It's Our Money

Name of Your Organization:

United Community Centers, Inc

Overview of the Project - Please provide a brief description of the project.

\tThe East New York Farms! Project (ENYF) has been a part of UCC’s work for more than 20 years. The project’s mission is to organize youth and adult residents to address food justice in our community by promoting local sustainable agriculture and community-led economic development. A primary component of the program is our youth internship. We hire 30+ youth every year in a 9 month intensive paid internship where youth develop leadership and workforce skills, learn the fundamentals of urban and sustainable agriculture, green space preservation, and principles of social, food, and economic justice. 

\tOur youth work in all aspects of the program from running our farmers markets to working alongside East New York residents in their gardens and backyards helping them grow food for themselves and the community. This includes a compost program where youth collect, learn to process, and distribute compost to the community. Our compost program and capacity has grown significantly, but our youth need more formal training in maintaining and processing our compost. We want to ensure the quality of the compost, while providing a robust learning experience for our youth in sustainability and zero waste concepts. For this project, we will send one returning youth intern and staff member to our partner organization, BK ROT, to extensively train in compost processing and maintenance. After the training, they will return to ENYF where they will train other 2 other compost youth interns, volunteers and community gardeners on composting best practices. This training will be a formalized part of our program moving forward for future interns, enhancing their learning experience, diverting waste from landfills, providing nutrient-rich compost for our local community and backyard gardeners, and increasing our local food supply. Youth will host two compost distributions, host composting workshops for the community, and collect food scraps from four community partner sites. 

\tFunding will be used for the partial salary of the compost project coordinator, youth stipends, program supplies, and compensating BK Rot for the training program. This funding will be spent by June 30th, 2021, however, it will help us beyond the grant period by increasing the knowledge of our youth interns in sustainable farming practices, preparing them for green jobs and educational opportunities in their futures. It will also help us sustain our compost project for many seasons to come and establish an externship partner in BK ROT.

Which of the following issues does your project address?

1. Issue 1 - Addressing Mental Health
2. Issue 2 - Preparation for College and/or Career
3. Issue 3 - Youth Advocacy Promotion

2

Youth Engagement - Please explain how you will engage youth in the planning and implementation of the project.

Youth will be engaged through the creative process of remodeling our compost operation. Youth will be implementing a new form of collecting and sorting system that is energy efficient and environmentally sustainable. They will be able to design their own compost project and milestones for the growing season. Youth interns will also design and facilitate virtual compost training and hands-on workdays for local community gardeners and backyard gardens to learn the art of composting.  Youth will have the opportunity to be involved in a clean soil research project where they will mix their compost with virgin sediments, monitor the way in which the sediment and compost react together while monitoring and studying the crops that do well in the various ratios of sediments to compost. Youth will also be collecting weekly data on water retention in the soil, plant growth, crop production, and soil nutrients. `

Budget - Your total project budget must equal $20,000 to be placed on the ballot for a youth vote. Please provide a brief description of what the funds would be used for to successfully implement your project. You will also need to download, fill in, and attach a full budget using this template.

Compost Coordinator - $10,500; Fringes @15% - $1,575

Youth Stipends - $4000

Consultant - $1000

OTPS - $1425

Timeline- Please describe the timeline for the implementation and completion of the project. All work for this project must be completed by June 30, 2021, which is the end of the city’s fiscal year and the deadline for the funds to be spent.

Starting January 3rd to February 28th we will place the Compost Project Coordinator and 1 extern at BK ROT to be trained by their youth and staff. The second youth will be 4th year returning that has gone through 3 years of our youth internship program. 

From March to June two youth will collect food scraps from 4 locations in East New York using a cargo bike. Youth will be working 10 hours each week where they process and weigh the food scraps, while expanding our compost collection site and implementing sustainable infrastructure. Youth will also be hosting 2 workshops one in person where participants can have a one-on-one hands-on experience and one virtual. Throughout this time they will also be contributing data to the East New York Farms! Clean Soil research project where youth interns will be able to blend their compost with virgin sediment and collect critical data on plant life and soil health. 

Project Activity Alignment - How does your project align with at least one of the following topics:

1. Leadership skills development: organizing & advocacy trainings
2. Stewardship of public spaces: public parks, transportation, etc.
3. Youth and student engagement
4. Civic education and advocacy
5. Community outreach involving residents that have been historically underrepresented in or underserved by city government and its processes

2, 3, 5

What is your organization's area of focus?

1. Children and youth related
2. Advocacy and organizing
3. Arts and culture
4. Civic engagement
5. Education and literacy
6. Emergency management and disaster response
7. Employment and workforce development
8. Environment and sustainability
9. Faith-based
10. Food access
11. Health and medicine
12. Homelessness and/or affordable housing
13. Human rights
14. Human services
15. Immigrants and/or refugees
16. Justice related
17. Legal services
18. People with disabilities
19. Senior services
20. Women's issues

1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 14, 15

Affirmations - Type \"YES\" below each statement to affirm that you are eligible to appear on the ballot for this process.

I confirm that my organization will be registered in the NYC Payee Information Portal and in PassPort, NYC’s online procurement system, in order to receive funding from the City of New York.

YES

I confirm that my organization is able to front the costs of implementing this project. Organizations will be paid based on deliverables. 

YES

Completion of Deliverables: I understand all deliverables must be completed by June 30th, 2021.

YES

I understand a condition of funding includes submission of a final report upon project completion, and participating in a debrief session with the CEC.

YES