resident is denied aid on the basis of inade- quate documentation, but it's unclear how suc- cessfully it has been carried out in the field. "The real question is, what percentage of eli- gible units actually applied and were approved in each of the wnes, and what percentage of the total money available was approved and has been disbursed?" Rho says. Her organization has filed an extensive Freedom of Information Act request seeking that data. Poor residents of lower Manhanan have had another problem taking advantage of the LMDC grants: Public assistance agencies are erroneously counting them as income, demand- ing that recipients of other public benefits, like welfare and disability, reimburse the agencies for ;ontinued on page 41 CITY LIMITS Where there are day laborers, more and more cities run workers' centers to get them on good jobs and off the streets. So why doesn't Woodside, host to hundreds of jornaleros, have a place for them to go? By Matthew Schuerman Photographs by Carey Kirkella A community organizer named Juan Valentin walks up and down Roosevelt Avenue in Queens on a June morning, handing out leaflets that he carries in his leather satchel and speaking [0 groups of Latino men. "We live here. We pay rent here. We buy food here. We are part of the community. They're saying we are vagabonds on the street," he says. "Let's not just wait for Immigration [0 come and take SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 everybody away." The half-dozen men around him, many wearing the baseball caps and backpacks that mark them as day laborers, seem [0 be half listening. A cou- ple of them tum and look across 69th Street, where a white SUV has pulled up to another clump ofjornaleros. Work! But it's too late. A police car pulls up to ticket the driver for stopping in the middle of the street. The jornaleros 27 across the road walk away, pretending to be doing something else. A week earlier, police arrested as many as 12 day laborers for obstructing traffic just a block down. Two of them have not returned to the strip since. The rumor is that fa migra took them away. Unaware of the drama across the street, Valentin continues: "Get to know your fellow workers. Get their names and cell phone numbers. When you get a job, make sure you get the name and phone number of the boss. Get the address of the building where you are working. You will need all that information if you don't get paid." The crowd of men around Valentin is dispersing. Some have heard the speech before. Others are not likely to ask the patron for his name and tele- phone number: Most of these jornaleros are in this country illegally, and deportation is a bigger fear than not getting paid. Few know what rights they have. They don't know that their boss can't charge them for driving them out to the work site, that they deserve a lunch break, that they are, whatever their legal status, entitled to workers' compensation for on-the- Juan Valentin, second from left, tells workers their rights and wins them back pay, but some are wary of anyone who t ri es to help them. job injuries. What they do know is that their fellow day laborers, the ones whom Valentin is saying they should get to know, are their competition. Valentin is aware of this. "The people with experience can ask for $100 a day, or they ask for $100 and the contractor offers $80," he says. "Then a bunch of new people come running over shouting, ' $60, $60. I'll do it for $60.' And the contractor says, ' Okay. Let's go.'" He adds, "In winter I hear some workers going for $20 or $30 a day. " But building solidarity among the jornaleros on Roosevelt Avenue is just the start of what Valentin hopes to do. Eventually, he and the nonprofit organization he works for, the Latin American Workers' Project, want to create a workers' center, a kind of clearinghouse where day laborers can wait and contractors can come to make hires in an orderly and regulated-if still 28 illegal-way. A center would get the day laborers off the streets and keep the SUVs and vans from blocking traffic. A center could require contractors to provide their names and numbers, and also establish a floor for the wages that will be paid, no matter how high the supply of workers. The Latin American Workers' Project already runs a center like this in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, which it put together in a mere five months. But if any place in the city needs a workers' cenrer, it is the area along Roosevelt Avenue, probably the largest site for day laborers in the city. As many as 300 show up each morning and stand in the shadow of the Number 7 elevated line between 63rd and 74th meets. The Brooklyn- Queens Expressway brings contractors from as far away as Long Island, and jornaleros from all parts of Queens and northern Brooklyn. They have no bathroom other than the bushes alongside the expressway. As morning turns to day, some of the workers who have not gotten jobs begin to drink. Women complain they get harassed when they walk by. Workers' centers elsewhere around the country have proved to be simple, if imperfect, solutions: places where workers can expecr some minimal respecr for their rights, and communities can keep their streets clear of dou- ble-parked vans and loitering workers. Yet Queens, New York City's capital of day labor, doesn't have a center. Nor is it likely to anytime soon. Elected officials, churches and communi- ty organizations are highly aware of how the day- labor trade affects their community, but they're not much interested in getting involved. So far, none has helped Valentin secure the most obvi- ous necessity of all: a space for the cenrer itsel And truth be told, the founder and execu- tive director of the Latin American Workers' Project, Oscar Paredes, likes keeping politicians at a distance. He knows government officials are a prime source of funds and real estate, but he doesn't want to cozy up to them. He prefers to have workers themselves, not politicos or community development corporations, take the lead in making a center happen. His six- year-old organization carries on in the tradition of Latin American leftist political movements, down to its socialist-realist logo of a thick- armed worker carrying a banner emblawned with "P.T.LA.," the acronym for the Project's name in Spanish. His stated aim is to educate workers about their rights, raise their consciousness and then let them determine for themselves what they want. "We can do noth- ing if the workers do not want to do it," Paredes says. "The workers have to be their own leaders. We are just facilitators and coordinators. " Paredes, a tall thin 42-year-old who wears a knit cap in the colors of the Pan-African flag, was a construction worker in his native Ecuador and began community organizing at the age of 13. He is intensely pro- tective of his rurf. He openly criticizes advocates with whom he has worked in the past and officials he will need to work with in the future. "I don't trust anybody, " Paredes declares. If Woodside does get a work- ers center, one thing is fairly certain: It won't happen tomorrow. W orkers' centers started in this country not to help laborers, but to get immigrants off the meets of Southern California. The first, in Costa Mesa, opened in 1988. They were the product of desperation: aggressive law enforcement had already failed disastrously. CITY LIMITS Once, police from the city of Orange arrested hundreds of work-seekers on petty charges and turned them over to border agents, only to see new day laborers return to the same srreet the following day. The city convened a task force, which came up with a rwo-pronged response: pass an ordinance against hiring workers off the street, and establish a center where contractors could ftnd the people they needed. "As long as there is a demand for work in our city, people are going to come here for work," says Gabe Garcia, who as the city's community ser- vices manager oversees Orange's workers center. "We are not going to change the labor trend. We needed to address the problems our city was facing." California is home to a vocal anti-immigrant movement, which loudly criticized Orange for helping illegal immigrants. Locally, howev- er, few people objected, and the center is still in operation. Now the city of Los Angeles alone sponsors six centers at an annual cost of $70,000 to $150,000 each. Other publicly ftnanced sites operate across the country, including in Houston; Denver; Silver Spring, Maryland; and, as of last October, Freeport, Long Island. "The cities that invested in day labor had already used all the means they thought they had," said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborers Organizing Nerwork. 'They already used police on horses. They already chased the workers in helicopters. They sent in the INS twice a month. Some have gone as far as criminalizing the act of looking for work, and all of these actions failed." New York hasn't seen anywhere near that kind of conflict in the streets. What it has experienced is a surge in the number of people look- ing for work in public places. On any given morning now, as many as 8,300 men and women look for work at various shape-ups-places where laborers congregate, waiting to be chosen for work-in the New York metropolitan region. Polish cleaning women gather in Williams- burg, Brooklyn; Sikhs congregate in Richmond Hill, Queens. But most day laborers-about 95 percent-are Latino men. Police, for the most part, leave them alone: There are no ordinances against loitering or soliciting work on sidewalks. Bur occasionally-last August, and again this June-laborers have reported crackdowns, with NYPD officers arresting workers on minor charges such as obstructing traffic. Police deny they changed tactics. Police also made numetous arrests of day laborers in the fall of 200 1 in Bensonhurst, workers say. In the months following 9/11, tensions in the neighborhood were high--enough that they galvanized community lead- ers to come up with a solution. A City Council candidate, Joanne Semi- nara, distributed letters promising to rid the neighborhood of day laborers by bringing in federal immigration agents. In response Paredes held a press conference denouncing racism in the southern Brooklyn neighborhood. Around the same time, the area's then-state senator, V mcent Genrile, started meeting with a local religious leader, Rev. Terry Troia, and a few day laborers to ftgure out a more constructive response. Paredes later joined them in Troia's church basement. They decided that a workers' center would be what Gentile called a "win-win": a way to advance laborers' rights while making sure vans and job-seekers weren't a nuisance on the streets. Gentile secured a piece of city-owned property at the dead end of a street, about a mile from 18th Avenue. The Independence Community Foundation-which came on board after the manager of Independence Community Bank's 18th Avenue branch called seeking money for a portable toilet for workers who waited outside-kicked in $25,000 for operating costs. By March 2002, the Latin American Workers' Project opened its center on a fenced-off piece of asphalt right on New York Bay. Getting the jornaleros to move down to the waterfront wasn't as hard as getting contractors over there, too. That is where the police became invaluable allies. Once contractors learned they couldn't stop to pick up SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 workers without getting ticketed for double parking or parking in bus stops, they would come down to the center. Or at least, many did. "Some of them went to different locations," recalls Gentile. "I have to be honest that we lost some contractors." The transition hasn't worked per- fecdy; day laborers still show up on 18th Avenue. Bur organizers say the roster of members keeps growing, and now tops 400. The jornaleros get work on a ftrst-come, ftrst-served basis, and other- "They promise you $100 or $90 a day and then pay you only $60 or $70," laments Jorge Hernandez, who recently moved from Florida. "I can't do anything about it." wise sit in a tent where they get occasional lessons in English or workers' rights. Those who do not get work-sometimes half or more do not-are put at the top of the list the next day, so long as they show up by 6: 15 a.m. When SUVs pull up, no one runs into the street or haggles over wages. Workers are paid according to a set scale: $75 for a full day's work, more for specialists such as bricklayers or electricians. Even at those rates, contractors are paying well below union wages, and get to hire on the spot. But those contractors who use the center are likely to be the more scrupulous ones, since each has to give a name, telephone number and license plate number to the center's coordinator. Contractors planning to rip off jornaleros can see if anyone is still standing on 18th Avenue, or, for that matter, Roosevelt. 29 D ay laborers are notoriously hard to organize-they move on and off the street as they get jobs. The Latin American Workers' Pro- ject started off along Roosevelt Avenue in April 2002, at first spo- radically. Since May of this year, Valentin has been coming here every day, handing out information on free health-care clinics. In mid-July, to draw attention to the workers' situation and build solidarity on the street, he organized a clean-up day when jornaleros picked up liner. Some of the jornaleros have been working the street for years, others just a few months, but almost everyone says they thought they'd find much more work than they have. Until Valentin talks to them, they also seem to believe devious contractors are a normal part of living illegally in this coun- try. "I don't much like working as a jornalero," says Jorge Hernandez, who moved to New York in March after a year picking fruit in Florida. "They promise you $80 or $90 a day and then pay only $60 or $70. That's hap- pened to me four times so far. I can't do anything about it. " Day laborers do occasionally call the police, and sometimes get June. The church, home to a Korean congregation, had a soup kitchen where many day laborers ate breakfast several times a week and used the bathrooms. It had a parking lot contractors could pull into and an assem- bly room for English classes and workshops. It was there that more than 100 day laborers gathered for the meeting last October, and smaller crowds convened in May. But the week after Valentin held a press conference at the church on the police crackdown in June-without checking with church officials first-his proposal for a permanent center was rejected. "It's just that the more people you have in the church, it wreaks havoc," Peter Kim, the church secretary, explains. ''There's always a higher chance of something happening. " The day after the rejection came, though, Valentin forged an unlike- ly alliance with a South Asian organization in the area, Desis Rising Up & Moving, which opened its office space to him. Soon DRUM, best known for advocating for Arabs and Muslims harassed and deported under post-September 11 security measures, agreed to share its hotline for results. But more typically, an employer has already convinced them that police will turn them over to immigration authorities. Valentin has taken up the cases of dozens of day laborers who did not get paid, and says he's retrieved back wages for 75 percent of them so far. Some- times, all it takes is a phone call to the employer; in other cases, he's gone to small claims court. Some laborers people who are arrested, and to have Spanish-speaking volunteers staff its phones. "What's been going on in terms of the harassment of day laborers has been happening in our community as well," said DRUM Director Mona- mi Maulik. "If we bring together these two communities here we will be able to influence local officials more than if we just do this separately." DRUM, the Project and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund have been meeting to come up with a coor- dinated strategy to fight the arrests. One worker he is helping is Flavio Alvarez, 23, from Ecuador. "Two weeks ago I went with an Indian guy and worked from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. He did- n't give me lunch or any food. He did- n't pay me. When I asked him, he said he'd pay me tomorrow but I'm never going to see him again." To Flavio, who immigrated this summer to join his are skeptical. "Me, if there are 50 people at the center and no one on the street, I'll go find work on "They understand more about this neighborhood than I do," Valentin says. "Maybe they can teach me." th e street." wife and child, a workers' center is a natural solution. "It will make it easier to find work, and it will be safer than gening work off the streets." But other day laborers are wary of anybody who says he is out to help them, Valentin included. "He's into politics," speculates one 42-year-old jornalero who would only give his first name, LUIS. "He's doing this to make a profit." For Luis, the day-labor market could dry up tomorrow, and is hardly a situation worth fmding a long-term solution for. "This is illegal and you don't know how long it is going to last. Giuliani allowed it. Mayor Bloomberg, you don't know." Another worker calls the center a good idea, but is doubtful it would work. "If the contractor has to pay $80 at the center and can find some- one on the street for $70, he'll go with someone from the street," said Manuel Pelaez. "Me, if there are 50 people at the center and no one on the street, I'll go find work on the street." Meanwhile, Valentin has a whole other set of relationships to build: with churches, nonprofit organizations, businesses, whoever can donate some real estate along that strip for a workers center--or a location to hold meetings and English classes should jornaleros ultimately decide they don't want a center. Right now, he has no leads. A major prospect, the New York Cho Dae Church, fell through in early 30 C ompared to Bensonhurst and Los Angeles--or Long Island, where two workers were badly beaten three years ago after being picked up by men posing as contrac- tors-what Roosevelt Avenue lacks is any sense of crisis to galvanize the community. There is little consensus that anything at all needs to be done. "Essentially, the police say either there's very lime they can do about it or there is no problem," says state Assemblymember Ivan Lafayette, whose district includes the eastern and western portions of the strip. "Roosevelt Avenue is a commercial street where people come from all over. It's not a quiet residential street." The neighborhood is ethnically diverse, with a large population of Latinos, which makes it all the more tolerant of workers on the streets. The idea of a center also remains controversial, even among leaders of nonprofit organizations in the neighborhood. "It gets into the question of promoting something that is technically illegal, " says Thomas J. Ryan, executive director of the community development corporation Wood- side on the Move. "You cannot hire someone without documentation. If you do, you have to pay them off the books. I would not encourage any institution to help people break the law." Local City Councilmember Helen Sears is also skeptical of workers' centers. "The issue is delicate because you are dealing with undocument- ed people," she says. "That's a sticky problem, to help these people while CITY LIMITS also not breaking the law. At the same time, they need to have help." Sears sponsored a January council hearing on day labor, and pledges to organize a meeting this fall with other city, state and federal officials. She says she has been meaning to visit the center in Bensonhurst, but has not found time. Paredes is now trying to build a relationship with Corona Coun- cilmember Hiram Monseratte, who has expressed interest in the orga- nizing effort. But Paredes' distrust of politicians has kept him from reaching out more. Though invited, he did not attend a meeting of day labor advocates in March with Sayu Bhojwani, the city commissioner for immigrant affairs, nor has he contacted the state assembly members and senators from the area. (The legislators told City Limits they were unaware of the campaign.) His fear, he explains, is that elected officials could appropriate the idea of a workers' center. "The politicians are waiting for the money to open job centers on their own, " he says. "They are trying to manipulate us. They don't really want to work together. A lot of politicians want to visit the [Bensonhurstl center to see it as a model for them to do it themselves." Paredes is equally distrustful of other activists he has worked with in the past. One is Rev. Terry Troia, whose church donated the tent for the Bay Parkway center, along with a year's wotch of portable toilet ser- vices. Now, Troia is a leader in a coalition organizing El Centro de Hospitalidad, a five-year-old space in the Staten Island neighborhood of Port Richmond. Home to a wave of Mexicans and Central Americans and next door to the Bayonne Bridge, which brings con- tractors from New Jersey, Port Richmond is an ideal location for a workers' center, and a fully func- tioning one could begin as soon as this all. But Paredes is adamant that Troia has stepped into his group's business-and doesn't belong there. "Terry Troia is not a day laborer organizer," Paredes says. "We tried to orga- nize day laborers on Staten Island and she stopped us. She tried to create a divisional conflict." Troia responds that she invited the Project to visit her campaign's headquarters, but that at no time did the Project staff suggest it should take over. "Their staff was really helpful to us about how to organize workers, " Troia says. Paredes admits a very practical reason for not wanting other groups in the day labor organizing business. Troia has built an extensive social ser- vice agency, Project Hospitality, on Staten Island. Paredes fears that the Latin American Workers Project-and its vision of a worker-run, day labor agenda-is at a disadvantage in the fierce competition for funding. "The language of these foundations, these other organizations are experts in that," says Paredes. The Latin American Workers' Project, which this year has a $500,000 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 budget and 10 employees, is funded primarily by the New York Foun- dation (which also supports the Staten Island campaign), Jewish Fund for Justice, the North Star Fund and the Robin Hood Foundation. But funding for community organizing is scarce, and New York prob- ably won't be able to develop a viable network of workers' centers with- out public money, too. Sustained investment pays off, says Abel Valen- zuela, Jr., a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles who has studied day labor around the country and was the author of a recent New School University study focusing on New York. Valenzuela found that it takes up to five years before the centers fulfill their promise to their neighbors: moving day laborers and contractors off the streets. "It takes an initial gestation period for these centers to take hold, to get everybody to buy into the system," he says. "It can take a while to see street hiring disappear from the surrounding area." Just another reason Woodside can't wait. Immigrants continue to stream Cho Dae Church (background) declined to host a center, so j ob seekers still throng the streets. in from Mexico and Central America. Because construction jobs have grown scarcer, more men are out on the street for longer periods of time. "There are new ones every day," Valentin says. "Someone told them back home there are jobs here. They have no idea how bad the economy is until they get here." He insists Roosevelt needs a center quickly. "We don't know how the police are going to respond," he says. Day laborers won't go away, even if police or immigration authori- ties bear down. New workers will take their places. Contractors will hire off the street as long as they can do so cheaply. Community leaders in Queens can wait until a workers' center becomes inevitable. Or the Latin American Workers' Project can convince them to act first. Matthew Schuerman is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer. 31 financial plan homeless economic development budget government officials ethics social programs welfare reform low- income neighborhoods private sector foundation giving volunteers legislation fiscal year research news legal aid affordable housing Labor laws . 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Cut through the daily deluge with Your bite-sized daily dose of urban affairs news and research. Keep up with the news. Stay informed about cutting edge research. The Extra is generously co-sponsored by 32 Build a war chest of useful Web tools. Quicklv Ingested. Elsilv Digested. Get it delivered to your inbox at midday, Tuesdays through Fridays Sign up today at Extra@citylimits.org II Washington Mutual CITY LIMITS INTELLIGENCE THE BIG IDEA Safe Sex Ed The feds want to stop funding HIV prevention-and starl tracking sex parlners. By Kai Wright THERE'S AN OLD WAR STORY about working as a community organizer in the early years of the AIDS epidemic. During a meeting in which the u.S. Centers for Disease Control and Pre- vention was showing off a new education ini- tiative aimed at Mrican Americans, an activist complained that none of the posters targeted gay men. Not so, the CDC officials eagerly pointed out--one depicted a man shadow box- ing with a caged canary. This, they said, would surely indicate his homosexuality. The idea is laughable today, when you can find HIV prevention workshops on how to SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 safely engage in anal fisting. But as we plow into the epidemic's third decade, still facing an estimated 40,000 new infections each year, a dangerous confluence of scientific fatigue and right-wing invigoration is bring- ing public health policy to the verge of a national dejit vu. The Bush administration has launched an unprecedented number of high profile audits of community groups working with gay men, charging them with misusing federal funds by "promoting sexual activity." Nationwide concern over this increased government hostility to admittedly provocative work exploded into alarm in April, when the CDC announced it was changing its HIV preven- tion funding priorities. Traditional HIV prevention aims to educate an entire community, instilling the value that anyone who's sexually active or using injection drugs is at risk, and encouraging behavior that reduces that risk. Last year, the CDC spent roughly $400 million on such campaigns, directly financing community-led projects and funneling additional funds through the states. But the agency now says this brand of "primary prevention" has failed. The problem, CDC maintains, is that not enough people know they are HIV positive. The agency estimates that almost a quarter of a mil- lion people are walking around unknowingly infected; New York City epidemiologists say 25,000 of them live here. One much-discussed study found that nine out of 10 twenty-some- thing black gay men who are positive don't real- ize it. So the feds want local health departments and community groups to focus on the basics: zero in on pools of people likely to contain a high percentage of positives, test them, then trace their sex and drug-use partners. Once those positive people are identified, groups can still sit them down for the more traditional prevention work-ranging from offering information on how the virus is trans- 33 INTELLIGENCE THE BIG IDEA 34 NEW REPORTS Twenty-one areas in the city health department's latest Community Health Profiles have un- cleaned Superfund sites, and all have higher- than-average rates of diseases associated with exposure to toxic waste. This Public Advocate report-meant to needle Governor Pataki on Superfund financing-breaks down what ails each of the communities. Infant mortality rates in Hunts Point are 25 percent higher than the city averagej prostate cancer rates in Northeast Bronx are 30 percent higher. The report overlooks other potential causes of the diseases, but it's still a compelling illustration of how poor neigh- borhoods are plagued by poor health. "Report on the Need for NY to Refinance the SuperlumJ" NYC Public Advocate www.pubadvocate.nyc.govor212-669-4743 Believe it or not, New York City's street -based prostitutes have some complaints about their job. This report, compiled from a 3D-person focus group, asked sex workers to speak for themselves about what policymakers can do to help. They described increasing police and cus- tomer violence, and cyclical arrests that ware- house them for a night before dumping them back on the street without housing and other support services. The report suggests the city set up shelters for prostitutes like those for vic- tims of domestic violence, offer more substance abuse counseling and job training and stop police from using excessive violence. "RevoMng DDDr" UrtJan Justice Center www.urtJanjustice.orgor646-602-5600 The good news is that most non-mayoral city agencies provide benefits to their employees' domestic partners. The bad news is that they aren't equal to those provided to spouses, and it takes twice as much paperwork to access them. According to this report, the agencies that spring for domestic partnership benefits all offer health insurance, but only 37 percent cover unpaid childcare leave. Eighty-seven percent offer that benefit to employees with spouses. "Domestic But Not Equal" New Yorlr City Council www.counciLnyc.ny.usor 212-788-7116 mitted to counseling in order to decrease risky paigns: young, black, gay and closeted. Epi- behaviors. This approach works best, argues demiologists warn that HIV is galloping for- CDC's HIV-prevention chief, Ron Janssen, ward in this population at a speed akin to that when applied to HIV-positive people. He in southern Africa, and the CDC has floated points to studies showing that efforts to the notion that these men may at least be con- change risky behavior among those who are tributing to the skyrocketing rates among negative work only about 20 to 30 percent of young straight black women as well. the time. Meanwhile, research shows a 60-to- The primary mission of Brooklyn's People 80 percent return on work to prevent risk of Color in Crisis is to craft prevention cam- behavior among people who have tested posi- paigns for this population. In August, it spon- tive-people who are necessarily involved in sored a weekend's worth of black gay pride any virus transmission. events-from a beach party to a drag ball-all "It's very science-based," concludes Janssen, excuses to get 10,000 men in one place not one of the plan's chief architects. just to conduct HIV tests, but also to work on ALL OF THIS WOULD MAKE perfect sense if HIV pre- ------------- their sense of identity and self-worth. Year round, the group offers vention had ever been solely about science, or even public health. But the epidemic's easiest tar- gets are poor people of color, and the road to behavior change for peo- ple in this demographic, be they positive or nega- tive, is a long and wind- ing one that may not even pass through the testing stage. "People think it's programs like couples counseling and safe sex workshops, and every dime of its money comes from federal funding-money that is now supposed to be used for narrowly focused efforts to iden- tify positive people and link them to treatment. the sex police," acknowledges the CDC's Ron Janssen. "But Local health depart- ments can choose to ignore the CDC's new priorities. But the fund- ing pool for community- led projects is now much more restricted. For instance, the roughly $90 million budgeted by "The things you have to put in place really speak to social services," insists Harlem United's impas- sioned prevention direc- tor, Soraya Elcock. To address risk behavior, her clients first have to deal that's not what is driving this initiative. " with housing crises, detox and food shortages. ''And that's the funky dynamic, " she says. "That's why it's hard for public health dollars to go to it. " Because of the epidemic's unique history, prevention also involves wrestling with a com- munity's political and social values as much as its health-the disease, after all, was originally dubbed Gay Related Immune Disorder. ''I'm not just changing your behavior; I'm working on a whole community," says Elcock. "I've also got to get grandma to change the way she feels about the gay boy who's her grandson. Because if he's still living in shame and secret. .. he's gonna go to the park, suck a little cock and come home and pretend." Elcock's character choice is not rhetorical. He's the prototypical target for today's most aggressive and cutting-edge prevention cam- Congress to fund groups doing prevention work with people of color directly this year is being redirected to the new initiative. Funding sent through local governments must also support work in epidemiology and other essential pub- lic health efforts. But what troubles people like pacc direc- tor Gary English most is the climate in which these changes are taking place. pacc is the latest in a series of community groups working with gay men in large urban areas to become ensnared in what many see as orchestrated fed- eral harassment, led by conservative politicos anxious to return to the days of shadow boxing with canaries. Last year, egged on by Indiana Republican Rep. Mark Souder, the Department of Health and Human Services accused a 19-year-old San Francisco prevention program of "promoting" CITY LIMITS sex-in violation of rules governing the use of CDC dollars-with workshops on topics like having "safe and friendly relations" with hustlers. Undeterred by vocal protests from all over the country, HHS launched similar inves- tigations of groups working with gay men in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis. Then, this June, POCC discovered CDC officials were asking the same questions about an email POCC sent out soliciting proposals for a work- shop on "erotic sex." Defenders of these programs say campaigns targeting sexually active gay men, particularly young ones, only work when they discuss sex in the language and context of real life. In fact, the CDC's own compendium of model programs highlights such a project, one targeting young gay men in Oregon. The participants' reported incidence of unprotected anal sex dropped by a quarter after a series of workshops that included tips on making safery sexy. "You don't get HIV from a smile," English scoffs. "You get it from sex. It's unprotected sex, and we need to talk to people about it. " But the Bush administration's HHS is peo- pled with decision makers who have long said otherwise. In April, news broke that federal SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 grant officers were advising researchers not to include phrases like "sex worker," "anal sex" and "needle exchange" in their proposals. The new Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS is stacked with some of the nation's strongest proponents of abstinence-only sex education. Its chair, former Oklahoma Rep. Tom Coburn, once argued the CDC was engaging in criminal behavior by promoting condom use despite what he insists is proof that it is an ineffective way to block sexually transmitted diseases. "So the CDC is coming out with this whole testing campaign," warns English, "I think because it is being partially driven by the right wing. The CDC wants to do something safe." The CDC's focus on changing the behavior of positive people and fmding their partners is also disquieting. In 18 states, people who know they are positive and don't disclose it to their sex partners can be jailed-whether they're having protected sex or not, and regardless of whether the virus has been transmitted. And the same Bush advisors who have challenged cutting-edge prevention campaigns have long called on public health officials to demand peo- ple with HIV take greater responsibiliry for INTELLIGENCE THE BIG IDEA their actions. Concerned Women for America is among the new CDC initiative's most vocal supporters. Joe McIlhaney, the favored researcher of the absti- nence-only movement, congratulated the CDC for "being dissatisfied with the status quo." "You hear people on the right say, This is great, '" acknowledges the CDC's Janssen. "And that creates great concern in the communiry." Janssen spent the summer traveling throughout the country, trying to convince communiry leaders that his agenda is distinct from that of the right-wingers they fear. "People think it's the sex police," he sighs. "I agree that this is the political environment that we live in. But that's not what is driving this initiative." But to Harlem United's Elcock, even if the initiative is well-meaning, it still marks an unfortunate retreat: Moving HIV from being a problem for everyone to deal with back to one that only diseased individuals need to worry about. "We have done a lot of work to make people feel we're all at risk in some way," Elcock insists. "If, at the end of the day, peo- ple want to say that all prevention did in its old paradigm was put AIDS awareness out in the world, that was major enough." 12 issues for only 12 dollars! That's more than 71% off the newsstand price! Name (please print) _________________ _ Address, Apt. ___________________ _ City, State, Zip __________________ _ 3 I'm enclosing my check for $12.00. 3 Charge my 3 Visa 3 MasterCard. ________________ Expire __ _ Order by mail: The Progress lYe 409 East Main Street, Madison, WI 53703 Order by fax: 608/ 257-3373 WNCLl 35 INTELLIGENCE CITY LIT Deconstructing The Ghetto Racism, not geography, binds America's urban slums. By Hakim Hasan How East New York Became a Ghetto By Walter Thabit New York University Press; 291 pages; $29.95 IN 1966, NEW YORK CITY hired Walter Thabit's consulting firm to conduct housing surveys and develop a program for low- and moderate- income public housing in central Brooklyn's East New York neighborhood. The area had just undergone a rapid decline, and to Thabit's eyes it hadn't been accidental. "At the start of the l%Os," he writes in How East New York Became a Ghetto, "the pop- ulation was 85 percent white. By the end of 1%6, the population of 100,000 was close to 80 percent black and Puerto Rican." That white flight was accompanied by a devastating withdrawal of economic resources. How East New York Became a Ghetto chillingly recounts the neighborhood's speedy and deliberate destruction and analyzes the efforts aimed at its revitalization. The book is a standout among a recent crop that seeks to answer the complicated question of how policy- makers can improve the lives of those inhabiting America's ghettos. And Thabit is an able repre- sentative of a school of thought that believes the solution can be found in the human agency- political, civic, business and religious-of ghetto residents, and the unique informal networks that hold those neighborhoods together. Thabit stresses that East New York did not become a ghetto merely because of the increased black presence-as implied by the so-called tip- ping point hypothesis, which says whites will flee a neighborhood once its black population surpasses a small percentage of the total. He cites Starrett City, a mammoth housing project in Brooklyn, as a striking example of a place where blacks, whites and Latinos are willing to live together. To Thabit, the real "tipping point" in East New York's destruction was the moment when a consortium of white bankers, landlords and real estate brokers constructed a fundamen- tally racist system of redlining, blockbusting and foreclosure--not to mention arson and the wholesale abandonment of properties-in an 36 A Way Out: America's Ghettos and the Legacy of Racism Edited by Joshua Cohen, Jefferson Decker and Joel Rogers Princeton University Press; 130 pages; $19.95 effort to flip the demographics. Banks began to systemically withdraw mort- gage loans to East New York residents and land- lords once blacks and Puerto Ricans moved in. At the same time, welfare recipients began con- centrating in the neighborhood, quickening the area's economic demise. "Of the eighteen com- munity districts in Brooklyn," Thabit writes, "East New York contained the second highest number of welfare recipients." Close to 40 years of relentless social collapse followed this literal corralling of poor blacks and Puerto Ricans into East New York. Thabit describes the New York City Board of Educa- tion's failure to repair old schools-let alone build new ones to meet the demands of an exploding population of children. And he mourns the senseless moral decline and abdica- tion of civility-spawned from hopelessness and a lack of economic opportunities- that has plagued East New York, making it a haven for homicide and crime. But Thabit does not view East New York with the telephoto lens too many academics and public policy analysts wield. He has been at the scene of a social crime, and he's chalk-marked it. As a result, Thabit's prescriptions for where the troubled neighborhood can go from here are not limited to impractical theories. He points instead to the talent and human resources preva- lent among its citizens and leaders. Reverend Johnny Ray Youngblood is one of those people. The dynamic pastor of St. Paul's Community Church has been leading commu- nity development efforts for decades, and was a key player in the Industrial Areas Foundation's famed Nehemiah Plan, which built 500 afford- able single-family homes in the area. These are the sort of successes Thabit sees as possible when revi- talization is community-led, and he illustrates several that are slowly changing the troubled neighborhood. "When we left [East New York] in the 1970s," he explains, "less than one-third of the housing stock was viable. Today, more than 2,500 new and rehabilitated housing units are lib- erally sprinkled throughout the community." Thabit holds steadfastly to the idea that poor people deserve to live with dignity, even if in poor neighborhoods. But How East New York Became a Ghetto also demonstrates that he understands that the lives of poor blacks and Latinos cannot be romanticized. The complicity of poor people in the destruction of their own neighborhoods, through vandalism and neglect, as a result of a deep-seated lack of self-respect, also has to be acknowledged. Yet, as Thabit reminds us, "Any basic improvement in ghetto conditions requires that white society begin to accept its responsibility for those conditions." Here, one thinks of the raw political will that came unleashed to clean up the World Trade Center site after the tragedy of 9/11. Can that political will be conjured and directed toward ghettos like East New York? "Community improvements aren't going to come about," Thabit concludes, "simply because community- oriented politicians are elected. They require the active collaboration of all the major forces for good in the community." WHERE THABIT is an advocate of the revitaliza- tion of ghettos as a slow but crucial process, Owin Fiss, a Yale Law School professor, con- tends that ghettos are irredeemable "structures of subordination" in his provocative essay "What Should Be Done for Those Who Have Been Left Behind?" published in Princeton University Press' new collection, A WIty Out: CITY LIMITS Americas Ghettos and the Legacy of Racism. "More than a sum of individual disadvan- tages," Fiss writes, "the ghetto is a mechanism through which we have created and main- tained the black underclass, a group saddled with a multitude of burdens-above all, job- lessness and poverty-that relegates its mem- bers to the lowest stratum in society and locks them into it." Fiss advances the radical assertion that the only way to save American ghettos, where close to six million members of the black "underclass" (as he characterizes them) live, is to dismantle them and relocate their residents to largely white middle- and upper-middle-class neigh- borhoods. "Pursuing this remedy requires pro- viding those who are trapped in the ghetto," Fiss writes, "with the economic resources neces- sary to move to better neighborhoods-black or white-if they chose." He estimates a price tag of $50 billion per year. Fiss' plan (and one must resist the tempta- tion to dismiss it as a feeble attempt at science fiction) is modeled a&er a 1976 Supreme Court decision in the landmark case Hills v. Gautreaux. This decision came about as a result of the Chicago Housing Authority's determina- tion to provide white city council members with the power to prevent the construction of public housing projects in the white communi- ties they represented. The Supreme Court ruled that this practice was unlawful and forced HUD to provide rent subsidies to CHA resi- dents-subsidies that enabled them to move to white suburban communities. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 But Fiss' integrationist fantasy is contingent upon a goodwill that has never before existed. The plan would first have to eradicate the same racism that brought about ghettos like East New York in the first place. Unlike Thabit, Fiss does not acknowledge the revitalization of ghettos as a possibility. Nor does he see local- ized institutions (such as the black church) as having any real significance in the lives of poor blacks. And as borne out in Adrian Nicole leBlanc's acclaimed Random Family, ghetto residents rely upon informal networks to sur- vive. Poor folks levy their circle of familial, social, religious and economic ties to piece together everything from housing to childcare. Simply dispersing the ghetto's inhabitants into more affluent neighborhoods breaks apart these crucial networks-without replacing them with real services. Fiss writes about ghetto subordination, his- torically and otherwise, as if the systematic redlining of, and failure to provide essential ser- vices to, neighborhoods where poor blacks and other people of color reside happened coinci- dentally. He morally pontificates, as if poor communities' proximity to garbage dumps and industrial waste stations was arranged by ghosts. If ghettos are structures of subordination, who are they subordinated to? He ignores the sort of history Thabit painstakingly details and opts, instead, to propose a plan that leaves us betting on the welcoming arms and liberating presence of whites as gleeful next-door neighbors. J. Phillip Thompson, an associate professor of political science at Columbia University, is one of several essayists inA way Out who writes a wonderful response to Fiss. "So long as white Americans are willing to tolerate a few middle- class blacks in their midst, they can absolve themselves of charges of racism," Thompson argues in his essay "Beyond Moralizing." "Try- ing legally to force white Americans to inte- grate against their will, in a country where they are the voting majority, he later warns, "has not worked and it will not work." Thompson is getting at the larger and cru- cial point: "structures of subordination" are not geographic. Poor blacks and Latinos are trapped between white largesse and America's structural and attitudinal racism. Until we face that brutal reality, and provide the Reverend Youngbloods of our cities with the resources they need to rebuild their communities, the degradation of ghetto life will persist. Hakim Hasan is the director of the Urban Insti- tute at Metropolitan College of New York. He can be reached at hhasan2@aoLcom INTELLIGENCE CITY LIT NOW READ THIS Gangs and Society: AHemative Perspectives Ed. by Louis Kontos, David Brotherton and luis Banios Columbia University Press, $24.50 From the Jets to the Bloods to the Latin Kings, gangs have long symbolized the roughest parts of urban America. Still, argues this collection of essays, crime and theft are just a part of what fuels their existence; gangs' role in communities is far more complex. Edited by John Jay College pro- fessors, the text tries to dispel some common myths-{)ne essay suggests that gangs were not instrumental to the New York drug trade in the 1990s. The final section, an impressive collection of photojournalism documenting gangs, provides a welcome respite from the book's academic tone. Hispanas de Queens: Latino Panethnicity in a New Vori( City Neighbor11ood By Milagros Ricourt and Ruby Danta Cornell University Press, $16.95 This ethnographic account of Latino women in Corona, Queens, deftly illustrates the evolution of informal networks into organized social and polit- ical groups. Readable and well researched (much of it is based on Ricourt's own experience as a Dominican living in Corona), Hispanas makes the case for the political potency of convivencia diaria, or "daily-life interaction." The authors document how the common language of immi- grants from far-flung parts of Latin America came together in pursuit of basic needs like housing and child care. Echoes Upon Echoes: New Korean American Writings Ed. by Elaine H. Kim and Laura Hyun Vi K a ~ The Asian American Writers' Wor1tshop, $19.95 This collection of poetry and short fiction dealing with immigration and identity compiles writing from over two dozen emerging Korean authors. The stories and poems here stand in stark contrast to the familiar myth ofthe American immigrant, filled with hope and opportunity. While they don't all deal directly with Korean identity, many share a haunt- ing feeling of displacement. 37 INTELLIGENCE NYC INC. Signs of Progress Rolling back the awning regulations could cost merchants a lotto business. By Jennifer Gerend IT SOUNDED LIKE a classic little-guy-gets- dumped-on-by-big-bureaucracy tearjerker: First carne the pictures in the papers and on TV of familiar-looking awnings advertising "beer, cigarettes, Lotto, sandwiches, 24 hours, deliv- ery," accompanied by the oh-so-shocking news that such awnings are actually illegal. Then there were the wet-eyed testimonials from mer- chants who received fines of $2,500 this past spring, and who insisted they didn't know about the law. During a ticket blitz that included $55 fines for those car-dealer license-plate frames, a $50 ticket for feeding pigeons in the park and a summons for a pregnant woman blocking a stairwell, it was easy to add "illegal awning crackdown" to the list, and the media did just that. The papers were quick to label the law "arcane" and the summonses "silly." ABC's 20/20 saved the story for its "Give Me a Break" segment. As he stood before the wonderfully dizzying signage of Times Square, John Stossel expressed his disbelief at the stupidity of it all: Wasn't big, flashy signage a quintessential New York experience? Well, yes and no. Times Square is really more the exception than the rule. All of the buildings in the core of Times Square are required to have large, flashy signage as part of a Midtown special district passed in 1990, according to Daniella Eidelberg of the Times Square Business Improvement District. The intent of the regulations, according to Eidel- berg, was to "preserve the bright lights and signs that have made Times Square famous." Eidelberg added, "They help create the ambi- ence of Times Square and distinguish it from other parts of Midtown." In other words, Times Square is world- renowned because it doesn't look like the rest of the city, and for good reason: How beloved would Times Square-like signage really be on your block? 38 )., J A project of the Center for an Urban Future The truth is, the current awning regula- tions do serve a purpose. They not only help keep the city from becoming one big Times Square, but they also help businesses prosper and encourage the economic development of the communities they serve. If you were house-hunting for your family, you would probably prefer a home in an area where residents sweep the sidewalks, plant flowers and maintain their buildings. Business owners feel the same way. Furthermore, neat, clean storefronts attract pedestrian traffic: In general, when choosing which way to walk to the subway or another local destination, peo- ple naturally gravitate toward the route that seems the safest and most visually pleasing. That has certainly been true on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn, where the aesthetic improvements to the commercial strip have led to such a boom in pedestrian traffic that our Local Development Corporation has to employ private sanitation workers from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., six days a week, to remove litter and empty overflowing trash cans. To be sure, the current rules are a little strict. Under the regulations, which took effect in 1961, when awnings were mostly retractable and mainly used to provide shade or cover from the rain, an awning is only allowed to state a business name and address in a 12-inch or smaller font. By contrast, reg- ulations governing flat signs focus not on their content, but on ensuring that their size, hanging height and illumination are appro- priate to the zoning. But taken together, these regulations make a certain sense: They allow merchants to say what they wish on signs that hang fl ush against the building, but limit what they can print on the awning that protrudes over the sidewalk. They also pre- vent a merchant from having both a wordy sign and a wordy awning. And on a practical note, do we really need an awning anyway to tell us that a bodega sells cigarettes, Lotto tickets and soda? Although they got most of the attention, the rules governing the content of a merchant's awning are not the only place businesses got into trouble last spring. The New York Times reported that 494 of the 1,211 awning sum- monses were for awnings without permits. Most signs and awnings require permits, which can be fIled by licensed awning or sign companies that employ permit brokers. Many merchants don't request these permits, how- ever, either because the process is not clear to them, or because they hear the law is never enforced and would rather save the money (often around $700). This is one reason it's also fair to say there was indeed a ticket "blitz." Enforcement of awning and sign regulations over the years has been minimal, so when Department of Build- ings inspectors this spring began issuing tick- ets, it felt to many like a sting operation. To be fair, maybe the fines given out during that period should be waived, or perhaps those merchants should be given a grace period in which to comply with the law, since enforce- ment was sudden and some business owners may not have known of the rules. However, while some reform may be needed, the answer is not to discard the exist- ing regulations entirely. To understand the reason for regulation, you have to delve into the psychology behind an average commercial strip. Given free rein, many merchants will list as much on their awnings as possible-even their entire menus. I have spoken with merchants about this, and many admit their tendency to be "long- winded" on awnings. One Brooklyn merchant acknowledged, "There needs to be a limitation on the amount of language on awnings to head off ridiculous amounts of information." Why do merchants want to put so much stuff on their awnings anyway? I believe that many small-business owners get pulled into an awning "arms race." One merchant will put up a large, flashy awning and block the view to the other more modest signs on the block. As a result, the neighboring CITY LIMITS merchants feel the need to get even larger, wordier, flashier signage to be noticed. On Myrtle Avenue, for example, we once had a merchant install a three-story-high awning. Without some regulation, there would be nothing to prevent this and more. In addition, awning companies onen steer merchants toward flashier signs, for their own reasons. The mainstream media have reported that it would cost "thousands of dollars" for a merchant to replace his or her awning. In fact, a simple canvas awning for a 20-foot store- front costs more like $1,800, and lasts about eight years - or even longer if one occasion- ally gets it steam-cleaned. The illegal ones, with their extensive lettering and lights, cost much more. On top of the race for bigger, flashier sig- nage, many of our merchants are bombarded by soda manufacturers and others offering free or reduced-price awnings. This is a ploy to get merchants to install awnings that adver- tise a specific brand ("Sprite") instead of their own business identity ("Bob's Corner Store"). Many merchants only see the immediate advantage of a free awning, without even con- sidering the long-term economic effects of this choice. How will satisfied customers identify the store to others, for example? What if Bob wanted to become a chain, with more Bob's Corner Stores? No one would know that they were related if all they saw was a "Sprite" awning. From the awnings arms race to the incen- tives from advertisers to problems with permits, the forces against legal signage are formidable. I don't blame merchants for being confused. But the good news is, even under the current regu- lations, merchants actually have many options for creating overall fa<;:ades that are both legal and effective. A flat sign can be hung against the side of the building to add information, or a transparent window decal logo can communi- cate a business identity without blocking light through the window. A see-through metal secu- rity gate can allow window-shopping at night while also warding off graffiti. To help local merchants understand these issues and navigate the regulations, many BIDs and LDCs operate fa<;:ade improvement programs that work with merchants to imple- ment new signage. Since 1978, the city's Department of Small Business Services has been helping organizations in eligible areas to implement these programs, which have dra- matically improved the appearance of many of our retail corridors. Landmark West, for example, has worked with several-hundred SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 small retailers since 1997 to improve signage in the area around 72nd Street between Broadway and Columbus Avenue. The MetroTech BID in Brooklyn also has a program that has helped many small businesses get new signage that is legal, attractive and affordable. Under a typical improvement pro- gram, a designer will work with a merchant to create a new awning or sign, a sign company will manufacture it and acquire the permit and the BID or LDC will give an incentive grant for part of the cost ro encourage such improve- ments. Such programs can do much to help older businesses, in particular, by attracting renewed interest, allowing them to better com- pete with newer, trendier neighbors. (This is Neat, attra ctive storefronts increase sales and can help strengthen an entire re.tail strip. not to say there isn't a place for older signage. The city is full of fabulous 1940s-era liquor store and pharmacy signs, for example, that could simply be repaired and cleaned.) On Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, merchants who have participated in our LDC's improvement program have reported as much as a 50 percent increase in sales. And better-looking stores attract more shoppers and more new businesses, strength- ening the whole retail strip and the surround- ing community. IN RESPONSE TO COMPLAINTS nom merchants and news coverage of the ticketing blitz, the City Council quickly took up the awnings issue this summer, and a six-month moratorium on ticketing for illegal awnings passed on June 25 by a vote of 47 to 1. Even before the vote, the mayor agreed to the moratorium. So what comes next? INTELLIGENCE NYC INC. Let's use these six months to have a dia- logue about reform among the mayor's agen- cies that deal with signage and small busi- nesses, the City Council, the City Planning Commission and BIDs and LDCs around the city that operate commercial revitalization programs. We should also include merchants and awning companies, to ensure that the reg- ulations are both fair and clear to those who must comply with them. Perhaps the rules should be relaxed just a little. For example, I agree that a phone num- ber would be useful on an awning, and maybe an appropriately sized logo for the business (not an advertiser like Lotto or a soda manu- facturer). And while we're looking into a sig- nage regulation and trying to develop an enforcement system that works better, maybe we could trim a little bit off the cost of the permits? I know we're living in tough budget times, but even if signage permits were signif- icantly cheaper the city would likely take in more revenue overall, because merchants would much more likely to comply with the law and apply for them. Maybe we should also reconsider which signs and awnings should even require a permit. Currently only very small signs, those less than six square feet, are exempt. But let's not lose hope about the future for attractive and individualized signage. City Council Speaker Gifford Miller has said that 90 percent of our awnings are in violation of the code, and therefore the code must be reformed. This is the wrong motivation to change a policy. If90 percent of our restaurants violated the health codes, would we change the legislation to make that standard legal? Honestly, New York has some of the ugli- est signage in the world. Go to London, Berlin, Paris, Brussels or most other major metropolitan cities and tell me othetwise. Stateside, Boston seems to be winning the fight. On a trip there last fall, I was surprised to see even the likes of CVS and 7-11 con- forming to minimalist signage code. When we try to get national chains to participate in our signage programs in New York, they laugh in my face! We can do better. Instead of simply aban- doning the awnings code, let's develop a sys- tem that is clear, sensible, enforceable and helps our merchants dress for success . Jennifer Gerend is executive director of the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project Local Development Corporation, and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. 39 CITY LIMITS FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT Affordable Housing ... Thriving Neighborhoods ... Successful Schools ... A Strong Economy ... A Clean Environment ... An End to Poverty News for the people who make New York a beHer place to live. Ten times a year, CITY LIMITS delivers the news you won't find anywhere else, about how your city really works. But we don't just tell you what's wrong. CITY LIMITS is the only magazine that looks at who's doing what to make every neighborhood in New York thrive-and what all of our hard work will mean for New York's future. CITY LIMITS YOUR ROADMAP FOR NAVIGATING THE REAL NEW YORK. 40 LET T E R S continued on page 4 But Bell made his comments before an audi- ence of more than 100 people. I would have gladly supplied the names of several whom Fain could have called. But he never asked. Fain also understated the virulence of the opposition to this plan rrom the Children's Defense Fund. CDF specifically urged its mem- bers to inundate Congress with calls opposing the foster care flexibility plan along with other Administration initiatives. And a March 5, 2003 press release declares that these plans, including the foster care flexibility plan would "dismantle Head Start, Medicaid, Housing Assis- tance and foster care" [emphasis added]. Since I had called CDF's opposition to Fain's anention in the first place, I would have gladly provided these documents to him. But he never asked. As for the alternative proposal Fain and much of the liberal child welfure establishment sup- ports, even if this bill, sponsored by some vety dedicated, very capable liberal Democrats sud- denly passed a Republican-controlled Congress and was signed by a Republican President, fund- ing for foster care would still outpace prevention funding by about five to one. And since the bill would liberalize eligibility requirements for foster care aid, it might actually make the current finan- cial incentives worse. Furthermore, some of what Fain calls "accountability measures" in the bill actually punish states that do more to keep chil- dren out of foster care in the first place. I would have explained that to Fain. But he never asked. One of the reasons we liberals have been on a long, long losing streak is that we refuse to consider ideas on their merits instead of based on their source. By joining the liberal chorus jerking its knees against this plan without even seeing it, City Limits helps us lose one more skirmish in the war of ideas. But more impor- tant, you increase the likelihood of more child abuse tragedies. You can't fix foster care by adding a few hundred million here and there to prevention, while still lavishing billions on foster care. You have to change the incentives that prompt states and localities to make foster care a first choice instead of a last resort. The real choices are likely to be the status quo versus the Bush plan. What the foster-care industrial complex and now, apparently, City Limits, want to do is take one of those two choices off the table. Afrer all, what could be more important than ensuring that children like Issa always have a "right to foster care?" Sincerely, Richard Wexler, Executive Director National Coalition for Child Protection CORRECTIONS In "Safe and Sound" UuiyIAugust), Dr. Mary Ann Forgey's name was misspelled. She is affili- ated with Fordham University's Interdisciplinary Center for Family and Child Advocacy. "Close Company" UulylAugust) incorrectly suggested that the Point CDC paid $50,000 in environmental fines. While it received notices of violations adding up to that amount, the Depart- ment of Environmental Protection settled for $7,500 and required the Point to plant $22,500 worth of trees. In addition, attorney Gail Such- man has been practicingfor 23 years, not 33. THE POLITICS OF PAINT continued from page 21 the level of concern to lower than 10. We should all have zero!" In New York, key advocates of 101-A admit that the legislation could be stronger on the issue of blood-lead levels. "Some people think they should be lower, and I wouldn't quibble with them," says Matrhew Chachere, staff attorney with the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, who helped drafr the bill. "We were trying to figure out a policy that is achievable and reasonable and hopefUlly effective," he says. Advocates made a tactical decision to focus on HPD and expanding pri- mary prevention; legislating a lower level of concern would mean taking on the Depart- ment of Health as well. Gabriel Thompson of the Pran Area Com- munity Council, which is calling for lowering the level of concern down to 5, says an ideal approach would include both preventive mea- sures and a low threshold for action. "It defi- nitely seems weird to have a really strong HPD program and, at the same time, have the Department of Health telling parents that their children aren't sufficiently poisoned. The numbers are just wrong." As a public health response, lowering the level of concern can only go so far, caution researchers. It "may not be worth the expense to drive the [average American child's] level below two micrograms per deciliter, where ir stands today," says Harvard Medical School's David Bellinger. At lower levels, he explains, it becomes extremely difficult to test accurately for lead poisoning. Of course, it's also not realistic to expect cash-starved local governments to invest in universal lead paint cleanups. But Bellinger thinks that targeted primary prevention is an essential start. "Children in some neighbor- hoods are much worse off than in others," he observes. "Those are the areas that need tar- geting." New York City, at the very least, is poised to help those kids before they ever get hurt . CITY LIMITS RENT STABILIZATION continued .from page 26 all or part of the grant amounts. Elaine Hoff- man, a mother of two who lives on Supplemen- tal Security Income, applied for and received all three grants under the LMDC program. "Then all of a sudden," she says, "we find out Social Security wants to be reimbursed. " That's not supposed to happen. The fed- eral Stafford Act states that funding for recov- ery from a national disaster is not to be treated as income; it shouldn't affect disability checks or welfare benefits. Yet a number of low-income residents have reported losing or being threatened with losing public aid after getting rent subsidies. The bureaucracies' confusion about the grant program "could jeopardize their SSI pay- ments, food stamps, public assistance and housing, Medicaid. It's like a domino effect," says Phil Craft, an aide to Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. Anyone familiar with these programs knows how difficult they can be to stop, start and navigate in general. "These are people who are barely able to pay their bills every month," Craft says. "There's just no room for error." Maloney's office has been working with the government agencies, with varying levels of success. Peterson says the LMDC has notified federal agencies of the grant program but can't do more to ensure poor residents get all the benefits they're entitled to. "We're not privy to the list of people who get benefits from different agen- cies," she says. The city's Human Resources Administration and Housing Authority have both been responsive, she says, with HRA issu- ing a mailing advising recipients of their right to receive benefits without penalty. Advocates working with aid recipients feel compelled to point out that the housing grants are originating through the federal Community Development Block Grant pro- gram, under which 70 percent of aid must go to low- and moderate-income people. Follow- ing 9/11, New York received a special appro- priation along with a waiver allowing the block grant dollars to be spent regardless of beneficiaries' income levels. "Suffering isn't determined by whether you were rich or poor," says Peggy Earisman, interim project director at Legal Services of New York's Man- hattan office. "That this CDBG money is going to assist fairly wealthy people and some- how it's not going to benefit poor people-it's just not equitable." Mark WallLlce is a JreelLlnce writer based in New York City. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 THE NEXT AMERICAN CITY Introducing the new magazine on t he future of American cit ies and suburbs. PREMIERE ISSUE: SPRING 2003 The Future of Smart Growth Get four issues for $29 Subscr ibe online at www.americanclty.org Is the weight of information slowing you down? Cut throu h the dai delu e with Your bite-sized daily dose of urban affairs news and research. Keep up with the news. Stay informed about cutting edge research. Build a war chest of useful Web tools. Get it delivered to your inbox at midday, Tuesdays through Fridays. Sign up today at Extra@cityl imits.org 41 JOB AOS ADVERTISE IN CITY LIMITS! To place a classified ad in City Limits, e-mail your ad to advertise@citylimits.org or fax your ad to 212-479-3339. The ad will run in the City Limits Weekly and City Limits mag- azine and on the City Limits web site. Rates are $1.46 per word, minimum 40 words. Special event and professional directory advertising rates are also available. For more infor- mation, check out the Jobs section of www.citylimits.org or call Associate Publisher Susan Harris at 212-479-3345. RENTAL SPACE SPACE AVAILABLE - Beautiful eco-office space available near Penn Station. Lots of natural light and eco materials. Available Immediately. All include furnishings with extensive work surfaces, high-speed internet access, file cabinets, shared sizable confer- ence room, kitchen and more. Two spaces @ $510/mo each. One space (for 1 or 2 worksta- tions) $855/mo. One glass enclosed office with 2 large windows (for 1 or 2 workstations) $1,085/mo. Offices can be rented together in proximity to each other or rented separately. One month deposit with 2 year lease required. (3 112% annual increase.) Contact: Lynn 212-645-9930 ext: 824, email: Lynn@sustainabilityed.org SPACE AVAILABLE - Beautiful sublet space available, newly renovated, move-in condi- tion! 3,l7l square feet on West 36th Street. Private entry, bathroom, passenger and freight elevator. Full-service building with on-site super and hands-on management. Very aggressive rent. Barry Goodman 212-372- 2243 SPACE AVAILABLE - Forming group to share office space on Fifth Avenue at 28th Street at cost to participants. Space will be built to our needs, so there is flexibility from 88 to 500 square feet. Call Teresa at 212-889-1101; email Calabrese@jps.net SPACE AVAILABLE - One (l) furnished, car- peted office available in Chelsea with large window. 195 sq. ft. for $1,250. Available immediately. Must be registered not-for-profit. Contact Miranda Tully for an appointment at: 42 212-627-0444 or madre@madre.org SPACE AVAILABLE - Rent a piece of Sunset Park. Great 1800 SF office suite for non-profit. Recently renovated with several private offices, large waiting area, high speed Internet access. 2417 access and security. Accessible to all major trains and bus lines. $3000/month. Yvette D. Wilson 718-686- 7946, Ext. 19 or yd.wilson@nhnhome.org. SPACE AVAILABLE - SoHo Corner Office: Secure 10' x 16' Office w/ 12' loft ceiling with- in congenial Architectural firm. Views & shared access to conference room, resource ' Ii.brary, kitchen & blueprint machine. Conve- nient to subways (Canal St.), rent is $1500/month. Contact Michele Boddewyn: email: mboddewyn@gaynordesign.com or call 212-334-0900. SPACE AVAILABLE - Sunny furnished private office (250 sq. ft.) available for sublease in SoHo loft. Large windows. Great location. Recently renovated with architectural details. Shared reception, cleaning service, conference room. $1,000 Contact Christie at 212-871- 0933, chong@wpa-works.com SPACE WANTED - Wanted Urban Develop- ment Sites. Vacant - Improved - Brownfields. Throughout the NYC Metro Area and New Jer- sey. All offerings promptly considered. lee- wood Real Estate Group. 260 Christopher Lane, Staten Island, NY 10314. R. Randy Lee 718-983-8800. JOB AOS ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT - NY INJ based non-profit seeks a temp (late August - early November) administrative assistant for train- ing program in Newark. Provide direct support to program coordinators & manage day-ta-day office responsibilities. Must be proficient in Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel, Pub- lisher). Competitive salary. Fax resume and cover letter to BMWTP Sr. Program Coordinator: 973-286-2075. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT - The Center for Urban Community Services (www.cucs.org) is seeking a full- time Administrative Assistant for its Housing ConSUltation department. This person is responsible for data entry, photo- copying, and general office support in a fast- paced environment. Requirements: HS Diplo- ma, BA pref.; 60wpm, 2 years office experi - ence, proficiency in MS Office. Salary: $30,617. Benefits: compo Benefits included $65/month in transit checks. Send resumes and cover letters by 6/16/03 to: Melissa Ramirez, CUCSlHousing Resource Center, 120 Wall St. 251FL, New York, NY 10005. Fax: 212- 801-3360, Email:mramirez@cucs.org. CUCS is committed to workforce diversity. EEO ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT - The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is a large, mUlti-service non-profit serving the Bronx for more than 31 years. The agency provides a broad range of individual and family services, including walk-in assistance and counseling, services to special-need populations, such as immi- grants, children, adolescents, seniors, home- less families and singles, individuals and families affected by HIVIAIDS. CAB provides excellent benefits and offers opportunities for advancement. Resumes and cover letters indicating position may be mailed to 2054 Morris Ave. Bronx, NY 10453, or faxed as directed. CAB's Children, Youth and Senior Centers Department seeks an Administrative Assistant. The position requires a bachelor's degree. Responsibilities include grant writing, office management, management of contracts and assisting department directors. Experi- ence in management and project coordination preferred. Fax credentials to V. Vazquez at 718- 590-5866. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT - Upper West Si de daycare center seeks part-time adminis- trative assistant. Experience with Word and QuickBooks required; interest in young chil- dren a plus. 2-3 days per week, $15Ihour, flex- ible schedule. Send cover letter/resume by email to CChess27@aol.com; by fax to 212- 665-6855 or by mail to Basic Trust, 225 West 99 Street, NY, NY 10025. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS - Man- age the operations function of a 24 hr., 90-unit emergency housing facility for homeless women and children. Supervise 24 hr. crisis intervention staff & ensure professional response to client needs; manage collection, preparation & analysis of client & program information. Administer 24 hr. protocols; con- trol inventory & distribution of client-care items and ensure regulatory compliance. Must have MSW or related Master's degree; mini- mum 5 years social service experience with at least 3 years supervisory experience and 2 years administrative residential program experience; knowledge of office systems, including MS Office. May be required to work long hours & a varied schedule. Send resume, incl udi ng salary history and requirement to American Red Cross in Greater New York, HR Dept. JP, 150 Amsterdam Ave., NY, NY 10023 Fax 212-875-2357; Email careers@arcgny.org EOE M/F/DN Visit our website at www.nyredcross.org ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - Center for New York City Affairs, New School University. Pursue research, reporting, analysis of social services policy and programs in New York City. Also take on some management responsibilities, and assist with fundraising, development. Required: background in urban journalism or professional urban policy analysis, plus some management experience. Strong writing abili- ty and editing skills, demonstrated in pub- lished material. Salary based on experience. Cover letter, resume, no more than three clips or reports (or URLs to same) to whitea@newschool.edu or Andrew White, Milano Graduate School, 72 Fifth Ave., 6th Floor, NYC 10011. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, WORKFORCE DEVEL- OPMENT DIVISION - NYC social services agency seeks dynamic, driven, outcome-ori - ented leader with strong management skills, to lead $2 million workforce development enterprise. Based in Lower East Side/ East Vil- lage area of Manhattan, program serves dis- advantaged adults - primarily those former- ly homeless and in recovery - from through- out the city. Preferred candidate wil l have supervisory experience and experience in the field of workforce development, as well as strong communication and interpersonal skills. Job Responsibilities: Reporting to the executive director, the Associate Director of the Workforce Development Division will be responsible for the (management and perfor- mance of the agency's employment programs, including: job center 90-bed residence for for- merly homeless men seeking employment, food providing classes, training, job place- ment, and case management services, ser- vices program which provides training and produces over 700 meals daily, support ser- vices to program building maintenance train- ing program, participants to help them retain and advance their employment. Developing and implementing a strategic business plan that ensures maximum availability of program participants and employment opportunities. Taking initiative to adapt plan and activities to address various changes in external and inter- nal environment. On-going identification and cultivation of funding sources, public and pri- vate. Ensuring compliance with all applicable contractual and regulatory obligations. Demonstrati ng leadership and participating in all applicable activities, as member of agency's senior management team. Qualifica- tions and Requirements: Demonstrated suc- cess in a supervisory capacity, in any environ- ment. Prior experience in workforce develop- ment or related area, preferred. Self-starter, able to work independently with limited super- vision. Ability to develop and manage budgets. Excellent oral and written communication skills. Driven to succeed. Salary: $75,000; attractive benefits package. Please e-mail cover letter and resume to: workforcedev@hotmail.com. ASSOCIATE OFFICE MANAGER - The New Press, a nonprofit EOE publisher, seeks highly efficient & organized associate office manag- er to supervise all aspects of office, including purchase supplies & equipment, organizing staff events, outfitting new personnel , & over- seeing intern program. Some data entry & receptionist work. Excellent organizational skills required. Reports to Finance Director. Fax letter & resume to 212-629-8617 or e-mail to newpress@thenewpress.com. No calls, please. Minority candidates strongly encour- aged to apply. ATTORNEY - Former legal-aid-attorney- turned-solo-practitioner with too much busi- ness seeks associate for matrimonial and family law work, with criminal defense back- up. Minimum 2-years litigation experience in any field; must be able to go to court. As the business grows, your salary grows. Perfect for independent-thinker with good writing skills. Fax: Grace 212-684-3008. BILLING SUPERVISOR - Finance-Billing Department, Full -time. Performs and demon- CITY LIMITS strates proficiency in all tasks required of a medical biller and collection agent. Reconciles daily encounters. Process electronic transmis- sion to Medicaid. Generates the daily charge reports. Reviews denials and reprocess for appropriate reimbursement. Supervises billing clerks. Provides oversight for the billing process. Assist unit nurses in ensuring that proper coding and demographic information is obtained and identified on a regular basis. Timely reports to the Director of Patient Account on all assignments. Maintains com- munications with billing vendors and other outside agents as needed. High School Grad- uate or G.E.D. Computer literate. At least 4 years of medical billing and reimbursement experience. Certified in ICD9 &CPT4 Coding with knowledge of medical terminology. Excel- lent supervisory skills. Strong interpersonal and excellent oral and written skills. Excep- tional organizational skills.$30,000 per annum. Send resume to HR Dept by fax: 718- 346-7183 or email: jwong@bmsfhc.org. BUSINESS MANAGER - HELP USA, a national- ly recognized leader in the provisions of transi- tional housing, residential & social services, has a pos avail in its family units. Responsible for payroll, new hire processing and mainte- nance of site personnel , distributing and mon- itoring petty cash and supplies, billing to fund- ing agencies and processing check request and purchase requisitions. Requirements: BS in Accounting or Business Administration & proficiency in Windows based software required. Experience in a similar position pre- ferred; bilingual (EnglishlSpanish) a plus. Salary: starts in the high $30s but is commen- surate with experience. Send resumes to: Catherine Shugrue, Executive Director, HELP Haven, PO Box 641, NY, NY 10037, Fax: 212- 862-4376 or send resumes via email: cshugrue@helpusa.org. EOE. A drug free work- place. CASE MANAGER - HELP USA, a nationally recognized leader in the provision of transition- al housing, residential and social services seeks candidates for a Case Manager. Assist in helping families achieve permanent housing and self sufficiency. BA and computer literacy required. Case management experience pre- ferred and bilingual (EnglishlSpanish) a plus. Salary starts in the mid $20s. Send resumes to HELP 1, Attn: Gena Watson, 515 Blake Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, 11207 or fax at 718-485- 5916 or email at gwatson@helpusa.org CASE MANAGER - Not-for-profit organization is seeking a full time case manager to work with youth with juvenile/criminal justice histo- ries. Must have at least a B.A. in a social sci- ence field and at least 2 years working experi- ence with high risk youth. Bilingual a plus. Fax resume to Dr. Perry 212-760-0766. CASE WORK SUPERVISOR-FRP - Provide clinical and administrative supervision to case management staff in a Preventive (foster care) program in East New York, Brooklyn. Oversee assessment and case documentation. Coordi- nate programs and activities to meet the social and emotional needs of at risk children and families. Participate in case conferences, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 home visits, as needed. Coordinate and review service plans. Assist with inter-agency coordi- nating of client services and activities. Men- tors staff in standard clinical concepts, prac- tices and procedures. Perform any other department or agency-related duties or special projects as directed. Masters Degree required (MSW preferred) and prior case management experience. Knowledge/experience with child welfare and/or foster care systems, recovery issues, substance abuse, public entitlements, criminal justice, housing and related systems. Strong communication skills and knowledge of social work/case management practices and procedures. Please forward your resume and cover letter (including salary history) to WPA, 110 Second Avenue, NY, NY 10003 or fax to 212-353-0809 or email to frosado@wpaonline.org. CASE WORK SUPERVISOR-SPHH - Provide clinical and administrative supervision to case management staff in Sarah Powell Huntington House (SPHH), a Tier II shelter for formerly- incarcerated women and children. Oversee assessment and case documentation. Coordi- nate programs, staff and activities to meet the social and emotional needs of residents. Par- ticipate in case conferences. Coordinate and review service plans. Assist with inter-agency coordinating of client services and activities. Mentors staff in standard clinical concepts, practices and procedures. Perform any other department or agency-related duties or special projects as directed by supervisor. MSW pre- ferred with related experience including case management, supervision, knowledge of child welfare, housing, substance abuse/recovery issues, criminal justice and related systems. Please forward your resume and cover letter (including salary history) to WPA, 110 Second Avenue, NY, NY 10003 or fax to 212-353-0809 or email to frosado@wpaonline.org CERTIFIED TEACHER - Do you want to make an impact? We are seeking excellent science certified teachers to impact classrooms where they are most needed. Use your skills and expe- rience to ensure that all students in NYC's pub- lic schools fulfill their academic potential. The Excelsior Teacher Initiative (En) is a selective program designed to bring outstanding teach- ers to New York City's classrooms this fall. Ben- efits of the program include an easy application process, quick response, intensive paid pre- service training, a network of support, and opportunities to meet with principals. Apply now at: www.excelsiorteacherinitiative.org. We challenge you to teach in a classroom where the potential is limitless and change is possible. CFOIDIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION - The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is a large, multi- service non-profit serving the Bronx for more than 31 years. The agency provides a broad range of individual and family services, includ- ing walk-in assistance and counseling, ser- vices to special-need populations, such as immigrants, children, adolescents, seniors, homeless families and singles, individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS. CAB pro- vides excellent benefits and offers opportuni- ties for advancement. Resumes and cover let- ters indicating position may be mailed to 2054 Morris Ave. Bronx, NY 10453, or faxed as directed. CAB seeks a CFOlDirector of Adminis- tration to oversee fiscal , technology, procure- ment and physical plant functions. Supervise Controller, Technology Coordinator and Pro- curement Director. Oversee development of/adherence to fiscal systems & internal con- trol policies, develop/monitor agency & pro- gram budgets, and manage investments & assets. Implement technology plan & ensure that systems support agency work. Improve & enforce procurement procedures, oversee bid- ding & vendor selection process, and negotiate vendor agreements. Establish standards for facilities management, and oversee operations policies & practices, including insurance, health & safety, and compliance. CAB is a 31- year old settlement house with 400 employees, 15 sites and a $17 million budget. Masters degree required (MBA, MPA, MSW or JD). Strong fiscal and supervisory experience, and excel- lent writing and organizational skills required. Excellent benefits, Salary negotiable. Send resume and salary history to Karen Courtney at fax number 718-365-0697 or e-mail kcourtney@cabny.org. CAB is an equal oppor- tunity /affirmative action employer. CHIEF OF STAFF - Politically progressive manager to run the district office of New York City politician. Responsibilities include super- vising scheduling, administering staff salaries and office budget, media relations, and man- aging relationships in communities served. Experience in government and extensive famil- iarity with local New York City politics essen- tial. Outstanding candidates will demonstrate commitment to and experience with LGBT causes, tenants' rights, labor, women's rights, or neighborhood activism, etc. Send resume/cover letter to dcastald@yahoo.com. CHILD CARE AIDE - HELP USA, a nationally recognized leader in the provisions of transi- tional housing, residential & social services, has a position avail for a Child Care Aide. As part of an interdisciplinary team, the individual will supervise children from the ages of eight (8) weeks through five (5) years old. Will con- duct the initial family evaluations of child day care needs, as well as in the development of lesson plans & educational goals for children & their families. Requirements: An Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education is a must. Experience in working with pre-school children. Proficiency in computers & Windows based soft- ware is required. Bilingual skills (Spanish/Eng- lish) is a plus. Salary: high teens to low twenties commensurate with experience. Resumes for this position can be sent to: Katherine Sheldon, PO Box 641, NY, NY 10037, via fax at 212-862- 4376 or email: ksheldon@helpusa.org. EOE. A drug free workplace. CHILD CARE SUPERVISOR - HELP USA, a nationally recognized leader in the provisions of transitional housing, residential & social ser- vices, has a pos avail for a Child Care Supervi- sor. As part of an interdisciplinary team, you will supervise childcare aides as well as man- age & direct a comprehensive program of early childhood development. This includes assess- ment, linkage to health, educational programs & other services for families and their children JOBADS who are currently residing in a shelter for sur- vivors of domestic violence. Requirements: BAIBS Degree in Human Services or other relat- ed field, with Early Childhood Education degree preferred. Candidate should have a minimum of two (2) years supervisory experience. Excel- lent oral communication skills necessary. An unrestricted NYS driver's license, as well as a proficiency in computers especially Windows based software, are necessary. NYS certifica- tion & bilingual skills (Spanish/English) a plus. Salary starts in the mid $30s but is commen- surate with experience. Resumes for this posi- tion can be sent to: Katherine Sheldon, PO Box 641, NY, NY 10037, via fax at 212-862-4376 or email: ksheldon@helpusa.org. EOE. A drug free workplace. CLINICAL CASE MANAGERISUPERVISOR Community Follow-Up Program (CFP) Monday- Friday (9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.) Occasional evenings and/or weekends. Assist case man- agement teams with the most difficult cases requiring advanced case management and clinical skills in the are of mental health, sub- stance abuse, MICA and short term counseling interventions. Facilitate and participate in intra and inter agency conferences. Provide supportive counseling via individual and fam- ily setting and advocacy for client and family. Provide clinical supervision to the case man- agement teams. Perform quality assurance activities. Responsible for staff training and supervision of mental health issues. Master's degree in Social Work, Human Services or Psy- chology. At least 2 years of case management experience with HIVIAIDS population or with homeless, substance users and other related populations. At least one year supervisor expe- rience and one year post-graduate experience working families who have a history of sub- stance use, mental illness, chronic homeless- ness, and/or HIVIAIDS with some level of supervisory experience. $45,000 per annum. Send resume to HR Dept by fax: 748-346-7183 or email:jwong@bmsfhc.org CLINICAL SUPERVISOR - Edwin Gould Ser- vices for Children and Families. Professional needed for innovative domestic violence pro- gram, supervise staff and MSW Interns, MSW a must + SIFI, salary $50K. Fax resume to 212- 410-4345. EOE COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER - The National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, a leader in the CDFI movement, is seeking a Communications Officer. Key duties: managing electronic communications, writing press releases and reports, liaison with media, communicating with our board and members, coordinating meetings. Key requirements: BAlBS; 3 years f-t professional experience; superb writing skills. See full job description at www.cdcu.coop. No phone calls, please. EOE. COMMUNITY AFFAIRS ASSOCIATE - The Doe Fund, Inc., a non-profit serving the homeless seeks Community Affairs Associate to provide support with work training contracts. Respon- sibilities include, but not limited to: draft bud- gets, monitor weekly reports, coordinate meet- ings, write community correspondence, attend community events, maintain database. Candi- 43 JOBADS date must have BA, experience dealing with community based organizations, proficiency in WordlExcel. E-mail cover letter, resume to hr@doe.org COMMUNITY LIAISON - Brooklyn public sec- tor employer seeking community liaison for dynamic, storefront office. Candidates with strong interpersonal, writing skills for con- stituent services, correspondence, and serve as liaison between office, elected officials, agencies, community organizations. Salary commensurate with experience. Email resume, cover letter to brooklynposition@hotmail.com. COMMUNITY LIAISON - Liaison will closely monitor community issues, represent Senator at community meetings, provide assistance to constituents, and research policies affecting constituents. Fully bilingual Spanish, written and spoken, is required. Strong writing/com- munication skills a must. Salary in low $30Ks. Fax resume: 212-928-0396. COMMUNITY ORGANIZER - HCC seeks to hire organizer to work on various community issues with an emphasis in working with low Income Coops, Bilingual is preferred. (SpanishlEng- lish). Send cover letter and resume to hepstein@hcc-nyc.org COMMUNITY ORGANIZER - St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation seeks a Community Organizer to work with OUT- RAGE, a coalition of residents and organiza- tions in East Williamsburg and Greenpoint, to organize an effective campaign to reduce the volume of garbage processed in our communi- ty. He/she will help to maintain and strength- en the existing coalition, work with coalition members to develop and implement political and practical strategies to achieve its goals, and facilitate linkages with other groups work- ing to change the City's garbage policies. He/she will also supervise our Waste Preven- tion and Community Garden projects. Requires BAIBS or equivalent experience; excellent com- munications and organizing skills, and ability to understand complex technical material and explain it to community residents. Knowledge of Williamsburg/Green point community, waste disposal and environmental justice issues a plus. Salary commensurate with experience and excellent benefits package. Fax resume to Alison Cordero at 718-486-5982 or e-mail to acordero@stnicksnpc.com. COMMUNITY ORGANIZER - The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is a large, mUlti-service non-profit serving the Bronx for more than 31 years. The agency provides a broad range of individual and family services, including walk- in assistance and counseling, services to spe- cial-need populations, such as immigrants, children, adolescents, seniors, homeless fami- lies and singles, individuals and families affected by HIVIAIDS. CAB provides excellent benefits and offers opportunities for advance- ment. Resumes and cover letters indicating position may be mailed to 2054 Morris Ave. Bronx, NY 10453, or faxed as directed. CAB's Children and Youth Department seeks a Com- munity Organizer. The position requires a bachelor's degree. Experience in organizing 44 preferred. Responsibilities include recruitment of parents in the community, facilitation of committees and their work, developing cam- paigns around school issues, and making edu- cational information accessible to parents and the community. Fax credentials to R. Parithivel at 718-590-5866. COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS - The Community Collaborative to Improve District 9 Schools (CC9) seeks Community Organizers to join a two year-old organizing project on the cutting edge of public school reform and community building in the South Bronx. CC9 is organizing parents and residents into a powerful con- stituency for improved educational outcomes in what has been for decades one of the lowest performing school districts in NYC. We are cre- ating a model for how to combine the building of parent/community power with the building of new relationships of accountable collabora- tion between communities and schools. CC9 is working with the United Federation of Teach- ers, the new Regional Superintendent, and local colleges to implement the CC9-developed Platform for Educational Improvement. We are six community-based organizations that have played leading roles in rebuilding the South Bronx, including ACORN, Citizens Advice Bureau, Highbridge Community Life Center, Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council , New Settle- ment Apartments, and the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. Strategic and technical support is provided by the NYU Insti- tute for Education and Social Policy. There are FIVE POSITIONS available, full-time, for indi- viduals who possess at least two years' paid or unpaid grassroots organizing experience. BAIBSIMSW and English/Spanish fluency desirable. EOE. SAlARY: Mid- $20s-mid-$30s, DOE, + benefits. See www.idealist.org, key words "Community Collaborative to Improve District 9" for more info. Send cover letter and resume to: CC9, cia NYU Institute for Educa- tion and Social Policy, 726 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10003. Email: iesp@nyu.edu. CONSTRUCTION MANAGER - A Harlem based community development organization seeks a highly motivated team player with strong lead- ership skills to work in our Real Estate Depart- ment as a Construction Manager. Responsibil- ities include overseeing and monitoring on- site residential and commercial construction activities undertaken by the organization to include insuring compliance with the scope of work, specifications, architectural drawings and program requirements. Act as a liaison between the organization, project architect, contractor, and any others directly involved in the construction process. Evaluation of the project schedule and budget for the purpose of maintaining targeted completion dates and prevention of cost overruns. In-depth knowl- edge of construction means, methods, materi- als, and cost estimation experience for new and renovation projects. Knowledge of applic- able NYC Department of Buildings codes requirements and certification process to include historic preservation issues. Candi - date must have a Bachelors degree in Con- struction Management, Architecture or Engi - neering with a minimum of seven years in con- struction management, supervision or experi- ence in related technical areas. Solid under- standing of design requirements of various governmental agencies, including NYC Department of Housing Preservation (HPD); NYS Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) ; and US Department of Hous- ing of Urban Development (HUD) are a plus. We offer a competitive salary and excellent bene- fits. Please send cover letter and resume to realjobs@adcorp.org CONTROLLER - Management position responsible for supervision of agency account- ing functions. Prepare and analyze statements and financial data; maintain FundEZ system; manage cash flow & projections; supervise billings, cash receipts, accounts payable/receivables and assigned staff. Coor- dinate with other agency staff to manage joint efforts. Perform any other agency duties as assigned. BS in Accounting required and strong communications skills. Computer liter- ate and able to multi-task. Prior supervisory experience and strong accounting/analytical skills. Experience w/non-profit accounting pre- ferred. Please forward resume with cover letter (including salal)' history} to WPA, 110 Second Avenue, NY, NY 10003 or fax to 212-353-0809 or email to frosado@Wpaonline.org. COORDINATOR OF THE SUMMER PLAY STREET PROGRAM FULL-TIME (SEASONAL) - New Settlement Apartments and Community Ser- vices seeks candidates for a full-time Coordi - nator which provides diverse daily recreational and arts activities for girls and boys, aged 7- 14, M-F, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in July and August. Coordinator must have previous supervisory experience in recreational youth programming, strong communication skills, ability to work outdoors in hot weather, availability in June to plan program. College degree or experience desirable. Rate of pay: $13-$16 per hour, DOE, negotiable. See Inew settlement for more info. Send letter, resume and list of 3 references to M. Nolan, Staff Search, New Settlement Apart- ments, 1512 Townsend Avenue, Bronx, NY 10452. Fax: 718-294-4085. EEO/AA COORDINATOR, FAMILY REUNIFICATION PRO- GRAM - Facilitate weekly parenting groups for women in recovery from addiction and coor- dinate activity-based family interaction/visita- tion program. CASAC or MSW req. Schedule includes 2 Saturdays/month. Fax cover letter and resume: 212-951-7037. Mail: SPRC, 31 E. 28th St., NY, NY, 10016 Attn: Personnel. DAY CARE DIRECTOR - The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is a large, multi-service non- profit serving the Bronx for more than 31 years. The agency provides a broad range of individ- ual and family services, including walk-in assistance and counseling, services to spe- cial-need populations, such as immigrants, children, adolescents, seniors, homeless fami- lies and Singles, individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS. CAB provides excellent benefits and offers opportunities for advance- ment. Resumes and cover letters indicating position may be mailed to 2054 Morris Ave. Bronx, NY 10453, or faxed as directed. CAB's Community Center seeks a Day Care Director. The position requires a master's degree in early childhood education, with a minimum of 2 years of supervisor experience, licensed by the NYC Board of Education, or certified by NYS Education Department as a teacher in early childhood education. Responsibilities include operation of the learning center, supervision of staff, staff training, classroom activity prepa- ration, enrollment procedures and fiscal man- agement. Fax credentials to R. Pettway at 718-590-5866. DENTIST - Dental, Full -time. The staff den- tist is responsible for overall patient care; proper documentation in patients file. Provide patient services with clinical competence and caring communication. Diagnose accurately patient's dental conditions with an eye towards total patient health. Develop treatment plans for quality patient care. Dentist will supervise dental assistant in maintaining proper infec- tion control techniques. Graduate of accredit- ed School of Dentistry. Licensed to practice dentistry in the State of New York. DEA certifi- cation, BLS certification, Infection Control cer- tification. At least two years working experi- ence in dentistry. Work experience in communi- ty health center setting preferred. Bilingual a plus, salary contingent upon experience. Send resume to HR Dept by fax: 718-346-7183 or email :jwong@bmsfhc.org DEPUTY DIRECTOR and TRANSITION COACHES - The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services, Inc. (CASES) is seeking a Deputy Director for Youth Development and several Transition Coaches for Community Prep High School , a small , transitional high school funded in part by New Visions for Pub- lic Schools that opened in September of 2002. The school is a collaboration among CASES, the Department of Education's Superintendent of Alternative Schools and Programs (AACESP) , and the City University of New York Office of Academic Affairs. The School operates with two Co-Directors: a Principal and a CASES Director. The Deputy Director will report to the CASES Director. Candidates must bring energy, a vision for and expertise in engaging at-risk, academically disenfranchised young people, and the ability to create a vibrant school com- munity consistent with the partnership's vision. Candidates should be able to begin by early summer. The mission of Community Prep is to improve the academic and social skills of young people recently released from prison or jail, so that they are able to return to a four- year high school, enroll in a GED program, or obtain employment/employment training. All instruction is delivered in small, supportive environments that will facilitate improvement in literacy and social participation. The school challenges students to develop the skills they need to navigate the passage to adulthood and to translate their own experiences with the jus- tice system into positive civic involvement. With coaching and support from staff, stu- dents see new possibilities, set their own aca- demic and life skills goals and identify and take the steps needed to meet those goals. Students then move on to further education or employment. Full job descriptions can be seen at: www.cases.org. Send a cover letter, resume and salary history to: Betsy Witten, Director, Education Initiatives, CASES, 346 Broadway, CITY LIMITS 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10013. No phone calls please. CASES is an Equal Opportunity Employer. DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE - Public interest legal and advocacy non-profit seeks an asso- ciate to work in its development office on all areas of fundraising including: research, foun- dation grant and report writing, special events, solicitation and cultivation mailings, database management, tracking and acknowledging gifts, and general administrative tasks. Appli- cants should be extremely organized, have strong writing skills, good computer skills, and a commitment to social justice and civil rights. Fundraising experience a plus. Cover letter, resume, writing sample, and salary history to Isabel Ochoa, Director of Development, New York lawyers for the Public Interest, 151 West 30th Street, 11th Floor, New York, New York 10001. EED. DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR - Downtown non- profit seeks self-motivated, energetic Develop- ment Director to work with senior management to develop, design development effort. Respon- sibilities incl. implement first annual fund pro- gram; build major gifts program, other fundraising activities. Must have drive, proven track record of success, 4+ yrs dev. expo Cover letter/resume/salary requirements to Vera Institute of Justice, J. Chattin, 233 Broadway, 12th FI., NYC, 10279, fax 212-941-9407, email HR.Dept@vera.org, EOE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR - JusticeWorks Community, Brooklyn-based social justice agency, advocating for more humane and effective criminal justice policies, seeks full- time Development Director to manage all aspects of fundraising, including but not lim- ited to: coordinating annual mail appeals and major gift campaigns, foundation research and grant writing. Three years' fundraising experience, exceptional oral and written com- munication skills. Working knowledge of MS Word, Excel, Access and Publisher, excellent Internet skills. Salary commensurate with experience. Qualified candidates should mail a cover letter, resume and writing sample to: Mary-Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Executive Director, JusticeWorks Community, 1012 Eighth Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11215. Faxes and e-mails accepted: 212-832-2832 or mefitzgerald@justiceworks.org. DEVELOPMENT MANAGER - Assist ED with annual fundraising plan including: develop- ment and oversight of events, donor tracking, scheduling of meetings with board and volun- teers, oversee production and distribution of mailings, prepare donor listings and corre- spondence, creative marketing/promotion to cultivate new donors. BA, with 1-2 years of experience in non-profit fundraising and data- base management. Strong writing, marketing and desktop publishing skills. Fax resume to 212-587-5731, attention: TOC or e-mail to: Toconnor@nyawc.org DIRECTOR - The Community Action Project is looking for a dynamic, pro active director to lead it. CAP is a member of the Pacific Institute for Community Organization (PICO)Cl national SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 network of faith-based communitY organiza- tions active in over 75 cities nationwide. The candidate should have an associate or bac- calaureate degree. The candidate should have a minimum of 2 years of proven and progres- sively responsible organizing experience preferably in a congregation-based communi - ty organization. The candidate should be thor- oughly familiar with the principles and prac- tices associated with the Congregation-Com- munity Model of Organizing. Interested appli- cant should send a cover letter, a CV and 3 ref- erence letters to: CAP Search Committee 890 Flatbush Ave Brooklyn, NY 11226 DIRECTOR OF CLIENT SERVICES - HELP USA, a nationally recognized leader in the provisions of transitional housing, residential and social services, has a position available for Director of Client Services. Candidate will manage and direct a comprehensive program of social ser- vices for homeless families in the Bronx. Can- didate will also provide administrative and case management supervision to social ser- vice staff. Will also oversee case record man- agement, quality assurance and provide staff training. Requirements: An MSW or related field. Should have a min of 3 years manage- ment exp as well as a thorough knowledge of casework practice. Candidate should have proven supervisory and staff development skills. Proficiency in Windows based applica- tions necessary. Salary: Ranges from $44K to $58K. Resumes for this position should be for- warded to: Ron Guy, Regional Executive Direc- tor, 285 East 171st Street, Bronx, NY 10457, via fax at 718-583-9085 or via email at rguy@helpusa.org. EOE. A drug free work- place. DIRECTOR OF COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMS - The International Center in New York serves immigrants, refugees, and other non-native English speakers. With 1,000 volunteers and almost 2,500 students, the Center is a com- munity and a unique learning environment for those who need help improving their English and adapting to life in America. The Director of Collaborative Programs is a key position for the Center's current and future involvement with New York City's immigrant community. We work with community-based organizations (CBOs) and public schools serving immigrants to bring our ESl program models to immigrant communities. Our current growth efforts are focused on developing and piloting theme- based TESOl programs for specific immigrant populations, e.g. immigrant parents of all backgrounds who wish to become more involved in their children's education. Please see our web site for more details: www.intlcen- ter.org Qualifications and Background needed: Masters in an education-related field; MSW a plus; three years experience working with immigrants in the non-profit sector; program development and volunteer management experience strong plus; communication skills associated with outreach and collaboration required; TESOl experience strong plus; experi- ence with school based programs strong plus; abilitY to organize and prioritize; initiative; energy; patience; flexibility. Programs will determine schedule, and will include some evenings. Salary: mid 30s-low 40s, plus full benefits. EOE. Send cover letter and resume to Beverly Brown Ruggia, The International Cen- ter in New York, 50 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010-5205; fax: 212-255-0177, or email bbrown@intlcenter.org. DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT - The Welfare law Center is a leading national advocacy organization that safeguards legal rights of the poor, supports civic participation and grassroots organizing in low-income commu- nities, and assures that human services pro- grams meet low-income families' needs. The Director of Development reports to the Execu- tive Director, works closely with program staff, and is responsible for expanding a $1.4M bud- get, writing/editing grant materials, strength- ening relationships with funders (foundations, individuals, law firms, corporations), oversee- ing donor cultivation and special events, mak- ing effective use of volunteers and consul- tants, and supervising support staff. The can- didate should demonstrate success as a 'gen- eralist' , experience with donor cultivation and foundations, resourcefulness, collegiality, commitment to social justice, familiarity with advocacy on poverty issues, the ability to think strategically while managing multiple pro- jects, and superior writing, research, analyti- cal , and communication skills. Salary, health/family leave benefits (including domes- tic partners), TDA, and vacation policy are competitive with peer organizations. The Cen- ter is committed to diversity. Send cover letter selling yourself, resume, writing sample, and salary history to freedman@Welfarelaw.org, fax to 212-633-6371, or mail to Henry Freed- man, ED, 275 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1205, NYC 10001. DIRECTOR OF ORGANIZING AND ADVOCACY - leading Brooklyn CDC seeks FIT person to direct all community organizing work. Respon- sibilities: Supervise staff of 6+ organizers on multiple campaigns. Direct aggressive Dis- placement-Free Zone and city-wide policy organizing to combat tenant displacement and gentrification. Supervise anti-eviction tenant advocacy. Oversee other organizing campaigns and leadership development work. Some fundraising and management. Qualifications: five years organizing experience, project man- agement and staff supervision and training, passionate commitment to fighting for social justice, Spanish a plus. Salary commensurate w/experience. AAlEOE. letter, salary require- ments, & resume to Brad lander, FAC, 141 Fifth Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217, blander@fifthave.org, or fax to 718-857-4322. Full posting at www.fifthave.org DIRECTOR OF PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT & EVALUATION - Responsibilities: Reporting to the Executive Director, assist organization's 23 programs, various administrative depart- ments, and Board of Directors with the contin- ued implementation of agency-wide perfor- mance measurement and management process. Monitor, compile, analyze, and dis- tribute monthly and quarterly reports submit- ted by programs and departments. Help staff understand performance data and apply knowledge to service management and advo- cacy. Oversee the implementation and utiliza- JOBADS tion of on-line case management software. Assist with in-depth research of particular issues and programs. Prepare reports and pre- sentations for public review and discussion. Qualifications and Requirements: Experience with social research and/or data collection and analysis in a nonprofit or government setting. Highly driven individual, self-directed, capable of working independently as well as in groups. Proven success with implementation of new and multi-faceted initiatives. Capacity to work effectively in a multi-site agency that serves a diverse client base. Ability to facilitate training sessions and group discussionsldecision- making with various stakeholders. Excellent oral and written communications skills. Profi- ciency with computers, including various research databases, Excel , and Power Point. Experience in homeless services a plus. Mas- ters degree in related field preferred. Salary: $45,000; 35 hourslweek; excellent benefits package. Send cover letter/resume to fax: 212- 533-1893 or mail to Bowery Residents' Com- mittee, 324 lafayette Street, NY, NY 10012. DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES - HELP USA, a nationally recognized leader in the provisions of transitional housing, residential and social services, presents the following opportunity: Director of Social Services. Supervises Team leaders, Case Managers and Housing Specialist in delivering a comprehensive program of social services, which includes recruitment, assess- ment, counseling and linkage with h e a ~ h , edu- cation, vocational and housing programs and services. The successful candidate will also ensure that the programs established stabilize the displaced families living at the facility, maximizes the benefit of their stay in the facil- ity, to ensure their successful and expeditious placement in permanent housing; and to strengthen their dependent family living skills. Requirements: An MSW or related MS degree in Public Administration, Psychology, or Counsel- ing. 3-5 years minimum of supervisory/man- agement experience. A thorough knowledge of casework practices and strategies, proven supervisory and staff development skills. Profi- ciency in computers and Windows based soft- ware. Valid US driver'S license required. Salary starts at $44,000. Send resume to: Gena Wat- son, Assistant Executive Director, HELP I, 515 Blake Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11207, fax 718- 485-5916, email gwatson@helpusa.org. EOE. A drug free workplace. DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES - Well- established non-profit housing agency in Westchester County seeks an experienced, cre- ative administrator with excellent verbal , writ- ten and management skills. Position requires an MSW with a minimum of five years supervi- sory experience in social work. We offer an excellent salary, benefits and a supportive pro- fessional work environment. Send resume with cover letter to Dir. of Human Resources, Westhab, 85 Executive Blvd, Elmsford, NY 10523. Fax 914-345-3139, Email westhab@Cloud9.net. EOE DIRECTOR, PUBLIC RELATIONS & COMMUNI- CATIONS - Mid- sized NYC non profit seeks PR Director. Perfect opportunity for those with experience in re-branding. Strategic thinker 45 JOB ADS required to establish organization's unique positioning and effective messaging. Make an impact on NYC social services, city and state govt. 7-10 yrs experience. Success with NYC media. Send resume with salary history to: Emma Guzman, Federation of Protestant Wel- fare Agencies, Inc.281 Park Avenue South, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10010 or eguzman@fpwa.org or fax 212-533-8792 EDUCATION CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND DIS- ABILITIES MANAGER - Cypress Hills Child Care Corporation Head Start seeks Education Child Development Disabilities manager to oversee direct services for 3 to 5 year olds. Train and supervise family daycare providers, participate in program planning. Excellent writing skills required, BAIBS in Early Child- hood Education or related field. Bilingual Eng- Iish/Spanish necessary. Head Start experience a plus. Fax resume 718-235-0898. EDUCATIONAL PRDGRAM DIRECTOR - Brook- lyn non-profit seeks Program Director for Edu- cational Center. Impart vision, oversee daily operations, supervise staff & communicate with funding sources (proposal writing and reporting). Masters Degree in Education or related field; strong management & superviso- ry exp; 5yrs ESOL, Literacy & Pre-GED teaching exp; committed to learner-centered philosophy. English/Spanish or English/Chinese preferred. Please mail, fax or e-mail cover letters. & resumes to: Attn: HR Code: EDCntr TPIDOMI, 5220 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11220, Fax. 718-439-3963 E-mail: bcaldald@tpdomi.org EMPLOYMENT SPECIALIST - Responsibili- ties: Candidate will assist participants ages 17-21 in securing employment, developing internship sites, establish an employer bank, develop curricula, lesson plans and utilize existing materials to conduct career readiness workshops. Qualifications: Minimum BA. Mini- mum 2 years of prior vocational training school experience. Competent computer skills, strong verbal and written communication skills are required. Experience educating adolescent population is essential. Bilingual English/Spanish a plus. Salary commensurate with experience, comprehensive benefits pack- age. Send resume and cover letter indicating position of interest to: Mrs. Evans, Coordinator of Program Operations, The Mt. Hope Housing Company, Inc. 2003-05 Walton Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453. Fax: 718-466- 4788. No telephone calls. EMPLOYMENT SPECIALIST - Times Square Ink (lSI), the on-site job training program of the Court, is seeking an Employment Special- ist. TSI guides adults with barriers to employ- ment into permanent jobs. To prepare partici- pants for these positions, TSI assesses partic- ipants' needs, offers a ten-week office ser- vices/job-readiness training program, and develops job opportunities. Reporting to the Coordinator of Workforce Development, the Employment Specialist is responsible for preparing participants for work through job- readiness training as. well as for placing par- ticipants in employment that supports self- sufficiency. Qualifications BA, excellent orga- nizational and communication skills, knowl- 46 edge of computers and Microsoft Office required. This position requires an aggressive, detail-oriented self-starter who can get things done in a high-paced environment, and who is sensitive to working with many different types of people. The ideal candidate will have 2 years of experience in workforce development. Knowledge of -ex-offender population a plus. Salary commensurate with experience. Excel- lent benefits. Send resume to: Employment Specialist, Midtown Community Court, 314 West 54th Street, New York NY 10019. Email: atolosa@courts.state.ny.us Fax: 212-586- 1144. No phone calls please. The Fund for the City of New York is an equal opportunity employer. EVENING TEEN PROGRAM DIRECTOR (FUU- TIME, YEAR-ROUND) - New Settlement Apartments and Community Services seeks candidates for an Evening Teen Program Direc- tor. Directs and develops recreational and edu- cational program, evenings & summer, for 200+ youth aged 12-20, and supervises 18 part-time staff. Salary: mid-30s-$40,000, with comprehensive benefits. Director must have 3- 5 years' experience, including 2 years as supervisor. B.A. or M.S.w. preferred. Spanish bilingual a plus. Send letter, resume and list of 3 references to M. Nolan, Staff Search, New Settlement Apartments, 1512 Townsend Avenue, Bronx, NY 10452. Fax: 718-294-4085. EEO/M EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - for new organization dedicated to improving care for people with developmental disabilities and conditions for direct care workers. Responsibilities: Recruit- ing board; developing work-plan & budget; chapter-building; investigating quality & staffing issues; developing & advancing policy initiatives; implementing media campaigns. Qualifications: 3+ years relevant experience, organizational and communication skills, abil- ity to travel. Bachelors, experience with pro- gram development and with diverse con- stituencies preferred. EOE. Salary depends on experience. Fax resume and cover letter to 212- 332-9368. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - Growing nonprofit membership organization comprised of home- less housing and service providers seeks high- energy Executive Director. Proven ability to build and maintain complex relationships. Must communicate effectively on paper and in person. Familiarity with NYC government and issues impacting vulnerable New Yorkers. Abil- ity to gather, analyze and convey information rapidly and accurately. Motivated to lead a fast-paced member driven organization within a high demand context. Prior experience in association management and organizational development a plus. Send cover letter includ- ing salary requirements and resume to: jcha- vannes@helpusa.org or fax to: 212-444-1907 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - Small, model shelter for homeless women and children seeks com- mitted, nurturing executive director. Near Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY. 20-30 hour week. Send resume to Robert Hayes, 1460 Broadway, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10036. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - The South Broadway Business Improvement District (BID) in Yonkers, is seeking an Executive Director with a minimum of seven years of relevant experience dealing with private industry and the public sector. Our community has a tremendous diversity of busi- nesses and residents. The experience of our mer- chants and business people ranges from novice to highly skilled entrepreneur. The Executive Director should be able to: Create and execute plans to bring new consumers from outside our area (as well as former 'nostalgic' residents) to shop in our neighborhood businesses; work directly with neighborhood businesses to improve their business by suggesting new mar- keting strategies, improving storefront appear- ance, using available government programs to their advantage and assisting them in their dealings with municipal agencies. Prior profes- sional work experience in one or more of the fol- lowing areas is desirable: marketing, retail man- agement and urban planning/architecture. The Director will be adept at running the administra- tive side of the BID and will enjoy working in an atmosphere of diverse cultural backgrounds. Fluency in EnglishlSpanish is very important. Please send resume to: Dennis Monasebian, Chair South Broadway District Management Association, 487 South Broadway, Suite 205, Yonkers, NY 10705. Fax: 914-968-2098. E-mail to southbroadwaybid@aol.com FAIR HOUSING COUNSELOR - Multi-Service Non-Profit seeks professional staff to fill the following position with requirements as listed: Fair housing program seeks counselor in Stat- en Island to counsel individuals with housing problems. Also work 2 days per wk. in L& T Mediation Court. HS Diploma required. Bi -Iin- gual preferred. $26K. Please fax or email cover letter and resume to the New York Urban League at Fax: New York Urban League 212- 690-4794 or Email Address: fstewart@nyul.org FINANCIAL ASSOCIATEIBOOKKEEPER - The New Press, a nonprofit publisher, seeks analyt- ical financial associate to assume responsibil- ity for data entry & bookkeeping (incl. AIR and AlP; tax compliance; royalties; record-keeping); employee. payroll & benefit admin; computer systems; & contract admin. Reports to Finance Dir. Fax letter & resume to 212-629-8617 or e- mail to newpress@thenewpress.com. No calls, please. Minority candidates strongly encour- aged to apply. FINANCIAL COORDINATOR - UNHP, a Bronx- based non-profit assisting in the development and preservation of community controlled housing, seeks a coordinator to provide finan- cial services including bookkeeping and accounting, budget and update preparation. Good communication skills required. Bache- lor's degree preferred. Knowledge of Excel and Quickbook Pro and ATB software helpful. Send resume with minimum salary requirements to UNHP, 2751 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10468, by fax 718-933-3624, bye-mail to mail@unhp.org. FISCAL ANALYST AND CONTRACT ADMINISTRATOR - Manage accurate accu- mulation and dissemination of financial infor- mation in compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and agency poli- cies and procedures. Oversees and evaluate the adequacy of the system of internal control. Supervises accounting and payroll functions. Supervises and oversees financial reporting, including internal financial statements, gov- ernment and funders reports and other required filings. Serves as primary liaison with external auditors. Performs special projects as required. Qualifications: Bachelors degree in AccountinglFinance is required. CPA is a plus. Minimum of five years hands on non-profit experience. Knowledge of government con- tracts ideal; knowledge of the non-profit accounting system Fund EZ a plus. Salary: $50,000 to $55,000 per year. Excellent benefit package. Send cover and resume to Human Resources: fax 212-360-5634 or email in Word format only fsimmons@strivenewyork.org GRANT WRITER - My Sisters' Place, a domes- tic violence service provider and advocacy organization serving Westchester County, seeks a part-time Grant Writer to: indepen- dently draft government and private funding proposals and reports; research funding opportunities; work with staff to determine funding priorities; assist with database man- agement; and other duties as assigned. Must have bachelor degree; excellent written and oral communication skills; proficiency with word processing, spreadsheet and database programs; and ability to interact with funders and staff; at least one year nonprofit grantwriting experience preferred. Send resume and cover letter (with salary require- ments) to Associate Director of Operations, My Sisters' Place, 2 Lyon Place, White Plains, NY 10601; psarro@mysistersplaceny.org. This is a part-time position with flexible hours. GRASSROOTS POLITICAL ORGANIZER - The WFP is hiring organizers for NYC and Buffalo to build local chapters by recruiting, training and mobilizing volunteers, deepen involvement of our institutional allies, and organize political campaigns. Organizing experience preferred. Women and people of color strongly encour- aged to apply. Fax/email cover letter and resume to Rachel 718- 246-3718, rberkson@workingfamiliesparty.org HOUSING DEVELOPER - Join a dynamic com- munity development corporation rebuilding neighborhoods in Orange and East Orange, NJ. Major responsibility for developing abandoned homes for sale to new homebuyers. Great salary and benefits. Take charge and experi - enced problem solvers ONLY. Must be able to move properties, negotiate loans, work with government officials, supervise staff and more. Visit www.handsinc.orgfor more details. Fax resume and specific cover letter to Hands 973-678-0014. HOUSING PLACEMENT SPECIALIST - Bailey House, Inc is committed to empowering people living with HIVIAIDS, their loved ones and the communities and agencies that serve them to operate at their fullest potential through the development and provision of housing and supportive services. Description: Assist for- merly incarcerated, homeless PWA obtaining CITY LIMITS appropriate housing. Provide case manage- ment, independent living and housing place- ment. Conduct intake screenings, develop treatment plans, strategies, mar1let services, develop housing service plans, outreach and broker leases. Requirements: Bilingual Span- ishlEnglish, BA a +, housing, HIV/AIDS experi- ence a must. Send resume, cover hr@bailey- house.org, Fax: 212-414-1431. Bailey House, Inc. is an Equal Dpportunity Employer. We offer competitive salaries along with a comprehen- sive benefits package that includes medical/dental insurance, life/disability insur- ance, pension plan and five weeks vacation. HOUSING SPECIALIST - HELP USA, a nation- ally recognized leader in the provision of tran- sitional housing, residential and social ser- vices seeks candidates for a Housing Special- ist. Assist families in securing permanent housing. Real Estate and/or government low income housing and lease negotiation experi- ence preferred. Bachelor's degree preferred. Knowledge of realtors, housing subsidy pro- grams and computer literacy required. Valid driver's license and bilingual skills (EnglishlSpanish) preferred. Salary starts in low-mid $20s. Send resumes to HELP 1, Attn: Gena Watson, 515 Blake Avenue, Brooklyn, New Yor1l, 11207 or fax at 718-485-5916 or email at gwatson@helpusa.org. HOUSING SPECIALIST FIT - The Forest Hills Community House now has a full-time Housing Specialist position available in the Organiz- ingIHousing and Homelessness Prevention Program. Wor1l with families who are at risk of homelessness to prevent their eviction by court intervention , entitlement assistance, and when necessary relocation assistance. Requirements: Knowledge of housing court and regulations and/or entitlements. Possess good advocacy, organizational and communication skills. MUST be bilingual (EnglishlSpanish). Bachelors Degree/l year experience. Willing to do field wor1l when necessary. Full benefits. Mail resumes to: Forest Hills Community House, 108-25 62nd Drive, Forest Hills, NY 11375. Attn: Housing Department. HOUSING SPECIALIST PIT - - The Forest Hills Community House now has a part-time Hous- ing Specialist position available in the Orga- nizingIHousing and Homelessness Prevention Program. Do Outreach to brokers and property owners to develop resources for families need- ing relocation assistance. Requirements: Good networ1ling abilities. Excellent verbal/written communication skills. Must be willing to do field work. Excellent benefits. EEO. Mail resumes to: Forest Hills Community House, 108-25 62nd Drive, Forest Hills, NY 11375. Attn: Housing Department JOB DEVELOPER - The Center for Employ- ment Opportunities, an employment.and train- ing project for adult men and women ex- offenders, seeks a Job Developer to strengthen placement outcomes for participants Essential Functions: The essential functions include, but are not limited to, the following: Develop and maintain a targeted list of potential and cur- rent employers. Assess and assist program participants in the formulation of both short- and long-term vocational plans for placement into permanent, unsubsidized, full-time employment. Provide follow-up services to par- tici pants and employers. Act as the liaison between participants and the funding sources. Document all participants and employer con- tact, including field visits to worksites, into a JOBADS computerized case systems management. Other Duties: Performs other job-related duties and responsibilities as may be assigned from time to time. Minimum Qualifications: Degree; three to five years experience as a Job Develop- er or equivalent, saleslmar1leting experience a plus. A network of current contacts with poten- tial employers. English/Spanish language skills a plus. Please email/fax resume to pmunoz@ceowor1ls.org/212-248-4432. JOB TRAINER/CAREER COACH - for innova- tive, multi-service non-profit located in down- town Jamaica. Part-time, 12 hours per week. Experienced professional needed for training program in job search skills and techniques. Good management, communication, and pre- sentation skills required. Operate successful group supportive Job Club and provide job seekers with one-on-one career development counseling and technical assistance. Fax resume to 718-297-0841. MANAGER - FIT Non Traditional Program for/by People with Disabilities in North Bronx seeks Manager BAIMA Supervisory nonprofit Administrative experience to assist in staff PROFESSIONALDIRECTORY SPECIALIZING IN REAL ESTATE J-51 Tax Abatement/Exemption 421A and 421B Applications 501 (c) (3) FederaJ Tax Exemptions All forms of government-assisted housing, including LISC/Enterprise, Section 202, State Turnkey and NYC Partnership Homes KOURAKOS & KOURAKOS Attorneys at Law Eastchester, N.Y. Phone: (914) 395-0871 FEEL UKE YOUR CAREER IS GOLNG OWHERE'? Call: 718-840 1 Penny Polakoff Prole.lonal ea,..,. Coo lat Put you! C8t'BBf bade on illaclU it UPDATE YOUR RESUME it CHANGE CAREERS it REASONAIBLE RATES EYBn ng sndSundsys Hou ... Available Advertise in this space! 212.479.3345 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 212.721.9764 .JREICH 2 @EARTHLINK.NET WWW. CREATIVEHOTLlST.COM/ .J REICH ADS, ANNUAL REPORTS, BOOK DESIGN, BROCHURES, CATALOGS, COLLATERAL, CORPORATE IDENTITY. MEDIA KITS , & MORE Nicole Lisa Spanish to English Translation Copyediting Proofreading Specializing in Non-Profit Language, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Development, and Law nlisa@auroralanguage.com . 917-385-0267 www.auroralanguage.com OFFICE SPACE PROBLEMS? IIaI.W CS1 CSI CONSULTANT-S INC. (845) 566-1267 Expert Real Estate Services - once available only to major corporations and institutions - Now offered to NYC's Non-Profits .. at no out-of-pocket cost, or at speclaUy reduced rates. Visit our web site: www.npspace.com Call for a free, no-obligation consultation. www.npspace.com 47 JOB ADS development with strong computer skills. Must be organized, detail oriented, meet deadlines, good communicator, and a team player. Fax resume and cover letter 718-515-2844 MANAGER, GOVERNMENTAL GRANTS AND COMMUNITY - The Manager, Governmental Grants and Community Relations will assist in project/program design and secure capital and operating funding from all levels of govern- ment. S\he will conduct research and prepare proposals for governmental grants and con- tracts for capital, social and support services, and operating funds for new and existing pro- grams and projects. The Manager will also coordinate competitive renewal contract pro- posal applications. The Manager will also rep- resent Common Ground in discussions with elected officials, government agencies, com- munity boards, community organizations, not- for-profit service providers, and other partners, including the Supportive Housing Network of New York and the Corporation for Supportive Housing. S\he perform other duties as assigned. Cover letter with salary requirements and resume to CGC HR/JF, 505 Eighth Avenue, 15th Floor, New York, New York 10018. Facsim- ile 212-389-9313. MARKETING & SALES MANAGER - The New Press, a nonprofit EOE publisher seeks experi- enced, organized sales & marketing profes- sional to manage marketing department & oversee trade, academic and special sales. Responsible for marketing plans & budget, sales analysis, & all marketing programs, incl. trade shows, conferences, & trade distributors. Excellent oral & written communication skills required. Reports to Publisher. Fax letter & resume to 212-629-8617 or e-mail to new- press@thenewpress.com. No calls, please. Minority candidates strongly encouraged to apply. MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZER - The New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYCEJA), a grassroots network, seeks experienced organiz- er to assist community groups to develop effective environmental justice (EJ) advocacy agendas at the community and larger levels and to get them involved in citywide coalition activities. Our long-term goal is to develop a democratic, community-based, citywide EJ movement. 2+ years of organizing experience are required, preferably among low-income people of color; Spanish a big plus. Excellent spoken and written communication skills and strong familiarity with NYC are also pluses. $45,000-52,000 to start plus full family med- ical/dental/vision. Resumes & cover letters: dave@nyceja.org, or fax: 212-239-2838 or mail: MembershipOrganizer. NYCEJA. 115 W 30 St #709, NY, NY 10001. NURSE PRACTITIONER - Brooklyn's Women's Shelter, Full-time. Provides quality adult health care examination including pelvic exams, and pap smears. Provides ongoing and episodic care including first aid. Oversight, coordination of care, and liaison, on behalf of clients, with the medical review team/program referral unit, hospital inpatient unit staff, VNS, Dialysis cen- ters, DOHMH, Division of TB Control and Med- ical Director & staff. Completes requisition 48 forms for placement in alternate facilities. Facilitate referral mechanism for primary and specialty health care, as appropriate. HIV pre and post-test counseling and testing. Respon- sible for implementing a system of medication administration or supervised self-administra- tion. Participates in on-call schedule for the requirements of BMS @ Brooklyn Women's Shelter. licensed to practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner in New York State. Minimum of two years clinical experience as a Nurse Practition- er. BLS certified. Bilingual a plus. $70,000 per annum. Send resume to HR Dept by fax: 718- 346-7183 or email:jwong@bmsfhc.org. OFFICE MANAGER - Manage daily operation of Learning Center with an array of needs. Pro- vide clerical support to faculty and staff. Excel- lent computer skills. Supervise workstudy stu- dents. Coordinate tutoring program registra- tion. Multi-tasker who is willing to dig in and get hands dirty, moving desks, unclogging toi- lets, cleaning refrigerator. Friendly with good communication skills. Hours Ipm-9pm $30,000 excellent benefits. Resume and cover letter to Charlotte Marchant, fax 718-246- 6499 or email cmarchan@liu.edu OFFICE MANAGER - UHAB, a growing non- profit cooperative housing organization seeks a highly-organized, computer-savvy person who is excited by the challenge of making our office run smoothly, and ensuring the accuracy and accessibility of essential data and supplies. Job involves a great deal of interaction with UHAB staff, board, and members. Fluency in Spanish is highly desirable. Complete job description listed on our web site: www.uhab.org. Send letter and resumes to: jobs@uhab.org PORTFOLIO ASSOCIATE - Youth Development Fund, The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation seeks a Portfolio Associate. Reporting on a project- related basis to Portfolio Managers and the Director of Finance and Administration and working with a team of other foundation staff, the Portfolio Associate will help to develop a portfolio of investments in youth-serving orga- nizations that result in increases in the posi- tive opportunities for low-income youth within urban communities, primarily along the East- ern seaboard. The Portfolio Associate will be responsible for helping to conduct due dili- gence research on potential organizations, drafting investment recommendations, assist- ing in business planning, and supporting staff in the management of selected grantee organi- zations. Requirements: Private and public sec- tor experience and particular strengths in non- profit organizational development. Knowledge of youth development is also important. Under- graduate degree in business, public adminis- tration, or a related field, with experience in financial analysis and the uses of computer technology; abil ity to work independently, yet within a team context; strong written and oral communication skills. Salary commensurate with background and experience, ranging from high $40's to low $50's with comprehensive benefits package. To apply: Please mail, fax, or e-mail a resume with a cover letter to Portfolio Associate Search, The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 250 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10177-0026; fax 212-986-4558 email pasearch@emcf.org. No calls please. PROGRAM COORDINATOR (Adolescent Devel- opment Program) - The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is a large, multi-service non- profit serving the Bronx for more than 31 years. The agency provides a broad range of individ- ual and family services, including walk-in assistance and counseling, services to spe- cial-need populations, such as immigrants, children, adolescents, seniors, homeless fami- lies and singles, individuals and families affected by HIVIAIDS. CAB provides excellent benefits and offers opportunities for advance- ment. Resumes and cover letters indicating position may be mailed to 2054 Morris Ave. Bronx, NY 10453, or faxed as directed. The Ado- lescent Development Program seeks a Program Coordinator. Responsibilities include direct oversight of teen after-school programs and working closely with youth. The position requires a BA in a related field and experience working with teens. Fax credentials to J. Gold- smith at 718-590-5866. CAB is an equal opportunity /affirmative action employer. PROGRAM COORDINATOR (Safe Passage Pro- gram) - The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is a large, mUlti-service non-profit serving the Bronx for more than 31 years. The agency pro- vides a broad range of individual and family services, including walk-in assistance and counseling, services to special-need popula- tions, such as immigrants, children, adoles- cents, seniors, homeless families and singles, individuals and families affected by HIVIAIDS. CAB provides excellent benefits and offers opportunities for advancement. Resumes and cover letters indicating position may be mailed to 2054 Morris Ave. Bronx, NY 10453, or faxed as directed. The Safe Passage Program seeks a Program Coordinator. The position requires a BA in a related field and experience working with youth. Responsibilities include supervis- ing staff, overseeing day-to-day operations of the program, and working closely with teens. Fax credentials to J. Goldsmith at 718-590- 5866. PROGRAM COORDINATOR - Not-for-profit primary healthcare organization seeks a Pro- gram Coordinator to work with statewide Area Health Education Center (AHEC) program. Job includes establishing Manhattan center, and placement of health professional students in community-based learning environments. Bachelors degree required, Masters preferred. Strong oral & written communication skills, and strong organizational & management skills required. Minimum of three years experi- ence working in a health profession or in an educational setting. Send resume with cover letter stating minimum salary required to: Shoumya Roy-Choudhury, Institute for Urban Family Health, 16 East 16th Street, New York, NY 10003. Fax: 212-989-6170, Email : hresource@institute2000.org PROGRAM COORDINATOR - NYINl based non- profit seeks program coordinator for successful minority environmental/construction job training program in Newark. Motivated individual need- ed to manage support staff and program opera- tions, including: curriculum and life skills devel- opment, crisis intervention, job development, on- going mentoring and placement. Must work well with diverse communities. Good supervisory, decision-making, written communication, inter- personal , organization and computer skills a must. A background in construction and/or Spanish bilingual a+. Competitive salary w/good benefits. Fax resume and cover to BMWTP Sr. Program Coordinator: 973-286-2075. PROGRAM DIRECTOR - Multi-Service Non- Profit seeks professional staff to fill the follow- ing position with requirements as listed: Pre- ventive service program seeks MSW to direct ACS funded program in Harlem. Successful candidate must be an effective administrator with 5-7 exp as supervisor. $50K. Please fax or email cover letter and resume to the New York Urban League at: Fax: New York Urban League 212- 690-4794 or Email Address: fstewart@nyul.org PROJECT COORDINATOR - Community-based organization developing a $10 million, multi- service Community Center. Ideal candidate is a highly motivated self- starter, a creative thinker with good problem solving skills who has experience in community development, affordable housing or urban planning. Working with an experienced team, responsibilities will include identifying/exploring program opportu- nities, analyzing development/operating plans, strategic planning and coordinating the pre- development process. Highly competitive salary and benefits. Resume! cover letter: SRCO, 1720 Metropolitan Ave. , Bronx, NY 10462, fax 718-824-0532 PROJECT DIRECTOR - Nonprofit org. seeks Project Director to lead team on school safety issues and provide assistance to NYC educa- tors and law enforcement officials. Duties: fundraise, manage government relationships, develop new work. Advanced degree, 5yrs min urban youth exp, 2yrs min supervisory exp, managerial, writing and public speaking skills. Letterlresume to Coordinator, Demonstration Programs, Vera Institute of Justice, 233 Broad- way, 12th fl., NY, NY 10279 Fax 212-941-9407 Email tsgobba@vera.org. EOE PROJECT MANAGER - Bridge Street Develop- ment Corporation is seeking a Project Manag- er. Responsibilities: Managing the construction process, including oversight of architects and contractors, and supervision of the relocation process. Qualifications: BS/BA plus two or more years experience managing complex pro- jects that involve multiple partners. Fax cover letter and resume to: 718-573.6874 or e-mail: cgillpierre@bsdc.org. Salary commensurate with experience. PROJECT MANAGER - For community based not for profit housing corporation to coordinate development and construction of affordable housing. Experience working and negotiating with architects, contractors and government agencies. 3 years experience and BA required. 35K - 40K plus benefits. Please send resume and cover letter to: R. Visnauskas, CHDC, 403 West 40th Street, NY, NY 10018 or fax 212-967-1649. CITY LIMITS PSYCHIATRIC NURSE - Brooklyn's Women's Shelter, Full-time. Coordinates with social ser- vices staff to identify clients who are in imme- diate need of psychiatric screening evaluation or care. Coordinates the client's psychiatric care with medical clinic and shelter staff, as well as outside providers. Completes psychi- atric screening evaluation, psycho-social sum- mary, or other documents needed to facilitate transfer, and if indicated, referrals to outside programs or psychiatric clinics; additionally, for general and program shelter clients. Assists with obtaining the client's permission, information from corroborative sources. liai- son with hospital social workers, MRTIPRU as necessary. Implement system of medication administration or supervised self-administra- tion. Provide crisis intervention and/or counsel- ing to diffuse conflicts among clients. Partici- pates in monthly case conferences with Shelter staff. Coordinates emergency responses. Reg- istered Nurse licensed to practice in the State of New York. Minimum of five years clinical experience in psychiatric unit. BClS or BlS cer- tified. Bilingual a plus. $60,000 per annum. Send resume to HR Dept by fax: 718-346-7183 or email: jwong@bmsfhc.org. PUBLIC ASSISTANCE SPECIALIST - HELP USA, a nationally recognized leader in the pro- visions of transitional housing, residential and social services, presents the following opportu- nity: - Public Assistance Specialist - Assist res- idents in obtaining public assistance benefits. Work as a liaison between the residents and the agencies that provide income support ser- vices. Requirements: Bachelor's degree. Knowledge of income support programs including TANF, SSI , Food Stamps, etc. Profi- ciency in computers and Windows based soft- ware necessary. Valid US drivers license required. Send resume to: Gena Watson, Assis- tant Executive Director, HELP I, 515 Blake Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11207, fax 718-485- 5916, email gwatson@helpusa.org. EOE. A drug free workplace. PUBLIC EDUCATION COORDINATOR, ONE YEAR POSITION - Working with Project Director, develops and manages public education: cre- ating national publications; developing legal docket on drug policy issues; writing talking points, editorials, op-eds, materials for web- site; assisting with fundraising efforts; recruit- ing and supervising undergraduate interns; assisting with press-related work; participat- ing in conferences and youth events. Under- graduate degree; strong computer skills: Win- dows, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, lexis- Nexis; excellent organizational skills; ability to multi-task. Send resume and cover letter to Public Education Coordinator Position/AClU, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10004 or fax to 212-549-2657. PUBLICITY INTERN - The New Press, a non- profit publisher, seeks publicity intern to pre- pare press materials & track media coverage. Will receive weekly stipend & hands-on experi- ence. working with terrific authors & books. Commitment, communication skills, & energy required. Fax letter & resume to 212-629-8617 or e-mail tonewpress@thenewpress.com.No calls, please. Minority candidates strongly encouraged to apply. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 RECREATION SPECIALIST - For community based not-for- profit housing organization, develop and conduct activities, design empow- erment programs, link with community activi- ties. Experience with diverse populations. Cre- ative and organized, Spanish a plus. $22K- $25K plus benefits. Resume to Orchid Cruz, CHDC, 403 West 40th Street., NYC, 100018. Fax: 212-967-1649 RN'S - Edwin Gould Services, a large family services agency seeks RN's for adolescent girls' group homes in Brooklyn and Manhattan and for OMRDD supported group homes in the Bronx. Mon-Fri. No weekends. Com petitive salary and comprehensive benefits package. Send resume w/salary requirements to chasty@egsc.org or fax to 212-677-1799. SENIOR SOCIAL WORKER - Responsibilities: Candidate must be experienced in inter-team coordination and decision-making, possess excellent supervisory and administrative skills, knowledgeable in program management and service delivery within a community based set- ting. Proven capacity to work with adolescent, grade school youth and their families. A solid clinical background is essential for individual and group modalities. Qualifications: MSW +2 years post masters experience, strong verbal and written communication skills. Competent computer skills. Bilingual Spanish/English a plus. Salary $40,000+ commensurate with experience. Comprehensive benefits package. Send resume and cover letter indicating position of interest to: Mrs. Evans, Coordinator of Pro- gram Operations, The MI. Hope Housing Compa- ny, Inc. 2003-05 Walton Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453. Fax: 718-466-4788. No telephone calls. SOCIAL JUSTICE INITIATIVES PROGRAM COOR- DlNATDR - Columbia Law School has created a new department to develop and implement projects that will further Columbia's excellence in preparing the public interest and human rights lawyers of the future and advance Colum- bia's participation in capacity building projects in the U.S. and abroad regarding legal educa- tion, civil society and democratic governmental institutions. At first, the department will consist of the Dean for Social Justice Initiatives and a Program Coordinator, who would provide admin- istrative and programmatic support to her. The Program Coordinator also will playa major role in preparing and presenting conferences and other programs on substantive public interest and human rights topics. She also will be responsible for designing and maintaining the office's Internet products. Supervision of student employees, who staff the office on a part-time basis, and employees who are retained for spe- cific programs or events will also be necessary. Qualifications: The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate interest and participation in public interest and human rights issues as well as program management and strategic plan- ning. Excellent oral and written communication skills in English and Spanish also are required. Proficiency in additional languages would be a plus. Must have strong interpersonal, adminis- trative and organizational skills as well as a bachelor's degree plus 2 years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and expe- rience. Must be extremely detail-oriented, able to function independently and exercise discre- tion and judgment in sensitive and potentially controversial matters. Excellent computer skills, Internet research, desktop publishing programs, word processing and database management is required. Ability to initiate work and follow- through with minimal supervision as well as work under pressure, adapt to changing priori- ties and balance competing assignments is necessary. Evenings and some weekend work are required. A sense of humor is a must. Per- sons of color are strongly encouraged to apply. Salary and Benefits: Salary depends on experi- ence. There are good benefits including heath insurance, vacations and tuition credits. Inter- ested persons should send a cover letter describing their reasons for seeking this job and salary requirements, a resume and a brief writ- ing sample (does not have to be legal) to: Direc- tor of Human Resources, Columbia Law School , 435 W. 116th Street, New York, NY 10024, FAX: 212-854-7946. No e-mail applications will be accepted. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until an applicant is selected. Columbia University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. SOCIAL WORK (MSW Mandatory) - Creative, compassionate, smart MSW to help legal team represent clients in court. Address counseling, treatment, referral needs that brought clients into criminal justice system. Excellent writing skills. Bi-lingual (English/Spanish) a must. Benefits. Contact Denise, fax 718-665-0100. SOCIAL WORK CLINICIAN - HELP USA, a nationally recognized leader in the provision of transitional housing, residential and social services seeks candidates for a Social Work Clinician. A challenging opportunity for a cre- ative and dedicated professional to grow through hands-on practice through therapeu- tic groups and counseling individuals. MSW and computer literacy required. New graduates are encouraged to apply. Bilingual (English/Spanish) a plus. Salary starts in the low $30s. Send resumes to HELP 1, Attn: Gena Watson, 515 Blake Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, 11207 or fax at 718-485-5916 or email at gwatson@helpusa.org SOCIAl. WORK SUPERVISOR - Work in a rewarding, fast-paced, community clinic set- ting! Respected Early Intervention service provider seeks experienced CSW for a supervi- sory position. Responsibilities include manag- ing a multidisciplinary team in the assessment of the needs of developmentally delayed chil- dren, supervising the service coordination/case management staff, and some direct service. Fully bilingual in Eng- IishlSpanish mandatory. Must have knowledge of early childhood development. Experience supervising a multidisciplinary team, a plus. Position is integrated into an extended com- munity social service network through luther- an Medical Center's Community Programs divi- sion. Wonderful career opportunity with poten- tial for growth. Excellent benefits package. Send resumes to fax 718-439-0549. SOCIAL WORKER - Experienced Social Work- er for HIV Advocacy Project. Coordinate out- reach efforts, direct social service needs assessment, counseling and referral program. JOBADS Conduct needs assessments, develop service plans, provide short-term individual or family counseling and referrals for long-term coun- seling and related services. Work with staff to develop outreach material, and on court cases. Establish and maintain contact with neighbor- hood-based organizations, participate in bor- ough-wide outreach and represent the Project at meetings. Coordinate community education workshop and training program as well as its advisory board. Minimum requirements: Famil- iarity with HIV/AIDS-related issues, including permanency planning and confidentiality issues, and experience working with people infected with and affected by HIVIAIDS. M.SW. preferred. Fluency in Spanish highly desirable. Salary: Depending on education and experi- ence. Excellent benefits. To apply, send resume/recent writing sample: CarlO. Callen- der, Esq. Executive Director Queens Legal Ser- vices Corporation 89-00 Sutphin Boulevard Jamaica, New York 11435 SOCIAL WORKER - Social Worker for Child Welfare Preventive Services. Bi-lingual Social Worker (Spanish/English) to provide services to individuals/families in the preventive services program. Responsibilities include case man- agement, counseling, advocacy and crisis intervention. Requirements: MSW (preferable) or BSW plus I-year experience in child welfare setting. Salary commensurate with experience. For QUEENS position submit resume Attn: Gianna G. layne, Queens Program Director, lower East Side Family Union, Queens Preven- tive Service Office, 108-36 Queens Blvd. Ste. #204, Forest Hills, NY 11375 or email: glayne@lesfu.org or Fax: 718-575-5515. For Manhattan position submit resume to Attn: Administration, Lower East Side Family Union, 84 Stanton Street, NY NY 10002, or email info@lesfu.org or fax: 212-529-3244 SOCIAL WORKERISUPERVISOR - The staff member will be responsible for providing intake assessment and individual/family counseling in Government benefits such as: food stamp, SSI, Senior MedicaidIMedicare, WTC Disaster and post-traumatic counseling. Staff member should be a motivated individual committed to assist disadvantaged immigrant communities become self-empowered. All career opportunities are posted on our website at www.aafe.org. STAFF ASSOCIATE - Citizens Committee for Children of New York (CCC) is seeking a candi- date for a part-time position of Staff Associate for YouthAction. The position requires a mini- mum of three years direct work with adoles- cents, group work experience and a Bachelor's degree. Knowledge of government operations, public policy, advocacy and civic engagement strategies is also required. The Staff Associate will be responsible for planning and directing an experiential learning course for high school students and developing activities to improve the civic competency of youth in a twice-week- ly program. The position will also include plan- ning and implementing a range of advocacy and public education activities for both youth and adult volunteers. We are looking for a can- didate with excellent writing, communication and interpersonal skills to add to the team at CCC. Candidates must live in New York City or 49 JOB ADS 50 ILL U 5 T R AT ED M E MOS. om CEOFlHE CITIVISIONARY:
Hot, dirty, smelly subway stations are an unpleasant fact of city life, contributing to lower productivity rates and higher health care costs. H we can't beat the summertime heat, why not join it? GOT AN IMPRACTICAL SOLUTION TO AN INTRACTABLE PROBLEM? SEND IN OFFICE Of THE CITY VISIONARY CITY LlMITS MAGAZINE 120 WALL ST., 20 TH FLOOR, NY NY 10005 ootcv@citylimitS.ors CITY LIMITS be willing to relocate to New York City. CCC is an equal opportunity employer with competi- tive salaries. Minimum Qualifications: Group work experience and a minimum of three years direct work with adolescents; Knowledge of public policy, advocacy strategies and civic engagement; Excellent writing, communication and interpersonal skills. Education: Bachelor's Degree Salary Range: Commensurate with experience Reference Required Three refer- ences required To Apply: Submit cover letter and resumes by mail or email before July 17th to: Rose Anello Associate Executive for Public Affairs Citizens Committee for Children 105 East 22nd Street, 7th Floor New York, N.Y 10010 or email to: ranello@kfny.org STATE STRATEGIES ATTORNEY - ACLU Repro- ductive Freedom Project, One (l)Two Year Posi- tion. Coordinate and manage state-based pro- grams to assist ACLU state affiliates defend reproductive choice including training advo- cates to analyze legislation, conduct surveys, and assist minors requesting a waiver of their state's law requiring parental involvement in abortion decisions. Assist in litigation, includ- ing research, drafting sections of briefs, and reviewing affiliate briefs. Requires a law degree plus two years legal experience, strong analyt- ic, research, writing, and oral advocacy skills, ability to work under pressure. Letter of interest, resume, list of references, and legal writing sample to Louise Melling, Director, Reproduc- tive Freedom Project, ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 18th floor, New York, NY 10004- 2400. SUPERVISING PSYCHIATRIST - Brooklyn's Women's Shelter, Part-time, Ensures that the satellite center provides mental health ser- vices in a manner consistent with BMS' mis- sion statement and philosophy of practice. Ensures clinical practice compliance with managed CarelHMO, Federal & State guide- lines, BMS guidelines, standards establ ished by JCAHO, the DOH, and all other governmental agencies. Works with psychiatric nurse to con- duct psychiatric assessments. Responsible for implementing a method to obtain prescriptions for medication. Directly supervises psychiatric nurse to assure compliance with BMS policies, procedures and objectives. Assists in crisis intervention with clients, when necessary. Ensures coverage for mental health services during all of BMS @BWS's operating hours. licensed to practice medicine in New York State. Minimum of 5 years experience in deliv- ering psychiatric services. Board Certified or Board Eligible in Psychiatry. BLS Certified. $70Ihr. Send resume to HR Dept by fax: 718- 346-7183 or email:jwong@bmsfhc.org SUPERVISOR - Supervisor for Preventive Services Children Welfare Preventive Services. Challenging opportunity for MSW and/or CSW to supervise preventive service team in Chil- dren Welfare agency. Qualifications: Min. 2 year supervisory experience in child welfare, bi-lingual English/Spanish preferred. Family Case work experience a plus. Submit resume and cover to Administration, Lower East Side Family Union,84 Stanton Street, NY NY 10002, via email: info@lesfu.org, via Fax: 212-529- 3244. TEAM LEADER - HELP USA, a nationally rec- ognized leader in the provision of transitional housing, residential and social services seeks candidates for a Team Leader. Responsibilities may include but are not limited to: direct supervision of Case Managers, Employment Specialists, Housing Specialists, Substance Abuse Counselors, Continuing Caseworkers and Clinical Social Workers. Responsible for providing overall leadership of the interdisci- plinary team in client service delivery. Leads the team in the delivery of comprehensive on- site and/or community based services includ- ing assessment, counseling and linkages with entitlement. MSW preferred, or related degree with clinical focus required. Minimum three years supervisory experience, computer literacy with Microsoft applications and knowledge and understanding of team concepts, prefer- ably in a residential setting, required. Bilin- gual (English/Spanish) is a plus. Salary starts in the mid $30s. Send resumes to HELP 1, Attn: Gena Watson, 515 Blake Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, 11207 orfax at 718-485-5916 or email at gwatson@helpusa.org JOBADS TRAINING COORDINATORS(3) - CFRC, a non-profit organization is seeking three (3) Training Coordinators to provide training and technical assistance to United Way Food Stamp Access Project and CFRC staff; and conduct presentations and workshops to community organizations on Food Stamps and other benefits. Knowledge of Food Stamps and bilingual (EnglishlSpanish or Chinese) a must. E-mail resume to gsardel- li@cfrcnyc.org. For more information, visit our website www.cfrcnyc.org. TRANSITIONAL PLANNER/CASE MANAGER - The Osborne Association has several openings for Transitional Planner/Case Manager. Suc- cessful candidates will work 3 - 5 days/week at Riker's Island helping inmates prepare for release, arrange for post-release services, incl. securing housing, jobs and social services. Will also monitor clients post-release to make sure they follow up with program ser- vices. Bach degree and/or CASAC or CASAC-T helpful. 2 - 4 yrs. Exp. counseling ex-prisoners or similar population required. Note: DOC requires that individuals who work on Riker's be off correctional supervision (i.e. parole, probation, out of jail/prison) for at least 2 years. Fax resumes, cover letters and salary requirements to 718-707-3315 or email hr@osborneny.org. Indicate job reference code RIKJA in your cover letter. EOE Reach 20,000 readers in the nonprofit sector Advertise in CITY LIMITS! For more information, call Susan Harris at 212-479-3345. LET US DO A FREE EVALUATION OF YOUR INSURANCE NEEDS We have been providing low-cost insurance programs and quality service for HDFCs, TENANTS, COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT and other NONPROFIT organizations for over 15 years. We Offer: SPECIAL BUILDING PACKAGES . FIRE LIABILITY BONDS DIRECTOR'S & OFFICERS' LlABILTY GROUP LIFE & HEALTH "Tailored Payment Plans" ASHKAR CORPORATION 146 West 29th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001 (212) 279-8300 FAX 714-2161 Ask for : Bola Ramanathan City Limits and the Center for an Urban Future rely on the generous support of their readers and advertisers, as well as the following funders: The Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, The Child Welfare Fund, The Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock, Open Society Institute, The Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, The Scherman Foundaton, JPMorganChase, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Booth Ferris Foundation, The New York Community Trust, The Taconic Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Ford Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Ira W. DeCamp Foundation, LlSC, Deutsche Bank, M&T Bank, The Citigroup Foundation, New York Foundation. SEPTEMBER 2003 51 Workshops on Legal Issues for Nonprofits Employment Law September 17,2003 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at ESB Business Ventures for Nonprofit Organizations September 26, 2003 10:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m. at ESB Incorporation and Tax Exemption October 2, 2003 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at ESB Legal Issues Associated with Nonprofit Child Care Centers October 9, 2003 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at ESB Fundraising Law and Regulation October 22, 2003 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at LPP Basics of Housing Development October 27, 2003 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at ESB Legal Issues Associated with Operating After-School Programs November 5, 2003 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at LPP By-Laws and Corporate Governance November 17, 2003 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at LPP Mergers and Strategic Alliances November 24, 2003 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at LPP Incorporation and Tax Exemption December 4, 2003 10:00 a.m. - 1:00p.m. at ESB Nonprofits and the Internet December 12, 2003 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at ESB Legal Maintenance: Tax Compliance and Financial Accountability January 8,2004 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at ESB Developing Low-Income Housing Using the Federal Tax Credit January 22, 2004 10:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m. at ESB Workshops are located as indicated at either Empire State Building, 350 Fifth Avenue, Room2925 (ESB) or at Laura Parsons Pratt Conference Center, 281 Park Avenue South at East 22nd Street (LPP). For more information, or to make a reservation, please call 212 2191800. These workshops have been made possible by funding from The Department ofYouth and Community Development, except the Child Care workshop which has been made possible by Citigroup Foundation and The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation. Lawyers Alliance for NewYork is the leading provider of free and low-cost business law services to nonprofits that are working to improve the quality of life in NewYork's neighborhoods. 330 Seventh Avenue New York, NY 10001 (212) 219-1800 www.lany.org Lawyers Alliance for NewYork Making a World of Difference ... Building a Better New York
David Freemantle - What Customers Like About You - Adding Emotional Value For Service Excellence and Competitive Advantage-Nicholas Brealey Publishing (1999)