CIBS NEWSLETTER
Herkimer Street Community Garden with Mural painted and upgrades conducted by the NYC Justice Corps
Thursday, December 3, 2009
What if one strategy could create jobs, bring federal and state money into Bedford-Stuyvesant, lower residents’ housing costs, enhance housing quality and comfort, improve public health and engage residents to improve their environment? Pratt Center for Community Development (Pratt Center), the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration) and the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford-Stuyvesant (CIBS) are working together to implement an initiative that we believe can accomplish all of this and make Bedford-Stuyvesant a model for how to green urban neighborhoods.
The Pratt Center, Restoration and CIBS are working to retrofit Bedford-Stuyvesant’s buildings – that is, to implement energy upgrades that reduce the use of heating fuel, electricity and water. What makes this program unique is that we are working with Bedford-Stuyvesant’s residents, churches, businesses and block associations to implement these measures on a block-by-block basis to both bring down costs and increase impacts. We make it easy for homeowners as well as other building and business managers to access an array of financial incentives that subsidize the costs of energy assessments and recommended measures to improve the buildings. At the same time, the increase in local demand for energy audits and retrofit services will create jobs for the people who need.. click here to read more!
Bedford-Stuyvesant: Be Counted! The 2010 Census
The Census Bureau is coming to town in March, 2010. As we all should know the Census is mandated by Article 1, Section 2 of the United States Constitution to produce a count of every person, regardless of citizenship, immigration category or legal status, residing in the United States and its territories on April 1, 2010. The Census will determine the number of people that live in each neighborhood of New York City; how many elected representatives we will have in Congress as well as the New York City Council and the New York State Legislature; and, determine the amount of funding we will receive from the federal government for education, healthcare, job training, transportation and a host of other critical programs within our community.
According to a Brookings Institute analysis, during the year 2008, the City of New York received $25 billion in federal funding, based in part on census information. $19.6 billion was allotted to Medicaid; $2.6 billion was allotted for affordable housing and community.. click here to read more!
(CIBS) The Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford Stuyvesant is a member association dedicated to working towards greater cooperation of local organizations and others committed to positively impacting the Bedford-Stuyvesant community... click here to read more!
(CIBS) The Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford Stuyvesant is a member association dedicated to working towards greater cooperation of local organizations and others committed to positively impacting the Bedford-Stuyvesant community.
