Your Pledge Dollars at Work: Local Mission Outreach
At its June meeting, the Session of MAPC approved grants to ten local organizations. MAPC helped found some of these organizations, and with all of them we have ongoing relationships, some of them going back many decades. Click on the links below to learn more about these groups, including their volunteer opportunities.
Health Advocates for Older People: $6K
A partnership with Union Settlement, which covers six senior centers between 97th and 120th St on the East Side, has increased awareness on home safety, how to use medical equipment, and with social workers increased mindful home programs among those clients. Partnerships in Chinatown help to combat both fear of change and abuse by landlords. – Deacon John Carr
James Lenox House Association: $5K
Their primary mission is to provide rental assistance to those seniors who are in severe economic need and help them meet their rental and utility expenses. No tenant of James Lenox House has ever been evicted. – Deacon Nancy Trinka
New Amsterdam Boys and Girls Choir: $8K
Its primary goal is to enrich the lives of the young people of East Harlem using choral singing as it’s motivator and springboard. – Deacon Nancy Trinka
Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter: $5K
Since MAPC’s last conversation with NCS in 2022, the NCS Scholars program [year-round housing and supportive services for college student in LIC] has successfully launched. This was a known need and many of the currently housed students were taken directly from shelters. Mental health support is also provided. – Rev. Chesna Hinkley
New Life of New York City: $5K
Rebuilding the volunteer base in the wake of the pandemic is one of New Life’s more urgent necessities. As Ms. Fleming put it, “Work is still ongoing, as what we have to offer these kids is even more urgent today than in the past.” – Deacon John Carr
Current inflation has made food much more expensive…as many people relying on SNAP see the funds dry up, NYCP becomes an alternative source to feed themselves. In addition, new immigrant arrivals in NYC have increased the need for NYCP services. According to Ms. Murtha, the total number of people served has gone up by about 30% compared to last year. – Elder Francois Silatchom
More specific volunteering would be greatly valued; such as using one’s professional skills for a specific project. – Elder Kunbi Oni
Over forty years, the program has graduated 520 men, with less than 10% recidivism rate in New York over the entire life of the program, and less than 1% for those who have been released over the past five years. Last year, the MPS program started for the first time to be delivered in the female detention facility of Bedford Hills in New York, and the first promotion of female graduates is expected in June 2023. – Elder Francois Silatchom
Search and Care: $5K
S&C’s Program Evaluator Consultant is continuing to develop/implement evaluation methodologies to determine correlations between S&C’s services and a client’s ability to age safely at home for as long as is feasible. – Elder Curtis Field
Presbyterian Senior Services: $7.5K
PSS’s services have been expanded from serving mainly seniors of 65 and above in the past to now also serving a pre-senior population, most of them from the lower income population, as well as some grand-children under the care of seniors. – Elder Curtis Field.
