UNH's annual New Yorkers Who Make A Difference Benefit took place on October 28th at the Tribeca Rooftop in lower Manhattan. More than 400 leaders from the government, corporate, and nonprofit sectors gathered to celebrate and support the work of UNH. Board member Ilene Margolin, a Senior Vice President at EmblemHealth, and The New York Community Trust were honored at the event for their outstanding contributions to UNH and its member organizations. Special recognition was also given to Citi Field Kids, UNH's partnership with Citi and The New York Mets to provide children from UNH member agencies with a once-in-a-lifetime educational and motivational experience at Citi Field. The benefit raised over $640,000 to support UNH's efforts to strengthen New York City's communities.

In September, the UNH Junior Board hosted The Foreclosure Crisis in New York City, a policy forum that explored the issue of foreclosures and their effect on low-income communities. The event at the Solas Red Room in lower Manhattan was moderated by Junior Board Policy and Advocacy Committee Chair Matthew Fleischer and featured presentations by Mike Hickey, Founding Executive Director of The Center for New York City Neighborhoods, Patrick Pyronneau and Cody Trojan of UNH member organization CAMBA, and UNH Executive Director Nancy Wackstein.

 

The UNH Junior Board is a new and growing community of young professionals dedicated to improving the lives of low- and moderate-income New Yorkers.

 

For more information about the Junior Board and its activities, please contact Jessica Ziegler, Director of Development, or visit the Junior Board web page. 

UNH will participate in a new pilot project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) that will examine the feasibility of shared decision-making to increase access to mental health treatment for older adults at neighborhood-based centers. The project, entitled ENGAGE, will be directed by Drs. Jo Anne Sirey and Patrick Raue, researchers and clinicians affiliated with Weill Cornell Medical College. This project grows out of the work that Dr. Sirey has done with UNH member organizations through the assessment of the UNH/Starr Foundation Strengthening Neighborhood Programs for the Elderly geriatric mental health initiative. Three UNH members will be chosen as project sites.

 

For more information, please contact Monica Serrano, Senior Project Manager.

 

Three organizations, including UNH member United Community Centers of East New York (UCC), have been selected through a competitive process open to all New York City nonprofits to participate in the Healthy Communities Through Healthy Food Project. The Project is part of the Community Experience Partnership (CEP), a national demonstration on the civic engagement of older adults, funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. UNH is the community partner of The New York Community Trust for the New York CEP.

 

In addition to UCC, other selected organizations are the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project, a local development corporation in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and Isabella Geriatric Center in Northern Manhattan. The projects, scheduled to begin in February 2010, will engage older adults in efforts to increase access to and use of fresh healthy food in these low-income communities. UNH will manage the three-year project with the goal of identifying models for effective engagement of older adults.

 

For more information, please contact Terry Kaelber, CEP Project Director.

 

UNH Board President Lewis Kramer was recently honored with the sixth annual Michael H. Urbach CPA Community Builder's Award. Co-sponsored by the New York Council of Nonprofits (NYCON) and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, the award recognizes exemplary achievements of a certified public accountant who leads the board(s) of directors of charitable organizations.

 

Mr. Kramer's outstanding 40-year career with Ernst & Young and his distinguished service on the Board of UNH and several other nonprofit organizations contributed to his selection for this prestigious honor. The award was formally presented to Mr. Kramer in early October at the NYCON Annual Meeting at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, part of a two-day retreat aimed at strengthening the financial expertise and accountability of nonprofits. Joanne Oplustil, Executive Director of CAMBA, and Danine Hodge, Finance Director of Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, attended the retreat on scholarships made available to UNH member organizations as a result of Mr. Kramer's award.

 UNH's Anthony Ng - Rising Policy Star

(City Hall News - September 2009 Issue)

 

UNH is partnering with Baruch College's School of Public Affairs to offer a second session of the UNH Senior Managers Program that began in November 2009 and will conclude in February 2010. This professional development program was launched as a pilot in late 2008 at Columbia University Business School's Institute for Nonprofit Management. Close to 20 senior managers are participating in this program.

 

For more information, please contact Ken Walters, Director of Member Services.

 

 

UNH, in collaboration with The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM), launched the second year of a program aimed at increasing the capacity of after-school programs to incorporate health promotion activities into their work. Staff training began in early October and will conclude in mid-December. The program includes four half-day trainings on three important topics: stress management, obesity prevention, and healthy relationships. The group will continue to share successful strategies through peer learning group meetings, which will be held at UNH periodically for the remainder of the academic year. Nine UNH member organizations, representing 18 after-school sites across the City, are participating. The program is supported by The New York Community Trust.

 

For more information, please contact Monica Serrano, Senior Project Manager.

 

 

 

The tour, planned in response to an invitation from leaders of a 2007 Berlin delegation to New York City, included meetings with staff from Neighborhood Houses, a visit to a street outreach program working with immigrant youth, and a meeting with members of the Berlin Parliament. Delegation members learned about the history of the Neighborhood House movement in Berlin and the important role neighborhood centers played in helping Berlin communities after both the Second World War and the fall of the Berlin wall.

Sidney Lapidus

Honorary Chair