Happy New Year!
Growing Leaders: Seven of our newest staff members are alumni of UCC youth programs
A Year of Growth and Change
Thank you for another year, for allowing us to be part of East New York and for being, in many ways, part of United Community Centers’ family.
As we approach our 60th birthday, we are reflecting on what UCC means to our members and our community: consistency, continuity, political independence, commitment to community involvement, a family atmosphere, and trust. In a time when many outside organizations are moving into East New York, it is vital to stand up so that UCC’s community members continue to have a place to envision their future.
This has been a year of change for UCC. We welcomed new staff members, saw community members grow up and take on new leadership roles, and were able to begin new programs. We welcomed a new East New York Councilmember, Inez Barron, and look forward to working alongside her to build a stronger community. Two longtime inspiring UCC members, Martin Eisenberg and Steve Faulding, passed, leaving behind a legacy of fighting for social justice.
As we enter a new year, we need our supporters to stand with us so that we can continue to build East New York into a community where families can grow stronger. As you reflect on the past year, please consider the great need that UCC fills in East New York, and make a contribution to bring us forward into the New Year. The UCC family wishes you and your family a peaceful and healthy 2014.
“UCC has changed life for me and my family. I attended the daycare when I was two years old, and was part of the East New York Farms Youth Program as a teenager. Working here when I was younger helped me grow as a person and learn how to talk to adults. Now my son is here, and I am a teacher, which means I am helping other young people grow and become better people the way I did. My mom knows that if she or her friends need help with anything, she can come and talk to Ana. It’s like a family.”– Tanya Mercado, daycare teacher
“East New York is a community that many look down upon and I cannot blame them, as this area is where crimes, health issues, and gang violence are the highest. However, because of the influence East New York Farms has had on me, I am motivated to go into the field of politics and implement the changes that would improve my community. I ultimately believe I can not only make small changes but create a movement in East New York that not only the city, but perhaps the entire nation, can follow.”– Saddiq Abdul, East New York Farms Intern
East New York Farms in 2013
This has been an exciting year for East New York Farms! After 10 years, we bid goodbye to our Project Director Sarita Daftary, but we are thrilled that our former Youth Program Director and Farm Manager David Vigil is stepping up to fill her role, guaranteeing the continuity of our mission. We were also gratified to see the deep impact of our Youth Program confirmed by a Youth Alumni Survey we conducted with help from the US Forest Service. Only 4% of the alumni we surveyed were unemployed and not in school, compared to 25% of East New York youth between the ages of 16 and 24 overall. Our markets continued to improve access to fresh and local food throughout the community; This year the market generated $114,000 in revenue, $50,289 of which was redeemed through food assistance programs.
Protecting the East
UCC has been “Protecting the East” with a wide variety of community health education services for decades, but this year we made it official! We launched ‘Protecting the East’, a new HIV prevention and women’s health project that opens access to health education, develops practical skills for healthy
behaviors, and improves access to health resources. Since the program’s launch on July 1st, we have distributed more than 100,000 condoms through street and event-based outreach, as well as through our 40 local business partners. That translates to 33.3 instances of protected sex per day! We also hosted three community health events in partnership with other organizations and facilitated 20 health education workshops. We were excited to welcome Myra Hellerstein to the staff as Protecting the East’s Project Director.
Planting Future Leaders
Considering how many new leaders we have found among our youth program alumni, we are excited about the expansion of our early childhood education program, the Morris L. Eisenstein Learning Center. Early this year, we added an additional 2-year-old classroom and in September added a full-day UPK classroom, bringing us up to seven classrooms. However, this exciting news was somewhat overshadowed by the closure of our after-school program. In August, we made the painful decision to close our after-school program, because continuous budget cuts had made it extremely challenging to run a program we felt proud of. We are focusing our energies on strengthening our early childhood education program while organizing and advocating with other city-wide groups to address the challenges that forced us to cancel the after-school program.
Welcoming New U.S Citizens
Our immigrant community is growing and becoming more diverse, with more families coming from Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In spite of a very small budget we served 104 immigrants this year. We assisted 11 immigrants in becoming U.S. citizens and 6 of them registered to vote. Immigrants attended our English and Civics classes, and rallied with us for immigration reform. In October we began doing outreach for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival), a new program that provides an opportunity for some undocumented immigrants to remain in the country without fear of deportation, apply for work permits, and access opportunities for economic and social incorporation.
Fostering Community Discussion & Debate
In August, UCC organized a non-partisan discussion forum for local city council candidates. Four city council candidates participated in the event, and it was attended by over 120 community members. UCC remains committed to fostering discussion and organizing around issues that affect our community, though our staff’s time to do so is limited. We hope to find funding grow this aspect of our programming in 2014.
Developing For the Future
This year we were (finally!) able to bring on a Development Director, Rachel Bishop, to expand our organization’s development capacity and explore new fundraising strategies.