2005 Grant Cycle

The Park Slope Civic Council is proud to announce the 2004/2005 Grant Awards. These grants, funded by the annual Park Slope Civic Council's House Tour, are awarded each year by the Council's Grants Committee to projects at schools, charities, cultural institutions and other organizations benefiting the Park Slope community. The 2004/2005 awards totaled $10,000; and the 23 recipients are described below. The Civic Council is delighted to support these important local groups. They reflect the range and variety of active, creative organizations in Park Slope, and contribute greatly to the diversity and vitality of our community. Congratulations to all!

(1) Soup Kitchen & Pantry for the Homeless, Poor, & Hungry (CHIPS: Christian Help in Park Slope)
CHIPS was created in 1971 to provide hot meals for poor families and individuals six days a week throughout the year. The agency is operated by volunteers and works collaboratively with local schools and gardens. They have a food pantry, distribute used clothing, and operate a shelter for young, pregnant, homeless mothers and their babies and toddlers. Since they serve 200-300 people daily, they always need to replace soup bowls that break, wear out, or disappear. The grant was for the purchase of new bowls.

(2) Referees for Youth Basketball Program (78th Precinct Youth Council) Since 1988, the 78th Precinct Youth Council has provided after-school sports programs for children aged 5 through 16 in local parks and public school gyms in the Slope area. The coaches have been parent volunteers, and certified referees were hired for games involving the older children. However, there is a need for professional referees to work with their Freshman division as well. The grant was to help with the hiring of the referees.

(3) Project SHIPS: Students Helping In Park Slope (PS 77K @ 902) PS. 77K is a special education school, whose main site has been in Park Slope since 1985. Students attending the school have severe learning, communication, and behavioral handicaps. The school has an ongoing job development program, with students going to worksites throughout the year. The focus of the work this year is on Prospect Park enabling Park and Alliance staff to attend to more urgent tasks. The award is to help them purchase an Alternative Augmentative Communication device which is a portable communication device, able to be programmed (and re-programmed) to "say" a few words or sentences to make it easier for students, co-workers, and clients to understand each other.

(4) Conservatory Salon (Brooklyn Conservatory of Music) The Conservatory has been a fixture in our midst since 1897, and is seeking funds for its Salon program. This is free to community members, and offers the opportunity to perform in front of an audience and receive feedback from Conservatory faculty and the audience. The Salons are free and open to the public.

(5) Introduction to the Ecology of the Gowanus Canal (The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club) Since 1999, The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club has worked to foster the clean-up and use of the Gowanus Canal. It sponsors: regular canoe trips, oyster gardening, environmental education programs in classrooms and on site, and tours of Brooklyn waterways, amongst other things. They are requesting funds to expand an introductory ecology program at a Park Slope school (PS 107).

(6) Baking With a Spin - Part II. (Park Slope Senior Citizen Center) Serving seniors in the community since 1973, The Park Slope Senior Citizen Center offers a variety of educational, recreational, and social services- plus lunch - to 70 -90 seniors daily during the week. The request was for the purchase of equipment, ingredients, and other materials necessary to enable the sharing and demonstration of recipes for baking healthy products. They will be focusing on low carb and low sugar baking, enabling their diabetic clients to participate more fully.

(7) The 2005 Memorial Day Concert (The Green-Wood Historic Fund). The Green-Wood Historic Fund is a not-for-profit organization created to raise funds to preserve and maintain structures of historical, cultural, and architectural significance within the Cemetery. It works to enhance public awareness of the significance of the Cemetery and to sponsor educational programs and events, all of which are open to the public and many of which are free. They requested help with this year's (free) Memorial Day Concert. Green Wood is a neighborhood treasure that deserves our support.

(8) Family Workshops (Significant Steps Child Development Center) The Center is a not-for-profit organization that offers early intervention services to families of children from birth to three years who exhibit developmental delays or disabilities. They work both in the home and at the Center to offer a variety of therapies, social services, and parenting support programs. The grant was for money to help them continue to provide their free family workshops.

(9) Seedlings (Grace Markman @ Park Slope Branch of BPL) The Seedlings is an off-shoot of the Nestlings program which began in 2002 at the Audubon Center in Prospect Park and moved to The Park Slope Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. The program helps children understand how their environment changes with the seasons, combining arts and crafts with the natural sciences.

(10) Brooklyn Community Chorus (ibid. ) Founded in 2002, The Brooklyn Community Chorus focuses on vocal and choral techniques in a variety of musical styles. They are now housed at the Old First Church, and perform borough-wide at special events, including the Jingle Bell Jamboree. They are open to singers of diverse backgrounds, ages, and musical experiences. The grant was for supplies and equipment.

(11) History of Presidential Inaugurations (St. Saviour Elementary School) St. Saviour Elementary School has over 440 students from Pre-K to 8th grade, with after-school programs and a gifted program. The request was for books, art supplies, and catering expenses (for a student inaugural ball) to study the history of presidential inaugurations and present their findings to the rest of the student body. The grant was for the books and art materials.

(12) The Sandbox: Plays for Children and Families (The Gallery Players) The Gallery Players is in its 38th year in our community. It offers professional quality theatre at affordable prices, and is a showcase for aspiring theatre artists. One night of each of their productions is reserved for Brooklyn's homeless population. Their season consists of seven fully staged revivals and four weekends (in June) devoted to new plays performed without scenery (the Black Box series). This year's grant was to help them produce a weekend of original plays to introduce theatre to young children and their families in the Slope area.

(13) Dutch Colonial Games and Toys Curriculum Development (The Old Stone House of Brooklyn) The Old Stone House (formerly The First Battle Revival Alliance) works to preserve and publicize Brooklyn's role in the Revolutionary War and the 1776 action at the Vechte-Cortelyou House. They work with local schools and offer public programs and heritage events throughout the year. The grant was for help with developing a curriculum and the purchase of materials for children in grades K-2.

(14) Bias Prevention Program - Celebration of Diversity Event (Imani House) Imani House is a non-profit multicultural organization, combining social services, health education, skill building, and community community support systems to low income families, including a large immigrant population. It is mainly a volunteer organization, providing a food pantry, tutoring in ESOL/literacy, job-readiness skills and citizenship involvement. The grant is to help support their celebration of diversity event - bringing together youth and adults of various backgrounds.

(15) Environmental Education Program, Special Education Unit (MS 51) Willimam Alexander MS 51 is a public middle school for gifted and talented students, and is starting a new program using environmental education as a tool to teach reading and writing to special needs children (those with learning disabilities and/or emotional disabilities). The grant was for the purchase of materials and supplies for this program.

(16) IMPACT'S Health Messages - 4 Teens by Teens (St. Francis Xavier Action Youth Center); Requested $500, Awarded $200). The Action Youth Center is a program that offers daily academic enrichment and homework support, provides leadership training programs and recreation activities to high school students and pre-adolescent youths. The request was for help in purchasing materials needed to produce information pamphlets on health issues faced by teens and brought up by the teens themselves.

(17) Do You Hear a Chorus? Parents and Children Together (PS 282) P.S. 282 serves children from Pre-K to 5th grade in the Slope area. It has parents from many different ethnic backgrounds, and it is seeking to actively involve them in their childrens' academic, cultural, and social education. They do this already through joint instrument instruction, and would like to expand the program to start choral groups that might attract more parents and their children.

(18) Outdoor Tent Rental for Local Produce Festival (Spoke the Hub Dancing, Inc.) Spoke the Hub Dancing was founded in 1979 and offers classes for all ages and skill levels, performances, readings, exhibitions, and services to artists, seven days a week, all year round. We have funded various innovative projects of theirs through the years. This year's request was for funds to help rent a tent to create a central outdoor performance area for their 12th annual "Local Produce Festival" in conjunction with the Union St. Block Association.

(19) Sandbox Sand for Harmony and 3rd Street Playgrounds (Prospect Park Alliance) The Harmony and 3rd Street Playgrounds provide the community with safe, clean areas for children to play in creatively. Not only are these places to play, but special programs in the arts, education, and cultural milieus are offered as well. The request was to help pay for the sand in the sandboxes in these two most heavily used playgrounds in our neighborhood. Because this is a repeat request, the Grants Committee opted to partially fund them

(20) The Debate Club (Secondary School for Law) The Secondary School for Law is one of the three smaller schools that are the reincarnation of John Jay High School, created to prepare students for college and further careers in the legal profession, law enforcement, and public service. The Debate Club is an after-school and Saturday program which needs supplies and money for a supervisory teacher.

(21) Library Internship for a High School Student Helper (PS 295 and MS 443) PS 295 shares its building and is administratively linked to MS 443, both of which have a mixed population of students. The joint library has after-school hours and innovative events using parent volunteers and sponsors to stimulate reading and writing and promote English usage. In the past, we helped to increase their collection of bilingual books, and they are requesting help with processing the books and others that have been donated. They propose to do that they have by recruiting outside help from the nearby Bishop Ford High School.

(22) Downzoning of the South Slope & Greenwood Heights (South South Slope & Greenwood Heights Community Group). This association was founded to provide a community-based action group to achieve contextual zoning to the side and middle streets for the Park Slope/Greenwood Heights sections (15th to 25th Streets and 3rd to 8th Avenues) that has not yet been so zoned. The request was for funds to help with expenses needed to formally move forward.

(23) Parent Involvement (PS 39). PS 39 works actively to bring parents to the school and involve them in a diversity of ways. There are weekly parent meetings, serving breakfast, and providing information through discussions and a variety of workshops led by outside specialists. The Parent Coordinator has been paying for all of this, and requested help with the purchase supplies for the workshops.

Respectfully submitted to the Trustees by the Grants Committee, January 6, 2005
Chairperson: Sheila J. White
Committee Members: Nat Allman, Doris Clark, Nellie Isaacson, Ann Kalkhoff, Robert Levine, Lauri Schindler, Cara Tuzzolino-Werben