Project Renewal Celebrates 50th Anniversary and Raises Over $1.5 Million for Homeless Services at Annual Gala Benefit & Auction

|

Project Renewal, the nonprofit organization that empowers homeless New Yorkers to renew their lives through comprehensive medical, housing and job programs, raised over $1.5 million at its 27th Annual Gala Benefit and Auction held June 8 at Spring Studios. More than 600 guests—a record for Project Renewal galas—celebrated the 50th anniversary of the organization, which started as the city’s first medical detox clinic on the Bowery in 1967, and has since expanded to serve over 16,000 men, women, and children annually with a wide range of innovative programs. The evening included cocktails, dinner and a live auction. “We are delighted to celebrate Project Renewal’s pioneering role in helping homeless New Yorkers renew their lives and reclaim hope over the last 50 years,” said Project Renewal President and CEO Mitchell Netburn. “We are extremely grateful for the generosity of our board members, donors and volunteers. Their support will enable us to expand our work to break the cycle of homelessness for the 16,000 men, women and children we help each year.”

At the event, Project Renewal also honored Deanna Mulligan, President and CEO of Guardian and former member of Project Renewal’s Board of Trustees, who has demonstrated her dedication to ending homelessness in New York City through her generous support of the organization.

One in eight people living with HIV do not know they are infected

|

Tuesday, June 27 marks the annual National HIV Testing Day, and The Alliance for Positive Change will be out in force encouraging New Yorkers to play their part in ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The Alliance will be conducting free and confidential testing at several Duane Reade/Walgreens locations; the organization’s headquarters in Midtown; and its community centers in East Harlem, Washington Heights, and the Lower East Side. “Years ago, a positive HIV test result was a death sentence. That’s no longer the case. With early diagnosis, many can live long, healthy lives with HIV.

CommunityWire

Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Indecent’ Playwright Paula Vogel Addresses Life Members of the Workmen’s Circle

|

(New York, N.Y.) – Paula Vogel, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of the triple Tony Award-nominated Broadway play Indecent, was the special guest speaker at a private reception honoring Workmen’s Circle Life Members on Monday, June 5.  

Held at Workmen’s Circle headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, the gathering drew more than 75 attendees, who listened as the acclaimed playwright discussed the origin of her masterful play, which is up for three Tony Awards (including one for Best Play) this coming Sunday.  

“I wanted to look at Jewish identity and immigration and what happens — in what ways do we censor our identities,” Ms. Vogel said. “It’s a very complex story to me — how and when do we censor a play…. I wanted to go forward with it because I worried that hate speech and anti-immigration rhetoric was on the rise.”

 

The Workmen’s Circle has been at the center of Jewish culture, progressive social and economic justice activism and the preservation of the Yiddish language for more than a century.   Indecent takes place during the time when the Workmen’s Circle formed to help Yiddish-speaking immigrants transition to a new life in America.

CommunityWire

Calling Young Filmmakers: NYC Mental Health Film Festival Competition Now Open for Submissions

|

New York, NY:  Community Access, a nonprofit that provides housing, jobs, and support to people with mental health concerns, is now accepting submissions of films for their Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Competition. The winning film will be screened at the organization’s 13th annual NYC Mental Health Film Festival – the oldest and largest film festival of its kind in the U.S.  The festival will be held in New York City this October. The NYC Mental Health Film Festival takes a bold stand in fighting the stigma people with mental illness commonly face. For the second year in a row, Community Access is calling on young filmmakers, between the ages of 15-25, across the globe to tell their stories through the Changing Minds Young Filmmakers Competition. Submissions should focus on how mental health issues affect young people, promote ideals such as social justice and human rights, and inspire conversation about stereotypes and stigma.

New Asphalt Green Recreational and Community Center will Serve NYCHA’s Isaacs Houses and Holmes Towers

|

Asphalt Green, one of the New York City’s leading non-profit providers of quality sports and fitness programming, today announced that it has partnered with Fetner Properties to build a new state-of-the-art recreational and community center, which will expand its Upper East Side campus and serve thousands of residents at NYCHA’s Isaacs Houses and Holmes Towers. “Asphalt Green has been a proud member of this community for over three decades, and we are thrilled that this extension of our campus will allow us to expand our sports and fitness programming, and serve thousands of Isaacs Houses and Holmes Towers residents,” said Maggy Siegel, executive director of Asphalt Green. “We are particularly pleased to provide permanent jobs for NYCHA residents at our new recreational and community center. We look forward to working with local stakeholders and elected officials to ensure this plan is a success for all members of the community.” 

The 18,000-square-foot center will be located across the street from Asphalt Green’s current 5.5-acre campus, and will feature an indoor basketball court and an innovative rooftop turf field that will be used for soccer and other outdoor sports and activities. All Isaacs Houses and Holmes Towers residents will have access to free and low-cost programming at the center, which is being constructed as part of Fetner’s new mixed-income residential development adjacent to Holmes Towers under the NextGen NYCHA program.  The new recreational and community center will be a crucial source of permanent, good-paying jobs for NYCHA residents.

CommunityWire

Flushing Town Hall and New York Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation to Celebrate Buddha’s Birthday with Unique Presentation of Mystic and Glamorous, an Exhibition of Goryeo Buddhist Painting, in April and May

|

Flushing Town Hall and the Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation will present an exhibition featuring the artworks of three contemporary Korean artists who have inherited and developed the spirit and traditional techniques of Goryeo Buddhist Paintings in April. The works by Joy Rock, Chang Ho Kang, and Seoung Jo Hyun illuminate the renaissance in Korean fine arts during the Goryeo Dynasty. The new exhibition, “Mystic and Glamorous”, will run from April 22 to May 3 (which is Buddha’s birthday according to the Lunar calendar), and feature a lecture and demonstration displaying mastery of this traditional technique in Flushing Town Hall’s theatre on April 22. “As our mission is to bring people together by presenting global arts programming our gallery and theatre, we welcome the opportunity to present these wonderful artists and guests who have traveled to us from around the globe,” said Ellen Kodadek, Executive and Artistic Director at Flushing Town Hall. “We are delighted to host this magnificent and informative exhibition.”

“We hope Americans would have a chance to get to know and appreciate Goryeo Buddhist Paintings, as we plan to expand the exhibition to other cities in the United States,” said Jeeyoung Kim, Chairperson, Board of Directors, Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation.