1 0>

a 74470 94460 7
If They Can Build 4 Times Square ...
d
isclaimer: this is one of those "if-they-can-put-a-man-on-the-moon" screeds. But
really. A few New Yorkers get sick, and we carpet-bomb an entire species.
Corporations line up to back the lavish salvation of Grand Central Station and other
fading landmarks, while celebrities (thanks, Bette!) bailout community gardens. Hell, the
price of popcorn goes up, and the city's Consumer Affairs commissioner issues a report-
every single year-urging us to take our business elsewhere.
So why, in a city where real estate is as quotidian a subject of conversation as sports, the
weather and MTV's Undressed, does no one have the courage to declare war on the hous-
ing crisis?
Not so long ago, elected officials and their private-sector friends could be forgiven for
ignorance of the problem. But the past two years have made it impossible to avoid.
The headlines scream: The average mid-Manhattan apartment sells for $700,000, at
least according to a real estate broker that would like the price to go even higher.
Landlords unapologetically evict tenants just because they can get more rent from some-
one else. Families forgo basic purchases because they spend half their income on rent.
Reading the papers can be tough these days, like watching a slow-motion accident you are
helpless to prevent.
For the more soberly inclined, a new report from the Coalition for the Homeless offers a
stark assessment of the many forces-from the virtual deregulation of thousands of rental
apartments to the decimation of government funding for housing construction to the ever-
growing cost of construction-that have conspired, all too predictably, to put a decent place
to live beyond the reach of more New Yorkers than since the Depression. In 1970, the
Coalition found, New York City had nearly 300,000 more low-cost apartments than it had
extremely-low-income families. In 1995, poor households outnumbered apartments they
could afford-by more than 400,OOO-and the gap is surely worse now.
Here's another prediction: it's going to take another wave of catastrophic homelessness,
along with a fire or two that rages through warrens of subdivided rooms, to change the
housing situation from tabloid porn into a matter of political urgency. By the laws of the
politics of crisis, that's how it happens, whether it's labor reform after the Triangle
Shirtwaist fire or child welfare post-Elisa Izquierdo.
To their credit-and because they couldn't afford to ignore the problem-the Gore and
Bush (and, yes, Nader) campaigns have made building more affordable housing an elec-
tion-year issue. What are New York's mayoral contenders waiting for?
Cover photo by Joshua Zuckerman; Jonathan. Jasmin and Margarita Acevedo. Leif Erickson Park. July 24. 2000
Alyssa Katz
Editor
City Limits rel ies on the generous support of its readers and advertisers, as well as the following funders: The Adco
Foundation, The Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, The Hite Foundation, The Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter
Rock, The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, The Joyce MertzGilmore Foundation, The Scherman Foundation, The North Star
Fund, J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Booth Ferris Foundation, The New York Community
Trust, The New York Foundation, The Taconic Foundation, Deutsche Bank, M& T Bank, Citibank, and Chase Manhattan Bank.
lity Limits
Volume XXV Number 8
City Limits is published ten times per year, monthly except
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'-
It c e - l ~
SKY
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
FEATURES
How West Farms Was Won
As vacant lots disappear from the Bronx, nonprofit developers find
themselves squabbling over the space they have left. By Matthew Strover
Failure to Protect
Why do courts send kids to stay with the men who abused their
mothers? Because often, that's the only option they have.
Primary Residents
By Annia Ciezadlo
Striving to shape up some of the country's toughest neighborhoods, three projects
struggle to balance community organizing with a mandate to rebuild.
The Philadelphia Worry
A neighborhood congress has kept fractious enclaves working
together-with money that will soon run out. By Matthew P. Blllnchard
Vision Quest
Boston's Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative turns business-school
planning tactics into a tool for imagining a neighborhood's future. By liU Priluck
Street Smarts
Detroit residents take back a neighborhood block by block.
But can they turn abandoned houses into a new beginning?
PROFILE
High-rise Hellraiser
Sharon Djemal defends public housing tenants facing
eviction-and wins every single case.
PIPELINES
Change in the Bank
Bronx organizers revive an old weapon against slumlords:
By Kristin Palm
By Naush Boghossian
getting mortgage-holding banks to look after their assets. By Maura McDermott
Breaking Up the Party
Democrats are plotting to wrest control of the state Senate away
from the GOP. What stands in their way? Other Democrats. By lames Bradley
No Contest
Western Queens faced the unthinkable: a contested primary for Congress.
How the borough's political leaders made sure it didn't happen. By Sajan P. Kuriakos
Book Review
Little Faith
Cityview
Information Pleas
Spare Change
COMMENTARY
New York's Neediest (Re)organizations
Editorial
Letters
Briefs
DEPARTMENTS
2 Job Ads
Professional
4 Directory
5
132
By BiU Penuel
133
By Gelvin Stevenson
Iso
35
47

LETTERS i
,
DROPPINC POLITICAL
SCIENCE
Margaret Groarke panned my book-
an anecdotal account of my experiences as
a young person working on the 1997 may-
oral campaign-in your May issue. There
is nothing pleasant for an author about
reading a bad review, but it is downright
frustrating that Groarke has not reviewed
the book even remotely on the terms on
which it was written.
Groarke characterizes my book as an
"attempt to explain who wins and who
becomes yesterday's news." I m a d ~ no
such pretensions. The point of the book-
which every other review grasped-sim-
ply was to offer insight into how modern
campaigns function. For Groarke to evalu-
ate it as a work of political science is
unfair, but, more importantly, unhelpful to
prospective readers. Were the book to have
received this review-"Mandery offers an
unentertaining and not especially revealing
look at life behind the scenes of a modern
campaign"-I would have been disap-
pointed but accepted that the book had
been evaluated on its own terms.
More troubling, the political science
Groarke employs is unsound. I detail a
divergence of opinion between Mes-
singer's staff, who wanted to dedicate
more of the campaign's resources to field
efforts, and her consultant, Jim Andrews,
who thought the ratio was better skewed
in favor of television advertising. Groarke
writes that I "ignore the possibility that
all those people believe field campaign-
ing is important because it is important."
Had she read the book she would have
known that I, and everyone on the cam-
paign, agree. Page 85: "Given infinite
resources, no one questions the worth of
running a strong field campaign." Rather
than consider whether our campaign dealt
sensibly with the more subtle issue it
faced-whether scarce dollars are better
spent on television advertising than
field-Groarke simply ascribes an irra-
tional position to me.
Groarke continues, "Research shows ...
that the switch to TV campaigning has
played a part in depressing turnout." I have
no idea how to begin to address this state-
ment. Is Groarke suggesting that Messinger
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should have relied on field efforts to respond
to a quarter million dollars of ads that
accused her (remember this) of supporting
the proliferation of sex shops? Many good
reasons exist for America to collectively
deal with the disturbing anti-democratic
effects of television advertising. In rea1life,
though, a candidate who is attacked has no
choice but to respond in kind.
Finally, another note from the Could
She Have Been Reading the Same Book
Department: Could anyone who actually
read my book possibly say that my "loyal-
ties are clearly with the man who hired
him?" To the text: "Jim Andrews often
says his is an honorable profession, but I
have my reservations." And later: "As an
ethical issue, there is good reason to take
pause at Jim's decision to move to the cen-
ter and emphasize television over field."
My book has many flaws to be sure. Fair
criticism, though, is based on something
that could be reasonably inferred from a
text.
Evan J. Mandery
Margaret Groarke responds:
A diary is not a work of political sci-
ence, and I didn't judge it as such. But
Mandery tried to interest publishers and
readers in his book as one that tried to
draw some lessons about modem cam-
paigns. So why is he annoyed that I tried to
discuss his observations?
Saying, as Mandery does, that "given
infinite resources, no one questions the
worth of running a strong field campaign"
is meaningless. What 's important is what
you spend your money on when your
resources are limited. Although Mandery
makes an occasional nod to the impor-
tance of field organizing-just as he occa-
sionally seems critical of Jim Andrews-
his book emphasizes the importance of TV,
an issue on which he agrees with Andrews.
A diary can be expected to include a lot of
sometimes contradictory thoughts.
Clearly Messinger's choices were made
harder by the fact that she was so far out-
spent; she didn't have the luxury of saying,
"Let's do both field and N well." Since
Ruth couldn't win the N war-she could
never run as many ads as Giuliani-might it
not have made sense to put more energy into
getting her message out in other ways? His
inattention to the outer boroughs is one of
Giuliani 's failings; couldn't having a real
presence there been an effective way to point
that out?
CITY LIMITS
"
Culture
Orchestral Maneuvers
N
ew York City, cultural Mecca, meet
New York City, metropolis of social
engineering, paragon of the projects,
capital of subsidized programs for poor
city people.
Put them together, and the result is the New York
City Housing Authority Orchestra. It's not every
public housing regulatory body that employs its
own musicians, but NYCHA has about 45. Recruit-
ed from the ranks of professional freelance musi-
cians and supplemented by Housing Authority ten-
ants, the full orchestra plays two or three concerts a
year-even cracking Carnegie Hall last year.
Their repertoire-classical, semi-classical,
jazz and show tunes-may not be the stereotypical
score of the projects. But the tunes go over well
enough, judging from a recent performance of the
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
orchestra's brass quintet at Queensbridge Houses.
It was the 60th anniversary of Queensbridge,
the largest housing project in the United States.
The day was almost unbearably hot, but except
for one tenant who fainted most of the audience
was having a good time, sitting on the benches
chatting and taking advantage of free hot dogs
and burgers.
The brass quintet shared the bill with 22-year-
old DJ Funky Child, who played upbeat salsa,
house, and rap by stars like Sisqo and Montell Jor-
dan. The crowd-even its older members-got up
and danced.
Then, after a few songs, the NYCHA musi-
cians stepped in to mellow things out. Outfitted in
white-collared shirts and dark pants, armed with
tuba, French hom, trombone and trumpets, the
group tended toward the breezy and well-aged in
its play list, with tunes like ''In a Sentimental
Mood," ''Take the A Train" and selections from
Porgy and Bess.
The audience was markedly less enthusiastic
while the quintet played, but many did say they
appreciated the variety and a chance to hear some-
thing novel.
And according to trumpet player Aaron Flagg,
that's exactly the reason why civic activist Janet
Wolf created the orchestra 28 years ago: She felt
the orchestra would offer many minority classical
musicians or kids interested in classical music the
opportunity to play in a symphony orchestra. "It's
not just important as an orchestra," says Flagg. "It
exposes minority kids to classical music."
DJ Funky Child, a Queensbridge resident him-
self, agrees. ''The orchestra brings a different
sound to the projects and introduces a different
kind of music to the people here," he says. "We
need more different music like this. Someone
might hear it and wonder what it is and want to
pursue it."
-Naush Boghossian
Briem
s
.......... ------........ --------------
s
Holey Inspiration
W
atch your step-you might be treading on art, or at least underappreciated industrial
design. Diana Stuart's photo exhibit "Beauty Underfoot: New York's Manhole, Coal
Chute and Vault Covers" showcases the intricate designs that adorn these cast-iron lids,
and celebrates the work of the foundries that produced them. The show is at Brooklyn Center for
the Urban Environment Gallery in Prospect Park's Tennis House, open weekends, noon to 5 p.m.
through September 3.
Child Welfare
Adoption
Drop-off
T
he number of adoptions of foster chil-
dren plummeted by about 17 percent in
the past year, City Limits has learned.
While the number of adoptions has
remained relatively constant during the
past five years-fluctuating between 3,600 and
4,000 children annually--onJy 3,145 foster chil-
dren were adopted during fiscal year 2000. The
decline comes despite major new federal legisla-
tion to speed up the process, and a massive six-
year-long effort by New York City government to
increase the number and pace of adoptions.
The slump has several possible explanations.
Administration for Children's Services
spokesperson Jennifer Falk explains the decline as
a natural fall-off, the predictable result of a sharp
dip in the number of children who went into fos-
ter care in the mid 1990s.

For other child welfare watchers, though, the
answers aren't so simple. Some blame the
clogged-up courts, made worse by the year-old
federal Adoption and Safe Families Act, which
has put a strain on Family Court by demanding
faster legal processes.
Several adoption experts and foster care
agency adoption specialists suggest that, after
years of strenuous pro-adoption campaigns by the
city, the children still waiting for new families to
join are just not very adoptable. Falk calls this
theory a "myth."
The obsession with adoption numbers itself is
misleading, says Columbia University's Fred Wul-
cyzn, who has analyzed these data for ACS. He
contends that administrators should focus instead
on the amount of time anyone child spends in the
system waiting for adoption.
What's clear is that even the concerted efforts of
both federal and local government to speed up
adoptions have not met with much success. "Even
with everyone focusing attention on this, we still
can't reach the goals we should be reaching," says
John Courtney of Hunter College's Center for the
Study of Family Policy.
-Kathleen McGowan
Welfare
WEP'd Out
T
he city's Work Experience Program,
which puts welfare recipients into public
service assignments, is little better than a
"public sector sweatshop," according to
a recent report from the welfare rights
organization Community Voices Heard.
Under WEP, nearly 40,000 welfare recipients
work between 20 and 30 hours a week at govern-
ment agencies in exchange for their benefits.
Union leaders have long charged that the program
replaces unionized public employees with welfare
recipients, in violation of state law.
Surveying 649 welfare workers, CVH provides
evidence to support that charge. On duty as clerical
aides, custodial assistants, and parks workers, the
group found, WEP workers are doing much of the
same work as entry-level city employees. More
than three-quarters of the WEP workers reported
that their jobs include tasks that are supposed to be
reserved for union workers.
But instead of getting the $18,000 to $22,000
salary from an entry-level union position, each
welfare recipient gets only $5,000 to $8,000. "It's
a union busting tactic if there ever was one;' says
John Krinsky, who co-authored the report.
Deborah Bell, Director of Public Policy at Dis-
trict Council 37 , which represents Parks employees,
says that WEP workers almost never get hired as
salaried city employees. And the system isn't fair to
current full-time staff either, she adds: As the num-
ber of inexperienced welfare workers increases,
"more work and responsibility falls on the shoul-
ders of the remaining civil service employees."
WEP workers in the parks fare somewhat better
than in other city departments, according to the
Parks Department. The Parks Career Training
(PACT) program has helped place over 1,600 WEP
workers in private sector jobs over the past five
years. Many other welfare workers complain that
they often get shifted repeatedly from job to job
without getting hired. ''Workfare is really just
going to run in circles," says Verdin Rosemin, who
currently does clerical work for the city's welfare
agency-her fifth WEP assignment.
The city's new Transitional Jobs law was
designed to improve WEP by establishing 2,500
one-year jobs for welfare recipients over three
years-7,500 in all. The jobs will pay $7.50 an hour
plus benefits and will provide on-the-job training.
But so far, program backers report that city offi-
cials have basically ignored the new law, which
was passed over the mayor's veto in April and is
supposed to be implemented by next January. "I
don't think they're genuinely making an effort,"
says Brooklyn City Councilman Steven DiBrienza,
who sponsored the law. "And if they wait, they'll
never get it up and running." -Michael Haggerty
CITVLlMITS
J
........ --------.... ----------------Briem
Rich and Poor
Mind the Gap
T
oday's economy is such that Wall Street
millionaires must loosen their belts a
few notches every week. Unemploy-
ment is at the lowest in decades. TImes
are good. What, me worry?
Actually, a little fretting might be in order. A
recent report by the Independent Budget Office
shows that the gap between the rich and poor in
New York City is growing larger every year. The
middle class, which has garnered slim pickings
from Wall Street's feast of riches, appears to be
fleeing the city in search of an affordable lifestyle.
Analyzing a sample file of 118,000 tax returns
filed between 1987 and 1997, the rno discovered
the middle class has declined continuously-from
63 percent of all filers in 1987 to little under 57
percent in 1997. At the same time, the number of
poor filers-those with annual incomes of less
than $1O,OOO-rose steadily, from 13.4 percent in
1987 to 18.3 percent 10 years later.
The findings aren't surprising; they confirm
what many other reports have suggested. But
because rno analysts used tax return data, rather
than the Census data most reports rely on, they
were able to generate a much more accurate pic-
ture of the growth of the rich and super-rich.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
The analysis also reveals that the city is over-
whelmingly dependent on Wall Street. According
to report author Michael Jacobs, 24 percent of the
city's tax revenue now comes from the personal
income tax paid by downtown financiers.
This means a large fraction of the city's fiscal
base-and, as a consequence, its capacity to fund
social services-depends on this volatile income
stream. "We are skating on pretty thin ice," says
Mark Levitan of the Community Service Society,
the social services policy group. ''What happens if
the stock market crashes?"
Lobbying

a
rn
=
1:1
Among other causes, 1acobs blames the imbal-
ance on the decline of middle-income jobs in the
city. Levitan holds the inflationary price of afford-
able housing responsible. "A two-income family
making $75,000 to $100,000 a year can actually live
a middle class existence outside the city," he says.
The rise in the number of poor filers does not
necessarily mean a rise in poverty, Jacobs cau-
tions-it's more likely that more low-income peo-
ple are filing tax returns than did 10 years ago,
thanks to the new incentives provided by the
Earned Income Tax Credit -Sajan P. Kuriakos
Lobbying-it's not just for real estate tycoons and gJobe-
cnJShing corporations. While this year's report on who spent
what lobbying New York City government is dominated by big-
bucks real estate interests and insurance companies, the
records show that nonproflts ante up the cash as well.
GOOD
GOVERNMENT
-CHEAP! The Legal Aid Society, for example, shelled out more than
560,_ to lobby the city last year-more than twice as much
as the landlord-loving Rent Stabilization Association admitted spending. The Coalition for the Home-
less spent $50,393. Even pipsqueaks must pay the piper: Citizens Committee for Children spent
$24,000, and the budget watchdog City Prqject spent $3,500.
The cash figures don't necessarily reflect actual lobbying pull, points out Neal Rosenstein from
the New York Public Interest Research Group, which produces an annual analysis of city lobbying.
Good-government groups tend to be more honest when they report lobbying expenses. For example:
NYPIRG's lobbying outlay last year was $5,634. -Kathleen McGowan
Beyond Brownfields:
Visions of Equitable and
CITY LIMITS
High-rise Hellraiser
A lawyer takes on the public housing policy of guilty until proven innocent-and wins every time.
By Naush Boghossian
I
t's 6 p.m. and the office of the Urban
Justice Center is empty. But in a small
room in the back, a visibly tired Sharon
Djemal sits in her cluttered office and takes
notes as a client tells her his story.
The client, James, a 47-year-old man
who has lived in New York's public hous-
ing his entire life, is now facing eviction
for something he didn't do. It's become a
familiar refrain for Djemal, who has heard
hundreds of stories like his in the last two
years, from hundreds of tenants who are
getting thrown out of public housing for
minor crimes committed by their friends
or relatives.
In James' case, he allowed a friend who
had nowhere else to stay to live with him
for a while. Soon after he moved in, the
friend began to get regular deliveries of
boxes that turned out to be stolen property.
James had nothlng to do with the illegal
operation, but he was arrested along with
his friend. After spending the night in jail,
James decided to plead gUilty to a misde-
meanor in order to wash his hands of the
entire debacle.
But under the New York City Housing
Authority's policies, any tenant with even
a tenuous connection to criminal activity
gets the boot. James soon got an eviction
notice-and even though the arresting offi-
cer testified at his eviction hearing that
James had nothing to do with the crime,
NYCHA continued to try to get him out.
"With my salary, I can't afford to pay
the rents in thls city," says James, who
works 30 hours a week for less than $300.
He was desperate to get a lawyer when he
found out about Sharon Djemal and her
one-woman campaign.
Since 1996, the Housing Authority,
with encouragement from the federal gov-
ernment, has more strictly enforced its
severe evictions policy: one strike and
you're out. As a tenant, you are vulnerable
to eviction if your grandson gets caught
'smoking a joint on public housing grounds
or if your friend gets arrested with a small
amount of drugs. In fact, you don't even
have to be convicted of a crime to get
thrown out; just being charged on a drug
offense is enough.
The 31-year-old Djemal has devoted
the last two years to these tenants, who
have almost no other recourse. For one
thing, few lawyers understand the intrica-
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
cies of Housing Authority policy. ''Nothing
applies to [NYCHA]," she explains. ''Reg-
ular laws don't apply to their courts, and
most lawyers don't know how to deal with
them." Few tenants have the wherewithal to
mount an effective defense on their own.
"She's on the ball," the client says with
admiration when Djemal leaves the room
to make copies. "She cares. I just wish I
had found out about her earlier on."
But the truly remarkable thing about
Djemal is her track record. So far, out of
the roughly 100 eviction cases she's repre-
sented, Djemal hasn' t lost a single one.
She doesn't deny that there is a drug
problem in the housing projects, but Djemal
doesn't trunk the agency's eviction policies
hit the right people. ''The cases I get are just
sad stories. I don' t get the drug dealers com-
ing to ask for my help," she says, laughing.
"Chances are I would lose those cases."
I
f you had to pick out Sharon Djemal
based solely on her reputation, you
would pick wrong. She is small and
slight, and her regular garb-jeans,
sweaters, and T-shirts-belies her power-
house impact. Although soft-spoken, she's
also sharp, astute and driven, and she gets
riled when she hears stories of mistreat-
ment from her clients.
NYCHA attorneys would not comment
on what kind of an adversary she is. Howev-
er, Shajn Venable, Djemal's first client,
describes her as a formidable force. Over the
course of her two-year case, Venable says,
"When [NYCHA attorneys] would hear that
Sharon would be coming in to defend me,
they would moan, and say, 'Oh, no!'"
Djemal says that there was never any
doubt in her mind that she would go into
public interest law. While a student at
Columbia Law School three years ago,

PROFILE i
. ,
Sharon Diemal has
become a
formidable
representative for
tenants facing
eviction for
crimes they did
not commit.

Djemal was already focused on the big
problems in public housing.
At Columbia, Djemal created the
Housing Law Workshop with Adam Wein-
stein from the Westside SRO Law Project.
The workshop allows students to represent
tenants who would normally represent
themselves at NYCHA's administrative
eviction hearings. In the past year, those
Columbia students worked on 20 to 25
cases. So far, the Housing Authority has
either lost or dropped 12 of them.
Then, when Djemal graduated in 1998,
she was awarded the prestigious Soros Jus-
tice Fellowship and set up shop at the
Urban Justice Center. "She's taken a very
ferocious bull by the horns," said Patrick
Horvath, the former associate director of
the Urban Justice Center and the man Dje-
mal calls her mentor. 'The project Sharon
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH
But there is free legal assistance
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designed was for those people who have
no advocates. She's about the only person
in New York who took on these cases."
While attorneys from Legal Services and
Legal Aid do represent some of these
clients, says Horvath, Djemal "took the
cases they would never touch."
S
haron Djemal herself points out that
the cases she represents are but a
drop in the bucket-hundreds of pub-
lic housing tenants are hit with eviction
threats each month. But so far, she's just
about the only bulwark against this policy.
It comes right from the top. President
Clinton has encouraged zero-tolerance
rules in public housing, as a way to crack
down on drug use and dealing in the pro-
jects. The federal Department of Housing
and Urban Development, which funds
NYCHA, also has no legal objection to the
policy. According to HUD guidelines,
because evictions are not criminal matters,
housing authorities need not meet the crim-
inal standard of "proof beyond a reason-
able doubt" before kicking someone out.
And that's where the legal status of these
evictions stands. In one Minnesota case, a
12-year-old had a friend come over for the
first time when her mother was not home.
Upon leaving the apartment, the friend was
searched and caught with drugs. The courts
supported the housing authority's decision
to evict both mother and daughter.
Locally, the laws are more lenient, but
they still put the burden of proof on ten-
ants. New York's courts determined in the
1970s that if a tenant can prove that the
person who got arrested doesn't live with
him or her, that person can't be evicted.
'The Housing Authority sees that they
can get away with evicting a lot of people
who don't have lawyers," says Djemal.
"With representation, the client does not
get evicted, or the Housing Authority gets
lazy and drops the case. You don't need to
be a brilliant lawyer to do this work."
Why does the Housing Authority persist
in trying to evict tenants when Sharon Dje-
mal's work has made it clear that all tenants
need is a lawyer to fend off an eviction?
Both Djemal and Judith Goldiner, staff
attorney at the Legal Aid Society, believe
that the Housing Authority's agenda is to
replace current tenants with a new class of
residents-the "richest of the poor," as
Goldiner puts it. "I believe their mentality is
to get what they consider the poor deadbeats
(continued on page 34)
CITY LIMITS
J

Change in the Bank
Who'da thought? Housing advocates and billion-dollar banks join forces to police Bronx slumlords. i ~
I
By Maura McDermott
E
's not that Stephanie Delaney has so
much in common with the bankers in
everly Hills.
The Bronx mother of two has seen rats
scuttling across her stove, scurrying from a
tunnel they chewed through the wall
beside her bathtub and even running up
and down her curtains.
At night, the trash in the courtyard of
2275 Morris Avenue-where she pays
$500 a month for a one-bedroom apart-
ment-writhes with-rats as they scrounge
for their dinner, emerging with pizza crusts
and other treats clutched in their jaws.
She's a long way from 90210. But now
Delaney and First Bank of Beverly Hills,
which holds the mortgage on her building,
share a mission: to get rid of her absentee
landlord. It's an unlikely alliance, but it
seems less unlikely given the feisty organi-
zation that brought the two together. The
advocacy group, the Northwest Bronx
Community and Clergy Coalition, is well
known for its no-mercy campaigns against
slumlords and the see-no-evil banks and
city officials that look the other way.
Over the years, Delaney's building
racked up 314 violations of the city's hous-
ing code and $16,500 in fines, but that
never seemed to convince landlord Sander
Gjonaj to change his ways. So instead of
simply continuing to help tenants like
Delaney report dangerous and unlivable'
conditions to the city's Department of
Housing Preservation and Development,
the coalition developed an innovative strat-
egy: Alert the mortgage holders.
When banks grant mortgage loans, they
protect their investments with a so-called
"good-repair clause" requiring landlords to
keep buildings in sound condition. But that
directive, buried in pages of legalese in
mortgage agreements, often goes ignored.
Looking into the records, NWBCCC
found that one institution, Long Island-
based North Fork Bank, holds the mort-
gages of nearly four in 10 apartment build-
ings in the area. "We sat back and realized
that [the neglected buildings] had some-
thing in common," says Bevon Dabrio,
president of her local arm of the coalition
and a tenant at 2185 Grand Concourse. "So
we said, okay, we can do a joint effort."
The coalition thus revived a strategy it
had used to good effect in the late 1970s and
early 1980s, when neighborhood organizers
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
successfully pressured banks such as Dollar
Dry Dock and Eastern Savings to force
landlords to honor the good-repair clause.
by fixing leaky roofs and broken windows.
Pushing banks to get involved in repairing
more than 20 buildings, they've had some
success at making the changing economics
of lending in Bronx work for tenants.
I
t may be an old trick, but it's particu-
larly timely now. As a supercharged
economy leads reputable banks like
North Fork to seek investments in even the
poorest urban areas, landlords looking for
lower interest rates have ditched storefront
mortgage brokers in favor of banks.
What's more, a 23-year-old law called
the Community Reinvestment Act compels
banks to quit "redlining" undesirable
neighborhoods. Regulators can prohibit
misbehaving banks from relocating
branches or-most significantly-from
merging. Since mergers are about as hot as
Harry Potter these days, banks ignore the
law at their own risk.
So far, the alliance between North Fork
and the coalition has had impressive
results. As the bank has learned of haz-
ardous conditions in its investments, ten-
ants have seen burned-out apartments
rehabbed, a roof replaced and new inter-
com systems and mailboxes installed. At
one building, the landlord hired a superin-
tendent for the first time in years. Advo-
cates at Northwest Bronx credit North
Fork's ongoing bid for a hostile takeover
of Dime Savings Bank of New York: The
bank is seeking good public relations and a
thumbs-up from CRA examiners, they say.
The partnership with North Fork has
worked well. But legally, the coalition is not
on firm footing, since the reinvestment law
only requires banks to invest in their com-
munities, not to monitor those investments.
PIPELINE i
,
With her landlord's
bank as her
unlikely enforcer,
Stephanie Delaney
is pushing for
basic repairs.
_\

Indeed, not all banks have been as
receptive. When Yolanda Vann, chair of the
coalition's housing committee, approached
Dime seeking a collaboration, the bank
brushed her off. An ongoing partnership
with the coalition "might too closely align
the Bank with the interests of the tenants,"
vice-president John F. MacDonald Jr. wrote
to Vann in September, "at the risk of alien-
ating the Bank's customers, the owners."
George Klett, a vice-president at North
Fork, says his bank is not worried: "The
reputable owners don't mind." In a letter to
the coalition, Klett emphasized his Bronx
roots and his bank's interest in making
loans to good owners and bringing slum-
lords..,-inherited from the banks North
Fork has acquired, he says-into line.
Chief Executive Officer John Kanas even
toured the neighborhood with Northwest
Bronx to see his collateral first hand.
It's hard to imagine the head of the
First Bank of Beverly Hills doing the
same, given that his office is nearly 3,000
miles away. Instead, the West Coast insti-
tution, whose New York mortgage loans
totaled $33.5 million in 1999, must rely on
an investigator based in Westchester.
Although the bank's investigator did
tour Delaney's building after the tenant
sent an informative letter to CEO Richard
Cupp, the visit was ultimately of little use.
According to Delaney, the investigator
"chose to ignore" the collapsing ceilings,
rat-infested basements, crumbling plaster
and broken stairs. She says a bank official
told her that the investigator had cited only
a "cleanliness problem" in his report to the
bank, a phrase that galls her.
Jim Preston, a vice-president at Wilshire
Credit Corporation, an affiliate of the bank,
would not comment except to confirm that
the bank does hold the building's mortgage.
A
recent visit to Delaney's building
found more than just trash in the
hallways. On the stairway up to the
roof, one step was missing, leaving a gap-
ing hole. A metal bar was missing from the
stairway railing on the fifth floor, leaving
enough space for a child to slip through.
Aleda Collier lives on the fifth floor
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with her two-year-old son Ramel, and is
furious about the hazards. A window once
fell from its frame and nearly landed on her
son's head, she says. Fungus caused by
leaks rendered her last apartment unlivable,
forcing her to move across the hall, where
hot water is an unpredictable lUXury.
A few residents have gone on rent
strike in protest. Gjonaj, who is seeking to
evict Delaney, did not return calls seeking
comment. But a private contractor hired by
Gjonaj says he had begun placing rat poi-
son in walls and fixing up hallways, stairs
and unoccupied apartments.
The situation is so dire, though, that the
tenants have asked the city to take the
building out of Gjonaj's hands. Seeing its
investment threatened, the First Bank of
Beverly Hills has filed for foreclosure, its
first real move against the landlord.
Northwest Bronx is now trying to
expand the effort. Joining a coalition of
community organizers who met with fed-
eral officials in April, NWBCC got bank
regulators to hold a neighborhood hearing
in the Bronx and to consider amending the
way they evaluate banks seeking mergers
nationwide, so that banks might quit toler-
ating slumlords.
Such moves encourage the tenant lead-
ers, but should Delaney and her neighbors
really rely on, say, the Federal Reserve
Bank for heat and hot water?
Their concerns are "a housing depart-
ment issue rather than a lenders' issue,"
says Peter Bakstansky, a senior vice- pres-
ident at the Reserve.
Given the city's chronic inability to force
landlords to keep buildings in good condi-
tion, it's a worthy effort, says Sarah Ludwig,
executive director of Neighborhood Eco-
nomic Development Advocacy Project, who
has been following Northwest Bronx's
moves. Still, she cautions, "you certainly
don't want to privatize code enforcement"
Even those putting the new strategy into
practice have some doubts. Although
Dabrio remains hopeful, she says that, so
far, North Fork's letters and visits have
been "not effective at all" in forcing her
landlord to fix the problems. Dabrio's opin-
ion on what might work against slumlords
is blunt. ''They need to put them in prison,"
she says. ''The way I see it, [lax enforce-
ment] is like putting a criminal back on the
street. It's just too easy."
Maura McDermott is a reporter for the
Riverdale Press.
CITY LIMITS
Breaking Up the
Party
Democrats could rule the state legislature
.-:-ij only other Democrats would let them.
/'/ By James Bradley
P
oliticians and their hired consultants
usually have an answer for every-
thing. But one question seems to
stump even the savviest New York politi-
cos: How long have the Republicans run
the New York State Senate?
"Forever," ventures Eric Schneider-
man, a Democratic state senator from
Manhattan and the Bronx. "Since some-
time in the 1800s."
"Since time immemorial," suggests
Norman Adler, a political consultant who
works for both Democrats and Republicans.
The jokes are telling. (For the record:
Besides a one-year stint in the 1960s, the
GOP has ruled since 1939.) Republican
control of the Senate has become such a
staple of state politics that most accept it as
a fixture in Albany, as predictable as foul
weather and bad architecture. The Democ-
rats have the Assembly, the Republicans
have the Senate, and most politicians are
content to live with it.
New York's divided government allows
each party to blame the other for budget
boondoggles and legislative stasis. Carefully
gerrymandered districts protect incumbents
on both sides of the aisle. Few legislators
have wanted to upset that balance of power.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
But even in Albany, things can change.
Republicans have fallen on hard times in
Westchester and Nassau, and the GOP's
majority in the 61-seat Senate has been
whittled down to a mere six seats.
So Democratic leaders are now mak-
ing a major push to take over the Senate-
a move that could finally get New York
City everything from more cash for edu-
cation and job training programs to better
subway service. They have some forces in
their favor. For one thing, this is a presi-
dential election year, in which voter
turnout will be high-and anticipated to
swing largely in favor of Democrat Al
Gore. It's also the final election to be run
in districts drawn based on the 1990 cen-
sus; that is, in districts that have since
become more ethnically and culturally
diverse. Statewide, the Democratic party
has an edge among newly registered vot- .
ers, with a margin of nearly 2 million over
the Republicans-an increase of 40 per-
cent during the past two years.
With these favorable omens in mind,
Brooklyn'S Martin Connor, the minority
leader, and Schneiderman, who heads the
Democratic Senate Campaign Committee,
have been raising money and recruiting

~
2
candidates to challenge about a dozen
prominent Republicans statewide. In New
York City, they've focused on taking
down three senators: Roy Goodman of the
Upper East Side, Frank Padavan of
Queens and Guy Velella of the Bronx.
Their most active base of support is in the
party's liberal wing and the Working Fam-
ilies Party, which played a part in the
recent Democratic takeover of the Nassau
county legislature.
The races will not be easy, since each
Democratic hopeful faces a well-financed
veteran incumbent. But the Democrats
have a bigger problem than Republican
cash: resistance from their own ranks. In
the Bronx, the Democratic county leader
rules in close consultation with his Repub-
lican counterpart. Queens Democrats have
had a decades-long nonaggression pact
with the borough's lone Republican sena-
tor. Organized labor continues to accumu-
late massive debts to the GOP, most
recently for the legislature's passage of an
automatic cost-of-living adjustment for
retired public employees. And Assembly
Majority Leader Sheldon Silver is not par-
ticularly eager to divvy up his power with
a new set of Democratic leaders in the

PIPEliNE i
,
Me

Senate, say party insiders.
If the Democrats are going to retake
Albany, they must first get several coun-
ties worth of party deal-makers to take a
break from business as usual. Traditional
Democratic allies will need some con-
vincing to back these battles, says politi-
cal consultant Hank Sheinkopf. "Old
habits die hard."
G
uy Velella should be a shining
example of a Republican whose
time to go has come. His district,
once overwhelmingly Italian-American,
has become increasingly Hispanic and
Democratic. This Bronx county leader is
also in the sights of Manhattan DA Robert
Morgenthau, whose investigators recently
showed up with search warrants to take
files from Velella's Morris Park law office
that reportedly relate to his fundraising
activities. On top of that, his likely oppo-
nent, Lorraine Coyle Koppell, wife of for-
mer state Attorney General Oliver Kop-
pell, has the name recognition, experience
and resources to take the seat.
But Bronx Democratic party leader
Roberto Ramirez has other ideas. Ramirez
. has been in the news lately because of his
apparently suicidal decision to endorse
insurgent Larry Seabrook in his race
against longtime Congressman Eliot
Engel. Less visible are Ramirez's equally
contrarian machinations in the race
against Velella.
Though most of the district's elected
Democrats are with Coyle Koppell,
Ramirez is backing her opponent in the
September primary-one Mike Benedet-
to, a political journeyman unlikely to
defeat Velella. What's more, Coyle Kop-
pell says that when she told Ramirez she
planned to run, the Democratic leader
openly "discouraged me from running."
Ramirez has tried to dissuade another
potential Velella challenger, Engel aide
John Calvalli, as well.
"Ramirez is out to protect Velella,"
charges Schneiderman. Indeed, the two
party leaders have enjoyed a close work-
ing relationship, divvying up the bor-
ough' s Albany pork. Ramirez even
awarded Velella the Democratic line in
the 1996 election-and Velella won sub-
stantially more votes as a Democrat than
as a Republican.
Many Democrats fear that a costly pri-
mary will inevitably strengthen Velella, but
Ramirez disparages the suggestion that
he's out to make trouble. "I have a God-
given constitutional right to endorse who-
ever I want to;' a defiant Ramirez tells City
Limits. "I don't expect everybody else to
live by that credo." Contending that
Benedetto is a stronger candidate than
Coyle Koppell, Ramirez denies any quid
pro quo with Velella. Insists Ramirez, "It's
my job to elect Democrats."
As in the Bronx, so in Queens. Like
their counterparts in other boroughs,
Democratic party leaders have treated their
Republican senators like an endangered
species, protecting them from extinction in
order to maintain access to Senate leader-
ship. A friend across the aisle can provide
access to the higher reaches of the Repub-
lican party, an invaluable asset in deal-mak-
ing between branches of the legislature.
Democratic leaders
treat Republican state
senators like
endangered species,
protecting them from
extinction to maintain
access to Albany
leadership.
Queens has just one Republican sena-
tor, and he's been in office for 29 years.
For most of that time, Frank Padavan was
considered untouchable. But a Padavan
protege lost his longtime Assembly seat in
1996, revealing the senator as vulnerable.
Two years later, he faced a strong chal-
lenge from Morshed Alam, a School Board
29 member who won 40 percent of the
vote even though Democratic leaders
refused to support him.
Doug Forand, an aide to Senator Con-
nor, insists the Democrats are serious about
taking down Padavan this time. ''The
Queens organization has been very help-
ful ," he says. The reason party leaders did-
n't support Alam, Forand claims, is that
they feared that backing the Bangladeshi
Alam would hurt an Assembly candidate,
Anne Carozza, who was counting on white
ethnic support.
But "helpful" apparently does not
include supporting a proven contender this
time around. After planning to face Com-
munity Board 8 member Rory Lancman in
this month's Senate primary, Alam quietly
withdrew, deciding instead, at the party's
urging, to run for City Council next year.
O
rganized labor can make or break a
state Senate candidate, but not all
unions will stand together this fall.
In coordination with the Working Families
Party, which is backing all three Democra-
tic Senate challengers, the Communica-
tions Workers of America, the United Auto
Workers and other unions are putting their
weight behind the challengers.
Public-sector unions are another story.
Dependent on Albany's financial lifeline
and eager to gain an edge in collective bar-
gaining, they will likely back the Republi-
can incumbents. "Forty percent of our
endorsements have gone to Republican
candidates," says Mario Cilento, director
of public relations for the state's AFL-
CIO. "We do not look at a candidate's
party. We get behind candidates."
It's no wonder. This summer, the
Republican-led Senate passed legislation
authorizing cost-of-living increases in
workers' pensions, capping a year of gains
for public employees. ''This is one state
where Republicans have recognized the
importance of working hand-in-hand with
labor," explains Adler.
The alliance between Senate Republi-
cans and organized labor is a touchy topic
for the city's progressive labor leaders,
who say the policy is shortsighted. "Many
public-sector unions have automatically
endorsed all Republicans, regardless of
their record," says one labor activist, who
requested anonymity. "When endorse-
ments are so knee-jerk, there's no incen-
tive for legislators to change."
Indeed, the Senate remains largely hos-
tile to workers-witness its recent rejec-
tion of a minimum wage hike. Many in
labor fear the GOP's retribution, and find
they have little room to maneuver. 'The
practice [of endorsing Republicans 1 is so
deeply entrenched, anything less than a
blanket endorsement is seen as treason,"
says the activist.
Clearly, Republicans are nervous. In
the final weeks of this year's session, the
Senate passed bills on gun control, hate
crimes and HMO reform-bills that had
languished in committee for years.
(continued on page 34)
CITY LIMITS
No Contest
How the Queens machine derailed a challenge for Congress.
By Sajan P. Kuriakos
P
olitics in Queens are usually as pre-
dictable as the stench of Flushing
Bay at low tide. But for a few
months this year, residents of western
Queens faced an unbelievable prospect.
For the first time in recent memory, they
were going to choose who would represent
them in Washington.
Then, as if it were all a dream, a con-
tested primary in the 7th Congressional
District became a one-man show again.
That man is incumbent Joseph Crowley,
the protege of Queens Democratic county
leader Thomas Manton. His challenger,
City Councilmember Walter McCaffrey,
dropped out of the race in late July amid
charges that he had misappropriated cam-
paign funds.
How those charges came to light, and
the efficiency with which McCaffrey was
pushed out of the race, says much about
where the Queens Democratic Party stands
these days. Ending a race that had
promised to bring new immigrant and
advocacy groups into the borough's tight
orbit of power, the coup was potent proof
of how desperate the county's all-white
leadership is to stay in command.
On July 26, a host of NYI 's Inside City
Hall confronted McCaffrey with a report
that the candidate had used campaign funds
from his City Council races for personal
purposes. Specifically, he had paid a livery
cab service some $50,000 out of this pot
over the past two years. A flustered McCaf-
frey responded that because of his weight
and his inability to drive, he needed a car
service. The next day, the weekly Queens
Tribune published a story revealing dis-
crepancies in McCaffrey's account keep-
ing. Both stories, insiders say, were orches-
trated by the Queens county leadership.
Within another 24 hours, McCaffrey
dropped out of the race. "Questions about
my financial filings and difficulties in rais-
ing sufficient funds have cast a cloud over
the campaign," he wrote in a terse state-
ment. McCaffrey's own consultants were
taken aback. After the television appear-
ance, one member of McCaffrey's team
recalled, ''I felt he had handled himself
well, his argument was credible."
But it wasn't just the news reports that
persuaded McCaffrey to drop out. Sources
within the Queens Democratic Party say
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
McCaffrey met with City Council Speaker
Peter Vallone and Queens Party boss Man-
ton before he announced his resignation.
Apparently Vallone, who had already
thrown his support behind Crowley,
offered McCaffrey a deal: The council
ethics committee would not pursue the
matter of misused campaign funds if
McCaffrey shelved his congressional aspi-
rations. In either case, McCaffrey-whose
term in the City Council ends next year-
was finished.
''This was not about beating Walter. It
was about destroying him," says Lois Mar-
bach, a political consultant to McCaffrey.
''This was personal."
Described by one supporter as the guy
who "could have been a contender,"
McCaffrey is considered by his colleagues
on both sides of the aisle as one of the
more savvy players in City Hall. But
McCaffrey, inexplicably, had left himself
open to attack during a particularly con-
tentious election. This is not the first time
McCaffrey has faced questions about his
finances. A few years ago he faced scruti-
ny from the Internal Revenue Service for
not filing his taxes. McCaffrey apologized,
settled his IRS tab, and promised it would
never happen again.
''It was the first thing I asked him when
I heard he was going to run," recalls Arthur
Nitzburg, a longtime Queens political
columnist. "I questioned him whether
there were any financial problems that
could catch up with him. He assured me
there weren't any."
Manton didn't waste any time in hack-
ing away at the opening presented to him.
The county leader, sources say, was out-
raged that McCaffrey was challenging his
authority by running against Crowley,
and he did his best to dissuade McCaffrey
from running. Early on in his campaign,
McCaffrey did confirm that he had had a
meeting with his boss but refused to
reveal the substance of the discussion.
"That's personal," he said.
Another insider says Manton didn't
take kindly to McCaffrey's refusal to drop

PIPEliNE ~
,
The winner:
Congressman
Joseph Crowley
will run
unopposed in this
month's primary,
courtesy of county
chair Tom Manton.

The loser: City
Council member
Walter McCaffrey,
who aspired to
Congress but left
himself wide open
to opponents'
attacks.
out and vowed he'd "wipe the floor with
him." Going after the councilman, Manton
promised, would be "like blood sport."
T
his summer's wild ride was the
sequel to a previous act of Manton-
ian chutzpah. In July 1998, Thomas
Manton suddenly announced he would
retire from the congressional seat he had
held for 14 years. Just days before the
deadline to file nominating petitions for
that fall's primary, he handed over his sig-
natures to a little-known assemblymember,
36-year-old Joseph Crowley. .
McCaffrey had been patiently waiting
in the wings for Manton to vacate the con-
gressional seat, confident, he has suggest-
ed in recent interviews, that he was next in
line for the Capitol Hill job. When Manton
chose Crowley instead, the scorned
McCaffrey decided to take on the machine
that had helped create him. "I think Tom
made a major error in the manner he left
office," McCaffrey huffed this July. ''That
in essence is what this is all about."
In this political grudge match, it was
the Queens leadership that delivered the
knockout punch. A week befote the NYI
report, a package containing the details of
McCaffrey's alleged financial impropri-
eties arrived at the offices of The Hill, a
Washington political weekly. The Hill is
owned by News Communications, the
newspaper chain that also owns the
Queens Tribune. And it was the Queens
Tribune that had sent the package to edi-
tors at The Hill.
They assigned the story to Adam Aren-
son, a summer intern at The Hill. It
appeared the following Thursday-not in
The Hill, but in the Queens Tribune, where
it appeared under Arenson's byline as a
"special correspondent."
A source familiar with the situation
says that Queens Democratic Party leaders
had hoped the story would first appear in
The Hill and then be picked up by New
York media, distancing the report, at least
geographically, from the blood feud with-
in the party.
Tamara Hartman, managing editor of
the Tribune, explained the out-of-town
byline: "We are sister papers. We often
share stories." But there is no evidence that
the Tribune has ever previously published
a story from The Hill. When asked why the
Tribune chose to investigate McCaffrey's
City Council campaign financial records,
and whether it had subjected Crowley to
the same scrutiny, Hartman refused to
comment further and said that the assign-
ment had been the decision of the editor
and publisher, Michael Schenkler. Schen-
kler did not return calls from City Limits.
Ever since it was founded by Congress-
man Gary Ackerman, the Queens Tribune
has eamed a reputation as a mouthpiece
for the Democratic Party. Under subse-
quent owner Jerry Finkelstein, it was to be
the propaganda sheet for his son Andrew
Stein's mayoral campaign. And under cur-
rent owner Wilbur Ross, the Tribune was
supposed to help his wife Betsy McCaugh-
ey Ross realize her gubernatorial fantasies.
The Tribune also retains its ties to the
Queens ruled by corrupt party boss Donald
Manes. The newspaper's associate publish-
er and head of community relations,
Michael Nussbaum, ran Manes' cam-
paigns. In 1987, he was convicted of solic-
iting a $250,000 bribe from Cablevision,
which was seeking the deal to wire
Queens, on his boss's behalf. (The convic-
tion was later overturned on appeal.)
Manes also appears at the top of a Schen-
kler list of the 30 best things that
"touched" him in his life.
M
cCaffrey's political career is
most likely over, but he's not the
biggest loser in this race. With its
burgeoning immigrant population, western
Queens is home to dozens of associations,
political clubs and other groups that were
in the process of exchanging their support
for McCaffrey or Crowley for promises of
future favors and endorsements.
Assuming they picked the winner, that
backing would have provided the crucial
support their own candidates need to get
into political power themselves. Now, no
longer needed, a host of aspirants find
themselves grounded.
"Is this a dictatorship?" asks Haydee
Zambrana, president of the immigration
advocacy group Latin Women in Action.
Zambrana is a Crowley supporter, but she
wastes no time in blasting the county lead-
ership. "Even 20 years after Manes, nothing
has changed." Her immediate concern is the
political future of her community. "What
will happen to Latino empowerment if this
kind of mechanism exists in Queens?"
It's a question of immediate concern to
Colombian immigrant William Salgado.
Salgado was ostensibly loyal to Manton,
who had appointed him as one of six "at-
large" district leaders. Manton had created
these ceremonial posts in the early 1990s
and filled them with Latino and Asian
allies. It was an easy response to criticisms
that the party leadership didn't reflect who
actually lived in the borough.
CITY LIMITS
But in 1998, Salgado decided to
oppose II-term assemblymember Ivan
Lafayette, the county organization's
choice. ''My main interest was to bring
Latino power in Queens," says Salgado,
who lost that election. "No Latinos from
Queens have been elected to office." He is
trying again this year and had counted on
McCaffrey's support.
Crowley, too, had been shoring up his
standing in the Latino community, by
supporting amnesty for illegal immi-
grants and using his office to provide
resources and favors to social service
groups. While McCaffrey was still in the
running, Zambrana- was realistic about
why Crowley has worked so hard for
Latinos. "If he knew there would be no
election, do you think he would have
made an effort?" she asked,
But Zambrana also knew why she was
pulling for Crowley. While working with
the incumbent for now, she looks to a
future where a Latino representative will
bring in the same services and dollars that
Crowley does. ''Not because he or she is
Latino," she points out. "But because we
are just as qualified."
T
hough Crowley would have had to
fight for the Latino vote, he already
had his backing assured from anoth-
er increasingly influential group. In June,
the Queens Gay and Lesbian Democratic
Club voted to back Crowley.
The vote, split 33 to 22, was highly divi-
sive. Compared with McCaffrey, who has a
long history in the Council of advocating
for gay and lesbian issues, Crowley has an
unremarkable track record. To some club
members, Crowley's opposition to abortion
was also unacceptable. '1 was bitterly dis-
appointed," says Jimmy Van Bramer, the
club's executive vice president and an agita-
tor for campaign finance reform.
''This was not about principles but poli-
tics," agrees one political consultant and
gay rights activist. 'They are a political
club searching for credibility and respect.
If you want that, you are not going against
Manton." But the fact that Crowley even
sought the club's endorsement was a vieto-
ry of sorts for gay political leaders. Only
15 years ago, such a move would have
been political suicide. ''This is an indica-
tion of the progress we've made," con-
cedes Van Bramer. "Our endorsement is
sought after, fought for, and trumpeted."
It will take more than a few club
endorsements, though, to pull the Queens
machine through the coming years, where
term limits for the city council, state and
federal legislative redistricting, and ever-
increasing numbers of immigrant voters
are just a few of the landmines in its way.
"I cannot imagine the county controlling
. every race next year," says Marbach, who
has made Iier reputation managing under-
dog candidates.
Manton has held on, but close watchers
say his moves are only delaying the
inevitable. In Queens, an autocratic Irish
political boss surrounded by an all-white
palace guard can't expect to survive for
long. "It's not the dusk or the twilight of
the Queens county machine," says one
observer. "But it's definitely late after-
noon."
Workshops in Legal Issues for Nonprofits
Lawyers Alliance
for New York
330 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
www.lany.org
The leading provider of free and low-cost
business law services to nonprofits that
are working to improve the quality of
life in New York's neighborhoods.
Except as noted, all workshops are
held from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at
Room 2925, Empire State Building,
350 Fifth Avenue, NYC.
Workshops are $40 in advance and
$50 at the door. Seating is limited;
reservations are recommended.
New York Foundation grantees
may attend certain workshops
at no cost.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
September 19
September 27
October 13
October 19
October 31
November 8
November 15
November 28
December 5
December 12
December 19
Incorporation and Tax Exemption (10:00 am to noon)
Political Activity
Debt Restructuring for Nonprofits
Developing Low-Income Housing Using the Federal
Tax Credit: The Legal Framework
Fundraising Law and Regulation
Incorporation and Tax Exemption (6 pm to 8 pm,
330 Seventh Avenue, 19th Floor)
Legal Issues Associated with Nonprofit Child Care
Centers (9:00 am to 1:00 pm)
Contracts and Your Organization
Legal Issues Related to Governing and Managing
Nonprofit Organizations
Legal Aspects of Housing Partnerships Between
Nonprofits and For-Profits
Incorporation and Tax Exemption for Community
Development Corporations
To register, or for more information, call 212 219-1800.
s
ME
-
BY
1IIt--I_iIlBBR"W""
SftOZIRR
V
acant land was once the scourge of West Farms. Trash "Standing on that comer, all you saw was vacant land," Shan-
collected on it, drugs dealers used it to run their busi- _ non-Vlkovic says now.
nesses, and community groups in this South Bronx Ten years later, all that has changed in this little neighborhood
neighborhood begged, pleaded, and stomped their feet to just south of the Bronx Zoo. Now the view from that comer
get City Hall to do something about it-fence it, build on it, or includes more than a hundred handsome dark gray three-story
even just pick up the trash once in a while. townhouses. The commercial strip along nearby 180th Street is
Vacant land was also the first thing that Meaghan Shannon- coming alive, albeit slowly. Driveways are filled with minivans,
Vlkovic saw when she started work at West Farms' Aquinas Hous- and the sidewalks are crowded with mothers with baby strollers.
ing Corporation in 1990. On her first day on the job at the housing Here's how dramatic the change has been: An urban planning
development nonprofit, she got off the train at East Tremont Avenue study found in 1993 that 20 percent of the district was vacant lots,
and walked down to the comer ofVyse Avenue. In front of her rose far above the citywide average of 6 percent. By 1998, according
a horizon of two decades of arson, neglect and abandonment. to the local community board, only 7 percent of the land dis-
CITVLlMITS
trictwide was left vacant. Empty lots still dot the
neighborhood, but they are almost all spoken for, says
Ivine Galarza, the district manager of Community
Board 6. ''We don't have much land to build on," she
says, adding that much of what is left is in the hands
of private developers.
It's great news. But the boom brings an unexpect-
ed dark side for local housing groups. For the first
time that anyone can remember, they are running out
of vacant land.
During the South Bronx's long real estate night-
mare, it was easy to find places to build low-cost hous-
ing. In the words of one developer, you could just
throw a dart at the map. Generally, it was also rela-
tively easy to convince the city government, which
owned most of that land, to tum it over for next to
nothing for the purpose of building new apartments
for poor and working-class people.
Now that times are good, though, Aquinas is find-
ing that it may have worked its way out of a job. The
more it builds, the harder it gets for the organization to
keep building-even though there are still thousands
of people on their housing waitlists. The developers at
Aquinas, like other nonprofit housing builders, find
themselves struggling to control what little property is
left-and wondering how they will ever begin to
address the pressing need for more cheap housing.
W
est Farms' history follows the same cycle
of growth and collapse that is familiar in
the South Bronx. A rural area turned
urban by the 1904 subway expansion, it
became a predominately working-class Jewish neigh-
borhood by the 1950s. Then, as whites moved out and
Puerto Ricans moved in, the population dwindled,
L&HD'SEHD
dropping from 17,000 to 12,000 between 1970 and 1980. Stable
apartment buildings became empty shells, and the main commer-
cial strip on 180th Street was all but abandoned.
By the late 19805 West Farms began to rebound, as new homes
were built and people moved back. But once the life to the neigh-
borhood returned, West Farms developed another, more prosaic
problem: a housing crunch.
Citywide, apartment vacancy rates are still painfully low, and
homes in the South Bronx are especially likely to be jam-packed.
According to Census Bureau statistics, up to 20 percent of all
households in the South Bronx are officially "overcrowded," host-
ing more than one person per room.
One big problem is the huge demand for senior housing. Last
Nonprofit developers now joke
about the "Manhattanization"
of the South Bronx.
year, Aquinas opened a 98-unit apartment building for seniors in
West Farms, but it put hardly a dent in the group's waiting list,
now at 400 people. Another local organization that runs senior
housing has 1,200 people on its waiting list.
That leaves few options for people like 75-year-old James
Bryant, who lives in a one-bedroom apartment near the Grand
Concourse. He pays $365 a month to live in this dilapidated city-
owned building, but with monthly social security payments
amounting to $517, he is also going broke.
For now, Bryant can only hope, and wait out his turn on the
Aquinas list. The thought of living in West Farms brings a smile
to his face-in that neighborhood, he would have access to trains
and subways, and have more open space to take long walks. "It
It's the same story in III&IIJ D8ighborboods:"nle urban JaDd grab
Is numiDg sbort."nle days ofwide-opeD iDDer-city vistas are over,
replaced with IoDg rows of newly built brick towDhouses. IIUch of
the IaDd left Is aJready earmarked for private developers buiIdiDg
CODdos and towDbouses for middle-iDcome families.
hood Is overs&turated with boaaiDg for the V8I"J poor, &lid that pri.
vate bome development bas done much to create an 8C0D0DJic&1Jy
miDd DeiPborbood. "I don't W&Dt to re-create & ghetto, " he says.
But the city's predilection for turDiDg most V&C&Dt lots into mid
priced boaaiDg brlDgs grumbles from & lot of other boaaiDg groups,
wbicb worry there's simply DO 8&SJ wa, to create lowincome boas-
iDg &IIJIDOI'8. IIeI&1IbOrhOOdB like Park Slope &lid the Lower Bast
Side, wbere ma.rket interests CODfIict with an Immedi&te need for
a1fordable hoasID& b&ve V8I"J little empty space left to pIa.J with.
4Dd the lots that are left are often sm&D, III&kiDg them apeusive
and cUmcalt to buDd on.
'I'be turf trade-01I' tends to work like this: IIOIIPJ'Oftts get their
pick of city-owned buildiDp, wbile commercial developers get the
empty lots. It's & deliberate poUcy decIsioD, boJstered by the devel
opmeut knowhow and migbt of the lew York City IIousiDg Part
nersbip, which worked with for.proftts to buDd 13,000 units ofmid
dle-iDcome bousiDg on empty city-owned IaDd in poor D8igbbor-
hoods cluriDg the I&st dec&de.
4Dd the IaDd grab Is beiDg hunied &loDg by newer city darts
like the CorDerstone program, which buUds new bousiDg OIl city.
owned IaDd for middle-iDcome lew Yorkers.
In some neighborboods, says longtime a1fordable boaaiDg devel
oper lbclur-Bahm&D Fam.kb&D, that's & good ide&. Be says III&IIJ
residents in BrowDsviIle, Brooklyn, aJready tbiDk their neighbor
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
'!'bat me&DS that IIODpI'08t developers b&ve few options-&Dd
teDd to get a.ced out of the best opportuDities, II&JS Brad r.ader,
8i8CUtlve ctirector of the FUtb InDue Committee in Park Slope.
"From the DI&JOI"'s ofIk:e, there's DOt & real interest in worIdDg
with DOt-for proftts, " be says. "TIley think, 'Let's let the ma.rket do
wb&t it will do. "'.
-
--
would be nice to get away from here," he says, sitting in his living
room. "I'm having a hard time."
4
s vacant land becomes a coveted resource rather than
an albatross, another strange thing has begun to hap-
pen. These long-neglected parcels are sparking turf
wars, like the one that played out in Community Board
6 last spring.
At the May board meeting, four different housing groups
showed up to get approval to build on two plots of land. One of
the lots, in West Farms, had been earmarked for senior housing by
two groups: Aquinas and another local nonprofit, the Tremont
Community Council Home Attendant Services.
Standing on opposite sides of the room like two lawyers before
a judge, the group's two executive directors spent more than an
hour pitching their plans to the board-and taking swipes at one
another.
Shannon-Vlkovic complained that Tremont's Tony Martinez
had met with the chair of her board "behind her back" and that he
had accused Aquinas of acting in an "underhanded" way. Mar-
tinez, for his part, denied there was a "conspiracy" but implied
that one of his consultants had leaked information to Aquinas. The
fray apparently overwhelmed the board chair, who wound up
pleading with the two groups to come to some kind of agreement
themselves.
Other nonprofit directors in the neighborhood say such a dis-
pute is almost unprecedented. "I don't remember until recently
where two organizations indigenous to the community literally
made proposals for the same parcel or building," says Joe Cic-
ciu, executive director of the Belmont Arthur Local Develop-
ment Corporation, one of the groups that has built low-income
housing in that community district. "I guess that is a harbinger
of the future."
The two executive directors eventually made their peace,
working out a deal: Tremont got the lot, since it technically had
submitted its proposal first. But they joke now about the "Man-
hattanization" of West Farms and the South Bronx. "1 hope that
we don' t get to that point," says Cicciu. "I don't believe that we
will."
Increasingly, though, housing groups in both the Lower East
Side and in Bronx neighborhoods like West Farms find
themselves asking these same questions (see sidebar,
"Land's End"). Should that vacant lot become a park or a
place to live? Will a two-family townhouse or apartment
building better serve the neighborhood? Should we pave
over a community garden for senior housing?
he crunch isn't limited to vacant land. The
T
stOCk of city-owned buildings is also disappear-
ing in the South Bronx, housing groups report.
Across Community Board 6-which includes
West Farms, East Tremont, Belmont, and Bath-
gate-most of the apartment buildings that the city took
possession of in the last decades have now been turned over
to community groups to rebuild and manage.
But the demand for places to live has remained strong,
meaning that housing groups in West Farms and elsewhere
are hard-pressed to find entirely new ways to develop new
affordable housing.
Shannon-Vlkovic says Aquinas has already started this
process. She wants to work with privately owned buildings
that are in "distress" and provide better services to Aquinas-
owned buildings. She also thinks local organizations that
now provide the same social services can collaborate on
programs. "If we run out of land, we have to make sure that
the housing in this community is inhabitable and afford-
able," she says. This shift in focus is going on in other South
Bronx neighborhoods as well.
"Your mission changes once an area stops being regard-
ed as depressed and starts to rebound," says Jeanette
Puryear, executive director of the Mid-Bronx Senior Citi-
zens Council, which is based south of West Farms near Yan-
kee Stadium. "In some ways, you go on to the much harder
job-trying to find people work, trying to change the mix
of businesses in the area. Those are the challenges that
many groups are facing as they try to go beyond the bricks
and mortar."
Matthew Strozier is a reporter for the Stamford Advocate.
CITY LIMITS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
-
Though they're
decided in Family
Court alongside
a flood of child
abuse cases,
custody rulings
rarely consider a
spouse-abusing
parent a threat
to his kids. .
Previous page:
Margarita
Acevedo must
send her
children to visit
their father, even
as she fears for
their safety.
--
O
ne night, a man walked into the room where his wife lay
next to their child in bed. With the baby in the room, he beat
his wife hard enough that her body was covered with bruis-
es the next day. .
Now she is safe in a shelter-and he has custody of the child.
After he beat her, she fled to a shelter with the baby. But by doing
what she was supposed to, she lost her son. When her husband filed
for temporary custody, a family court judge awarded it to him. The
judge was not swayed even by photographs of the woman's bruises.
Judges are supposed to take domestic violence into account
when deciding which parent gets custody, and whether the other
parent will get to visit the children. After all, the safety of a child is
at stake. But in the process of making the decision whether to award
or deny custody to a parent, a judge is not required to give domes-
tic violence in the home any more weight than a host of other con-
siderations, ranging from parents' salaries to their work schedules.
The judge's deciding factor for granting custody to the hus-
band? The fact that he remained in the family home, a more famil-
iar environment for the children than where his wife now lives-
in a shelter for battered women.
D
eciding how to award custody and visitation rights in cases
that involve domestic violence is one of the most delicate
and crucial tasks a Family Court judge faces. The case
above, which an appellate panel is slated to review this fall,
isn't the first to raise alann. In fact, years of violent assaults
against mothers and trauma to kids prompted the New York state
legislature to pass a law in 1996 that was supposed to prevent
cases like hers from happening again.
Though it seems remarkable now, it used to be that judges did-
n't have to consider domestic violence at all when they were mak-
ing decisions about custody and visitation rights. The only factor
they were supposed to consider was the "best interest of the child."
In many cases, judges decided that the fact that
one parent beat another had nothing to do with the
child's well-being once those parents were apart.
In one instance, a judge awarded custody of a
child to the man who had killed the child's moth-
er, ruling that "there is no evidence on this record
that [the father] is physically dangerous to his
children." In another, a father beat the mother
severely and repeatedly, ultimately hospitalizing
her-and successfully sued for custody during her
absence. Only occasionally would a judge rule
that simply witnessing domestic violence could
be harmful to kids.
The new state law was suppOsed to force Fam-
ily Court judges' gavels, requiring them to make
domestic violence part of their calculus of custody.
But it didn't tell them how they should consid-
er it, .a fatal vagueness that is the legacy of the
law's harrowing passage through the state legisla-
ture. Thanks to the badly compromised law,
judges may still rule that men who beat their
wives can make perfectly decent fathers.
Of course, not everyone who hits his partner is
a risk to his children. But even some veteran advo-
cates for battered women are surprised to hear how
frequently people who abuse their partners also
abuse their kids. Most researchers put the overlap between spousal
battery and" child abuse somewhere between 30 and 60 percent One
national survey of 1,000 battered women found that 70 percent of
men who beat their wives were also reported to abuse their children.
And a 1990 study of 6,OOO-plus families nationwide concluded that
half of men who assault their wives frequently also abuse their chil-
dren, and vice-versa.
In an informal survey of its foster children, Lakeside Family
and Children's Services found that 60 to 80 percent of the children
who .came into the agency saw violence between the adults at
home. When Lakeside got a group of teenage girls in foster care
together to talk about relationships, every single one had a horror
story. "All of the girls had domestic violence in the home," says
Iris Witherspoon, the domestic violence coordinator at Lakeside.
"One girl was talking about how her ribs were broken."
Kids are hardly safe from trauma once their parents have split.
Dr. Chris O'Sullivan, a researcher at tlie victim services agency
Safe Horizon, conducted a study of the risks to mothers and chil-
dren after separation. In it, she recounts the story of two children
whose father picked them up at their mother's house for their reg-
ularly appointed, court-ordered visit. Sitting them down on the
couch, he tearfully explained to them that he was very sorry, but
he was going to have to kill their mother.
W
hat might seem like common sense-that a father who
severely beat a partner should be kept away from their
kids-is in fact a recent revelation in the legal world. And
it's one that quickly runs up against some basic legal prin-
ciples and civil rights.
Parental rights is one of them. Unless there's a strong reason to
terminate a parent's rights to his or her child, ajudge must take a par-
ent's petition for custody or visitation seriously, even if there are alle-
gations of domestic violence. The threshold for terminating parental
CITY LIMITS
rights in New York State is quite high. In fact, it wasn't until last year
that the courts made indictment for murdering the other parent suffi-
cient grounds for termination of parental rights.
Of course, there are also some very good reasons parental rights
have such strong legal protections. For one thing, charges are not
always true. Often, the crucial decisions in Family Court about what
to do with a child are made before the court has had a chance to do
an investigation. Many judges are reluctant to make drastic deci-
sions based on allegations, so they make a decision to grant a tem-
porary order of custody, often granting visitation to the other parent.
And the truth can often be hard to pin down. A man charged
with domestic violence frequently responds with the same allega-
tion against his partner. Judges have to decide, often very quickly,
which story to take seriously. "Batterers don't come in with horns
on," points out Brooklyn Family Court Judge Paul Grosvenor.
"Some come in very well-dressed, well-spoken. And you might
look at them and say, 'Well, they're OK.'"
So these cases still don't have any hard and fast rules. "What
judges are saying is things like 'children should have access to
their fathers, to both of their parents,'" says Karen Burstein, a for-
mer judge who resigned to run for New York State Attorney Gen-
eral in 1994, and was later appointed to the national Advisory
Council on Violence Against Women. In principle, says Burstein,
she agrees with this rationale, but she also thinks judges often take
it too far. Their reasoning, says Burstein, goes something like this:
'''Well, he hit the mother, but he didn't hit the child.'"
Judges have a couple of options in cases with allegations of
domestic violence. They can award custody to the parent making the
charge of abuse--usually the mother-and order that the other par-
ent visit with the child only under someone else's supervision. More
commonly, judges grant an accused batterer "unsupervised" visits.
Though they can prohibit an accused batterer from seeing his
children at all, that almost never happens. In a analysis of New
York City custody and visitation petitions prior to 1996, Dr.
0' Sullivan found that judges were just as likely to grant visitation
to fathers who had court orders of protection against them as to
those who did not. In fact, in the 1,692 cases she analyzed, not one
denied custody or visitation to a parent whose violence had earned
him or her an order of protection.
Those who work with battered women say their experience, not
to mention court records, back up Dr. O'Sullivan's research. "I've
dealt with all kinds of cases, even cases where there is horrific
abuse, I've had cases where she's been bitten, stabbed, burned,"
says Witherspoon. "But I have not ever had a judge deny visitation."
I
n Bay Ridge's lush Leif Erickson Park, Margarita Acevedo
looks over anxiously at her son, Jonathan, who is keeping him-
self busy a few yards away slashing at flowers with an umbrel-
la. "He loves bees," she explains, smiling and shaking her head.
Although Margarita loves the park, it's not entirely easy for her
to relax here. The week before, her 15-year-old daughter Jasmin was
playing tennis in the park ("with a boy she likes") when Jasmin's
father, Julio, pulled up and made a scene. Jasmin says he made a fist
and ordered her to go home. "She carne home saying, 'Daddy made
us come home. He said we're not supposed to be in the park,'" Mar-
garita says, shaking her head. "He's still trying to control them."
For Margarita, letting her children play in the park is an easy
freedom. For years, she has faced the pain of sending them alone to
visit a man who she believes may hurt them, who has in the past
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
hurt her very badly. Last April, Margarita won a round in her 12-
year battle with her estranged husband: a court order to get her
children's visits with him 'supervised by his mother. It's not that
she doesn't want the children to see Julio, says Margarita. "I'm
trying to promote their relationship with their father," she says
mournfully. She says such things often, with a hint of apology.
But for her, it's a delicate balance to help them maintain their
relationship with their father-even convincing them to visit him
when they don't want to-and protecting them from a man who
she says once covered her with bruises and, she says, repeatedly
hit both children. (On the advice of his attorney, Julio Acevedo
refused to speak to City Limits.)
There were times, she says, when Julio sent the police to force
Jasmin to visit him. "I didn't want to see him," Jasmin says, recall-
ing one such incident, "and the cops came, and I told them 'I feel
sick, I don't want to go,' and they said, 'You have to. This is a
court-ordered visitation.' And they made me go." She was 11.
Years before that, when Julio first started hitting Margarita, she
got an order of protection to keep him away from her and the kids.
Former judge
Karen Burstein
mocks how some
Family Court
judges dismiss
the threat of
abuse: "'Well, he
hit the mother,
but he didn't hit
the child. '"
--
She says he violated it repeatedly. After one especially bad
episode-"He really hit me very hard that time," she says-she took
the children and fled to a battered women's shelter. He hired a private
detective and found her. The next time, she fled even further, to Flori-
da, "to lose him, to gain some time." She got a job and went back to
college, something she had stopped doing when she married Julio.
Then the police came. Because she had left the state-a move that
effectively denied Julio his visitation rights, although she claims she
let him visit-a judge awarded Julio custody of the children.
"That was a very, very bad time," says Jasmin now, about the
days with her father. "I could not concentrate in school. I used to
speak up about it in school. I said I was being hit, but somehow
they never saw it. They never looked further into it."
Eventually, someone did. Margarita says she got a call from the
Administration for Children's Services, telling her Jasmin said
Julio had hit her. She gave up and went back to him, in order to be
there for the children. "He had custody of the children. I was noth-
ing," she says.
But in 1994, after reporting a violation of an order of protec-
"I didn't want to see him," Jasmin
says, "and the cops came, and I told
them 'I feel sick, I don't want to go,'
and they said 'You have to. This is a
court-ordered visitation.' And they
made me go." She was 11.
--
tion, she won custody herself. The decision to give Margarita cus-
tody stands out as one of the few times, prior to the 1996 law, that
a court took violence into account when making a custody deci-
sion. (It didn' t help Julio's case that he testified: "You touch a
woman, they bruise.")
After that, Margarita had custody, while Julio got overnight
visits and two weeks with the kids in the summer. But when Julio
allegedly kicked Jasmin and threw Jonathan to the floor, in 1998,
Jasmin had had enough. (Jonathan's school reported the allega-
tions to ACS, which deemed them substantiated after an investiga-
tion. However, its findings are considered to be for internal use, not
a legal document.) Then 14, she wrote a letter to the judge saying
that although she wanted to have a relationship with her father, she
felt that he did not care for her and that being with him made her
nervous. "I cried when I read it," says Margarita.
After that, she refused to let Julio see the kids. He took her to
court to enforce the visitation order. She, in tum, filed a petition to get
the visits supervised. They both got what they wanted. Her lawyer,
Safe Horiwn's Liberty Aldrich, believes Margarita won supervised
visitation only because Julio failed to show up to court on time.
Now he picks up the children every other Saturday at 10 a.m. and
drops them back off at 6. The visits are supposed to be supervised by
Julio's mother, although Jonathan says she is not always there.
Because Jasmin is older now, she doesn't have to go if she doesn' t
want to, but usually she does. She likes to see her father, to go out
with him, have dinner. He is, after all, her father.
"I think he realizes, now," says Jasmine, slowly, "that if he wants
to be able to spend time with us, he's going to have to cool it."
N
ot every parent may be so willing to deal with their former
abuser for the kids' sake. But most mothers want to make
sure that their children can continue to see their father and
still be safe. It's an endless balancing act, says Lakeside's
Witherspoon. "Battered women become experts at this kind of
thing because they have to," she says. 'They learn what to do to
keep their children safe."
It's not just the responsibility of mothers. The city's Adminis-
tration for Children's Services, charged with preventing child
abuse and neglect, is also supposed to watch out for kids. But
instead of enlisting mothers as partners, ACS has cut them out
entirely-by rushing to put their children in foster care.
Charging mothers with "failure to protect" their children from
abuse or from witnessing domestic violence, ACS has sent an
unknown number of children into foster care. It's a drastic
response that keeps kids safe from physical abuse-but at a high
price to them and their mothers.
"It's misguided, but its certainly a recognition that domestic vio-
lence counts:' says Sanctuary For Families legal services director
Dorchen Leidholdt. Like other advocates, she gives ACS credit for
taking domestic violence seriously as a threat to kids, certainly more
seriously than the courts do. ''But to tum this into a weapon against
victims is dangerous. The last thing children need when they're
exposed to domestic violence is to be removed from the person who
is trying to protect them from it."
Like others who work with battered women and their children,
Leidholdt has seen the very real harm caused by the misguided poli-
cy: children traumatized, first by witnessing violence between their
parents, then by being taken away from both parents and consigned
to the limbo of the city's sometimes nightmarish foster care system.
(ACS declined to comment on the policy.)
Failure-to-protect, which family advocates say is being used
more and more often, was legitimized by a 1998 State Supreme
Court decision. Taking into account the growing body of research
showing that seeing domestic violence hurts kids, the court sensi-
bly ruled that witnessing vicious incidents constituted "imminent
emotional harm" that justified putting children in foster care. The
court concluded that in child neglect cases, parents abusing each
other should be considered as serious a threat to a child's safety in
as parents doing drugs or failing to provide medical treatment.
ACS took the decision as a green light to move ahead with its
failure-to-protect policy. But though the agency has legal ground
to stand on, its reasoning doesn't hold up in the real world, where
the policy frequently punishes mothers and children in an attempt
to protect them.
In one case in Queens, a mother found out her partner was rap-
ing one of her kids. She fled to a shelter, taking all four children; he
immediately went to court and, despite her allegations, won tem-
porary custody of two of the children. A court -ordered investigation
later upheld her rape allegations. The result? Even though the court
had sent the kids to her former partner, she was charged with fail-
ing to protect the children, and all four kids went into foster care.
"We're seeing cases where [a battered parent] takes appropriate
action and still gets charged with failure to protect," says Sanctu-
CITY LIMITS
ary's Leidholdt. "It puts victims in a terrible double bind-it
makes it very dangerous for women to go into court and ask for
an order of protection."
Leidholdt and others fear that mothers may keep quiet about
violence rather than risk having their children taken by ACS. "Do
you know what it feels like when a woman says 'I should never
have called the cops'?" asks Witherspoon. "I have had women say
that to me many, many times."
K
eeping domestic violence behind closed doors was not what
family advocates had in mind when they pushed New York
State to pass a law protecting children from their parents'
abusers. Among their strongest arguments was the one ACS
is now using to take children away from battered women: that wit-
nessing domestic violence causes deep emotional harm to kids.
In family courts, ''there was still a sense that when there's batter-
ing in the home, that someone just lost their temper, that it was a
marital dispute," says ex-State Senator Catherine Abate, who spon-
sored a bill to keep kids safe from domestic violence. ''For some of
the judges that weren't as enlightened, it was a way to educate them."
What Abate wanted was what 14 other states now have: a law that
would deny custody to perpetrators of domestic violence unless they
can prove in court that they are fit parents. Those laws also make it
much more difficult for them to get unsupervised visitation.
But a number of lawmakers, particularly upstate Republicans,
contended that such a law would give women an unfair advantage
in divorces. An organized father's rights lobby helped convince
them to stonewall Abate's bill. ''The father's rights movement had
a lot of the upstate senators' ears. There was no way that the Sen-
ate was going to do a more aggressive bill," recalls Abate.
In the cuu, lhe St:nale rejt:dt:U her bill. Meanwhile, the House
passed the bill that has now become law: The one that allows
judges to ignore the effects of domestic violence.
It was weak-but better than no law at all, advocates reasoned.
''For us, it was a huge victory," sighs Jill Zuccardy, an attorney
with Sanctuary for Families.
J
udges do have a reasonable option in tough cases. They can
order supervised visits, overseen by professionals, between
children and the fathers who abused their mothers. But the
nonprofit agencies that provide professionally supervised vis-
itation are so overburdened that they don't even bother to maintain
waiting lists. Instead, slots in supervised visitation programs go to
whoever happens to be in the right courthouse at the right time.
"You sort of go there with your hat in your hand, hoping there's an
agency that can take your case," says Judge Grosvenor. "And
you're competing with your colleagues for who can get that slot."
For the thousands of custody cases a year with allegations of
domestic violence, New York has about 100 slots for supervised
visitation at any given time, according to new research by the
Domestic Violence Task Force of the city's Child Welfare Com-
mittee. Unlike in the eight states that fund supervised visitation,
there is no source of public money for these programs in New
York. Instead, they subsist on private donations, grants and fees.
Even when space can be found, the programs may compromise
the safety of mothers and children. A survey conducted by the task
force, found that security at many of the sites was minimal. At one
site, a father was permitted to leave the building with his daughter,
even though he was not supposed to be alone with her.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
Judges say they like supervised visits because they can get a
chance to make truly informed decisions about the fate of the chil-
dren. "Over a period of time, people will revert to who they are.
That's why supervised visitation is good: It gives you a chance to
really see this person over a period of time, their mood swings,"
says Judge Grosvenor. "If that were just a normitl part of the pro-
cedure-<lh man, that would be so great. I wish that could be done
in almost every case."
But until judges have somewhere safe to put children, they will
have to choose between impossibilities: between sending them
somewhere that may not be safe or cutting kids off from their par-
ents entirely. It's a choice no judge should have to make, says
Karen Burstein. ''There has to be a middle place, but the middle
place doesn't exist," she says. "And that's the great tragedy.".
No day in the
park:
Despite their
fractious history,
Jasmin Acevedo
still maintains a
relationship with
her father.
-
Primary Residents
W
hen the Annie E. Casey Foundation
launched its Rebuilding Communities Ini-
tiative in 1994, it was hardly planning on
becoming a patron of community organizing. The
idea behind this $16 million, seven-year project, as
with other comprehensive community initiatives"
that foundations have sown around the country,
was to help people in poor neighborhoods to fix
persistent problems themselves.
Knowing how to force a shopping center to
repair hazardous conditions. Pushing a welfare
agency to respond to complaints about workfare
rules. Learning how to join forces with other
neighborhood organizations to demand better
services from City Hall. Wrth projects like these,
the strategy has been to bring power to neighbor-
hoods that have traditionally been shut out They
call for intensive work with and by residents in
those communities, with the goal of turning at
least some of them from bystanders into leaders.
Though most foundations are loath to use the
term, the fact remains that CCls are one of the few
substantial sources of funding for community orga-
nizing. Few major foundations are now willing to
simply pay for an organizer to help tenants keep
sheltered and safe, for example. Instead, large fun-
ders of community development have dedicated
cumulative millions to eels, on the premise that
attacking one problem at a time is futile.
Foundations reqiure a demanding range of
tasks. Casey's RCI sites are supposed to improve
neighborhoods' housing and social infrastruc-
ture," bring in more public and private investment,
help deliver social services, and create or
strengthen local self-government Groups that
don't already have a lot of experience with com-
munity organizing may struggle to achieve these
goals, manage intense reporting requirements
and still keep residents in the loop.
Indeed, gains are often measured in an evolu-
tion in attitudes and relationships between play-
ers in a neighborhood. At the end of the dav-;>r
seven years-a powerful sense of improvement
is as important as quantifiable accomplishments.
eCls are unfashionably inefficient In this age
of venture philanthropy," in which funders
gauge the success of their "investments by
measurable outcomes, these projects calculate
that lasting change calls for a willingness to sow
seeds, wait for results-and accept that those
results may never come.
As these three profiles of RCI projects show,
that's their greatest power, and their downfall.
THIS REPORT WAS FUNDED BY THE
ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION
-
The Philadelphia Worry
An ambitious project to channel a neighborhood's power
lures collaborators with cash, even while it struggles to stay
connected to a divided neighborhood. In fhe process, it may
be selling its own future. By Matthew P. Blanchard
I
n northwest Philadelphia, Gennantown Set-
tlement affects its neighbors' lives as pro-
foundly as any government agency. In the
business of providing social services for 115
years, Gennantown has built or renovated more
than 600 apartments in the last two years alone.
Its charter school teaches more than 500 kids.
Then there are the mv clinic, the family center,
and the job placement program that corrects
resumes and straightens neckties so the state
Department of Public Welfare doesn't have to.
Gennantown's panoply of services attests to
the deep-rooted problems residents here face,
from rotted porch planks and missing street
signs to drugs, gangs and teen pregnancy. Rely-
ing on community organizations to address these
problems isn't an answer; they haven't always
gotten along, and even when they do, they find
few opportunities to work together.
The Settlement's response was the Gennan-
town Community Collaborative Board. Founded
in 1996, it's a 47-member legislature of local
. residents, businesses, and institutions with the
power to coordinate the efforts of every housing
CITY LIMITS

developer, government lackey and block-party
planner in Germantown.
Germantown Settlement president and CEO
Emmanuel Freeman says the board aims to add
new voices to the neighborhood's longtime
squeaky wheels. "It became pretty clear that
there are a lot of neighborhood leaders out
there," Freeman says. "But when you ask them,
'Who is your constituency?' you find they've got
a half-dozen people claiming to represent sever-
al thousand."
So the GeCB has focused on bringing those
scattered groups under the umbrella of one vocal
organization. Much like a New York community
board, it links frustrated residents to government
agencies and other institutions that can clear
empty lots, seal abandoned houses and light
darkened alleyways. But the GeCB can also dole
out cash. Through the board's "mini-grant" pro-
gram, modest helpings of money are distributed
to community organizations with good ideas but
no access to capital.
That money-about $65,000 a year-is
essential political glue. Those small grants, by
maintaining special projects or even simply
ensuring the phone doesn't get shut off, keep
Germantown's many cash-strapped factions
involved and invested in the GCCB.
But next December, the money that feeds it
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
will be choked off as the project's $525,000
annual grant from the Annie E. Casey Founda-
tion comes to its scheduled end. The next year is
crucial. If it's going to keep doing business the
way it has, GCCB will have to replace all of its
funding. It's an amount so huge that it is unlike-
ly to find it again from one source.
The alternative? Figuring out, from scratch,
how to build an effective neighborhood coalition
without grant money to grease the way. If the
project fails to survive, the centerpiece of the
foundation's $3 million-plus investment in Ger-
mantown will have come and gone with little
more to show than a trail of checks.
In the balance, in the words of one GeCB
staffer, is "the whole enchilada."
n
Germantown's sprawling warrens of row
houses, mansions and defunct factories, every
andful of houses considers itself a distinct
community. Place names you'll never find on
any map-Dogtown, Brickyard, Hanes Street,
Duvail---{fominate the psychological landscape.
Those names also define the battle lines in
longstanding feuds between the area's communi-
ty organizations. They've clashed over land use
issues and personal grudges, and many compete
with each other for funding. When the Settle-
ment launched the Germantown board, many of
those organizations were suspicious. The RCI
grant of $3.5 million was a lot of cash here, and
the galaxy of groups already at work in the
neighborhood wanted to know what the Settle-
ment planned to do with it.
The GeCB's members admit they've spent
the last four years struggling to reconcile com-
peting agendas. "Right now we're very clearly
divided; this is my neighborhood, that's yours,"
explains board member Regina Jones, a 51-year-
old mother of two who was elected general rep-
resentative for Wister, one of five neighborhood
"sectors" represented on the board. "My hope is
that the Collaborative Board will blur those lines,
and Germantown becomes one community."
Yet old loyalties die hard. In the next breath
Jones adds that Wister is, in fact, "always the
best neighborhood," mostly because of the
strength of the local community groups there.
"Yes, it does make people jealous, but it's got to
start somewhere," she says. "We're not going to
allow Wister to shrink and go away."
Such "fiercely territorial attitudes" are com-
mon on the board and off, says board president
Herdius Ben Jackson, an activist in Germantown
since the 1950s. "It's a struggle," Jackson says.
"People don't want to relinquish what they have.
The idea of collaboration, of sharing resources,
was a milestone for some of these areas."
Most of the board's clearest accomplishments
so far have come through direct support of exist-
ing community groups. The board has provided
uniforms for football, basketball and drill teams,
rakes for community gardeners, and a summer
camp. It has also served as a kind of leadership
training camp, introducing board members to
public speaking and grant proposals.
The board has weathered challenges as well.
It suffered from low voter turnout for its elec-
tions, and it has in fact not held one since 1997.
Its progress has also been slowed by the sheer
complexity of the undertaking. Most board
members have no experience in managing a non-
profit organization or in parliamentary debate.
Most of their time is devoted to issue-themed
committees, like education reform, which are
supposed to improve residents' access to public
services. The social welfare committee has been
working on a policy initiative called Equal Part-
ners in Change, which identifies state and local
laws that might be exacerbating problems in the
neighborhood. Meeting once a month, members
accomplish less as a board than as freewheeling
ambassadors for the initiative.
O
n a summer evening, young men crowd
the comer of Chelten and Chew Avenues,
sipping sodas and watching the traffic
roll by. A ring of children struggles a Big Wheel
off a porch and onto the sidewalk. The intersec-
tion is the heart of what the GeCB calls Sector
1, but it's not a place easy to associate with com-
munity empowerment. The sidewalks are filthy,
too many storefronts still vacant.
Hidden behind the Chew Avenue strip, the
board is hard at work inside the Haram.be Baptist
meeting hall, where Sector 1 representative
Rufus Holmes takes the microphone to explain
to residents how to apply for a mini-grant.
The grants can be as little as $200 for a block
clean-up, or as much as $1,500 to establish a day
camp or a field trip to the Blacks in Wax Museum
in Baltimore. The money can be used for any-
thing, Holmes explains, so long as the project
attacks problems in one of six areas: workforce
development, education reform, health, urban
development, social welfare and youth leadership.
"For the last four years I've been standing at
the mike," Holmes, a 64-year-old software engi-
neer, says in his relaxed drawl. "Now it's time for
us to hear from the community about what they
want.. .. The mike is open."
Harambe's pastor is first up, pushing his plan
for a church day care program so children "can
avoid the revolving door of drugs that I came
through." Two elderly women plead to have a
burned-out building on their block demolished.
Also present is Nathaniel Williams, a 20-
year-old security guard and college student who
recently became Sector l 's newest representative
to 'the GeCB. After a short speech, it's clear
Williams has captured the imagination of audi-
ence members, and speakers who follow offer
him their help.
Williams is exactly the kind of young leader
the board needs. Intense and well-spoken, he has
the guts to take on projects that, for now, are way
--
over his head. "I'm learning how to write grant
proposals now," he tells the rapt audience. "I
expect to be building some kind of youth center
in about two years."
He's also a case study in the vagaries of
democracy, GCCB-style. Williams wasn't actu-
ally elected to the board. Instead, Holmes simply
asked him to join.
Appointing board members is the exception,
according to Collaborative Board members. But
his story points to a larger problem. To recruit
fresh leadership talent, and encourage them to
get things done, some members feel they must
sacrifice a little democracy in order to gain a lot
of impact.
After the meeting Rufus Holmes heads out to
his car, only partially satisfied. A few of the ideas
could qualify to receive mini-grants, a process
that will be decided by committee in about a
month. But turnout was light, he says, tossing his
briefcase into the trunk, and there weren't too
many new faces in the audience.
D
rawing a big crowd would once have
been the job of the Wister Neighborhood
Council. After Germantown Settlement
decided it didn't have the experience to do the
community organizing that the RCI grant
required, it had asked WNC to do the job-for
$30,000 a year.
Though there are almost as many accounts
of the situation as there were participants, one
thing is for sure: Wister did not deliver. Far
from bringing residents from all five sectors
into the board's orbit and onto the issue com-
--
rnittees, WNC stuck to its own turf. The board
now struggles with the consequences: A weak
foundation arnong the very residents it was sup-
posed to work with.
Wister "had done such a good job organizing
their own backyard, they seemed like a natural
partner," recalls Cornelia Swinson, a Settlement
official involved with the RCI project. Since
1949, the WNC had waged a house-to-house
fight against social ills in its comer of German-
town. In the process, it launched the careers of
several well-known politicians and that of Ger-
mantown's Emanuel Freeman. More recently,
Wister managed to convince the state transporta-
tion department to finish a long-neglected road-
paving project.
"That was the leadership then," says Swin-
son. 'They were responsible for great things.
That is not the leadership today."
For much of 1999, the GeCB organizer's
position at the WNC was left vacant, and sector
representatives like Holmes were left to do the
job on their own. The board didn't address the
problem until late last year-about $210,000 of
Casey money later-when it brought a WNC
organizer directly onto the Germantown Settle-
ment payroll, and into its own office.
WNC head James Igess insists his organiza-
tion did not fall short, and that while it wasn't
easy to organize in all five sectors, his group had
the skill and experience to organize in neighbor-
hoods outside Wister. "It might have been tire-
some," he said. "But it was good work, work that
needed to be done."
Germantown Community Collaborative
Board leaders are less forgiving. "Wister was
taking care of Wister," says board president Jack-
son. 'The other sectors didn't like receiving an
organizer who was from Wister. There was a dis-
belief that they would get anything out of it."
T
a1k of the board's struggles is music to the
ears of Democratic ward leader Greg
Paulmier, the official who brought Habi-
tat for Humanity to the neighborhood. In the
GeCB, Paulmier sees nothing less than subver-
sion of democracy.
"They decide we're all going to start over
from the beginning," Paulmier charges. ''We' ll
get all the folks that can be manipulated because
they've never been involved before, and we' ll set
up this alternate form of governance ... where they
get to count the votes." Behind it all, Paulmier
sees the. hand of "that quasi-governmental
agency that likes to call itself Germantown Set-
tlement," spreading foundation money around
the community to extend its political power.
Freeman has heard such criticisms before
(though not from the neighborhood's other elect-
ed officials, all of whom are on the GCCB).
'That's one of the reasons we felt the Collabora-
tive Board needed to be an autonomous entity,"
Freeman says, adding that the Settlement con-
trols just four of the 47 seats on the board. Twen-
ty-five are held by residents, and the balance
belong to elected officials and institutions like
laSalle University and Einstein Hospital.
For his part, Freeman says that Paulmier is
part of a political patronage system that doesn't
produce results for Germantown. "Look at the
state of the neighborhood," he says. "Politics
works only for those who have access and are
willing to toe the political line. We want to cre-
ate access for everybody. You shouldn't have to
know someone to get an abandoned car towed."
To enact Freeman's vision, the board must
simultaneously work from the top-bending the
ears of government officials-and from the
grassroots, boosting residents' direct access to
power. Yet in practice, the board functions
remarkably like the political order it's supposed
to supplement. Inside the GCCB, the RCI project
is held together by the devotion of board mem-
bers. Out in the neighborhood, however, it lives
or dies by a different currency: carefully con-
trolled access to money and decision-makers.
Lacking an alternative model for their work,
board leaders are well aware of their precarious
position. When the money runs out, "the effects
could be devastating," says GCCB president
Jackson.
"I'm worried about the loss of mini-grants,"
he admits. "It would loosen the Settlement's ties
to the community. I hope people recognize that,"
Jackson says. "I hope Casey recognizes that."
Matthew P. Blanchard is a reporter for The
Philadelphia Inquirer.
CITY LIMITS
Vision
Quest
Determined to put residents
in charge of a rebuilding
plan, a Boston group turns
to an unlikely organrzmg
strategy: business school
management tactics.
By Jill Priluck
Rr
nay Peters is one of 3,300 reasons the
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative is
egendary among community organizing
groups. During a membership meeting in St.
Patrick's Church in Boston's Roxbury section,
Peters is on a roll, spelling out her ideas about
what makes a good neighborhood business with
about 150 neighborhood residents like herself.
Some of them wear headphones, through which
they can hear translations of Peters' words in
Spanish or, for the neighborhood's many Cape
Verdean residents, Portuguese.
A new homeowner who traded up from pub-
lic housing, Peters speaks from firsthand experi-
ence. "We don't need McDonald's. We don't
need Starbucks," she says, as the crowd cheers.
"A good example is Ideal."
The noise level at St. Patrick's peaks at the
mention of Ideal Sub Shop, one of Roxbury's
entrepreneurial jewels. Revered as a symbol of
local economic power, the place is flush with
community pride, down to its fresh cold cuts,
daily-delivered bread and moderate prices.
Ideal's owner, Gino Teixeira, is a neighborhood
guy who has served on DSNI's board of directors
since 1989. But as the people here know, opening
the business was nearly impossible, because for
years banks refused to issue loans in RoxburY.
Now the Dudley Street initiative is working to
bring businesses-and the jobs and retail variety
that comes with them-back to Dudley Street.
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative is the
rare community organizing group that can take
credit for rebuilding a neighborhood. A mix of
red-brick apartment buildings, empty lots, a few
green spots and some construction cranes, the
two-mile strip, like many parts of Roxbury and
nearby Dorchester, is seeing a surprising renew-
al after years of full-throttle decay. Today, thanks
to DSNI, residents can buy produce at the Dud-
ley Common farmer's market and hang out at the
new park on Dennis Street. There are fewer
abandoned cars. Fifteen years ago, Dudley was
filled with vacant lots. Now, 600 of them host
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
housing, food production and playgrounds. A
new community center and greenhouse business
will soon join them.
Many of these accomplishments arose from
an unusual agreement between the organization
and the city, in which Dudley Street won the
power to do what it wanted with tracts of unde-
veloped land. With that power of eminent
domain, the organization is now rebuilding its
faded commercial strip. And it's doing that by
putting neighborhood residents in the driver's
seat. "Our belief is that residents should control
the future of the neighborhood. That's not just
physical development but human deVelopment,"
says DSNI project director May Louie, who
oversees Dudley Street's Rebuilding Communi-
ties Initiative project.
Large-scale economic planning is not usually
a job for laypeople. And no wonder: The process
calls for untangling a complex web of financial,
political and land-use considerations, work that
vexes even experienced planners. But Louie and
her colleagues have forged ahead, relying on
group decision-making tactics more commonly
used in corporate executive suites than in church
meeting halls.
Since its start in 1985, Dudley Street has been
run by a board drawn from residents, businesses,
community agencies and religious groups, and
elected by residents every other year. Ever since,
DSNI has pushed that neighborhood democracy
as far as it can go. So when it came to deciding
what the area's future could look like, the orga-
nization's leaders decided it wasn't enough to
have a committee draft plans that residents could
then vote on. People who wanted to have a say in
a sea change-who responded to flyers plastered
on car windshields, or had their doorbells rung
by kids who spread news of the meeting (in
exchange for promised ice cream and brown-
ies}--would have the chance to reconstruct Dud-
ley Street, together.
D
udley Street board member Paul Both-
well, a one-man think tank on grass-
roots organizing, is always on the
lookout for new ideas. Sometimes
they show up in unexpected places. Five years
ago, when a group from Massachusetts Institute
of Technology's Sloan School of Management
briefed him on new brainstorming techniques it
was developing, Bothwell immediately recog-
nized the potential. These ideas, although devel-
oped for corporations like Ford, could also help
--
Dudley Street residents identify the best ways to
improve the neighborhood.
Known as systems thinking, the MIT crew's
scientific approach to collective planning
allows people to make better decisions by help-
ing them identify their own interests. Usually,
systems thinking is used by corporate execu-
tives to evaluate management plans. At Dudley
Street, it has become the backbone of an inten-
sive process for reimagining the neighbor-
hood's economic life.
This "visioning" process started by convening
small groups of residents to consider the most
basic elements of life in the neighborhood. At
early meetings; a facilitator would ask questions
like "How would you describe our community
right now? What does it look like to you?" Very
quickly, people mentioned obvious problems,
like ''We have too much litter." All of these went
on large Post-it notes on a board. Then someone
grouped together clusters of notes that touched on
similar themes. Patterns soon emerged, as well as
a clearer sense of what people didn' t want.
Subsequent sessions focused on what resi-
dents did want, with questions such as "What do
you dream this community could be like?" Those
-
ideas, in tum, generated a clear mandate for
DSNI. 'The idea is that your thinking generates
something new in somebody else's thinking,"
says Bothwell. "It's not just about what comes
into our heads. It's about how to foster ideas and
not shut them down."
What emerged was a concept of an ''urban
village" with self-sustaining businesses, plenty
of green space and no shortage of housing. But
such a plan leaves many questions unanswered.
In a neighborhood that some residents fear is ripe
for gentrification-a problem that has over-
whelmed the nearby South End-questions such
as whether new homes should be houses or
apartments, or whether shops should be high-end
or discount, are far from trivial. The meeting at
St. Patrick's focused on coming up with solu-
tions residents wanted to live with.
At the meeting, residents considered three
scenarios presented by a group of MIT urban
planners. The first would just add housing to
Dudley Street. Another scenario called for subur-
ban-style retail with parking lots out front. The
third was a classically urban combination, with
apartments over storefronts.
To make sure residents quickly digested the
implications of each of these scenarios, residents
broke into groups to discuss them. The result, as
the evening progressed, was three-ring organiz-
ing. After listening to the planners' presentations,
audience members wrote down what they liked
about each scenario on a green sheet, what con-
cerned them on a yellow sheet, and what they
disliked on a red sheet. Using the surveys, DSNI
will derive a set of community standards for the
redevelopment.
Earlier, in a comer of the hall, residents had
stuck Post-it notes on a neighborhood map, list-
ing their wants and needs. "It's a good way to put
down our thoughts of what we want to see in the
community," says 15-year-old Lome lohnson, as
he tacks a note to the board.
One of the best things about the process is it
permits more than just sober-minded requests for
housing, libraries and local businesses. John-
son's request-"stuff to entertain"-was typical.
Several notes alongside it each listed the same
four requests for leisure businesses: a movie the-
ater, sit-down restaurant, ice cream parlor and
bookstore .
Jill Priluck is a Brooklyn-basedfreelance writer.
Street
Smarts
A Detroit resident literally
takes her block back-but can
she hold on to it?
By Kristin Palm
F
or years, Annette McGuire waited for some-
one else to tum her Eastside Detroit neigh-
borhood around. She watched her street
decline over two decades, as suburban flight, auto
industry downsizing and the city's calculated
neglect of neighborhoods devastated block after
block around her. Today, the stately brick homes
that once rivaled those in the wealthy Grosse
Pointes neighborhood sit boarded up or gutted by
fire. Trash blows through lots strewn with aban-
doned cars, discarded tires and broken glass.
Through it all, McGuire focused on raising
her children and, later, getting through job train-
ing programs in order to find a job and get off
welfare. But soon she wanted to do something to
improve her neighborhood as well, so when a
friend told her about Project Lead, a leadership
training program run by the Warren/Conner
Development Coalition, she signed up. There, she
learned about government programs that would
help her reclaim her block.
Now, McGuire is attempting to do just that,
CITVLlMITS
going on a one-woman campaign to spruce up
and fix up her block. She first purchased the lot
next to her home on Troester Street for $250 at a
state auction, cleared out the trash, and planted
grass. At the next auction, she bought another lot
down the street, which she plans to turn into a
community garden. After that, she took over an
abandoned house from the city that she has begun
to renovate, with plans to move in within two
years. Most ambitiously, she plans to turn her cur-
rent house into a senior citizen group home.
"All these years I wasn't involved with the
community, but I started thinking 'This don't
make sense,'" McGuire says. "I'd seen the neigh-
borhood go from beautiful to nothing, and I
thought, 'We don't have to live like this-some-
body's got to do something. I went to Project
Lead and realized it was me. I've got to do some-
thing."
The Project LeadcTasses are part of what
Warren/Conner calls its Neighborhood Toolbox,
through which it aims to teach residents and
small groups how to help stabilize their neigh-
borhoods. Warren/Conner is wagering that small
projects like neighborhood clean-ups are only
the beginning for engaged residents like
McGuire. Once a few people get the know-how,
and get some support from their neighbors,
downtrodden blocks can wage more difficult cru-
getting resources and results out of
government agencies.
A block group might begin with immediate-
ly fixable problems-like abandoned housing
and illegal dumping-and then move on to pres-
suring the city to make zoning changes or reha-
bilitate housing. Residents learn exactly who
makes things happen in Detroit and how they do
it. Which city agency is the one to call to get a
filthy comer cleaned up? How do you negotiate
for concessions from business owners? Apply
for grants?
"It is focused on building the capacity of the .
community to act," says Lisa Nutter, project
director at OMG Center for Collaborative Learn-
ing in Philadelphia, which is evaluating these
and other similar projects for the Annie E. Casey
Foundation. "It's not focused on building War-
ren/Conner's capacity to act for the community."
Warren/Conner operates on many fronts at
once. A schools campaign began when parents
lodged complaints about broken windows; now,
it's formulating a set of systemwide demands for
reform that parents will present to Mayor George
Archer. Another project has moved from urging
repairs in a rat-infested shopping center to col-
laborating with developers on a plan to rebuild
the stores. And Warren/Conner is hoping to bring
that scaling-up process to dozens of block clubs
that dot the Eastside.
McGuire emphasizes that starting small can
ultimately bring big results. "We've complained
to each other and it didn't get anywhere," says
McGuire. "We have to start finding out, where
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
are the resources? Where do we go to make a
change, even if it's just a little change? Even if
it's a little bitty one, that makes a difference."
F
inding residents with McGuire's tenacity
isn't easy. Nearly half of Eastsiders live
below the poverty line. The state has des-
ignated the area a Project Zero site, meaning that
every adult on welfare must get a job. "We are
dealing With people who have a full plate of pri-
orities. We're asking them, 'Why don't you
reprioritize your life and do some of this stuff,
with the benefit of ultimately improving your life
so that the priorities then shift?, That's a hard
task to sell," observes Tonya Allen, who directs
Warren/Conner's program.
By working with groups that were old part-
ners, relying on word of mouth, and employing
four staff organizers, Warren/Conner has man-
Residents learn exactly
who makes things
happen in Detroit
and how they do it.
Which city agency is
the one to call to get a
filthy corner cleaned up?
How do you negotiate
for concessions from
business owners?
aged to sell that idea to some 60 neighborhood
associations. One of them worked with McGuire
to establish the Troester Street Block Club. She
got a $1,500 grant from the organization, which
she used to buy lawnmowers, clippers and grass
seed for monthly block cleanups.
Organizer Stanley Moore says he starts by
sizing up a block club's goals and its capacity.
The two are often far apart. The things residents
naturally want to see first off-like new housing,
or more stores-are out of their reach. "The
groups come in needing lot of education," he
explains. "They have passion behind an issue but
they lack the focus to bring their visions and
make them become reality."
So Moore helps groups define smaller goals,
then suggests whom to tum to and how to get
results out of bureaucracies. For example, Moore
counseled one resident who had repeatedly asked
the city to tear down an abandoned house. He
suggested that she follow up with a letter noting
that the house sat near a school and was a drug
haven-in other words, the city was obligated
under its own rules to take immediate action. She
then took her case to the City Council. Not only
was the house tom down; neighbors who saw her
testimony on TV signed on to her block club.
But material change will not come easily to
the Eastside, and not just because of its limited
wealth. In Detroit, a stultifying city bureaucracy
slows public business to a crawl. Even experi-
enced real estate developers avoid city govern-
ment-they have been known to assemble hun-
dreds of small parcels of privately owned prop-
erty rather than spend the years it would take to
negotiate for one city-owned tract.
Finding resources for housing is equally cum-
bersome. An audit of the city's federally funded
home repair grant program found that an average
application takes 597 days to process. "Detroit is
a challenge just because of the unresponsiveness
of the city's government," says Allen. "A lot of
times you can have the right process, you might
even follow the right procedure, and you still
can't get change to happen because the city is so
deep in bureaucracy. It makes people extremely
frustrated in doing this work."
M
cGuire is remarkably persistent. She
waited a year and a half to claim the
abandoned house, then had to run a
bureaucratic gauntlet just to apply for a rehab
grant. Although it's nearly a year later, she still
hasn't received the money. "You just have to
have patience," she says. "I'm just going day by
day. What I can do I do, and what I can't, I can't."
She still has a long way to go with her
plans-and risks taking on more than she can
handle. Even if she gets the grant, bringing her
newly acquired home up to code could break her.
Repairs on "free" city-disposed houses can end
up costing owners up to 10 times what a house is
worth, the Detroit Free Press has reported.
Her vision for the senior home is even more
fragile. When she got the new house, McGuire
planned to attend a meeting with a state agency
to learn what she would need to do next. She also
weighed the idea of starting a community center
instead. But a year later, she still hasn't gone to
the information session.
Since starting work at a temp agency,
McGuire has had less time for the block club, so
she's watched her neighbors take responsibility
for work she used to do. These days, the block
club is starting a neighborhood watch, and hopes
to run out drug houses and organize field trips for
young people.
"With us coming together we know each
other now," McGuire explains. "It brings us clos-
er together, so then we can work as a team." It's
that shared commitment, she believes, that will
help Troester Street rebuild itself-in time.
"It took a while to get like this," says
McGuire. "It will take a while to get it back
together."
Kristin Palm is a Detroit-based freelance writer.
-
REVIEW
-
Little
Faith
By Bill Penuel
"Ordinary Resurrections: Children
in the Years of Hope," by Jonathan Kozol,
Crown, $25.
M
ott Haven is familiar to those who have read Jonathan
Kozol's previous books describing the forces that have
shaped life in this blighted section of the South Bronx.
In his 1996 book, Amazing Grace, he painted a poignant portrait
of a community tom by alcohol, drugs and violence. Kozol's
Mott Haven was just as riven by policies aimed at reducing res-
idents' access to vital city services, resources that could have
ameliorated the difficult conditions of their lives.
In his latest book, Ordinary Resurrections, Kozol turns us to
a different view of the neighborhood, this time from the per-
spective of its young children. While the realities of AIDS, vio-
lence, absent fathers, and the not-so-benign neglect of City Hall
form the context of this book, Kozol has refocused his attention
to a world where children make crayon drawings, play with
electronic games and dream of hopeful futures.
Ordinary Resurrections has a point of view that diverges
decidedly from Kozol's previous writings. His earlier work is
given over to conversations with policy-makers, analyses of
arguments by city officials or interviews with social service
workers commenting on the effects of cutbacks. Here, Kozol
spends time with children who attend an after-school program
at St. Ann's Church in Mott Haven. He sees kids here not as
pawns of policy but rather as imaginative, curious people with
friends, fathers, mothers, toys and broken pencil sharpeners.
Kozol writes, "The actual kingdom that they live in for a good
part of each day is not the land of bad statistics but the land of
licorice sticks and long division, candy bars and pencil sets,
and Elmo dolls and ... bewildering computer toys called Giga
Pets that make a squeaking sound and are the bane of their
schoolteachers."
The book has a self-reflective, even confessional,. quality.
Kozol is weighed down by worries about his ailing parents, and
his visits with the children at St. Ann's prove to be self-healing.
He goes there often over two years to meet with the children,
because he likes to be with them and because "the world felt
safer in their company." There's Pineapple, one of the young
girls Kozol meets and befriends. Pineapple is very protective of
her adult friend when he visits her school. She makes sure he
gets lunch in the cafeteria, and when
a boy asks him about the words
he's writing in his notebook,
she instructs him, "Don't answer
him," pointing out that Kozol
shouldn't have to answer ques-
tions from a stranger.
Kozol also draws out the
"roller-coaster of emotions"
felt by the residents of Mott
Haven, where resignation at
their lot is followed by hope
at the first promise of more
housing and lessening
crime, and disappoint-
ment again when
promises are broken
and changes prove to be cosmetic.
This never-ending cycle suggests the death and
rebirth of a community every day.
Kozol's sensitivity also allows him to see children change
and grow. "Every time I think I've got the personalities of cer-
tain children 'fixed'- 'established'-in my mind," he reflects,
"something new is said or something unexpected happens that
dismantles my assumptions and compels me to go back to zero
and start over."
These close-up profiles of the children's lives do not mean
Ordinary Resurrections is empty of policy implications. Kozol
shows us that programs like the one at St. Ann's are important
for children's development, and often help children that schools
fail to reach. To support these initiatives, Kozol suggests that
there be funding beyond those programs whose goals can easi-
ly be subsumed within "outcomes-based" language; narrowly
defined academic programs should not be the only ones the city
underwrites. Rather, he maintains, support for programs should
be based in part on the universal need of children to have fun
and make friends in a safe environment, something that St.
Ann's does very well.
Finally, we can learn a lot by thinking of teachers and youth
development professionals as "specialists in opening small
packages," as Kozol puts it. Teaching adults who work with
children to listen well and to gain the respect and attention of
the kids is no small task. It requires finding adults who retain a
sensitive ear, a sense of playfulness, and a commitment to what
Kozol calls the "ministry" and "poetry" of teaching.
The battles Kozol has fought before no longer captivate his
imagination in Ordinary Resurrections. "Complicated arguments
with angry intellectuals lost much of the attraction they had held
for me in previous years," he writes. Here, the conversations are
with those who are most affected by the city's policies.
And often these conversations touched on matters of spiritu-
al faith. It's obvious that the book's focus on religion has much
to do with Kozol's own doubts when faced with his parents'
mortaIity. The children's opinions on God and religion serve as
foils to Kozol's own reflections on faith. And with them, he
identifies another kind of faith in the reciprocity of relationships
between adults and children-especially the ways that Elio,
Pineapple, Piedad and the other children help their friend
Jonathan rise above his own loneliness .
Bill Penuel is an educational researcher working in Silicon
Valley. He has worked as an after-school program director;
mentor and evaluator.
CITY LIMITS
Gelvin
Stevenson is
chairman
of the board
of Community
Resource
Exchange
and a writer,
economist,
consultant, and
activist.
Information
Pleas
By Gelvin Stevenson
I
t was a cold winter's day in the Bronx, but the
conversations in front of the Pelham Parkway
apartment building where I stood were heated. "I
get these tenible headaches. I can't sleep!" ''The
lady down the hall had to take her baby to the
ER!" "We have to do something!"
It had been months since the boiler pipe had
ruptured. Fuel oil was mixing and rising with
boiler steam, permeating every part of the
building with noxious, nauseating fumes.
My group had been encouraging tenants to
file complaints with city agencies, but with
mixed success. The tenants were unsure that
anything could be done to remedy the prob-
lem. I explained that filing complaints
might get the authorities to sit up and take
notice of the uncaring landlord. Perhaps
even fine him. But I was talking to a cyn-
ical group. They'd seen it all. Heard it all.
''How much did he pay last time? What happened to the Fire
Department violation? The Department of Buildings violation?
The Health Department violation?" I was stumped. "I don't
know," I replied. "But I'll find out," I promised.
It was easier said than done. In this information age, there
exists no centralized source for details on violations a landlord
has been slapped with. No one-stop deal for tenants where they
can take their grievances and expect a quick response.
But there are solutions. In order to improve the lot of low-
income tenants and the quality of its housing stock, the city
should tap into the success and the accessibility of the internet,
and, at the same, time borrow a page from strategies private
companies use to help and retain customers.
First: Make all enforcement data on every apartment build-
ing available on the Internet so that any tenant can easily and
quickly find out the history and status of violations on his or her
building.
Second: The city could appoint a single agency, perhaps
called the City Building Manager, that would facilitate all the
relationships tenants in a building had with city agencies. That
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
way, one phone call would suffice for
assistance on the many issues concern-
ing a building.
--_.-----" ... ,,,.-
The private sector has such person- r I T Y V lEW
nel. They are called Relationship 1I
Managers, and they manage all of a
client's business with a company. For
example, a Relationship Manager at a computer service compa-
ny might guide a client to the right division to help pick soft-
ware, to another division to get it installed and yet elsewhere to
receive technical assistance and upgrades. Such an office would
have saved the tenants of the Pelham Parkway building days
spent trying to fix their problems.
Instead, we spread ourselves thin. We contacted the Fire
Department, the city Department of Buildings, the city
Department of Environmental Protection, the city Department
of Health, the city Department of Housing Preservation and
Development and state Division of Housing and Community
Renewal. Plus other places we thought could help, including
politicians' offices and the local neighborhood development
corporation.
Our efforts were spirited but not fully effective, because we
went off in different directions. Did we make the first call to the
agency that could have best helped us? Probably not We called
the agency we had heard might handle this problem or one that
someone's cousin recommended. We had no expertise, only ran-
domly acquired information. Our time would have been much
more productive if we had had one person to call who would
bring in the appropriate agencies to solve our problems.
In addition to the guidance and help, we needed information.
Had other tenants filed complaints? Had violations been issued?
Had fines been levied? How big were the fines? Big enough to
get the landlord's attention? Were the fines for ensuing violations
larger? ryle could not find a description of the Fire Department's
role in issuing building violations, for example.) All this vital
information is unavailable to the average tenant With the exist-
ing options-subscribing to the Building Information Service on
your home computer, or using a fax -on-demand service available
from the Department of Buildings-information and advice is
slanted in favor of landlords, not tenants.
Picture it You go on line to, say, www.nyctenants.gov. You
enter your zip code and street address. Bingo! There, on your
screen, would be all the official NYC information about your
building: the owner, the block and lot number, the name of the
super, the rental status, history of rent increases, tax arrears, all
outstanding summonses and violations and the issuing agencies,
fines levied, paid and outstanding, and more. And the informa-
tion would be hyper-linked to the web pages of the appropriate
agencies for more details. Your building's home page would
also contain a place to file a complaint with any of the relevant
city agencies, and include the email addresses of those agen-
cies' complaint bureaus.
Of course, compiling this information would take enormous
resources. Currently, even agencies that rely on their own data
to get their jobs done must contend with serious shortcomings
in their computer systems. That's all the more reason to invest
in standardized, integrated information systems that everyone-
government, landlords and tenants alike-can count on. The
end result for tenants: an effective combination of high tech and
personal contact that would give tenants the ability to ensure
they live in clean, healthy and comfortable housing .
High-rise Hellraiser
(continued from page 10)
out and put in a better class of people," she says.
NYCHA spokesman Howard Marder denies
that the authority is "eviction-happy." "We are in the
business of keeping people in housing," says
Marder. However, NYCHA's own records seem to
contradict Marder'S claim. Although the Housing
Authority refuses to make final eviction statistics
available, in just one month in 1999 it ruled to evict
107 tenants.
When Djemal moves to Oakland this August,
she'll be facing a tougher battle-California has
particularly aggressive public housing eviction
policies, which she plans to challenge. She'll be
setting up a similar project there. In the meantime,
Columbia students plan to continue their work-
shop. Attorneys at Legal Aid and Legal Services
have also expressed an interest in taking on larger
numbers of eviction cases.
Of course, Djemal hopes that NYCHA will
ease up on its evictions, but says she doesn't '
expect that to happen anytime soon. "I think it's
going in the other direction, so someone needs to
be doing this work," she says. "Unfortunately,
nobody is."
Naush Boghossian is a Manhattan-based free-
lance writer.
Breaking Up
the Party
(continued from page 14)
And they have at least one seat to fret serious-
ly about: Roy Goodman's on the Upper East Side.
Liz Krueger, on leave as Associate Director of the
Community Food Resource Center, an anti-
poverty group, plans on raising $5()(),()()() to beat
him. Already, she's raised more than $2()(),()()(),
relying heavily on her family's own finances and
well-heeled connections.
Krueger is counting on a rerun of Carolyn
Maloney's 1992 defeat of Republican
Congressman Bill Green. Maloney sailed in on
Bill Clinton's coattails. Gore may be no
Clinton, but Krueger has enough strong
allies-incl uding political clubs, liberal
activist groups, the Green and Working
Families parties, and state Senator Tom Duane,
who urged her to enter the race-to make her a
serious contender.
Krueger plans to poke holes in Goodman's
reputation as a liberal Republican. Her cam-
paign literature is an ode to the goods a
Democratic Senate could deliver that the cur-
rent one won't, starting with more subways,
more school funding and campaign finance
reform .
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Special event and Professional Directory advertising rates are also available.
For more information, check out the Jobs section of www.citylimits.org or call
Associate Publisher Anita Gutierrez at 212-479-3345.
Abyssinian Development Corporation (ADC) seeks CONS11ftJCTION ~ .
Abyssinian Development Corporation' s Construction Manager works closely
with, and reports to, the Director of Real Estate. As the corporation has a
number of residential and commercial projects in pre-development and devel-
opment phases concurrently, it is the responsibility of the construction man-
ager to monitor, supervise, and facilitate the construction cycle of projects
as assigned by the Director of Real Estate. The Construction Manager should
have an understanding of the design requirements of various governmental
agenCies, including the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and
Development (HPD); NYS Department of Housing and Community Renewal
(DHCR); and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
A familiarity with code requirements and certification processes of the NYC
Department of Buildings (boiler, elevator, fa<;:ade maintenance, etc.) is nec-
essary. Knowledge of historic preservation issues helpful. Duties include, but
are not limited to: Developing physical assessments of buildings for pro-
posed developments. Interface with general contractor, construction lender,
project architect, consultants. Review and report on proposed layouts and
design documents. Review and comment on construction contracts and
other documents pertaining to the contractor and performance of duties.
Monitor construction activity of various projects. Review and respond to var-
ious documents provided by the contractors (i.e. insurance, trade payment
breakdown, requisitions, bonds). Attend weekly job meetings and requisition
meetings; provide feedback for requisition information and subsequent
approval for final disbursement of funds. Represent ADC' s interest at design
meetings with HPD, DHCR, HUD, etc. Liaison with expeditors. In conjunction
with the project manager, develop overall projects. Act as "trouble-shooter"
in moving forward projects that pose particular development challenges.
Interested candidates should forward resumes to: Darren Walker, Abyssinian
Development Corporation, 131 W. 138th Street, New York, NY 10030-2303.
No faxes or phone calls, please. ADC is an equal opportunity employer.
STAfF ATTORNEYIPOUCY ANALYST POSITlON. The National Employment Law
Project (NELP) seeks staff attorney with a background in policy advocacy for
a project to promote state and federal reform of the Unemployment
Insurance system and other workforce development programs to better meet
the needs of low-wage, women and nonstandard workers. Non-attorneys with
significant public policy experience will be considered. NELP is a non-profit
research and advocacy organization that specializes in economic justice
issues of special concern to the working poor. Applications must be received
ASAP. To apply, send a cover letter, resume, and three references to: Staff
Attorney/Policy Analyst Search, National Employment Law Project, 55 John
Street, 7th Roor, New York, NY 10038. (For more information, see NELP's
Website at www.nelp.orgjjob_openings.htm).
(continued on page 36)
TOlllorro\N starts today
Commitment is
leading to results no
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
Deutsche Bank's commitment to
global corporate citizenship recognizes a
responsibility to improve and enrich the
communities throughout the world in
which we conduct business.
With a focused strategy of support for
community development, the arts and the
environment, Deutsche Bank partners with
local organizations to build a brighter future.
Our commitment to a better tomorrow
starts today.
Deutsche Bank IZI
-
(continued from page 35)
The Nonprofit Rnance Fund (NFF) is seeking a SENIOR LENDER for its New
York program. The Lender will provide financial analysis for NFF' s lending and
asset-building products, provide financial advisory services for clients and
assist in developing and implementing marketing strategies. Duties include
performing credit analysis, making written and oral presentations, closing
loans, monitoring the portfolio, and staffing special projects. While being
dedicated to and located in New York, the Lender is also part of a six-person
financial services team that provides financial services nation-wide and is
expected to work on projects from other areas as needed. Candidates must
have a desire to work with non profits, knowledge of community development
and/or banking industry. At least 4 years experience (2 years in this or a
related field), Master's Degree preferred, and proficiency in Excel and
Microsoft Word. Salary: mid-50s to mid-60s, generous benefits. EOE. Send
resume and cover letter via e-mail norah.mcveigh@nffny.org or fax to 212-
268-8653 or write Norah McVeigh, Nonprofit Rnance Fund, 70 West 36th
Street, 11th Roor, New York, N.Y. 10018 . No calls, please.
SOCIAL WORKERIELDERCARE SPEAKER. Federation of Protestant Welfare
Agencies. MSW professional with knowledge of the aging services com-
munity and with demonstrated skills in successfully presenting to and
assisting this population to serve as a traveling presenter and I&R provider
for seniors at centers in all five boroughs. Description of position: An "itin-
erant " MSW social worker/ speaker/resource person who will go to 16 of
our senior sites on a regular monthly basis to make presentations and
address questions, conveying information directly to those to whom the
services, entitlements and policies apply: A) Making seniors and their fam-
ilies aware of the existence of programs, services and policies which
affect their lives. B) Guiding seniors and their families in the best methods
to access and use those programs and services. C) Providing clear expla-
nations on the operation and effect of elderly programs, services and poli-
cies. D) Helping seniors and their families self-assess their needs in light
of assistance that is available and policies that are being proposed or
implemented. For each monthly cycle, there will be an announced primary
subject to be covered in the session of 30-45 minutes, with provision of
supporting printed materials from either existing programs or developed in-
house by Federation staff. Following the presentation on the primary sub-
ject, there will be short updates on other subjects and time allotted for
questions. There would also be a set period of time for attendees to briefly
share information on resources, activities, etc., with the group. The social
worker/ presenter would then allot approximately 2 hours for private Q&A
with attendees who sign up for information and referral. Total time at each
site would be approximately 5 hours. One full day a week would be set
aside for office work and information gathering. Full-time position with ben-
efits. Send resume and salary requirements to: FPWA, Attn: E. Guzman,
281 Park Avenue South., NY NY 10010
The Pratt Area Community Council (PACC) is a growing not-for-profit organi-
zation. We combine tenant and community organizing, tenant and home-
owner services, affordable housing development and management, and
economic development to improve the Brooklyn communities of Ft. Greene,
Clinton Hill, and Bedford Stuyvesant. PACC seeks a creative self-starter for
the position of DIRECTOR OF ORGANIZING. The Director of Organizing is
responsible for directing day-to-day operation of community organizing and
tenant support services unit, supervising staff, and overseeing depart-
mental budget; investigating, strategizing and directing organizing cam-
paigns regarding housing and garden preservation, economic development,
anti.{jrug and crime issues, and zoning variances; initiating and pursuing
building-wide actions in housing court; coordinating trainings, workshops,
clinics, developing and publishing corresponding marketing material ; and
researching and writing funding proposals for department. Send resume &
cover letter to PACC, 201 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205 or fax to
718-522-2604.
EUROPE SPECIALIST. The Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit,
New York-based international press freedom organization, seeks a coordi-
nator for its Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union program. Ideal can-
didate has strong reporting skills and has worked as a journalist in the
region. Ruency in Russian is essential. Responsibilities include docu-
menting attacks on journalists in the region, conducting research missions
and advocacy campaigns, and writing articles on press freedom issues.
Please fax CV and press clips to: Executive Director, Committee to Protect
Journalists 330 Seventh Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001. Fax:
212-465-9568.
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ADMINISTRAT1VE SUPPORT: Non-profit domestic violence agency seeks
bright bilingual (English/ Spanish) assistant for main office. Must possess
excellent office skills (type at least 40 wpm), professional phone manner,
good communication skills, good organizational and computer skills (have
prior knowledge and experience with MSOffice). Duties i'nclude answering
phones and assigning calls, mail distribution, supply-ordering (including
regular assessment of supplies), preparing memos and correspondence,
maintaining various logs, daily electronic transfer of data to funding
source, and reception of guests. Base pay: commensurate with experi-
ence. Education: HS diploma or equivalency and certified clerical training.
Experience: at least 2 years of administrative support. Ideal candidate
should be mature-minded, dependable, flexible, proactive and must be
client/service driven. Submit resumes to: SFF Facilities Manager PO Box
1406 New York, NY 10268-1406.
VOLUNTEER. Help immigrant citizens have a voice in upcoming local , state,
and national elections and engage in U.S. political life: register them to vote.
Volunteers needed for non-partisan, successful Voter Registration effort in
Brooklyn and Manhattan. No experience necessary. Contact Suman @ NYIC:
212-627-2227 x 236.
Non-profit managed care seeks EXEC ADMINISTRAT1VE ASSISTANT to man-
age services for health care providers. Requires minimum five years expe-
rience; good computer, communication, organizational skills. Mid $30s.
Cover letter/resume to Judith Spektor, AIDS Day Services Health Plan.
Fax: 212-627-9247.
Citizens' Committee for Children of New York, Inc. (CCC) is seeking candi-
dates for the position of STAfF ASSOCIATE. This pOSition requires an experi-
enced, highly motivated and analytiC individual with a Master' s or Juris
Doctor degree. The Staff Associate will carry a portfolio of issues and man-
age several task forces and projects to evaluate the effects of public poli-
cies on children and families and assess whether adequate services are
available to meet child and family needs. CCC' s advocacy work includes pub-
lic education, policy development and analysis, monitoring program imple-
mentation, and community outreach and constituency building. We are look-
ing for candidates with excellent writing, communication and interpersonal
skills to add to the team at CCC. Candidates must live in New York City or
be willing to relocate to New York City. CCC is an equal opportunity employ-
er with competitive salaries and a generous benefit package. Please submit
cover letter and resume to: Gabrielle Kreisler, Esq, Director of Program and
Policy, Citizens' Committee for Children of New York, 105 East 22nd Street,
7th floor, NY, NY 10010.
Victim Services' Streetwork Project. Streetwork is an innovative outreach-
counseling program for homeless youth in mid and lower Manhattan, which
utilizes a harm reduction approach. Seeks the following positions: CUNICAl.
SUPERVISOR to work in a highly participatory staff environment.
Responsibilities include clinical supervision of staff and oversight of street
outreach. Candidate must be flexible and sensitive to diverse cultures and
sexual orientations. Reid and supervisory experience a must. MSW or relat-
ed degree. DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRA110N to oversee administrative aspects
of program including staff supervision, grant administration and reporting.
Candidate must have strong organizational , analytiC, writing and computer
skills. Salary' s low to mid $40s. Excellent benefits. Send resume and cover
letter to Program Director, Streetwork Project, 548 8th Avenue, 22nd Roor,
New York, NY 10018.
ORGANIZER. Experienced organizer needed for progressive NYC homeless
advocacy organization. Will develop organizing project for low-income and
homeless New Yorkers around campaigns for affordable housing and ser-
vices. Qualifications: five years organizing experience or equivalent; BA strong-
ly preferred; experience in area of homelessness/related field preferred.
Competitive salary/benefits. EOE. Women/ minority candidates strongly urged
to apply. Fax resume, salary history, short writing sample to: Patrick Markee,
Coalition for the Homeless, 212-964-1206.
PROJECT COORDINATOR-SOCIAL SERVICE. Major non-profit seeks responsible
individual for developing and conducting training workshops on govemment
benefits programs. Coordinate and manage the Public Benefits Information
Line. Client consultation. Coordinate data collection with staff analyst, and
other CSS Units. BA in social work or related field required. Min. two years
working with public entitlements. One year experience in volunteer manage-
ment, training or conducting workshops. Demonstrated written, oral, interper-
CITY LIMITS
sonal and computer skills. Salary $30K. Excellent benefits. Send resume and
cover letter to: Human Resources, PP-22, Community Service Society of New
York, 105 East 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010. Fax: 212-614-5336 or
email: Iwoods@cssny.org. EOE.
The Community Service Society, one of the nation' s oldest nonprofit social
service and advocacy organizations for the poor, seeks a GOVERNMENT
BENEFns POLICY ANALYST to join its Public Policy Department. The posi-
tion develops and implements research and policy analysis in support of
CSS' government benefits policy activities, with an emphasis on benefits
that support low wage work; develops research projects designed to raise
public awareness and make policy recommendations; identifies advocacy
opportunities and develops advocacy strategies. Qualifications: position
requires experience in research deSign, implementation and data analysis.
MA degree in public policy or related field required. Three years of experi-
ence in policy or related field required. Familiarity with SPSS or other data
analysis software strongly preferred. Submit resume and cover letter
to: Human Resources PP-24, Community Service Society of New York, 105
East 22nd Street, NY, NY 10010. Fax: 212-614-5340 or Email:
Iwoods@cssny.org. EOE.
PROJECT COORDINATOR, Public Benefits Resource Center. Major nonprofit
seeks responsible individual for developing and conducting training work-
shops on government benefit programs. Coordinate and manage the Public
Benefits Information Line. Client consultation. Coordinate data collection with
staff analysts, and other CSS units. BA in Social Work or related field
required. Minimum two years experience in volunteer management, training
or conducting workshops. Demonstrated written, oral , interpersonal skills and
computer skills. Salary $30K. Excellent benefits. Send resume and cover let-
ter to: Human Resources PP-22, Community Service Society of New York, 105
East 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010, fax 212-614-5336 or email :
Iwoods@cssny.org. E/ O/E.
VISTA VOLUNTEER: Manhattan-based Retired and Senior Volunteer Program
seeks VISTA Volunteer for immediate placement to work on Jiggets Relief
Project. Monthly stipend, health insurance and education award provided
through the VISTA Program. Candidate must possess excellent communica-
tion skills, be computer literate, have working knowledge of public assistance
programs and landlord/tenant issues. Bilingual (Spanish) a plus. Send cover
letter and resume to: Human Resources-Vista, Community Service Society of
New York, 105 East 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010. Fax: 212-614-5340
or email: ccollymore@cssny.org. E/ O/E.
PUBlIC RElATlONS WRITIRINEWSlETTIR EDITOR for national non-profit
women's rights legal advocacy organization. Seeking strong, fast, accurate
writer with two years PR experience for heavy volume of writing in busy
Communications Department. Produce quarterly newsletter, write content for
website, handle media inquiries, publicize our cutting-edge work in Congress,
the courts, and our new web-based women's news service. Assist Director
with media strategy and outreach on vital women' s rights issues. Desktop
publishing skills, legal savvy and background with social justice activism are
assets. Send cover letter, resume and three short writing samples ASAP to:
PR Writer Search, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, 395 Hudson, New
York, NY 10014. No calls please. EOE.
A challenging position for an ADULT EDUCATION TEACHER to provide intro-
ductory computer skills training and GED/basic education instruction to
adults and young adults in a residential drug treatment setting.
Administer TABE or ABLE exams. Develop curriculum that includes proto-
cols for more advanced software applications. Communicate with inter-
disciplinary treatment team to assess clients needs and develop goals.
Maintain equipment, troubleshoot system problems. Requirements: BA in
Computer Science or related degree. Two years teaching experience; cer-
tification a plus. Experience with adult learners and knowledge of sub-
stance abuse desirable. Send resume with cover letter to: Cassandra
Dancy-Potts, The Educational Alliance, 197 East Broadway, NY, NY,
10002. Fax: 212-228-1178.
The Citizens Advice Bureau has openings for a DIRECTOR OF socw. SERVICES,
a JOB MATCH AND RETENT10N SPECWJST and a NtmmlONlST. The Director of
Social Services will be responsible for supervising the department heads of
case management, recreation/after-school and child care programs at a Tier
II family shelter in the Bronx. This position requires a MSW; CSW preferred.
Resume with cover letter to B. Salau at 718-299-1682. The Job Match and
Retention Specialist will be responsible for assessing the needs of walk-in
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
clients, developing job skills and matching clients to appropriate jobs. This
position requires experience with job development and computer literacy.
Bilingual Spanish a +. Resume with cover letter to J. Lacen at 718-993-8089.
The Nutritionist will work in an HIV /AIDS Positive Living program. This position
requires current knowledge of nutrition and treatment as related to HIV/AIDS.
Resume with cover letter to B. Pressley at 18-716-1065 or call 718-716-
5559, ext.14 for more information. All credentials may be mailed to CAB,
2054 Morris Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453.
ASSISTANT TEAM LEADER: To provide a broad range of direct client services to
tenants of the Delta, Stella and Edgecombe programs located in Upper
Manhattan. These permanent supportive housing residences provide on-site
support services to formerly homeless and low-income individuals including
those with special needs such as mental illness, HIV/AIDS, and/or histories
of chemical dependency. Resp: case mgt, group svs, and other program activ-
ity. Reqs: MSW, direct service experience in mental health or homelessness;
good verbal and written communication skills; computer literacy. Bilingual
Spanish/English preferred. Salary: $34K + comp benefits including $65
monthly transit checks. Resume and cover letter to Kristin Morris, 'CUCSjThe
Delta, 409 West 145th Street, New York, NY 10031. CUCS is committed to
workforce diversity. EEO.
HOUSING DEVnOPMENT COORDINATOR: The Pratt Area Community Council
(PACC) is a growing neighborhood-based not-for-profit organization. We
combine tenant and community organizing, tenant and homeowner ser-
vices, affordable housing development and management, and economic
development to improve the Brooklyn communities of Ft. Greene, Clinton
Hill , and Bedford Stuyvesant. PACC is seeking a Housing Development
Coordinator to work under the supervision of the Housing Development
Director. Responsibilities include implementing and administering new and
existing housing and commercial development projects. The Housing
Development Coordinator will identify and analyze development opportuni-
ties; determine project feasibility; negotiate and conduct transactions
related to real estate acquisition; secure financing and entitlements;
develop and maintain budgets and project timelines; provide project man-
agement; respond to RFPs; and draft RFQs. The ideal candidate is a self-
starter with two years of housing or related experience and excellent orga-
nizational , problem-solving and writing skills. Superior math and computer
skills a must. Rnancial packaging and knowledge of publicly-funded pro-
grams helpful. Salary commensurate with experience. Send cover letter,
resume, and salary requirements to: PACC, 201 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn,
NY 11205 or fax to 718-522-2604.
Talbot Perkins Children's Services seeks a FOSTD CARE SUPERVISOR for
neighborhood-based foster care program on Manhattan's Lower East
Side. Small and creative program. Help build program, recruit foster
parents, lead groups and collaborate with on-site prevention pro-
grams. Other responsibilities: supervising caseworkers in case plan-
ning, ensuring compliance with ACS regulations and promoting a fam-
ily-to-family philosophy. MSW and child welfare experience required.
Supervisory experience preferred. Strong organizational , writing and
clinical skills. Spanish-speaking a plus. Need FOSTD CARE CASE-
WORKER to provide case planning to parents, foster children and foster
parents. Good writing and organizational skills. Bachelor' s degree and
human services experience. Spanish speaking a must. Send resume and
cover letter to Deborah Rubien, Talbot Perkins Children's Services, 250 E.
Houston St, NYC, 10002 or fax to: 212-505-6171.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF DEVElOPMENT: Education: B.A. or M.A. in liberal arts,
social sciences or journalism. Experience: 3 to 5 years of professional expe-
rience. Seeking a reliable, personable, and organized individual to work under
the direction of the Director of Development for the largest social service
agency in East Harlem, raising approx. $2+ million. The agency provides child
care, youth development services, college preparation, adult education, pro-
grams for the elderly, mental health services, environmental education, eco-
nomic development, and more. Office responsible for all phases of private
fundraising, public relations, special events, proposal and report writing,
grants management, direct mail , research, program development, publica-
tions and interagency and extemal communications. Excellent grant writing
skills essential. Salary: mid-$30,000s depending on experience. Send
resume, writing samples and references to: Sally Yarmolinsky, Director of
Development, Union Settiement Association, 237 East 104th Street, New
York, N.Y. 10029. Or e-mail: syarmolinsky@unionsett.org. An Equal
Opporunity Employer.
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(continued from page 37)
SOCIAL SERVICE DIRECTOR: Aquinas Housing Corporation, a Bronx not for
'profit housing organization, is seeking a self-motivated and experienced
leader to oversee department. Responsibilities include the development
and monitoring of budgets, a job readiness program, a home-based
child care program, community organizing, a senior service program, and
case management. Master's degree in related field plus 5 years related
experience with two years supervisory experience required. Bilingual in
Spanish/English preferred. Fax resume to: 718-542-4223 or 718-842-
6627, attn: D. Colon.
HOUSING DEVELOPER: $60K, Neighborhood rehabilitation and new construc-
tion. HANDS, Inc., Orange, NJ. Fax resume to: 973-678-0014 or email to
PMHANDS@aol.com. For more information visit WWW.NHI.ORG.
TRAlNER/TICHN1CAL ASSISTANT: FulHime position available at the Center for
Urban Community Services (CUCS) Housing Resource Center for an individual
to provide training and technical assistance to supportive housing providers
and their staff. Eligible applicants are required to have at least five years of
experience in a supportive housing or other human service program.
Experience working directly with people with special needs including HIV /AIDS
is required. Applicants must have excellent verbal , written and interpersonal
skills. Master' s degree required. Send resume with cover letter ASAP to Peggy
Shorr, CUCS, 120 Wall Street, 25th floor, NY, NY 10005. Fax: 212-635-2191.
CUCS is committed to workforce diversity. EEO.
HOUSING PlACEMENT CONSULTANT: The CUCS Housing Resource Center is
seeking a housing consultant to provide information about supportive hous-
ing options and technical assistance on the housing application process to
homeless people with mental illness and their advocates. Other responsibili-
ties include training staff from agencies throughout NYC, conducting site vis-
its to supportive housing programs, resource development and advocacy.
Applicants must be bi-lingual (English/Spanish) and should have knowledge
of and experience in the mental health and homeless ness service system.
Supportive housing experience preferred. Excellent verbal and written com-
munication skills required. Master's degree required, MSW preferred. Send
resumes with cover letter by 6/26/00 to Peggy Shorr, CUCS, 120 Wall Street,
25th floor, NY, NY 10005. Fax: 212-635-2191. CUCS is committed to work-
force diversity. EEO.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: WomenCare, a leading NYC nonprofit that matches
unteer mentors with women leaving prison, seeks dedicated and dynamic
Executive Director. Programs support clients transitioning back to homes &
communities thru mentoring, counseling & referrals for housing, education,
employment & other services. Oversee 3 & 3 part-time staff,
op budget, manage finances, advocate, collaborate & fundraise. $50-60K
plus benefits. Min 5 yrs nonprofit management; excellent communication
skills; MSW preferred. Send resume & cover letter to WC@CRE, 39 Broadway,
10th R, NY, NY 10006.
Amber Hall, a new 85-unit permanent residence for PLWA, located in the
Bronx, is seeking to hire a PARTTlME NUTIITIONIST with an appropriate degree
and professional accreditation. We also seek a FUUTlME HEAD CHEF and TWO
FUUTlME FOOD SERVICE ASSISTANTS. All positions require experience in a res-
idential or institutional setting. Please forward cover letter and resume to Bob
Raphael by fax 212-398-3071 or mail the Lantem Group 690 Eighth Avenue,
New York, NY 10036.
Citywide housing/lending organization is seeking applicants for positions in
Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. NEIGHBORHOOD OFFICE DIRECTOR,
MORTGAGE OFFICER and MARKETING MANAGER. Bachelor' s degree or five
years professional experience. Resume and salary requirements to: E.
McLawrence, NHSNYC, 121 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001 or fax:
212-242-6680.
DIRECTOR OF MATERNnY RESIDENCE: non-profit agency serving pregnant ado-
lescents and parenting teens seeks a committed and hard-working candidate
with strong supervisory, organizational and communication skills, to coordi-
nate a variety of programs for our 36 residents. Qualified candidate will also
supervise a coverage for all shifts, in addition hiring candidates for poSitions
within your area. Applicant should be flexible, patient, have a sense of humor
and most importantly the ability to work well under pressure and emergen-
cies. Requirement: MSW and minimum of 3 to 5 years of-administrative and
supervisory experience. Knowledge of City/state adolescent developmental
and parenting issues. Spanish proficiency a plus. Resume to Inwood House,
320 East 82nd Street, NY 10028, or fax: 212-535-3775 Attn: Toni Loggin, HR
Administrator.
DIRECTOR: Youth Unlimited. Citywide nonprofit seeks motivated, self-driven
director. Train and work with high-risk youth; raise and manage department
budget; liaison with government/community agencies; proposal writing, pro-
gram development and budget responsibilities; manage multiple projects. BA
+ five years experience (youth program training & administrative preferred);
excel at communication, training and management skills; Bilingual a +. Salary
based on experience. EOE. Resume, salary and writing sample ASAP to: VP-
Pgm, CCNYC, 305 7th Avenue, Roor 15, NY, NY 10001 or jobs@citiznes-
nyc.org. Please include YTHDIR in subject line.
DIRECTOR: Project Reachout, Goddard Riverside Community Center seeks
a Director for its continuum of services for homeless people with severe
and perSistent mental illness, Project Reachout. Goddard Riverside is a
leading settlement house located on Manhattan' S Upper West Side. With
20 programs in 12 sites on the West Side and in Harlem, Goddard
Riverside provides a wide range of services including Head Start, day
care, afterschool children' s programs, college and career counseling,
school -based youth programs, a senior center, as well as outreach to the
homeless and permanent housing. Background and responsibilities:
Project Reachout, created in 1979, is comprised of several different pro-
gram components in various sites on the Upper West Side and Harlem.
The service continuum consists of our advocacy-oriented outreach/case
management services, psychiatric care, homeless ACT Team, transitional
housing, psycho-social rehabilitation program, housing placement, per-
manent supportive housing, weekend social club, and vocational ser-
vices. Project Reachout' s service model is based on intensive, flexible
services tailored to the individual needs of each client, with strong links
between each program in the continuum. Our staff includes psychiatrists,
social workers, nurses, creative arts therapists, and para-professionals
from diverse backgrounds. The director is responsible for the leadership,
oversight, coordination and management of the entire continuum of ser-
vices. This includes a wide array of elements including clinical care, cri-
sis intervention, psychiatric rehabilitation, advocacy, administration, pro-
gram evaluation and development, personnel , budget management and
planning, contract compliance, and liaison to funding sources. The direc-
tor will work closely with Goddard Riverside' s Executive Director, the
Associate Directors, and the Directors of its other programs.
Qualifications: Candidates must have a deep commitment and significant
experience in the fields of mental health and homeless services, and a
proven track record of successful program management and supervision.
They should also be f amiliar with the major funding agencies such as
DMH, HPD, and HUD, and with the major service and treatment providers
in New York City. CSW or related Master' s degree required. Salary com-
mensurate with experience, excellent benefits. Send cover letter and
resume to: Stephan Russo, Executive Director, Goddard Riverside
Community Center, 593 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10024.
HIV prevention organization serving street youth seeks part-time PROGRAM
ASSISTANT. Ability to work well independently, commitment to Harm
Reduction, and strong organizational and computer skills required. POC,
LGBT, PWHIV/ AIDS urged to apply. Search, NYPAEC, 437 West 16th Street,
NYC 10011.
CORPORATE CAMPAIGNERS for its New York-based Corporate Affairs depart-
ment, which supports UNITE' s aggressive organizing and collective bargaining
programs. Position involves local and field research, strategiC analysis, and
coordinating solidarity campaigns. Qualifications include research and/or
organizing experience (political , labor or community), ability to travel , and
strong communications skills. Spanish preferred. Mail or fax cover letter and
resume to: Corporate Affairs, UNITE, 1710 Broadway, New York, NY 10019,
fax:
Highbridge Community Life Center, a not-for-profit community-based organiza-
tion in the Bronx, is seeking applicants for a JOB COACH. Major responsibili-
ties include: manage Start UPS package handler and driving training pro-
grams. Requirements include: ability to input data with high degree of accu-
racy, knowledge of Microsoft suite, and good verbal and interpersonal skills.
Salary $28-30 + benefits. Please fax resume to: Personnel 718-681-4137.
BOOKKEEPER: Care for the Homeless, a growing non-profit agency is seeking
an experienced bookkeeper/accountant for general accounting functions. On-
CITY LIMITS
line PayChex experience necessary. Responsible for payroll, employee bene-
fits, AP and journal entries. Knowledge of fund accounting, spreadsheets,
accounting software (MIP) preferred. We offer excellent benefits. Mail resume
to: Care for the Homeless, 12 West 21st Street, 8th floor, New York, NY
10010. EOE/Minorities encouraged to apply.
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE for civic organization dedicated to improving the
finances and services of New York State and New York City government.
Requires Master's degree, at least one year of budget or policy analysis
experience, excellent quantitati ve and writing skills and commitment to
promoting governmental reform through rigorous policy research. Send let-
ter and resume to: Citizen' s Budget Commision, Attn: Elizabeth Lynam, 11
Penn Plaza, Suite 900, New York, NY, 10001, Fax: 212-8684745, email :
elynam@cbcny.org.
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT for youth/philanthropy oriented non-profit.
Important part of small team, telephone, bills, managing donations. Must be
self-starter, welklrganized, able to use Microsoft Office, Quicken and
Access-based databases. Financial management experience a +. $20s, +
benefits. Resume: The Catalog for Giving, 250 West 57 St, #924, NY
10107. Fax 212-765-8190.
The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation seeks a FINANCE AND ADMINISTRA
TION ASSISTANT. Reporting to the Office Manager, duties include maintaining
personnel records; preparing payroll; assisting with office management; coor-
dinating production of material for quarterly trustees' meetings; providing
assistance with grants administration; and administering liability and benefits
insurance policies. Two years related experience required, along with strong
computer skills, excellent oral and written communications skills, and ability
to manage multiple tasks and work independently. Salary range: mid to high
thirties, with excellent benefits. Mail or fax resume with cover letter and salary
history to: The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 250 Park Avenue, New York,
NY 10177"()()26; 212-9864558 (fax). No calls please.
LEGAL ADVOCA1t: CBO seeks legal advocate for domestic violence self-peti-
tions on behalf of abused immigrant women. Responsibilities include
assisting the Executive Director with agency development, community out-
reach, fundraising, and supervision of interns. Qualifications: JD/MSW.
Experience working with the immigrant community/victims of domestic vio-
lence. Candidate must possess excellent writing skills in Spanish and
English. Experience in fundraising a plus. Salary commensurate with expe-
rience. Please fax resume to: Beate Parra, Legal Services Director at 212-
781-0943.
COUNSD.OR: Requirements: Associate Degree or 3-5 years experience with
special needs population. Duties: Interview prospective tenants, prepare ser-
vice plans, update and document services; provide crisis intervention, case
management, substance abuse counseling. Salary upper $20s. Full-time.
Please fax resume to: New Era Veterans, Inc. 718-904-7001.
PEER COUNSELOR: Requirements: High School and one year experience.
Duties: Assist case manager, escort tenants, assist tenants with ADL; record
progress notes. Salary: mid-20' s. Full Time. Fax resume to: New EraVeterans,
Inc. 718-904-7001.
CASAC COUNSELOR: Certified and two years experience in substance abuse
counseling; prepare service plans; update and document services; provide
crisis intervention, case management, substance abuse counseling. Salary:
upper $30s. Duties: Weekly AA/ NA meetings. Fax resume to: New Era
Veterans, Inc. 718-904-7001.
The Low Income Housing Fund (UHF) is a non-profit community development
financial institution which provides innovative financing and technical assis-
tance for the development of low income and supportive housing andcom-
munity facilities in New York and throughout the nation. UHF currently has the
following career opportunity in its New York office: LOAN OFFICER: The Loan
Officer poSition underwrites assigned loans in accordance with UHPs under-
writing criteria and other guidelines. Perform due diligence review and evalu-
ation of loan requests, including site inspections. Negotiate with borrowers on
all aspects of loans. Educational background should include degree work in a
relevant area of study, such as business administration or finance. A
Bachelor's degree is required, although an advanced degree is preferred.
Resumes should be forwarded to our main office: UHF, 1330 Broadway, Suite
600, Oakland, CA 94612. NY /Loan Officer should be referenced in the body
of your cover letter. Salary commensurate with experience and excellent ben-
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
efits. The Low Income Housing Fund believes that diversity creates excellence
in its programs and operations.
POlICY ANALYST: The Coalition of Voluntary Mental Health Agencies, repre-
senting over 100 nonprofit mental health agencies, seeks a bright, high ener-
~ public policy analyst and advocate. Analyze State and City budgets, coor-
dinate member and Board committees, critically evaluate policy initiatives
and organize constituencies for public information and advocacy campaigns.
Excellent persuasive and analytical writing skills, computer literacy, comfort
with numbers, organization, deadline focus, multi-tasking and collegial man-
ner and outlook required. Substantive expertise in one or more of the
following arenas a plus: mental health, managed care, substance abuse,
healthcare, housing. Candidates with an advanced degree in mental health,
social work, law, and public/nonprofit administration and policy preferred.
Affirmative action employer. Bilingual a plus. Send resume and salary
requirements to Director of Administration, The Coalition, 90 Broad Street,
New York, NY 10004.
The Osborne Association, a non-profit providing services to clients in the crim-
inal justice system, seeks SUBSTANCE ABUSE COUNSEl..ORS to work in a variety
of metropolitan locations. Requires HS plus 2 years substance abuse coun-
seling experience including treatment planning. CASAC preferred but not
required. Spanish language abilities a plus. Fax: 212-97S-7652.
TENANT ORGANIZER needed to organize churclrbased committees to address
tenant concerns in public housing projects. Conduct grassroots outreach and
leadership training. Must have passion for social justice, experience with com-
munity organizing and desire to work in faith community. Must have good writ-
ing skills, ability to work flexible hours. Salary in high 20s to low 30s, with
medical benefits. Send resume and cover letter to Central Brooklyn Churches,
140 Devoe Street Brooklyn, NY 11211.
Three positions, NMIC Lead Safe Housing Program. DIRECTOR to implement
program to provide temporary housing to families of lead-poisoned children
and conduct outreach, education and organizing around lead paint and other
housing-related child health issues in low income Latino community.
Knowledge of housing and/or health issues, three years supervisory experi-
ence; bi-lingual Spanish-English, fundraising experience and MSW preferred.
SOCIAl. WORKER to provide case management to families of lead-poisoned
children and coordinate community outreach activities regarding lead poison-
ing and other housing-related child health issues. MSW and 2 years case
management experience, bi-lingual Spanish-English. COMMUNnY ORGANIZER
to work on housing code enforcement. Organize tenant associations, inspect
apartments, document violations, negotiate repair agreements, and strength-
en community tenant union. Bi-lingual English-Spanish, organizing experience
preferred. All three positions: competitive salary, benefits. Fax resume to: DH
at 212-740-9645.
Community Food Resource Center (CFRC) is looking for a FOOD FORCE FIElJ)
~ to compile and update monthly staff schedule; outreach for new
sites; assist individuals and families to determine their eligibility for and,
enroll in the Food Stamps program. Requirements: Candidates must possess
direct social service client experience and good verbal communication skills
+ strong organizational skills. Must be computer-i iterate, preferably with
spreadsheets and database programs/ work independently. Preference given
to candidates with two years' work experience in social services, health or
education poSitions. Bilingual a plus. Salary and benefits: Mid-to-hi
$20s/ year, plus full medical. Send a cover letter/ resume: SCFRC Attn. :
Carlos Rodriguez 39 Broadway, 10th Aoor New York, NY 10006.
The Midtown Community Court, an innovative criminal justice experiment,
seeks a DlRCTOR OF 0PRA110NS. Responsibilities include fiscal manage-
ment and budgeting; supervising a job-training program; managing 25 pro-
fessionals; troubleshooting Court's operations and implementing new initia-
tives. Qualifications: Bachelor's degree and graduate degree or minimum 5-
years in supervisory poSition. Excellent benefits. Fax cover letter and resume:
Operations Position, Midtown Community Court, 212-586-1144.
FINANCIAl.. COUNSELOR to coordinate new financial training and microloan
program. B.A in Business Administration; 5+ years experience with a small
loan fund in a bank or similar setting; ability to coordinate and assess
financial data; ability to work independently and in a team environment.
Send to: FMLjYWCA, 270 Fairmount Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07306; fax
201-333-9305.
(continued on page 40)
(continued from page 39)
Cause Effective is a nonprofit that helps other non profits fundraise and
friendraise. We are seeking to fill three staff positions: PROGRAM ASSOCI-
ATE: Mid-level position works closely with Executive Director to handle
Cause Effective institutional and individual fund raising (including managing
the calendar and proposal writing) and marketing. Also will provide con-
sulting and training to clients on resource development issues; build a pro-
gram in technology-related fundraising matters; and update web-site. Two
to four years development experience required. PROGRAM ASSISTANT:
Junior-level position works closely with senior program staff to provide
resource development and special events consulting and training. Also
help manage Cause Effective volunteer program. Nonprofit, fundraising, or
marketing experience preferred. These positions require acute attention to
detail and strong written and oral communications skills. ADMINISTRATlVE
ASSISTANT: Position provides office management and overall administra-
tive support. Specific responsibilities include: assistance on all Cause
Effective projects (e.g., special events and workshops). compiling promo-
tional materials, and correspondence and travel for the Executive Director.
Two years of general office experience or equivalent. All positions require
proficiency in Windows, Word, Excel, email and internet. Knowledge of
Access a plus. Competitive salary; good benefits. People of color strongly
encouraged to apply. Send resume (in confidence) to Cause Effective, 505
Eighth Avenue, Suite 1212, NYC 10018 by fax 212/643-0137, or by email
to zanetta@causeeffective.org. Full position descriptions available at
www.causeeffective.org
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT: God' s Love We Deliver is a NYC non-profit, non-sec-
tarian organization providing meals and nutrition counseling to people living
w/AIDS and HIV. We seek an Executive Assistant to support the Executive
Director in a vibrant environment. Excellent opportunity for a highly motivated,
organized and seasoned professional. Duties include researching for and
composing corresp., scheduling and organizing meetings and taking minutes,
arranging agency tours for donors, providing admin. support to Board and
committees, assisting in community relations projects and activities, and gen-
eral administrative support. Qualified candidates should be profiCient in MS
Office 2000 applications; have superior writing, editing, presentation, inter-
personal and comm. skills; have a college degree or equiv. work expo (3+
years), and possess a strong embrace of the agency's mission. Send/fax/e-
mail resume which must include salary history and requirements to GlWD,
Attn. HR, 166 Ave. of the Americas, NYC 10013, fax 212-294-8105, email
recruitment@glwd.org EOE.
CONTRACT MANAGER: A growing grassroots community-based homeless
service organization, on Staten Island near the ferry, has a full-time oppor-
tunity for an experienced Contract Manager. Responsibilities include
preparation of budget modifications for 26 to 30 contracts, budget renew-
al packages, coordinating billing and monthly projections. Interface with all
levels of management to review qualitative and qualitative and quantitative
contract performance data and program budgets. Assist in audit prepara-
tion. Prior budget analysis required. Strong computer skills including
spreadsheets, databases, and record keeping. Needs to be able to com-
municate effectively with program staff. Excellent oral/written communi-
cation skills needed. BS in Accounting or Public Administration a must,
Master' s level preferred. We offer excellent compensation and benefits
package. Send cover letter/resume with salary requirements to: Project
Hospitality, Human Resource Director, 100 Park Avenue, Staten Island, NY
10302. EOE M/F/V/H.
CUCS, a leader in the development and advancement of effective housing
and service initiatives for homeless people, particularly those with a seri-
ous mental illness, HIV/AIDS, or other disabling conditions, seeks the fol-
lowing. TRAINING COORDINATOR: Part-time position (14 hours/week) to coor-
dinate in-service training program for agency staff, and oversee social work
student intern unit. Responsibilities: training committee coordination,
scheduling, trainer recruitment, liaison to area schools of social work, coor-
dination of student unit seminars. Requirements: MSW, 4 years applicable
post-Masters' direct service experience with indicated populations (2 years
pre-Master' s may substitute for 1 year post-Master' s), SIFI, administrative
experience, strong verbal & written communication skills; strong organiza-
tional skills, computer literacy. Salary: $21.90/hour. Resume and cover let-
ter to Sue Smith, CUCSjThe Prince George, 14 East 28th Street, NY, NY
10016. CUCS is committed to workforce diversity. EEO. Visit us at
www.cucs.org.
-
SENIOR SOCIAL WORK aJNICIAN: To provide a broad range of direct client ser-
vices to the Times Square, a permanent supportive housing residence pro-
viding on-site support services to formerly homeless & low-income individualS
including those with special needs such as mental illness, HIV/ AIDS and/or
histories of chemical dependency. Resp: case management, group services,
and other program activity. Reqs: CSW, 2 years applicable post-master's
direct service experience with indicated populations (two years pre-Master's
may substitute for 1 year post-Master's); good verbal and written communI-
cation skills; computer literacy. Bilingual Spanish/English preferred. Training
experience is preferred. Salary: 39K + comp benefits, including $65/month
in transit checks. Resume and cover letter to Joan Hall , CUCS-The Times
Square, 255 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036. CUCS is committed to
workforce diversity. EEO.
DlRCTOR OF MARKEIlNG: Fannie Mae, the largest provider for home mort-
gages in the U.S. seeks a Director of Marketing to lead a regional marketing
team based in Philadelphia, PA. Fannie Mae is a private, shareholder-owned,
publicly-traded (NYSE) company operating under a congressional charter
since 1968 to make homeownership possible for low-, moderate-,and middle-
income families. Reporting to the regional Vice President of Marketing, the
Director will lead and manage a team of seasoned customer account man-
agers and talented account associates assigned to 200 active lenders locat-
ed in New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New
Hampshire and Maine. The successful candidate should possess: Bachelor'S
degree in Business Administration, Rnance or related field, an advanced
degree preferred; a minimum of 10 years in banking or financial service, mort-
gage banking or secondary mortgage markets preferable; a minimum of three
years experience in lending, motivating, coaching and developing profession-
als and operating as a team; a record of successfully cultivating customer
relationships. See www.imsearch.com for details. An attractive compensation
and benefit package including bonus, stock, asset accumulation programs
and relocation is included in the compensation package for the successful
candidate. Responses should be directed to: Donna Cramer, Isaacson, Miller
344 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116. Phone: 617-262-6500. Fax: 617-
262-6509. Email: dcramer@imsearch.com.
RSARCH ANALYST sought by Good Jobs New York, a new joint project of the
Rscal Policy Institute and Good Jobs Rrst. GJNY is a clearinghouse of infor-
mation on corporate and govemment accountability in the use of economic
development subsidies. Applicants should have strong writing and communi-
cation skills, research experience including corporate research, and a BA.
Master's in related field or equivalent experience preferred. Visit www.good-
jobsny.org for more info. Salary DOE plus health care, retirement, and vaca-
tion. Women and people of color encouraged. Fax resume to 212-73(}'1405,
or send to gjny@ctj .org or 232 West 40th St, 3rd R, NYC 10018.
SENIOR POlICY ANALYST. Full-time position beginning August 15th, 2000. The
Urban Justice Center's Human Rights Project, formerly the Organizing
Project. The Human Rights Project (HRP) identifies human rights violations
related to New York welfare policies, writes reports, and coordinates advo-
cacy efforts to redress the abuses uncovered. Responsibilities: Creation of
project's documentation methodology and protocol; survey development;
data analysis; writing regular human rights reports based on data collected;
partiCipate in collective decision making process; and grant writing.
Qualifications: BA, Master' s degree or JD with strong writing and research
skills; knowledge of SPSS; two years relevant work experience; commitment
to collective decision making, knowledge of human rights recommended,
bilingual Spanish/ English and knowledge of NYC welfare reform issues a
plus. Salary $40,000 plus benefits. To apply: Send resume to Heidi Dorow,
Urban Justice Center, 666 Broadway, 10th Roor, New York, NY 10012 or
email: hdorow@urbanjustice.org. Women and men of color strongly encour-
aged to apply.
OUIRACH 1E'AM LEADER, Project Reachout. Work on the Upper West Side and
Harlem leading daily outreach and case management to homeless people
with mental illness/MICA. Train, supervise, develop treatment strategies, and
participate in program development. Be part of a creative, dynamic team
engaging people living outdoors with untreated mental illness and help them
achieve psychiatric and medical stability, sobriety and housing. MSW or relat-
ed Master's, able to drive, experience in mental health/addiction both
required. Bilingual Spanish a plus. Salary mid $30s depending on qualifica-
t ions, excellent benefits. Fax letter and resume to Daniel Gerwin at 212-721-
7389, or mail to Daniel Gerwin at Project Reachout/Goddard Riverside
Community Center, 593 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10024.
CITY LIMITS
0UI1EACH WORKER, Project Reachout. Work on the Upper West Side providing
outreach and case management to homeless people with mental illness/ MICA.
Be part of a creative, dynamic team to engage people living outdoors with
untreated mental illness and help them achieve psychiatric and medical stabili-
ty, sobriety and housing. Able to drive preferred. Experience in mental
health/addiction is a plus, but not required. Bilingual Spanish also a plus.
Salary mid $20s, excellent benefrts. Fax letter and resume to Daniel Gerwin at
212-721-7389, or mail to Daniel Gerwin at Project Reachout/Goddard Riverside
Community Center, 593 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10024.
HOUSING PLACEMENT CASE MANAGER. Project Outreach' s Housing Options
program is responsible for providing housing placement assistance to the
homeless mentally ill people we serve. The case manager works in our
Upper West Side office placing homeless mentally ill and MICA into perma-
nent housing, and providing case management to clients in scattersite
apartments. Work closely with housing intake workers at other agencies to
facilitate housing placement, and guide our clients through the process.
Bilingual a plus, experience with mental health or addiction preferred.
Salary lower mid 20' s, excellent benefits. Send cover letter and resume to:
Kristina Kane, Housing Options/GRCC, 577 Columbus Avenue, NY, NY
10024. Fax 646-505-1096.
CASE MANAGER: The Senate. Work in our supported SRO on the Upper West
Side as part of the clinical team providing services to formerly homeless peo-
ple with mental illness/MICA. Direct care of your own case load plus opportu-
nities for group work. Coordinate mental and physical health care, entitle-
ments; maintain individual case records; assessment and treatment plan-
ning, including linkages to day programs, clubhouses, vocational opportuni-
ties, and addiction treatment. Mental health experience and computer litera-
cy preferred. Bilingual Spanish/English, experience with addiction a plus.
Salary lower mid 20's, excellent benefits. Send letter and resume to: Caren
Ezratty, The Senate/GRCC, 206 West 92nd Street, New York, NY 10025 or
fax 212-7215406.
UNION CAMPAIGN RESEARCHERS. Be a part of the new labor movement! Apply
for dozens of new job openings for union campaign researchers in locations
across the country. Competitive pay and excellent benefits. We are looking for
new and seasoned activist-researchers: people with backgrounds in organiz-
ing, community activism, or political campaigns; recent college grads, grad
students, or professionals with skills in economic analysis, industry research,
employment law, or investigative joumalism; and people with a strong com-
mitment to working in the labor movement. People of color and women are
encouraged to apply. Email cover letter, resume, and 1-10 page writ ing sam-
ple in "text only format to: jobsearch@af1cio.org. There is no deadline to
apply. Please indicate any geographic limitations.
WRITER: Experienced writer with good editorial skills for busy NYC gov't office.
BA/BS; excellent grammar, computer and organizational skills; ability to meet
deadlines. Familiarity with municipal policy issues a plus. NYC residency
required. Salary low to mid $30s. Fax resume, cover letter to: Director of
Public Affairs 718-802-3778. EOE.
PROGRAM COORDINATOR, CSW. A growing grassroots community based home-
less service organization, on Staten Island near the ferry, has a full-time
opportunity for an experienced CSw. Responsibilities include: providing intake
and assessment, facilitating therapeutic groups, and providing individual
counseling to our HIV clients with mental illness issues. Generate monthly
program reports. Strong clinical and organizational skills needed. Experience
providing clinical supervision preferred. Some ability to work on computers.
Excellent oral/written communication skills needed. Must have CSW with 3 to
5 years' post graduate experience working with the HIV and mentally ill popu-
lations. We offer an excellent compensation and benefits package. Send
cover letter/resume with salary requirements to: Project Hospitality, Human
Resource Director, 100 Park Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10302.
EOE/M/F/V/H.
Global Kids, Inc., a youth organization that promotes leadership develop-
ment and global education, seeks: TRAINERS to develop and facilitate inter-
active programs in schools and GK site; co-lead social action project, radio
program or theatre project; work with students and staff to implement spe-
cial events and projects. College degree, knowledge of experiential learning,
interest in global issues required. Mid to high $20s with benefits. SENIOR
TRAINER: same as above plus coach less experienced staff; generate new
program ideas; assist with program evaluation. Advanced degree preferred
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
with extensive training and program experience and interest in global
issues. Low to mid $30s with benefits. OFFICE ASSISTANT to manage data-
base, files, office supplies, upkeep and provide direct support to Executive
Director and program staff. HS diploma, excellent organization, communi-
cation and troubleshooting skills; computer proficiency required. Low 20's
with benefits. Send cover letter, resume and three references to: Job
Search, Global Kids, 561 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10012 or
gkjobs2000@hotmail .com.
The North Star Fund, a progressive grassroots grant-making organization,
seeks a part-time ADMINISTUnVE ASSISTANT to answer phones, complete
mailings, do filing and data entry, and be responsible for supply and comput-
er maintenance. Communication and interpersonal skills, as well as ability to
multi-task a must; experience with computer troubleshooting and mainte-
nance a major plus. Twenty-five hours per week, $12.00 per hour. Please fax
212-B208178, email northstarny@earthlink.net or mail a cover letter,
resume, one writing sample, and 3 references to Miriam Hernandez 305
Seventh Ave. , 5th R. New York, NY 10001.
PROGRAM DEVELOPER for groundbreaking community preventive health project
(Full/Part-Time). Health Force, which has led the South Bronx in peer and
community-based preventive health education, seeks a program developer
with viSion, writing and people skills. Health Force' s mission is to fight chron-
ic disease by providing effective, empowering education to individuals and the
community. We are now training peer educators and developing community
plans that are at the forefront of AIDS, asthma, heart disease and diabetes
education and prevention. The Program Developer writes major reports and
proposals and works with the Executive Director and other staff to develop,
plan and budget effective programs. Qualifications: M.A. or graduate studies
in health or community development. Demonstrated writing and conceptual
skills and ability to work with many diverse groups, including community and
political leaders, peer educators, govemment agencies and foundations.
Competitive salary and CUNY benefits. Hours can be somewhat flexible full or
part-t ime. Send resume and cover letter to: Thomas Fanniel , Secretary,
Health Force, 552 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10455. Tel. 718-585-
8585/ Fax 718-585-5041.
JOB DEVELOPER. Common Ground Community, the not-for-profit organization
that works to end homelessness through the development and operation of
supportive housing and innovative programs designed to promote indepen-
dent living, seeks a Job Developer to identify employment opportunities and
job retention strategies for jobs program partiCipants. The candidate will
coordinate the activities and roles of employers, employees and counselors
for the Jobs Training Program; plan and implement marketing and recruit-
ment strategies with employers; and work with participants and vocational
counselors to develop employment plans and continuing post-placement
support. Candidates should have an undergraduate degree and at least two
(2) years experience developing employment opportunities /job retention
programs working with the business community in NYC. Comprehensive
benefits package. Salary low to mid $30s based on experience. Fax
resume, letter with salary requirements to the Common Ground Jobs
Training Program at 212 768-8748 or email valeriew@commonground.org.
BUSINESS MANAGER needed to oversee, market and develop Courier
Service employing homeless & formerly homeless staff as foot messen-
gers in NYC. Experience working with homeless and mentally ill individuals
plus background in community organizing, marketing and/ or small busi-
ness development preferred. Candidate must be self-starter, computer lit-
erate, detail-oriented with ability to work independently. EOE. Fax: C.
Haldeman, 212-288-0722.
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTJSPECW. PROJECTS: Social services agency seeks bright,
energetic assistant for Executive Director. Must have previous administrative
experience. Professional, organized, attention to detail a must. Knowledge of
Microsoft Office, good writing & editing skills. Please fax cover letter, resume,
writing sample, and salary requirements to: GCNSSC (212) 883-0072 or
email toGCNSSC@aol.com.
RECREATION GROUPS SPECIALIST: For community-based NFP housing organiza-
tion. BA + expo with special needs populations/HIV. Develop and conduct
activities, design empowerment programs, link with community activities. New
program needs creativity. Spanish a plus. $25-28K, benefits. Resume to: S.
Tafrate, Clinton Housing Development Company, 300 W. 46th Street, New
York, NY 10036 or Fax to: 212-967-1649.
(continued on page 42)
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laRAds

(continued from page 41 )
ASSESSMENTS ASSOCIATE, OFFICE OF ASSESSMENT, the Edna McConnell Clark
Foundation. The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation seeks an Associate to
expand its Office of Assessments as it moves to focus the majority of its
resources on helping young people in disadvantaged urban communities
become productive and self-sufficient participants in society. The Foundation
will increasingly structure its grants as investments in the organizational
health and growth of institutions with proven or promising approaches in this
area, with the expectation that its investments will produce Significant increas-
es in positive, measurable results. In close consultation with the team of pro-
gram staff who develop and manage these grants, the Office of Assessments
is responsible for designing and managing the tools and processes that will
enable grantees and the Foundation to track performance and assess out-
comes. The Associate will work with the Director of Assessments and the
Office of Information Technology to design and manage the databases that
support this work. She/he will also assist the Director with the specification
of outcomes, the choice and design of qualitative and quantitative indicators
and the application of appropriate measures. In addition, the Associate will
help analyze potential grantee organizations, performance tracking and out
comes data and will assist in the design of impact studies, when these are
appropriate. Candidates should have an advanced degree in one of the social
sciences and at least three years of experiende participating in social science
or evaluation research with superior analytical, writing and oral communica-
tions skills. A candidate should be able to design and utilize databases, use
computer-based statistical and analytical applications and be able to design
Isabel Ochoa
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Committed to the development of affordable housing
GEORGE C. DELLAPA, ATTORNEY AT LAW
15 Maiden lane, Suite 1800
New York, NY 10038
212-732-2700 FAX: 212-732-2773
Lowincome housing tax credit syndication. Public and private
financing. HDFCs and not-for-profit corporations. Condos and co-ops.
J-51 Tax abatement/exemptions. Lending for historic properties.
-
outcomes and impact studies. Salary range--$70,OO(}.$80,OOO with excel-
lent benefits package. Please send or fax a resume with a cover letter and a
sample of something you have written to: Assessments Associate Search,
The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 250 Park Avenue, New York, NY
101777-0026; 2129864558 (fax). No calls please .. EOE.
ASSOCIA1I, OFFICE OF INFORMATlON TECHNOLOGY: The Edna McConnell Clark
Foundation seeks an Associate for the Office of Information Technology. The
Associate reports to the IT Director and helps to manage all aspects of com-
puter projects. The primary responsibilities of the position are to manage and
maintain computer systems, help select and install new systems, train and
provide technical support to staff (+25 nodes), maintain disaster recovery
plan, and support the operation and upgrade of (a) computer equipment, (b)
software applications (ex. Accounting, Grants Tracking System), and (c)
servers. Requirements: CNA (NW4 & NW5). CNE a plus. HTML programming.
TCPIC and SPX protocols. PHP and MySQL programming a plus. Excellent
working knowledge (3 to 5 years) of Novell products such as NetWare 4.2 and '
5.x, GroupWise (MTA, POA, Client 5.5, WebAccess Server and Intemet Agent),
Novell services and third party products such as ARCservelT 6.x. InoculanlT,
and AuditWare for NDS. Basic knowledge of LlNUX OS installation and admin-
istration. Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills. Ability
to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. Salary range-mid fifties to low six
ties, with excellent benefits package. EOE. Reply by sending or faxing resume
with cover letter and salary history ASAP to: IT Search, The Edna McConnell
Clark Foundation, 250 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10177-0026; 212-986-
4558 (fax). No calls please.
SPECIALIZING IN REAL ESTATE
J-51 Tax Abatement/Exemption. 421A and 421B
Applications. 501 (c) (3) Federal 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
Bronx, N.Y.
(718) 585-3187
CoNSULTANT SERVICES
Proposals/Grant Writing
HUD Gr.tnu/Govt. RFP,
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Real Eo .. ,. Sale</R.ntals
Technical Assistance
Employment Programs
Capacity Building
Community Relations
CONSULTANT
HOUSING, DEVELOPMENT & RJNDRAISING
212-765-7123
212-397-6238
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451 WEST 48th STREET, SUITE 2E
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10036-1298
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CITY LIMITS
DEBRA BECHTEL - Attorney
Concentrating in Real Estate & Non-profit Law
Title and loan closings 0 All city housing programs
Mutual housing associations 0 Cooperative conversions
Advice to low income co-op boards of directors
313 Hicks Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201,
(718) 780-7994 (718) 624-6850
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We also offer hand inserting, live stamp affixing, bulk mail,
folding, collating, labeling, wafer sealing and more.
Henry Street Settlement Mailing Services is a work readiness program
offering participants on-the-job and life-skills training
For information contact Bob Modica
(212) 505-7307 Fax: (212) 533-4004
NesoH Associates
management solutions for non-profits
Providing a full range of management support services for
non-profit organizations
management development & strategic planning
board and staff development & training
program design, implementation & evaluation
proposal and report writing
Box 130 75A Lake Road Congers, NY 109200 tel/fax (914) 268-6315
COMPUTER
Hardware Sales:
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Okidata Printers
Lantastic Networks
SERVICES
Software Sales:
NetworkslDatabase
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Suites! Applications
Services: NetworklHardware!Software Installation,
Training, Custom Software, Hand Holding
Morris Kornbluth 718-857-9157
LAWRENCEH.McGAUGHEY
Attorney at Law
Meeting the challenges of affordable housing for 20 years.
Providing legal services in the areas of General Real Estate,
Business, Trust & Estates, and Elder Law.
217 Broadway, Suite 610
New York, NY 10007
(212) 513-0981
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
PORTFOLIO MANAGER: The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. The Edna
McConnell Clark Foundation seeks two Portfolio Managers, a newly created
senior level position at the Foundation. Each Manager's primary
ties are to develop and manage a set of grants to organizations with proven
or promising approaches to helping young people in disadvantaged urban
communities become productive and self-sufficient participants in society.
Working within a broad strategic framework set by the President and the
Trustees and reporting to the Vice-President, each Portfolio Manager will
structure these grants as investments in the organizational health and pro-
grammatic expansion of youth-serving institutions that meet the Foundation's
criteria. Each Manager will be responsible for a defined portfolio of multi-year
grants that are expected to result in measurable advances in the prospects
of low-income youth. Requirements: Private and public sector experience, with
particular strengths in diagnosing and resolving complex organizational protr
lems. A commitment to the Foundation's mission of improving conditions for
people living in low-income communities and a passion for changing the non-
profit sector's approach to social investing in ways that will better help orga-
nizations achieve their objectives while ensuring greater accountability for
results. Advanced degree in business, law, public administration or a related
field, with significant experience in financial analysis, business planning, and
the uses of computer technology. An excellent track record of working direct-
ly with people, building relationships and communicating effectively orally and
in writing; ability to work very independently, yet within a team context. Salary
commensurate with background and experience, ranging from $125,000 to
$140,000 with excellent benefits package. Reply: Please send or fax a
resume with a cover letter to: Portfolio Manager Search, The Edna McConnell
Clark Foundation, 250 Park Avenue, New York, NY 101777-0026; 212-986-
4558 (fax). No calls please. EOE
DIRCTOR: For community-based NFP housing organization. Responsible for
social service delivery to 190 units @ six sites of supportive housing for for-
merly homeless, PWAs, seniors; supervise 5, develop programming for com-
munitY center and recreation programs. Supervise and train volunteers and
interns. Proficiency with Windows 97, Office 97. Minimum three years
ence with special needs population. Auency in Spanish a plus. Salary: $45 to
$47K. Send resume to Clinton Housing Development Co. 480 10th Avenue,
New York, NY 10018 or fax: 212-967-1649 .
THERAPEUTIC ACIlVITIES TEAM LEADER: This position is responsible for the
development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of therapeutic
activities at the Times Square, a permanent supportive housing residence
providing on-site support services to formerly homeless and low-income indi-
viduals including those with special needs such as mental illness, HIV /AIDS,
and other disabling conditions. The position includes assessing the interests
and needs of the tenant population, developing activities that reflect those
interests and needs, and promoting the utilization of therapeutiC services by
target populations. The poSition is central to ensuring that the activities
developed are consistent with the mission and goals of the project. Reqs:
Masters degree in Social Work, Counseling, or related field and 2 years of
related experience with the populations served by the program. Bilingual
Spanish/English preferred. Strong writing and verbal communication skills,
and computer literacy required. Also, this position requires an individual who
is enthusiastic and a self-starter. Salary: $39K + comp benefits. Send
resume with cover letter ASAP to Paula Lukats, CUCS-The Time Square,
255 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036. CUCS is committed to workforce
diversity. EEO.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ZONE COORDINATOR: EWVIDCO, a local develop-
ment corporation, seeks and energetic, enthUSiastic, team player to fill the
Economic Development Zone Coordinator position. The coordinator will be
responsible for administering the EDZ program; marketing Zone benefits
and assisting companies to access Zone benefits; and other industrial
development activities. BA required. Strong written, communication and pre-
sentation skills needed. Excellent opportunity to learn various government
incentives for expanding firms. Fax resume and short writing sample to Jose
Leon, 718-963-1905.
ADMINISTRAllVE ASSISTANT: Public opinion research firm serving nonprofit
organizations seeks FT administrative assistant to answer phones, prepare
documents, schedule appointments and arrange travel. Candidates should be
organized, flexible and detail oriented. Knowledge of ACT, Word and Power
. Point required. $30,000+ Send resume to EDK Associates via fax 212-367-
7517 or email EDKpoIl@aol.com.
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The Hunter College Center on AIDS, Drugs and Community Health, whose
mission is to strengthen the capacity of communities to improve health,
seeks to fill the following positions: RESEARCH ASSOCIA'lIl'SEN1OR RESEARCH
ASSOCIATE (2 positions) Evaluate community HIV /substance abuse programs.
Conduct site visits, facilitate focus groups, interview clients, train CBO staff
on evaluation technique. Assist in development of research design and instru-
ments. MA/MPH required. Strong analysis, computer and writing skills.
Proficiency in Spanish desired. Salary commensurate with experience. Please
submit resume, cover letter and writing sample to Linda Glickman, Ph.D. POL
ICY ANALYST: Conduct research and analysis around issues of substance
abuse, public health and criminal justice policy in New York City. Draft policy
reports and track policy issues in N.Y.C. Work with community groups on
advocacy initiatives and organizing. Collect and disseminate information.
Masters degree required, Ph.D pref. Strong policy analysis, computer and
writing skills. Familiarity with urban communities, substance abuse and crim-
inal justice. Salary commensurate with experience. Please submit resume,
cover letter and writing sample to Damyn Kelly, JD. Submit resume for COrl-
sideration to the appropriate person listed above to: Hunter College Center
on AIDS, Drugs and Community Health, City University of New York, 425 East
25th Street, New York, New York 10010.
STAFF ATTORNEY-COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Community Law
Offices/ The Volunteer Division of Legal Aid Society seeks a staff attorney to
work in its Community Economic Development Project, which assists com-
munity-based organizations and low-income people in Harlem, East Harlem
and Upper Manhattan. The attomey will help form and advise not-for-profit
organizations and represent them on community development projects; pro-
vide legal advice for start-up small businesses; reach out to the community
to publicize the Project's services; and conduct workshops and trainings on
community development issues for Legal Aid staff, volunteer attorneys and
potential clients. The attorney will also help to recruit and work with volunteer
attorneys from the private bar to provide representation on community eco-
nomic development cases. STAFF ATTORNEYHOUSING DEVELOPMENT UNIT:
Community Law.offices/The Volunteer Division of the Legal Aid Society seeks
a staff attorney to work in its Housing Development Unit, which works with
tenant associations, individual tenants and community-based organizations in
Harlem, East Harlem and Upper Manhattan. Work includes litigating for
repairs and to prevent evictions, helping tenants to buy their buildings and
form low-income housing cooperatives, and working with community-based
organizations to develop affordable housing. The attorney will also help
recruit and work with volunteer attorneys from the private bar to provide rep-
resentation for tenant groups. All applicants must be committed to public
interest law. Send cover letter and resume indicating position of interest to:
Andrew Lehrer, Esq. The Legal Aid SOCiety, 230 East 106th Street, New York,
NY 10029. Women, people of color, gays and lesbians and people with dis-
abilities are especially encouraged to apply.
Growing nonprofit seeks IfOUSING COUNSELORS. Ideal candidates are: fast
learners, fluent Spanish speakers with superior English writing skills, detail-
oriented efficient multi-taskers, team players, and passionate
about affordable housing. Salary: $30K, excellent benefits. Equal opportuni-
ty employer. Send resume and cover letter to: NHN, 5313 5th Avenue,
Brooklyn NY 11220. Fax: 718492-3692 or email: nhnhelp@erols.com.
INTAKEILEASING COORDINATOR: Common Ground Community operates The
Prince George, a supportive housing residence for single adults, including
those who are formerly homeless, living with mental illness, living with AIDS,
and low-income working professionals. The Intake/ Leasing Coordinator is
responsible for maintaining a 100 percent occupancy rate for The Prince
George as well as ensuring compliance with program subsidies, tax credit
guidelines, and city and state regulations. The candidate will screen applica-
tions, respond to inquiries, and manage applicant data. S\ he will conduct
intake interviews and select tenants; conduct lease signings and move-ins
with new tenants; coordinate move-outs from apartments; and facilitate
preparation of the units by maintenance staff. The Coordinator will also coor-
dinate subletting requests, including reviewing of applications and monitoring
subleases; working on Section 8 issues, including coordinating tenant appli-
cations and ensuring compliance with all Section 8 regulations; coordinating
the annual Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LlHTC) re-certification process,
including reviewing tenant re-certification forms, serving as the liaison for terl-
ants and staff on re-certification, and ensuring compl iance with all LlHTC
guidelines. S/ he will also work with the Center for Urban Community Services
(CUCS) on intake-related issues. Candidates must have superior organiza-
tional, writing and analytical skills; experience and/or commitment to working
with special needs populations; ability to work independently and as part of
a team; proficiency in Microsoft Access; and an understanding of Section 8
and Fair Housing Law. Salary upper $20s to low $30s depending on experi-
ence. Fax resume, letter with salary requirements to (212) 447-7775 or email
cchambre@commonground.org
Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDCO), an
innovative community-based organization in the South Bronx, seeks ATHLET
IC INSlRUCTORS and general COUNSELORS for its arts-based summer camp.
Full-time positions available from July 5-August 30. Fax resume and cover let-
ter to Davon Russell, 718-839-1172.
CASE MANAGER: FOIA is a community-focused not-for-profit organization
that provides transitional services to youth coming out of Riker' s Island
and Juvenile Detention Centers. We provide case management, educa-
tional services, employment services, peer leadership, advocacy and sup-
portive counseling. The case manager works with a team of other case
managers to provides: assessment of youth and family, referrals for
health, mental health, education and recreation services, case planning
and documentation, groups for youth and families, and advocacy.
Requirements: BA with five years work in the field or MSW with two years
experience, excellent written and oral skills, ability to work in a team envi-
ronment, commitment to troubled youth and families, computer-literate,
Spanish-speaker a plus, knowledge of forensic and/ or psychiatric system.
Fax resume to: 212-760-0766.
PROJECT MANAGERS: Available Immediately. NYIRN seeks to fill several new,
part-time Project Manager positions. NYIRN is a not-for-profit organization
dedicated to strengthening New York's manufacturing sector, retaining marl-
ufacturing jobs and building the capacity of community-based organizations,
labor unions and others to engage in economic development. Two of the
Project Manager positions will work with individual manufacturing companies
to help them relocate, access city and state programs, secure finanCing, and
develop strategies to keep them competitive in New York City. This will include
updating company information into NYIRN's database and collecting and dis-
seminating real estate leads. The PMs will also accompany Senior Project
Managers on site visits to manufacturing companies. Applicants should have
a background in government or economic/ community development. A
Bachelor's degree, 2-3 years professional work experience, strong communi-
cations skills and computer skills are required. The third part-time position is
to manage the Food Industry Initiative to provide services to small food marl-
ufacturers. This sectoral initiative seeks to address the industry's real estate,
marketing, technology and training needs through development of a new pub-
lic/ private, labor/ management partnership. Applicants should have a gradu-
ate degree, experience in economic/ community development or community
organizing, and excellent communications skills. NYIRN is an equal opportu-
nity employer. Applicants should send a resume and cover letter to: New York
Industrial Retention Network 175 Remsen Street, Suite 350, Brooklyn, NY
11201 Attn: Anne Adair. Email : aadair@nyim.org Ph: 718-624-6800 ext 13.
Fax: 718-624-8618.
PARTTIME CONSULTANT: The National Center for Schools and Communities
seeks a pot consultant (three days) to direct its Democracy and Philanthropy
Project. Duties include: general project management, including supervising
others; organizing action strategies; supervising and conducting field inter-
views and research; report writing and fundraising. Ideal candidate has orga-
nizing experience, familiarity with social justice organizations, track record
raising funds. Competitive pay. Resume and cover letter ASAP to Sally
Covington, NCSC, Fordham University, 33 West 60th Street, 8th Roor, NY, NY
10023.
Social services. Primary prevention program for pregnant women and families
with newborns in Washington Heights seeking HOME VISITOR and OUTREACH
WORKER with experience in maternal child health, substance abuse and child
abuse/ neglect. Spanish/ English a must. Fax resume to: Elizabeth Anisfeld,
212-923-5509.
FACILmES MANAGER: New Destiny Housing Corporation, a growing citywide
not-for-profit organization that develops, owns, and manages housing for low-
income domestic violence survivors, seeks a Facilities Manager. The
Facilities Manager will oversee the maintenance and operation of residential
facilities in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island and supervise a staff of
six. Candidates should have experience in physical facility maintenance, real
estate development and management, and/or residential construction.
CITY LIMITS
Threshold requirements will include a BS in architecture or a BA, a minimum
of three years of experience in facility management or a related area, and pro-
ficiency in Excel and Microsoft Word. Applicants must have good communica-
tion and organizational skills, the ability to handle multiple projects and tasks,
and supervisory experience. Salary: $40,000 to $47,000, commensurate
with experience. Excellent benefits package. Send cover letter and resume to
New Destiny Housing Corporation, 2 Lafayette Street, 3rd Roor, New York, NY
10007. Fax: 212-577-7759.
PROGRAM OFFICERS (2) for national community development organization with
offices in Trenton, NJ. Provide loans, grants and technical assistance to hous-
ing and community development projects. BA in business or public adminis-
tration or related field. Minimum 5 years experience in community develop-
ment lending. Knowledge of NJ, excellent computer and communications
skills. Competitive salary plus bonus, benefits including 401K and 403B
plans. Fax resume to LlSC 609-392-8040 or email cperaza@liscnet.org
NYS Senator Eric Schneiderman seeks EXECUT1VE ASSISTANTItONS11TUENT
UAJSON to maintain the schedule, respond to constituent concerns and
oversee administrative duties. Political, administrative and constituent ser-
vice experience preferred. Strong written and oral communication skills nec-
essary. Fax resumes to: 212-397-3201. Salary commensurate with experi-
ence. EOE.
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SPCIAUST: Join the dynamic team in YAI/National
Institute for People with Disabilities' intake, information, and referral unit
which provides up-to-date information on services and programs that can help
to make a difference in the lives of people with developmental disabilities and
their families. Your responsibilities will be to manage the databases, gener-
ate reports and statistics, prepare resources for fairs, conferences and pre-
sentations, and train staff on database use. BA/BS required along with excel-
lent computer, database, and interpersonal skills. Full-time, Manhattan based
position. Send resume and cover letter to: YAI/NIPD, HR Dept., Ad #IMS2,
460 W.34th St., NY, NY 10001. Fax: 212-5634836. Email: nfessenden
@yaLorg. EOE. Call for full job announcement 718-788-8500. To apply fax
718-499-3750 or e-mail to monaco@bcue.org a resume, writing sample and
letter of interest.
IMPACT ATTORNEY: Growing national legal/policy office seeks attomey with 4+
years relevant experience for class actions, policy work. Salary scale $50-
76K; good benefits. Persons of color, formerly on welfare or poor, encouraged.
EOE. For more, see www.welfarelaw.org. Send resume, references, short writ-
ing to Henry Freedman, Welfare Law Center, 275 7th Ave., Ste. 1205, 10001;
fax: 212-633-6371, email impact@Welfarelaw.org.
PROGRAM COORDINATOR IFTIPTl : Coordinate and supervise after school pro-
gram for junior high school youth, provide trainings for mentors. Qualifications:
MSW or BA plus experience with youth, bilingual preferred, strong organiza-
tional skills. HIGH SCHOOl COORDINATOR (FT/PT) : Design and implement
educational, college and career activities for high school youth, assist with
training for mentors. Qualifications: MA or MSW, SA plus experience with
youth, bilingual preferred. Strong organizational and programming skills.
Salary: commensurate with experience. Send resume to: Lorie Nicholas,
Hunter College, Department of Urban Affairs/LPP, 695 Park Avenue, New
York, NY 10021.
JOB DEVElOPER: Highbridge Community Life Center, a Bronx-based CSO, seeks
a Job Developer to work with hard-to-employ population and low-skilled adult
education participants. Develop relationships with employers, and provide indi-
vidual career counseling. Minimum requirements include prior experience,
bank of employer contracts, familiarity with NYC job market, BA/SS, and com-
puter literacy (specifically Microsoft Office.) Bilingual (Spanish/ English) pre-
ferred. Salary high $20s-low $30s. Fax resume to Personnel at 718-6814187.
SENIOR CASE MANAGER and CASE MANAGER. Westchester social service agency
has opening for two experienced Managers to assist tenants who are enrolled
in the County Section 8 Family self-sufficiency Program. Must be able to for-
mulate service plans, monitor participants progress, complete assessments,
provide links with supportive services. Excellent computer/written/oral/inter-
personal skills a must. A SS degree and three years of social service experi-
ence working with low-income homeless or other disadvantaged population
required. Must be flexible and able to work some evenings and weekends,
have own care and a valid NYS Drivers Lic. Bilingual a plus. Send
resume/cover letter to Director of Human Resources, Westhab 85 Executive
Blvd. Elmsford, NY 10523. Fax: 914-345-3139 EOE.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
INTIRNSHIP AND FnLOWSHIP COORDINATOR for Columbia Law School ,
Center for Public Interest Law. The Internship and Fellowship Coordinator
bears primary responsibility for administrative support and coordination of
the Center' s internship and fellowship programs including its Human
Rights Internship Program and other summer and post-graduate fellowship
programs. Reporting to the Dean of the Center for Public Interest Law, the
incumbent counsels students; communicates with public interest and
human rights organizations, Columbia Law School students and gradu-
ates; human rights advocates; academics and others in the U.S. and
abroad; provides content for and maintains Internet products and other
publications; provides logistical support for and assists in the develop-
ment of curriculum for the HRIP training and orientation program; sched-
ules and provides logistical support for on-campus speakers and other pro-
grams; establishes and maintains data and filing systems of both com-
puter and hard copy records; and performs additional responsibilities as
assigned and requested. Applicants should have a minimum of three years
of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and
experience, preferably as a program coordinator or administrative assis-
tant with human rights and/or fellowship programs. Demonstrated interest
and participation in human rights issues and activities is necessary.
Excellent oral and written communication skills, strong interpersonal,
administrative and organization skills are required. Ability to initiate and
followthrough with minimal supervision as well as work under pressure,
adapt to changing priorities, and balance competing assignments is nec-
essary. Excellent computer skills and experience including Internet and
desktop publishing programs, word processing and computer data base
management is required. Working knowledge of foreign languages, partic-
ularly Spanish and/or French is preferred. Overtime (primarily weekday
evenings but some Saturdays) is required. Salary is DOE with good bene-
fits including health insurance, vacation and tuition credits. Interested per-
sons should send a resume and a cover letter describing their reasons for
seeking this job and salary requirements to: Human Resources Director,
Columbia Law School , 435 W. 116th Street, New York, NY 10027. No
email applications will be accepted. Applications will be reviewed on a
rolling basis.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF OUTREACH: Brooklyn Center for the Urban
Environment. Not-for-profit seeks high-level skills to market services to
schools, develop contacts, interface with education program staff, presen-
tations, etc. Excellent computer, communication and organization skills plus
familiarity with Brooklyn and school system. Salary mid $30s and benefits
new position. Call for full job announcement 718-788-8500. To apply fax
718-499-3750 or e-mail to monaco@bcue.org a resume, writing sample and
letter of interest.
a.JNICAl. SOCIAl.. WORMER. : The Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, Brooklyn,
is seeking a full-time, bilingual (English/Spanish) social worker with MSW
degree and experience in working with families and children, to provide indi-
vidual, group and family treatment services. Please fax resume to: Sr. Mary
Paul, DSW, at 718-788-2275.
SOCIAl. GROUP WORMER. The Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, Brooklyn,
is seeking an MSW-<legreed social group worker for a full-time position in a
Beacon school program. Skills in working with children and adolescents in an
after school/evening program in a strong team. Please fax resume to 718-
788-2275.
PROJECT MANAGER.: The St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation
is a neighborhood-based not-for-profit, serving WiliiamsburgjGreenpoint
communities in Housing, Economic Development, Health Care and Youth and
Family Services, as a part of a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization
strategy. The organization seeks to fill the position of Project Manager for its
Neighborhood Homes and Neighborhood Redevelopment Program. The
Project Manager will be responsible for overseeing all phases of develop-
ment from project inception to rent-up and sales. Duties include acting as
liaison to governmental and private funding sources, administration of devel-
opment budgets, tracking of architects, contractors and relocation process
to ensure timely achievement of project milestones. The position requires an
energetic self-starter who is well organized and assertive. Those interested
in this position should possess a BA/BS degree plus two or more years of
experience. Send resume to: Zully E. Rolan, Director, Housing Department
11 Catherine Street, Brooklyn, New York 11211 or email : zrolan@stnick-
snpc.com.
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SOCIAL WORKER: St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation
seeks well organized self-starter for Social Worker position with The
Williamsburg Child Care Network. Duties to include: Information, referral ,
and counseling. Organize and/or lead workshops and seminars to staff and
parents of Network member groups. Bilingual Spanish preferred, MSW pre-
ferred, BSW minimum. Salary to: $40,000 plus benefits. Send resume to:
Zully E. Rolan, 11 Catherine Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211, FAX: 71&486-
5982 or Email: zrolan@stnicksnpc.com.
Gramercy Residence-a group home cacility serving G.L.B.T. & Q. youth has
openings for: CASE AIDE, CHILDCARE MANAGER, CHILDCARE WORKER, WEEK-
END COOK, MAINTENANCE PERSON & PART TIME HOUSE ClEANER. Resumes
with cover letters can be faxed to 212- 673-1476. Childcare openings,
make it Attention To Frederick Feliciano & all others, make it Attention To
John Volpe.
DIRECTOR Of DEVn.OPMENT. Directs fundraising, maintain foundation, gov-
ernment, corporate, donor files and contracts. 5 years successful experi-
ence in nonprofit fundraising required. Knowledge of special events, cor-
porate, individual, individual fundraising, major gifts and direct mail pre-
ferred. Excellent community skills, knowledge of Office 97 and
DonorPerfect required. Salary commensurate with experience. EOE.
Resume, salary requirement and writing sample ASAP to: MC, CCNYC,
305 7th Avenue, 15th Floor, NYC 10001 or jobs@citizensnyc.org. Include
DVLP in Subject.
FUNDRAISING RESOURCE COORDINATOR: Citywide nonprofit seeks Fundraising
Resource Coordinator. College degree preferred, 2 years experience
fundraising required. Type 60 WPM. Word/ExceljDonorPerfect required.
Research, writing, follow-up, manage donor/fundraising DB. Bilingual and
knowledge of diverse communities a plus. Salary $40K. EOE. Resume,
salary requirements and short writing sample by 7/28/00 to: MLS,
CCNYC, 305 7th Avenue, 15th Roor, NYC 10001 or jobs@citizensnyc.org.
Include FRC in Subject.
YOUTH ORGANIZING AND TRAINING COORDINATOR. Citywide nonprofit seeks
Youth Organizer and Training Coordinator. BA + 2 years experience with NYC
youth required. Must be organized and enjoy working with youth. Experience
in training design and delivery required. Bilingual and knowledge of diverse
communities preferred. Knowledge of Office 97 A +. Salary: $30K+. Some
weekends required. EOE. Resume and short writing sample ASAP to: BC,
CCNYC, 305 7th Avenue, 15th Roor, NYC 10001 or jobs@citizensnyc.org.
YTHORG in Subject.
Unitarian Universalist Veatch Prorgram seeks PROGRAM OFFICER. Evaluate
grant requests, monitor grants, develop and assess program areas, edu-
cate Board and congregation, collaborate w/other grantmakers. Issues
areas: racial , economic, environmental, political justice. Required: exten-
sive experience working w/grassroots and advocacy organizations; experi-
ence with diversity; excellent writer and analyst; meet deadlines; team
approach; sense of humor. Helpful: knowledge/experience in community
organizing, campaign finance reform, grantmaking. Salary mid to high
$50,000s with excellent benefits, pension. Submit resume, cover letter, 3
references by Friday, 10/13/00 to: Program Officer Search, UU Veatch
Program at Shelter Rock, 48 Shelter Rock Road, Manhasset, NY 11030.
ADMINISTRATlVE ASSISTANT: Women' s Housing and Economic Development
Corporation, an award-winning social services organization, seeks a pro-
fessional Administrative Assistant for Fundraising & Research in nationally
recognized cutting-dge women' s agency. Proofread, edit, prepare tables
and charts, grant proposals, manage files and grants database, collect
data & more. Must thrive on details, paper work, fast pace, precision.
Excellent work environment, superior benefits, competitive salary. 2 yrs
experience, great computer skills, college grad. Fax resume and cover let-
ter to D. Rubens. 718-839-1170.
CLINICAl. COORDINATORIOVERNIGHT (9:30PM - 7:30AM! 4 SHins PER WEEK) .
For the CUCS Transitional Living Community (TLC), a successful mental
health and housing placement program for mentally ill, homeless women
located in SoHo. Resp: supervise overnight and weekend teams, provide
clinical services to individuals, crisis intervention, oversee group treat-
ment activities, and partiCipate in program development and quality
assurance. Reqs: CSW, 3 years post-Master's experience, one year
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supervisory experience required. Good written and verbal communication
skills; computer literacy preferred. Bilingual Spanish/English preferred.
Salary: $45K + comp benefits. Resume with cover letter ASAP to Melody
Hartman 350 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012. CUCS is committed
to workforce diversity.
CLINICAL COORDINATOR CUC' s West Harlem Transitional Services Program
for mentally ill homeless people is currently seeking a clinical coordinator.
Resp: supervise housing placement activities and staff, partiCipate in pro-
gram development and assist with operations of the transitional residence.
Reqs: CSW, 3 years post-Master's experience, supervisory experience
required. Bilingual Spanish/English preferred. Salary: $45K + comp bene-
fits. Resumes with cover letter ASAP to Lolita Jefferson, WHTS, 312-314
West 127th Street, New York, NY 10027. CUCS is committed to workforce
diversity. EEO.
DEVn.OPMENT ASSOCIATE. Talbot Perkins Children's Services seeks a spe-
cial events planner to coordinate fundraising events, solicit in-kind dona-
tions, lead holiday toy drive, and prepare direct mail campaigns. Other
responsibilities include developing public relations materials, and manage
computerized fundraising database. Candidate must have 3+ years special
events fundraising experience, and knowledge of Raiser's Edge software.
Strong interpersonal skills, good organizational ability, and excellent verbal
and written communication skills are required. Talbot Perkins Children
Services has been building, strengthening and creating families through
foster care, adoption and child welfare preventive services for over seven-
ty-three years. Send resume and salary requirements to: HR Department,
Talbot Perkins Children' S Services, 116 West 32nd Street, New York, NY
10001, Fax: 212-268-5159/947-4865, EMail : hr@talbotperkins.com.
SOCIAL WORKER(S): Government-funded non-profit foster care agency
seeks social workers with 2+ years Foster Care experience required.
Knowledge of ACS regulations, UCR' s and Connections a must. BAs,
BSWs, and MSWs required. Fax resume and salary history: Edwin Gould
Services for Children, Human Resources Department, 212-598-0796.
Email : hr@egsc.com
SOCIAL WORK SUPERVlSOR(S) Government funded non-profit Foster Care
agency seeks Social Work Supervisors with 4+ years experience.
Supervising social workers in a foster care unit. Knowledge of ACS regula-
t ions, UCR' s and Connections program a must. MSW required. Fax
resumes with salary history; Edwin Gould Services with Children, Human
Resources Department, 212-598-0796. Email : hr@egsc.com
DIRECTOR (FOSTER BOARDING HOME): Government-funded non-profit foster
care agency seeks Director for FBH Department. 4-6 years of administra-
tive level expo in child welfare/foster care. Must have knowledge of ACS reg-
ulations. MSW/CSW required. Fax resume with salary history: Edwin Gould
Services for Children, Human Resources Department, 212-598-0796.
Email: hr@egsc.com.
CASE WORKERIHOUSING SPECIALIST: Government-funded non-profit foster
care agency seeks Case Worker/Housing Specialist for Independent Living
Program. 2+ years experience counseling and conducting workshops
required. Experience in seeking employment and housing for residents in
group homes. BA required. Fax resumes with salary history: Edwin Gould
Services for Children, Human Resources Department, 212-598-0796.
Email: hr@egsc.com.
RN SUPERVISOR: Government-funded non-profit agency seeks RN supervisor
for Health Services Department. 4+ years pediatric/supervisory experience
required. BSN w/ NYS License a must. MSN or PNP preferred. Fax resume
with salary history: Edwin Gould Services for Children, Human Resources
Department, 212-598-0796. Email: hr@egsc.com.
PSYCHOLOGIST (PARr TIME) : Government-funded non-profit agency seeks
Psychologist to conduct psychological evaluations with residents in our
Group Homes - OMRDD (Bronx located) Program. Graduates with internship
experience will be considered. MSW required. Fax resume: Edwin Gould
Services for Children, Human Resources Department, 212-598-0796.
Email: hr@egsc.com.
cm AGENCY MANAGER: West Side Community Board seeks manager to
work on land use, housing, quality of life issues, troubleshoot local prob-
lems, supervise staff, work with city agencies and community. BA + 2 years
CITVLlHITS
related experience required. knowledge of city government a plus. Salary
$45-50K with benefits. Resume and cover letter to CB4, 330 West 42nd
Street, NYC 10036 or Fax: 212-947-9512.
Harlem United Community AIDS Center has the following immediate open-
ings for its new family-strengthening program KIT-CAP (Keeping it Together-
Comprehensive After-School Program): ACADEMIC COORDINATOR (FULL llMEI
responsibilities include assisting with the development of an after school
education curriculum for children 5-12; creating age-appropriate education-
al activities for children and adolescents; coordination and provision of
those academic activities to program participants; monitoring the progress
and addressing participant needs, etc. Prefer energetic Master' s in
Education with at least two years experience in early child education and
previous experience working with HIV-affected children. Prefer bilingual
English/Spanish; ADOLESCENT COUNSELOR (PART llME 20-25 IIOURSIWEEKI
responsibilities include assisting in the design and development of behav-
ior modification, skills building and risk reduction curricula for weekly train-
ing workshops targeting HIV affected adolescents; facilitate the weekly
workshops and support groups as well as provide individual counseling ses-
sions to program partiCipants; monitor and track the progress of program
partiCipants, etc. Prefer energetic MSW or CSW with at least two years
experience in family and/or adolescent counseling and working with ado-
lescents and/or families with HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, mental illness;
PARENT COUNSELOR (PART llME 20-25 IIOURSIWEEKI responsibilities include
aSSisting in the design and development of behavior modification, skills
building and risk reduction curricula for weekly training workshops targeting
HIV infected and/ or affected parents; facilitate the weekly workshops and
support groups as well as provide individual counseling sessions to pro-
gram participants; monitor and track the progress of program participants,
etc. Prefer energetic MSW or CSW with at least two years experience in fam-
ily and/or adult counseling and working with adults and famil ies with
HIV/ AIDS, substance abuse, and mental illness. All positions require excel-
lent written, verbal , communication, and computer skills. Salary commen-
surate with experience. Excellent benefits. Send cover letter indicating what
position(s) you are interested in with resume to Denise Kirkley-Cain,
Program Director, Harlem United, 123-125 W. 124th Street, New York, NY
10027. Fax 212 531-0141.
Established New York City not-for-profit organization serving homeless
adults has the following opportunities available in its rapidly growing
Employment Services Department: DIRECTOR OF EMPLOYMENT SERVICES.
Seeking an entrepreneurial and energetic professional with a strong
understanding of effective welfare-to-work strategies to run an education
and employment program for the homeless. Must have supervisory expe-
rience and excellent written/ oral communication skills. BA required,
Master's preferred. Responsibilities include overall management and
financial responsibility for the program, building and maintaining relation-
ships with major employers and government funders, supervising twenty
staff members, creating new training programs, overseeing already exist-
ing initiatives as well as identifying and pursuing potential funding
sources. JOB DEVD.OPER. Join an exciting initiative to help homeless New
Yorkers obtain employment in the suburbs. Duties include: developing
networks of employers that can provide jobs and internships for Clients,
creating marketing materials and preparing cl ients for employment both
through workshops and individual sessions. Qualifications: BA, excellent
writing and presentation skills, and knowledge of Windows. Experience
with marketing, sales, homeless population or Spanish fluency a plus.
RETDfTION COORDINATOR Duties include: following up with homeless
clients for one year after they have obtained employment, building rapport
with employers and clients, intervening when clients have a problem on
the job, writing reports and generating statistics. Qualifications: BA or
equivalent in work experience, extremely detail-oriented, excellent oral
and written communication skills, computer skills (Word, Access and
Excel), and ability to handle multiple tasks. Please fax, e-mail or mail a
resume, cover letter and salary requirements to: Nicole Hanrahan at
(212) 620-6118, nicoleh@projectrenewal.org, Project Renewal, 200
Varick Street, New York, NY 10014.
FOSTER CARE SOCIAL WORK SUPERVISOR: MSW/ CSW w/ at least 2 years
experience; solid knowledge of adolescent development issues related to
pregnant and parenting teens. Exp. w/NYC foster care system. Availability
to work with people from various cultural backgrounds. Strong verbal/writ-
ten communications skills, computer literacy (MS Word, Connections).
Bilingual A+ (English/Spanish). Resume: Inwood House, 3 ~ 0 E .. 82nd
Street, New York, NY 10028 fax: 212-535-3775 Attn: Toni Loggln HR
Assistant.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
FOSTER CARE SW. BA/ BS minimum 2 years experience w/NYC foster care
system. Ability to work with parenting teens of various cultural backgrounds.
Strong verbal/written communication, computer literacy (MS Word,
Connections). Bil ingual A plus (English/ Spanish). Resumes: Inwood House
320 E. 82nd Street, New York, NY 10028 fax: 212-535-3775 Attn: Toni
Loggin HR Assistant.
BUSINESS RESOURCE CONSULTANT needed. Prestigious national organization
with local welfare-to-work program office seeking individual with experience
in j ob placement and trouble shooting job retention issues. Must have local
knowledge of community/ human service resources and labor markets, as
well as experience marketing welfare/job training partiCipants. Bilingual a
plus. Fax cover letter with salary requirements IMMEDIATELY to Ms. Joseph
at 212-577-1408 or email jjoseph@Welfaretowork.org
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Manage 10-month job training program for up to 25
domestic violence survivors. Oversee and coordinate outreach and recruit-
ment, participant assessment, curriculum development, internship and job
development, job placement and post placement follow-up. The program is
a collaboration of three organizations, including Nontraditional
Employment for Women, Victim Services and New Destiny Housing
Corporation. Qualifications: B.A. degree; minimum 3 years experience run-
ning job training programs; strong interpersonal , writing and communica-
tion skills; computer proficiency. Salary commensurate with experience.
Good benefits. Fax resume and cover letter to Bonnie Potter, Deputy
Director, at 212-255-8021.
MANAGED CARE ADVOCMI: As part of the citywide Managed Care Consumer
Assistance Program, the Managed Care Advocate will provide managed care
consumer assistance services to clients, particularly in response to Medicaid
Managed Care and the HIV Special Needs Plans. The Managed Care Advocate
will provide HIV positive consumers with one-on-one assistance, including
information and education about managed care as well as complaint resolu-
tion regarding health care access and quality of care. The Managed Care
Advocate will also give presentations to educate cl ients, other service
providers and the general public regarding managed care issues facing HIV
infected individuals. Qualifications: Bachelor's degree or equivalent experi-
ence, proven experience working with individuals with HIV/ AIDS and health-
care delivery and/or benefits entitlements, excellent interpersonal skills, oral
and written communication skills, and basic data entry skills required.
Bilingual English /Spanish preferred. Send Resume and cover letter to GMHC,
HR Department, 119 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011. GMHC values
diversity and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.
DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE (DTA): The NYC Coalition Against
Hunger seeks a senior staff member for a new initiative to build the
capacity of emergency food programs to help the hungry in ways that go
beyond food. The DTA will help a faith-based, voluntary service sector
develop management skills and implement new programs through a com-
prehensive program of training, information and TA. Qualifications:
Extensive community-based experience, both social services and man-
agement, including fund raising, program development, training and writ-
ing. EOE. Salary: Mid-thirties. Four day work week, benefits, four weeks
vacation. Resumes to: 212-825-0267, nyccah@juno.com. For questions,
job description: 212-825-0028.
The HIV Law Project, a non-profit legal services office which represents low-
income clients with HIV, seeks: Two full-time entry level PARALEGALS and
one part-t ime TEMPORARY PARALEGAL (ideal for night law students. )
Responsibilities: representing clients at public assistance Fair Hearings
and Social Security Disability hearings; advocacy with the Division of AIDS
Services; conducting initial client screening (intake); service of legal
papers; conducting trainings for clients and staff of community based orga-
nizations. Requirements: strong commitment to public interest law; college
degree or related experience; foreign language skills a plus. Salary:
$29,000 (Full Time). Good benefits. Fax resume and cover letter to Victoria
Neilson, Esq. 212-674-7450.
FAMILY lAW ATTORNEY with experience handling cases in the areas of foster
care, termination of parental rights, domestic violence, visitation, etc.
Strong public interest commitment. Salary: $50,000-$55,000, good bene-
fits. Fax resume and cover letter with salary requirements to Victoria
Neilson, Esq. 212-674-7450.
(continued on page 48)
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(continued from page 47)
PART nME BOOKEEPER to work 15-20 hours per week at $15-$20 per hour,
to handle day-to-day accounting. Responsibilities include accounts payable,
bank reconciliation, account analysis, data entry and filing. Requirements:
at least two years experience in any facet of accounting, strong spread-
sheet skills, preferably MS Excel. Knowledge of Fund EZ a plus, some col-
lege coursework in accounting or finance (degree not required) . Please fax
resume to Diane Cross at 212-674-7450.
PART-nME POlICY ASSOCIATE needed for exciting new Women in HIV collabo-
ration project. Conduct basic research, prepare mailings, organize meetings,
and prepare advocacy fact sheets and materials, etc. $15 per hour, 20
hours per week. Please send resume to Andrea Williams, HIV Law Project,
841 Broadway, Suite 608, New York, NY 10003. No phone calls please.
The Citizens Advice Bureau has several SUPERVISORY POSITION openings in
its Workforce Development Department and one opening for a COMMUNnY
PROJECT DIRECTOR. The Supervisory position openings require a Bachelor' s
degree, experience in workforce development or social services, and excel-
lent writing and communication skills. Supervisory experience is preferred.
The Community Project Director will have a high energy level and commit-
ment to empowering community residents to identify their concerns and
needs and work towards solutions. Responsibilities include liaising with
community residents, developing a community editorial board, producing a
newsletter and supervising a staff of three. Bachelor's degree
required/Master' s preferred. Ruency in Spanish and knowledge of the Mott
Haven section of the Bronx A+. Resumes with cover letters to D.S. at 391
East 149th Street, Suite 520, Bronx, New York 10455 or fax 718-993-8089.
PUBLIC AFFAiRSIDEPUTY DIRECTOR: Busy public affairs office of elected offi-
cial seek Deputy Director with writing, media and management skills.
Journalism experience, knowledge of public policy issues, municipal gov-
ernment a plus. BA/BS, 3 year paid experience. NYC residency required.
Fax resume, cover letter with salary history, writing samples, to: Director of
Public Affairs, 718-802-3778. EOE.
GRASSROOTS POUT1CAl. ORGANIZER: Help build a new progressive communi-
ty-labor-based political party AND elect Hillary Clinton. Work with labor and
community groups to educate and mobilize voters. At least 1 yr labor or
comm. organizing pref. Salary BOE. Fax resume to Adam, Working Families
Party, 718-246-3718.
CASE MANAGER: FjT position, non-profit agency serving pregnant and par-
enting teens in the South Bronx providing case management services.
Must have good communication and writing skills. Extensive field work
required. Bilingual a plus (Spanish/English). Resume: Teen Family
Services, 369 E. 148 Street, Bronx, New York 10455, Fax: 718-742-8099.
Attention: Stephanie Wilson.
COMMUNnY ASSOCIATE: Manhattan Community Board seeks person to be
part of administrative staff supporting the Board' s activities. Position
requires strong communication skills and demonstrated proficiency in com-
puters. The Associate will lend direct support to District Manager, process
and direct community complaints to appropriate City agencies, maintain
computer-based records, sort and direct daily mail and perform routine
office work. The right candidate will be highly organized and able to juggle
multiple projects while keeping track of details. Knowledge of NYC govern-
ment is a plus. The position requires NYC residency and the ability to
attend 1-2 evening meetings per month. Salary mid to high $20s, excellent
City benefits and growth potential. Send resume and cover letter to: Kathy
Kinsella, District Manager, Community Board Five, 450 Seventh Avenue,
Suite 2109, New York, NY 10123. Fax: 212-465-1628.
DIRECTOR Of RNANCE AND ADMNISTUJION. Hope Community is a dynamic,
community-based, housing organization, located in East Harlem. We pro-
cure financing, construct, market, and manage a diversified housing port-
folio for families with special needs, very low, low and moderate income.
We seek a Director of Finance and Administration to join our Senior
Management team. The successful candidate should have a track record of
increasing job responsibility, as well as experience in residential construc-
tion, multi-family property management and acquisitions, including tax and
legal issues that pertain to real estate. Tired of the corporate rat race?
Have an entrepreneurial approach to work and want to help up double in
size within the next four years? Want to contribute skills in a SOCially mean-
-
ingful way? Send resume, cover letter and salary requirements in confi-
dence to DFA, c/o Hope Community, Inc., 174 East 104th St., New York,
NY, 10029
OFFICE COORDINATOR for NYC' s leading good government group. Must be
organized, detail-oriented, computer-literate, team player & problem
solver. Duties include: answer phones; organize office; maintain data-
base; assist with bookkeeping; & work with volunteers. CL & resume: OC
Search, Citizens Union, 198 Broadway, Suite 700, NY NY 10038; Fax:
(212) 227-0345.
Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, an established progressive NW
Bronx settlement house, has the following openings. Interested candidate
should fax cover letter and resume to 718-884-0858 indicating specific j ob
title. ASSISTANT EXECUT1VE DIRECTOR FOR YOOTH PROGRAMS. This is a new
position to provide leadership, coordination and integration of services for
growing youth services department in a settlement house. If you are ener-
getiC, creative, hard-working and experienced in work with youth, you will
join the agency's executive staff and be responsible for oversight, coordi-
nation, supervision and admin. of five programs serving 700+ school age
(5-21) young peopie with operations on-site and in local schools.
Responsibilities include: staff training, integration of planning, monitoring
and design of effective reporting systems, budget oversight and planning,
and fundraising assistance. Requirements, minimum MSW or related
degree plus extensive supervisory, admin. and direct practice experience,
strong verbal/writing skills, flexible hours (inc. some evenings and occa-
sional weekends for special events), bilingual (Spanish/English) a plus.
Salary: $50,000 +. Attention: Charles Shayne. DIRECTOR, Adult and Senior
Services Program. An established and growing Adult & Senior Services
Program serving the educational , vocational , recreational , and cultural and
safety needs of a diverse population in the northwest Bronx. Candidate will
provide implementation for adults and seniors as well as overSight, coordi-
nation, supervision and administration of the programs. Responsibilities
include: staff training, monitoring and design of effective reporting sys-
tems, budget oversight and planning, and fundraising assistance.
Requirements: minimum MSW or related degree, experience with adult
and/ or senior program design and implementation, supervisory experi-
ence, bilingual a plus, flexible hours, and possible Sunday through
Thursday work week. Salary: $35,000 + Attention: Lori Spector. EDUCA-
110NAL COORDINATOR. Candidate will lead the After-School Program (6-12
year olds) in designing and implementing programming that fosters literacy
skills and an enjoyment of reading and self-expression. Secondary respon-
sibilities include assisting the Teen Center and College Directions Program,
strengthen educational outcomes of middle school students. Additional
responsibilities: develop age-appropriate literacy based curricula, assist
directors to train and supervise staff to work with children in a manner that
supports the acquisition of literacy skills and results in improved educa-
tional outcomes, assist in development of children' s library and guide staff
in use of authentic materials to draw upon children' s strengths, review and
refine program goals and objectives and develop methods for tracking and
reporting outcomes. Requirements: Master' s Degree in Education, NYS
Certified Teacher (provisional or permanent) preferred, love of children,
enthusiasm for reading and literacy instruction, teaching experience, knowl-
edge of children' s literature or demonstrated interest in learning about chil-
dren' s literature, experience working with groups preferred, bilingual
(English/ Spanish) a plus. Salary: low to mid-thirties. Attention: Charles
Shayne. GROUP TIACIIER for Head Start Program (3 to 5 year olds).
Encourage and develop social, emotional, cognitive and motor skills.
Position requires patience, creativity, warmth and knowledge of develop-
mentally appropriate activities and expectations. Requirements: NYS
Certification, Masters in Early Childhood, bilingual (English/Spanish) a
plus. Attention: Laura Mattioli. For all positions please fax: cover letter and
resume to 718-884-0858 indicating specifiC job title.
FUNDRAISINGIDEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE: Fifth Avenue Committee, a commu-
nity development corporation committed to social and economic justice,
seeks a full-time FundraisingjDevelopment Associate. The Associate will
solicit grants and individual donations, and work on publications, media,
special events, grant reporting, and volunteers. Several years experience in
grant writing. Experience with donor soliCitation, publications, media, spe-
cial events and volunteers desirable. Proficiency with Word, Excel, Access,
Outlook, and Quark preferred. $35,000; good benefits. Cover letter,
resume and writing sample to: FAC/ Associate Search, 141 Fifth Avenue,
Brooklyn, NY 11217, or fax: (718) 857-4322. Phone inquiries to (718) 857-
2990 x30. EEO. People of color encouraged to apply.
CITY LIMITS
HELP USA, leading residential/social services provider seeks dynamic pro-
fessionals w/experience, effective oral, written, computer communication
skills (Spanish-speaking helpful), valid Driver's license, strong teamwork
commitment, for following positions in domestic violence shelters: INTERNAL
AND CONTINUING CARE CASE MANAGER: Direct service, advocacy, counseling,
referral, BA/BSW required. CCCM requires field work throughout five bor-
oughs. CUNICIAN: Provides direct clinical therapeutiC services to individuals,
families and groups; provide assessment, advocacy and referral; MSW or
related degree required. 1tAM l..EAIIER: Clinical/administrative supervision
BA/BSW, MA/MSW staff, crisis intervention, program evaluation, reporting.
MSW/MA, supervisory/clinical experience required. RECREA110N ASSISTANT:
Experience in arts, crafts, athletic and recreational activities; detail-<>riented.
Schedule is flexible w/some weekends. ADMINIS1RATlVE ASSISTANT:
Energetic, enthuSiastic, flexible, detail-<>riented, good-humored individual
needed for administrative assistance to ED. Typing 50 WPM, proficiency
Windows-based application proficiency, Word, Excel. Tuition reimbursement,
training, health, retirement, benefits. Resume to: Executive Director, P.O. Box
641, NYC 10037 .
Human Services Council of New York City PUBLIC POlICY ASSOCIATI The
council is a nonprofit membership organization representing the policy, leg-
islative, advocacy and convening needs of 200+ members, board of direc-
tors and committees. Additionally, this work engenders ongoing relation-
ships with non profit providers, city and state government, advocates and
clients of human services. This position requires an excellent oral and writ-
ten communications capability, analysis of complex budgetary and policy
issues impacting the human services sector and a person who can take the
initiative and be a team player. Tasks: staff the human services action
group, a collaboration with New York city government, and its for-profit and
nonprofit providers. Staff several committees of the board of directors
including government relations, workforce development and contracts.
Liaison with and for the human services sector in its work with government.
Represent the HSC in public forums. Analysis of city and state government
budgets and legislation for actions by HSC members. Prepare and/or pre-
sent information through articles, testimonies, and briefings. Knowledge
and skills. Computer literate. Excellent oral and written communications.
Skillful negotiator with ability to represent the interests of the HSC and
maintain relationships with government, advocates and for-profit col-
leagues. Team player and self starter. Requirements: Minimum Master's
degree and five years experience in public policy arena; preferably with non-
profits or government. Demonstrated oral and written communications abil-
ity. Computer literacy is a must. Submit writing sample along with resume.
References available upon request. Availability, on or about August 21,
2000. Benefits salary range $37,500-$42,000. Generous fringe pack-
age. Broad exposure to the entire nonprofit arena. Growth. Collegial work
environment. Applicants resume and writing sample to: Darwin Davis,
Executive Director Human Services Council Two Park Avenue, 2nd floor New
York, New York 10016 Email davisd@ujafedny.org send hard copies or
emails only; no faxes or phone calls.
DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT MANAGER Sunnyside Community Services is
seeking a proven professional to create and manage a Development
Department for this rapidly growing settlement house in Western Queens.
The qualified candidate will have at least six years of experience that
includes the demonstrated ability to raise funds from major individual and
corporate donors and to win grants from private foundations and government
agencies. We require excellently writing, planning and administrative skills,
and the ability to work with management and program staff in raising funds
for a broad range of program areas (senior services, youth and intergenera-
tional services, and services to immigrants). Development and/or program-
matic experience in one or more of these areas is desirable but not manda-
tory. An understanding of the relationships among program development,
program evaluation, and fund raising is critical. Salary is commensurate with
experience. Benefits are excellent. Please send resume along with cover let-
ter indicating salary requirements. Please also provide a brief writing sam-
ple. Send all material to Judith Zangwill, Executive Director, Sunnyside
Community Services, 43 - 31 39th Street, Sunnyside, New York 11104.
Strive, an East Harlem based, non-profit, job readiness training and place-
ment program) has the following job opening in New York City. SOCIAl.
WORKER (MSW) : Individual to head small social work department, pro-
viding support services to men and women participating in job readiness
program. MSW required. At least five (5) years social work experience and
two (2) years supervisory experience. Qualified applicants should send a
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000
cover letter with salary requirements and a resume to: Tim Moriarty,
Director of Operations, STRIVE, 1820 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
10029-2010. Phone: 212-360-1100, Fax: 212-360-5634 or email: tmori-
arty@strivecentral.com
DMECltM OF FINANCIAl.. SERVICES. Responsible for financial oversight of $k mil-
lion + non-profit organization in Southem Westchester. Familiarity and experi-
ence with state contracts/grants and Medicaid. 4 years experience with increas-
ing financial supervision and responsibility. BA/BS required. 60K +. Send
resume to Fiscal, P.O. Box 1248, Yonkers, N.Y. 10702 or fax: 914-9634566.
ENVIRONMEHTALISSUES ANALYST: Local government agency seeks detailed ori-
ented, motivated individual to manage agency's activities in the area of e n v ~
ronmental policies and issues. Responsibilities include: participate in the
establishment of environmental issues and projects and represent the agency
with all governmental, regulatory and stakeholder organizations. Two years
environmental work experience, BA/BS in related field, excellent computer,
writing, analytical and interpersonal skills. Knowledge of NYC environmental
policies and issues and MA/MS a plus. Salary $40s. Fax resume and cover
letter to Director of Budget and Development, 71&802-3861. EOE.
PROJECT COORDINATORS (2): Small, active community organization on West
Side of Manhattan seeking two project coordinators. One to coordinate a
one-<>n-one mentoring project with young people 9-13; the other to coordi-
nate a project that trains young people in the basics of conflict resolution
and puts them together with police for a dialogue. Both positions require
college graduates who are flexible, bright, organized and interested in work-
ing with young people. Some administrative work required. Salary: mid
20's. Fax resume and cover letter to 212-662-8393.
PROJECT CO-DiRECTOR, CRIMINAL JUSTICE & COMMUNnY DEVD.OPMENT:
Brooklyn CBO seeks individual to co-direct model project to assist ex-
offenders reintegrating into the community and organize to reframe com-
munity debate around criminal justice. Responsibilities include program
development & operations; replication, reporting & fund raising; and com-
munity organizing. Requirements: Strong analytiC & communications skills;
program development experience; ability to work with diverse groups.
M/EOE. Cover letter, resume, and salary req's to Darryl P. King, Fifth
Avenue Committee, 141 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217 or fax to (718)
857-4322. www.fifthave.org.
DIRECTOR OF FAMILY DAY CARE: Multi-talented professional must have per-
manent N-6 certification and a Masters degree in early childhood education
or in a related field. Extensive knowledge in the Head Start Program and the
Agency for Child Development policies and procedures is a must. The
Director must have proven finanCial, supervision and management skills, as
well as demonstrated achievement in curriculum development, parental
involvement and training. The successful candidate must have a strong com-
puter background and excellent oral and written communication skills.
Candidate must be able to work flexible hours. Send cover letter and resume
to: T. McDonald, Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service, 285 Schermerhorn
Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217. Fax: 71&855-1517. No phone calls please.
Amber Hall, a new 85 unit supportive housing residence in the Bronx is
seeking four RESIDENCE MANAGERS. Duties: facility maintenance and secu-
rity management and tenant relations. Drivers license and experience in
similar setting highly preferred. Also five RECEPTION MONmJRS for front
desk security duties. Some similar experience necessary. Good entry level
opportunity. All poSitions will require shift flexibility. Good salary plus bene-
fits. Fax resume to: Bob Raphael at 212-398-3071.
EDUCATION DIRECTOR. Historic day care center in Brooklyn is seeking an
Education Director to operate all aspects of daily educational programming
for preschool and school-age students. The successful candidate must
have permanent N-6 certification and a Master's degree in early childhood
education or in a related field. The successful candidate must have demon-
strated skills in supervision and management, budgetary operations and a
strong computer background. In addition, candidate must have experience
in training, family and community partnerships and curriculum develop-
ment. The Education Director must have excellent written and oral commu-
nication skills and be able to work flexible hours. Send cover letter and
resumes to: T. McDonald, Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service, 285
Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn NY 11217. Fax: 71&855-1517. No phone
calls please.
(continued on page 5 J )
--
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New York's Neediest
(Re)organizations
Since 1978, Victim Services has nobly provided counseling, shelter, legal aid and even child care to thousands of, well, victims,
carrying legions of people through crises like domestic violence, rape and assault.
But helping people reassemble their lives wasn't enough. They needed an identity. They needed a brand.
Enter Lippincott and Margulies, the granddaddy of corporate image-consulting firms, which manages the identities of companies
like Coca-Cola, Citigroup and Sprint. In June, Lippincott and Margulies unveiled a new identity for Victim Services: Safe Horizon.
Of course, the horizon is by definition an illusion, a place that can never be reached. But why quibble with a name that says "we
care" so warmly? Many other organizations working with New Yorkers in need could use an image makeover but can't afford the tal-
ents of brand consultants. In keeping with City Limits' mission of building a better New York, we feel duty-bound to suggest a few
more makeover ideas-pro bono.
OUT 1M
Coalition for the Homeless Sheltering Sky
Human Rights Watch Human Conditions
Children's Rights, Inc. Kids Are People Too
The Legal Aid Society It's the Law
Alcoholics Anonymous 12 Steps to Bliss
Working Families Party What's Your Line?
Urban League The Race Place
ASPCA Companimal Haven
Planned Parenthood Planned Parenthood
City Limits Time Out New York
logo design by ALRdesign.com
CITY LIMITS
(continued f rom page 49)
DIRECTOR. The Training Institute for Careers in Organizing (TICO) seeks a
Director to run an exciting training and technical assistance program in
Community Organizing. Responsibilities include recruitment for apprentice-
ship program, classroom trainings, grant writing and program administration.
Minimum of two years training, organizing and supervisory experience. Salary
$2840K, based on experience. Good benefits package. Send resume to 103
E. 196th Street, Bronx, NY 10468: tico@igc.org or fax 718-733-6922.
ASSISTANT TEACHER: The Round Child Care Center is seeking a mature and
talented teacher to assist group teacher in a preschool classroom. The
child-<:entered professional must have experience working with children,
possess an associate degree in early childhood education and/or be cur-
rently enrolled in college. Prefer candidates with experience in curriculum
development, parental involvement and community partnerships. Bilingual
English/ Spanish/French candidates a plus. Please send or fax cover letter
and resume to: C. Solomon, Education Director, The Round Child Care
Center, 105 North Portland Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205. Fax: 718-246-
7032. No phone calls please.
Amber Hall is seeking a PSYCHIATRIC REGISTERD NURSE to provide conSUl-
tation and services to residents of supportive housing for PWA' s.
Responsibilities include: assessment of medical care needs and monitor-
ing of care plans, direct service through educational and therapeutic groups
and individual counseling, and carrying a small case load . . Must have
Master's degree in nursing with psychiatric specialty, NY State current RN
license, familiarity with care needs associated with TB infection, drug addic-
tion, HIV related mental illness and chronic homelessness. Bi-lingual in
Spanish/English a plus. ACTlVnY COORDINATOR and RECREATION SPECIALIST
also needed. Send resume, cover letter and salary requirements: Patricia
Vaughn, Supervision Social Worker, Amber Hall , 1385 Fulton Avenue, Bronx
NY 10456.
PROJECT MANAGER: To oversee neighborhood health planning and physical
development projects, i.e. a primary care, nursing home, and assisted liv-
ing program. Candidates should have 2-5 years of project management or
related experience. Possess a graduate degree in urban planning, health
policy, business or related fields. Be well organized and have superior writ-
ten and oral communications skills. Interested candidates should mail a
resume and cover letter to: Michael Rochford, Executive Director, St.
Nicholas N.P.C., 11 Catherine Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211.
St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation seeks DIRECTOR OF
EMPLOYMENT SERVICES to lead our growing employment, welfare-to-work,
skills training programs. Duties include developing new programs and rela-
t ionships, fund raising, monitoring WIA and W2W, and supervising a staff
of 20+. We are seeking an experienced hands-on manager with strong
leadership, organizational , communication and administrative skills.
Candidates should fax resume and cover letter to: Michael Rochford, St.
Nicholas N.P. C., 11 Catherine Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Fax number is
718486-5982.
Unique People Services, a progressive provider of supportive housing, has
the following pOSitions available in our 140-unit Scatter Site Housing
Program, which is located in the Bronx, Queens and Manhattan. CASE MAN
AGER, MENTAL HEALTH SPECIALIST AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE SPECIALIST. All of
these positions require a Bachelor' S degree in a human service field with
a minimum of two years experience in case management, counseling, enti-
tlements and a knowledge of HIV/AIDS population. Good written and oral
communications skills needed. Computer literate and bilingual a plus. We
are also seeking a motivated ACTIVmES COORDINATOR who is familiar with
NYC and activities available to conduct recreational activities. An Associate
Degree with 2 years experience is required. Bilingual and clean driver' s
license a plus. Please fax resume with cover letter, indicating the position
of interest to: 718-231-7720, or email to Unique People Services, Human
Resource Department, 4234 Vireo Avenue, Bronx, NY 10470. Email :
forhome@echonyc.com.
PROPERTY MANAGER: Brooklyn based R.E. management company seeks
individual with 3-5 years experience in Property Management. Must be
knowledgeable of HUD regulations and re-<:ertification procedures. Will
supervise both office and maint. staff. RAM, ARM & R.E. license a plus.
Good benefit package. EOE. Non-smoking environment. Fax resume to
Dept. PM at 718-642-6910.
REAL ESTATE LANDLORD-TENANT REP: Brooklyn based R.E. management Co.
with Coney Island seeks responsible person for handling legal action involv-
ing non-payment of rent. Will interact with lawyers, property managers &
residents. Must be computer literate, responsible for monthly reports.
Salary high $20s. EOE. Non-smoking environment. Fax resume to Dept. LT
at 718-642-6910.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS The Williamsburg Resident Council, Inc. located
in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, is requesting written proposals and
bids for the following items: Computer Training Programs, Procurement of
Computer Equipment. For detailed proposal guidelines please contact: Iris
Cortes, Williamsburg Resident CounCil, Inc. 250 Graham Avenue, Brooklyn,
NY 11206. Telephone: 718-963-4800 or email: wrc250@aol.com
LET US DO A FREE EVALUATION
OF YOUR INSURANCE NEEDS
MAY 2000
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' L1ABILTY
GROUP LIFE & HEALTH
"Tailored Payment Plans"
ASHKAR CORPORATION
146 West 29th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001
(212) 2798300 FAX 714-2161 Ask for : Bala Ramanathan
~ - - - - . - - - - - - - - ~ ~
Chase announces 1 %-2%
down payment mortgage program
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT GROUP
. 1 % Down payment from borrower's own funds
2% Gift, unsecured loan or seller concessions
can be used for down payment
Owner occupied properties
30 Year fixed rate
1-2 Family house, Condo, PUD
No minimum loan amount
FNMA maximum loan amounts apply
Expanded ratios 33/38
Purchase transactions only
Also available is Chase's "C.A.S.H." program
C.A.S.H. is an unsecured installment loan that
may be used to cover your down payment
and/or closing costs associated with your first
mortgage with Chase
One payment coupon each month covers both
mortgage payment and installment loan
o CHASE
THE RIG H T R E l A T ION S HIP I S EVE R Y T H I N G ~
1-800-636-6395
All loans are originated by The Chase Manhattan Bank. All loans are subject to credit and property approval. Program terms and conditions are subject to change without notice.
Other restrictions and limitations apply. 'For down payments of less than 20%, mortgage insurance (MI) is required and MI charges apply. Not all products are available with 3%
down. Results of mortgage affordability estimates are guidelines. The estimate is not an application for credit and results do not guarantee loan approval or denial. Mortgage loans
are offered through The Chase Manhattan Bank, Community Development Group, Residential Lending, 2 Chase Manhattan Plaza, NY, NY 10081.
C 2000 The Chase Manhattan Bank. All rights reserved.
Equal Housing Lender A
j