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Archives
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Gifford
Miller |
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Liz Krueger |
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Leslie Crocker Snyder |
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Catherine Stimpson |
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Eric Gioia |
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Adolfo Carrion Jr. |
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David Weprin |
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Featured Non Profit
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WIBO
The Workshop in Business
Opportunities was
started in 1966 in
response to the absence
of economic power in the
African-American
community.
Their workshop "How to
Build a growing
Profitable Business" has
been conducted at 28
locations in 8 states.
Over 9000 individuals
have graduated from WIBO
workshops and half of
them are presently
operating successful
businesses.
Please click below to
learn more.
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| A Tale of Two Cities By Council
Member David Weprin
Chair of the NYC Council Finance
Committee
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By Council member David Weprin, Chair
of the NYC Council Finance Committee
At no time throughout the storied history of our great city has
there been such an egregious disparity between classes. The divide
between rich and poor, between financially sound and fiscally infirm has
never been so apparent. The gap has grown to such increasing length that
the deteriorating middle class is rapidly becoming an almost nonexistent
sequitur to poverty. Cities as successful as New York can cope with hard
times, but coping does not mean settling; it means taking definitive
action that will concurrently help people in need while teaching them
how to help themselves. As Chair of the New York City Council Finance
Committee, one of my duties is to oversee which of the many proposed
initiatives receive the
support of taxpayer funding. Throughout the past four and a half years
in that capacity, I have come to the realization that the most effective
social reform that a City as diverse as New York can offer is the type
of program that not only aids, but advises. I am proud to say that New
York City houses many of those beneficial programs, of which nonprofit
organizations play a distinctly crucial role.
Beginning with the recently approved
Fiscal Year 2007 budget,
which was adopted July 1, 2006, the Council and I worked hard to restore
millions to financial improvement programs and nonprofit organizations
which take on the enormous responsibility of fostering economic growth
among low-income residents. We were able to restore $2.6 million for the
Consortium of Worker Education which trains workers with employment
challenges. We earmarked $6 million for the resoundingly successful
program called New York City Works which as a part of the Workforce
Development Initiative produced a series of training initiatives for the
long term unemployed, helping alleviate structural unemployment
problems. Recognizing the intense need to encourage business ownership
by minorities and women, we
were able to secure, $1.5 million for the Minority and Women Owned
Business Enterprise, which helps support new and emerging minority and
women owned businesses who are in need of entrepreneurial training in
the procedures for doing business with the City and engaging in major
public works projects. We also were able to dedicate $610,000 to the
National Foundation for Teaching
Entrepreneurship which teaches entrepreneurship to low-income young
people.
In addition to those initiatives which receive the financial
support of the City Council, there are a multitude of commendable
programs and organizations that have made a considerable difference in
the lives of low income residents by making the presence of financial
services and advice more accessible. The New York City Financial Network
Action Consortium facilitates the ability of low income people to gain
access to affordable, convenient and comprehensive financial services
and credit. The Workshop in
Business Opportunities is another example of a vastly successful
nonprofit that assists the financially disenfranchised by establishing a
series of workshops for small business owners in under-served
communities.
Welfare and social reform initiatives are a substantial
component of an city’s effort to assist those in the lower income
strata, but at the same time, assertive measures must continue to be
enacted that provide those people with the opportunity to improve their
own lives and economic standing. Nonprofit organizations have been of
immeasurable value to assisting poor and minority groups by promoting a
long-lasting, self-sustaining drive toward equal access to the best our
city has to offer. As an elected official of the City of New York it is
both my honor and duty to ensure that all New Yorkers, regardless of
economic standing have equal access to the wide range of financial
services that the City has to offer. Through their dedication and
commitment, nonprofit organizations such as the
few I have mentioned have played an integral role in helping millions
achieve access to services necessary to obtaining financial security.
The most comprehensive and beneficial assistance that can be offered is
that which not only provides help, but teaches people how to help
themselves.
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David Weprin
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Featured Non Profit
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NYC
Financial Network Action Consortium
The New York City Financial Network
Action Consortium addresses
the drastic loss of banking services
in New York City's low-income
communities.
NYCFNAC has put together a network
of the city's leading community
development credit unions to help
the city's low-income residents
gain access to affordable,
convenient and comprehensive
financial services and credit.
Among the programs that The
Consortium offers is Banking In The
USA.
In February 200 they partnered
with Centro de Educacion de
Trabajadores (CET), who provides
English and computer classes to
adult immigrants, to incorporate
basic banking concepts into CET's
English classes.
The Consortium has also developed a
series of workshops aimed at
improving low-income families' money
management skills, a key step to
help them build assets.
Please click below to learn more.
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Featured Non Profit
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StartingBloc
StartingBloc identifies and recruits
outstanding young leaders from
leading undergraduate institutions
who are dedicated to social
responsibility and civic engagement.
They train them in
principles of sustainability, social
enterprise, and corporate social
responsibility and place then in
results-oriented responsible
companies, social enterprises, and
M.B.A. and graduate school programs.
The Institute for Social Innovation,
founded by StartingBloc, offers a
unique Fellowship program for
undergraduate students and young
professionals interested in social,
economic, and environmental
innovation.
Please click below to learn more.
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