utE LOW DOW N ON utE HIGH UNE W HAT SPlIZER REAllY W ANTS FROM N O N P R O F I T S

BAN AFFAIRS NEW S MAGAZINE

A decade after the Golden Venture
disaster, immigrant smuggling
lives on. Also: T he Church
of Grace saves souls.
I s that enough?
EDITORIAL
NO SEX IN THE CITY
STOP THE PRESSES. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention has discovered an up-
tick in the number of gay men who consider
themselves "versatile"-as comfortable in the
role of bend-over boy as they are being man-
ramming tops.
The data, unveiled in a pre-World AIDS
Day press conference about rising syphilis
rates, comes from Seattle, where public health
officials work with the gay community to track
and fight STDs. The CDC saw a 12 percent
national jump in reported syphilis cases from
2001 to 2002, and localized research in places
like Seattle suggests gay and bisexual men
drove that trend. So the CDC held a telecon-
ference with queer reporters, offering Seattle as
a model for confronting this scourge.
The feds are rightly troubled. Increases in
syphilis are considered bellwethers for spikes in
HN infections, which rake longer to emerge.
But the response prescribed by the Seattle area's
HNIAIDS Control Program director is equal-
ly unsettling: teach gay men better "sexual
behavioral values" and promote "healthy gay
community norms."
I don't know what these phrases mean. But
those who use them worry about the fact that I
play varied roles in bed, because that multiplies
my potential as an HN vector-I can catch it
more easily as a bottom, then pass it on as a top.
Later in November, an overflow crowd
crammed Manhattan's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
and Transgender Community Center for a Har-
vey Fierstein-led forum on the gay male "Cul-
rure of Disease," inspired by a New York Times
op-ed the stage and film icon wrote this sum-
mer. Fierstein's screed struck the same note as
the Seattle official. He thinks young gays see get-
ting infected as merely a "rite of passage," and
"treat each other as sexual objects." After 20
years of AIDS, he wonders, how can this still be?
The answers from gay HN-prevention types
vary. But what no one is suggesting is that we
start by celebrating gay sexuality. The CDC has
officially omitted that part of the conversation,
because federal rules forbid it from using preven-
tion funds to "promote" any kind of sex.
There's a generation of queer men who have
Cover photo by Carey Kirkella. The choir at the Church of Grace, in Chinatown.
never conceived of their sexuality without
simultaneously considering the disease it can
breed. Constantly condemning gay sex as
pathological leaves little psychic energy to com-
bat pathogens. As New York activist and writer
Steven Fullwood explains in Think Again, a
new collection of essays on growing up gay
alongside HN prevention, "Most of my adult
homo life I have fought HN--or rather fought
catching it-and I am tired."
So if public health wants to support
"healthy" sexual choices, it must first establish
that it's good for gays to have sex. Sadly, that's
become a radical notion, in need of a prominent
champion. But where will that advocate come
from now that the gay community, which was
once at the sexual revolution's vanguard, is today
more interested in "norms" and germ counts
than in celebrating eros-in all its "versatility"?
-KaiWright
Senior Editor
The Center for an Urban Future
Centej for an
F
Utroan
u ure
the sister organization of City Limits
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Go to our website or contact us to obtain any of our recent studies:
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.; Engine Failure: With Economic Woes That Go well Beyond 9/11, New York Needs a Bold New Vision To
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.; Rearranging the Deck Chairs? New York City's Workforce System At The Brink (May 2003)
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CONTENTS
16 CHARITY BUSTERS
The Attorney General has a new law to crack down on nonprofits, like
he did with Wall Street cheats. But is he doing too much, too fast?
By Geoffrey Gray
lA=b.r==
FROM FUZHOU TO FORSYTH STREET
20 AMAZING GRACE
A Chinatown church offers Fuzhounese immigrants spiritual
salvation-and begins to contemplate their earthly troubles.
Photographs by Carey Kirkella Text by Kenneth 1. Guest
26 JOURNEY TO THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN
They come by plane, by boat, by shipping container:
Chinese immigrants, smuggled into New York by a
thriving underground network that even a
highprofile prosecution can't stop.
By Amy Zimmer
5 FRONTLINES: HISTORY'S ORPHANS .. JIGGETTS LOSING GROUND ...
MUSLIM MENTAL HEALTH ... HIGH LINE HYSTERIA ... "QUEER" REDEFINED ... BUILDING HOPE
11 DOG DAYS
The men hawking pretzels in city parks rake in millions-
for the concessions that hire them and the City of New York.
The vendors make just $5.15 an hour. Why doesn't New
York's living wage law cover them?
By Alyssa Katz and Abu Taher
I ttl tl
The Future of Public Life
32 THE BIG IDEA
The Census siphons resources and political power
from the cities to rural counties, by counting
convicts in their cells.
By Matthew Schuerman
JANUARY 2004
35 CITY LIT
Roots for Radicals: Organizing for Power. Action and Justice.
By Edward T. Chambers with Michael A. Cowan
Reviewed by Gordon Mayer
37 NYC INC.
Workforce development in New York has long faltered when
it comes to matching skills with jobs.
With the Department of Small Business Services in
the driver's seat, that could start to change.
By Aaron Fichtner and K.A. Dixon
2 EDITORIAL
42 JOB ADS
45 PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY
50 OFFICE OF THE CITY VISIONARY
3
LETTERS
REZONING BLUES
In "Twilight Zoning" [December 2003],
author Laura Wolf-Powers hits the mark on the
Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning controversy.
The neighborhood, particularly the upland
portion, is home to a number of small movie
studios, set design workshops and wood shops
that are the base of the creative economy
here. They are necessarily close to the city and
to businesses that need quick turnaround and
delivery of manufactured products.
Industrial space is in demand in the outer
boroughs-a trend that's sure to increase as the
creative economy expands. Just as the vast
commercial space available at the World Trade
Center in the 1990s abetted the technology
and finance boom, cheap, available industrial
space will enable a future boom in Brooklyn's
creative economy.
But soon it will be too late. The city will
have already rezoned Long Island City, Red
Hook, Far West Midtown, West Harlem,
Bushwick and Greenpoint-Williamsburg,
enabling the conversion of hundreds of close-in
indUStrial spaces.
The businesses that use these spaces-print-
ing, set design, production equipment rental
and metal working, to name a few-support
our entire creative economy. At some point,
the photographers, directors and graphic artists
at the apex of the creative economy will get fed
up with the lack of space, increased travel
times, and higher costs of products and they'll
leave. They will go to places like Toronto, Van-
couver and Berlin that actively court creative
industries. We cannot continue to wantonly
give away the industrial space so close to the
city's core. Just as many American cities now
regret abandoning their trolley systems for
buses, we will regret abandoning much of our
close-in, small industrial spaces for luxury lofts
and condos.
-Michael Freedman-Schnapp
Resident, Greenpoint
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CITY LIMITS
Volume XXVIlIl Number 1
City Limits is published ten times per year. monthly except bi -
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Futures, Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to disseminating
information concerning neighborhood revitalization.
Publisher: Kim Nauer
Associate Publisher: Susan Harris
Editor: Alyssa Katz
Managing Editor: Tracie McMillan
Senior Editor: Cassi Feldman
Senior Editor: Oebbie Nathan
Senior Editor: Kai Wright
Associate Editor: Geoffrey Gray
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CITY LIMITS
FRONT llNES
Jacob Riis shed light on childhood poverty in his 1890 photograph, "Prayer Time in the Five Points House of Industry. "
Display of Kindness?
WHEN ETTA WHEELER, a charity worker serving Hell's Kitchen boarding
houses in 1874, wanted to save 8-year-old Mary Ellen Wilson from an
abusive stepmother, she had nowhere to turn. The concept of "child pro-
tection" did not yet exist. So she appealed to the American Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), which was the closest thing
to a children's advocacy agency in New York.
The ASPCA's attorney took Mary Ellen's case to court, sparking a
public debate over how to defend children from abuse without violat-
ing their parents' rights. Eventually, Wheeler set a legal precedent
by gaining custody of Mary Ellen, whose stepmother was sent to the
state penitentiary.
Wheeler's story, along with a pair of scissors purportedly used to beat
Mary Ellen, can be found in the New York City Historical Society's
exhibit "Children at Risk: Protecting New York City's Youths, 1653-
2003," which chronicles city reforms in child protection.
Largely financed by the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, "Chil-
dren At Risk" includes paintings of street urchins in the 1700s, a replica
of a frilly lace crib used for abandoned infants at the Foundling Asylum
of the Sisters of Charity, and photos by Jacob Riis that capture the stark
contrast between gritty slums and spic-and-span orphanages.
JANUARY 2004
"New York is, I fIrmly believe, the most charitable city in the world,"
wrote Riis in his 1890 landmark book How the Other Half Lives.
Steven Jaffe, who curated the exhibit, spent over a year combing
through archives from the New York Historical Society and gathering
submissions from 18 different New York social service agencies that cur-
rently work with children. "These images depict the actual kids, the con-
ditions in which they lived," he says.
But some advocates say this isn't the whole story. If New York was an
incubator for child protection, it was far from a perfect one. Afrer all, this
is where the much-criticized orphan trains started in the mid-1800s,
sending children to what some considered indentured servitude on farms
in the Midwest.
"A lot of what the public's untutored eyes would see in this sort of
an exhibit is how we need to rescue these children and take them away
[from their homes], " says Elie Ward, executive director of Statewide
Youth Advocacy, a nonprofit that works on foster care reform. She
worries about championing institutions and cases like Mary Ellen's,
where children were removed, rather than whole-family solutions. Says
Ward, "That's not the right way to go about it. "
-Julia Taylor
5
FRONT llNES
State welfare
officials look to
end rent
supplements.
By Matt Pacenza
MAYOR MICHAEl BLOOMBERG couldn't attend the
annual meeting of the Brooklyn neighborhood
group Families United for Racial and Economic
Equality, but he was there anyway. A giant photo
of the mayor's face sat propped near the podium,
as FUREE's speakers, nearly all Lacina and
African-American women, challenged the
mayor's child care and welfare policies.
The loudest applause that November after-
noon came when FUREE urged the giant may-
oral head to stop fighcing a City Council law
that ensures welfare recipients' right to attend
school. Known as the CATE (Coalition for
Access to Training and Education) bill, it's been
the biggest issue for welfare advocates and mem-
6
The Jig(getts) Is Up
bership groups like FUREE in recent years. The
council passed the bill over the mayor's veto last
April; the administration promptly sued, and
the matter remains tied up in court.
Pressuring the City Council to pass bills to
make welfare kinder and gentler has been one of
the main tactics of New York City's welfare
recipients and advocates. With few friends in
Washington or Albany, the council has been the
logical place to air beefs-and seek better policy.
Or at least it was. Looking to the council
may now be futile, after a state Supreme Court
judge in May quashed an earlier welfare law-
ruling, in essence, that social services policy is
none of the council's business. Ruling on Kil-
lett- Williams v. Bloomberg, Judge Faviola Soto
threw out a three-year program the council cre-
ated in 2000 to fund 2,500 jobs for public
assistance recipients. Soto ruled that the coun-
cil cannot create such laws, since "state law pre-
empts legislation in this area of social services."
Activist gtoups like FUREE may now need to
focus elsewhere. A good place to start is Albany,
where a little-noticed series of regulations that
went into effect in November may reshape several
decades of welfare policy-and move thousands
of families to the brink of homelessness.
IT'S BEEN 16 YEARS since Legal Aid Society
attorneys first sued New York state, arguing
that the money families on welfare get for
housing, the shelter allowance, isn't nearly
enough. The courtS agreed and, after a pivotal
1991 ruling on Jiggetts v. Dowling, ordered the
state to pay the difference between the housing
allowance and the true cost of rent for families
on public assistance facing eviction.
Today, 14,000 such families, most of whom
were unable to get other housing subsidies due
to long waiting lists, receive Jiggetts, up to
$650 a month. It's a lot more than the shelter
allowance itself, which until recently, was just
$286 a month for a family of three.
Until November 1, that is, when the state
issued new regulations and increased the shelter
allowance by more than 30 percent. A family of
three now receives $400. It's the first increase of
any kind in New York's welfare check since 1990.
That's the carrot, but the stick soon follows.
On the grounds that the housing allowance is
now enough, the new rules call for the end of
the Jiggetts program after two years. If a family
on welfare has been sanctioned and lost bene-
fits, it will no longer be eligible for any emer-
gency rental assistance.
It's a classic case of good news-bad news:
Most families will get a little more, but some
families will lose a lot. Shelly Nortz of the Coali-
tion for the Homeless calls Jiggetts the "single
most important homelessness prevention vehi-
cle, probably anywhere in the country. "
For now, the parts of the new rules that
Nortz and other advocates oppose are on
hold-Legal Aid attorneys got a preliminary
injunction blocking their implementation.
(The new shelter allowance amounts are in
effect, however.) In March, a state Supreme
Court judge will hear Legal Aid's arguments
that the new rules, and housing allowances, are
scill inadequate to prevent homelessness.
Not so, says the state Office of Temporary
and Disability Assistance, which will be head-
ing to court with research that shows the new
shelter allowances would enable New Yorkers
to rent "modest housing that meets basic qual-
ity standards," says spokesperson Jack Madden.
No one knows how the judge will rule, but
even strong Jiggetts advocates acknowledge
that increasing the shelter allowance by more
than 30 percent may impress the courts-
regardless of whether you can actually rent an
apartment for $400 in New York City.
CITY LIMITS
THE POSSIBILITY OF LOSING Jiggetts would likely worry the
New York Ciry Family Homelessness Special Master Panel.
The panel, which grew out of last January's historic home-
lessness seruement, is charged not only with monitoring
the ciry's treatment of the 30,000 individuals and 8,200
families who currently seek shelter each night, but with
evaluating the city's efforcs at preventing homelessness.
In a November report, the panel bluntly wrote that
the new housing allowance numbers "do not reflect the
rental market or rent costs in New York Ciry." It also
urged the ciry to "increase access to emergency cash assis-
tance to cover basics such as rent."
That language is a strong rebuke to the state's attitude
towards rent supplements. In comments the state pub-
lished along with its new rules, it warned local social serv-
ices districts not to be too generous with welfare recipi-
ents-even those facing eviction-because "it is a well-
established fact that increases in grant levels .. . reduce the
incentive to work. "
If the courts rule that Jiggetts should disappear, the
new state rules offer cities a chance to create their own
emergency rent programs. That raises a critical question
that will play out in coming months: Will the
Bloomberg administration, which has been lauded for
its pragmatic approach to homelessness, fund a new pro-
gram to keep families on welfare off the street? Or will it
follow the state's lead, and try to push more families
from the rolls?
Given recent signals emanating from welfare head-
quarters, the ciry may opt for the larrer. For the first time
since 1995, the number of recipients began to inch
upward this summer. As of September, 424,862 people in
the ciry were receiving public assistance, up more than
6,000 from February's eight-year low. When the press
questioned the tiny bump, Human Resources Adminis-
tration officials replied that they were worried, and
needed "new tools" to help move people off assistance, a
depury HRA commissioner told the New York Times.
One "tool" that worries activists is full-family sanctions:
Instead of punishing a recipient who misses a work assign-
ment or otherwise screws up by nixing the "adult" portion
of their welfare check, HRA could eliminate the money
that's intended to feed and house their children, too.
Other states use these sanctions, arguing that they
help prevent parents-mostly single women, of course-
from working off the books while still collecting their
kids' benefits. HRA says it has no immediate plans to
seek full -family sanctions, but welfare advocates like Don
Friedman of the nonprofit Communiry Service Sociery
say the agency's recent comments hint that they could. "It
makes us very nervous," he says.
The fate of emergency rent payments isn't just a ques-
tion for the courts-it's also one for politicians, especially
Bloomberg. Hailed by most as a welcome change from
Giuliani, some fear that, given big deficits and pressure
from Republicans, he could embrace similar tactics.
"Political leadership matters on this issue," says Norez,
"the courage to say that government should make sure that
poor people's children thrive-and not fail."
JANUARY 2004
FRONT LINES
URBAN LEGEND
Koranic Healing
DRESSED IN TRADITIONAL SKULLCAP AND GOWN after a recent prayer service, Reda Shata,
a 36-year-old imam from Cairo, storms into his office on the third floor of the Bay Ridge Islamic
Society. Clutching a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee, he quotes Abraham Lincoln and Gandhi,
explaining his modern approach to one of his community's most pressing problems.
"Many people feel that mental [illness) has a stigma," he says, through a transla-
tor. "They don't think it is a medical condition. They say that [the sufferers) have been
possessed by the devil."
For many Arab Muslims, going to a shrink for mental problems has carried a sense of
shame not unlike what they might feel when violating commandments of the Koran, like the
injunction not to eat pork or drink alcohol. But since Shata migrated to Bay Ridge last October,
he has started to chip away at the stigma in a controversial way. He is using verses from the
Koran. The argument: As long as there is a cure for a disease, a good Muslim must seek it.
"If you neglect medication, you harm yourself," he says. "And that is against Islam."
So far, his approach seems to be working. He's teamed up with Ali Gheith, a Pales-
tinian-American social scientist at Columbia University who also volunteers at the Arab
American Association, a nonprofit service agency a few blocks from the mosque. "The
imam is the most trusted figure in the Muslim community, " Gheith explains. "He takes the
fear out of them of doing the wrong thing."
The imam estimates that he resolves more than half the cases in the mosque himself, but
still has to refer people to professionals, a task he finds extremely difficult. That's where Gheith
comes in. He looks for qualified and culturally sensitive mental health experts to send patients
to. In one case, Gheith says, he got a call from a family in California. They were concerned about
their 18-year-old son, who was living in New York and had been admitted to Elmhurst Hospital.
"The family said that someone had put the evil eye on him," Gheith recalls.
Inquiries revealed the boy was suffering from schizophrenia. The imam then talked
to his family. He told them the disease had a proper medical treatment, which the boy was
already receiving. "I spoke to his doctor," Gheith says. "He's already 70 percent better."
It wasn't the evil eye after all.
- Megha 8ahree
7
FRONT llNES
Friends in High Places
In the shadow of
the High Line,
other open-space
efforts wither.
By Cassi Feldman
IT'S HARD NOT TO FALL IN LOVE with the High
Line. Anyone lucky enough to have glimpsed
the abandoned West Side railway from above-
or berter yet, walked its tracks-is quickly
seduced by the accidental elegance of its rusted
railings, tangled overgrowth and expansive
views. The fact that it's off limits to the general
public makes it even more alluring, like a night-
club with a velvet rope.
Friends of the High Line, the nonprofit group
that saved the elevated rail from demolition, is
similarly elite, studded with boldface names like
Edward Norton, Deborah Harry, Glenn Close
and Diane von Furstenberg. With their help, the
High Line has generated countless newspaper
articles and over $1 million in private donations.
8
Though it's only 1.5 miles long and barely
wide enough for a soccer game, an open call for
re-use ideas drew 720 proposals from around
the world, including tongue-in-cheek plans to
turn it into a lap pool or a roller coaster. In
October, four hundred city residents sat in
roundtable conversations with local architects,
sharing their own dreams for the precious park.
The High Line has also become a cause du
jour for local politicos, including Mayor
Michael Bloomberg, Assemblymember
Richard Gottfried, and Senators Hillary Clin-
ton and Charles Schumer. Congress recently
appropriated $500,000 to help make it hap-
pen. City Council speaker Giffo'rd Miller, who
reportedly has a photo of the High Line hang-
ing in his home, pledged a whopping $15.75
million from the city's coffers.
But not everyone is high on the High Line. In
neighborhoods like Bushwick, Sunset Park and
the South Bronx, activists say their own efforts to
create new parks rarely inspire swanky fundrais-
ers or multimillion-dollar promises from City
Hall. "I would celebrate any community getting
more green space," says Anthony Wmn, director
for environmental justice at Youth Ministries for
Peace and Justice, a Bronx group. "But when do
they stop and look at who needs it most?"
THE NEW YORK CITY Environmental Justice
Alliance (NYCEJA) has spent the past decade
doing just that sort of research. In 2000, the
group released a pivotal report revealing that
the city hadn't gotten its fair share of state dol-
lars set aside for open space. Now the Regional
Advisory Comminee, which helps set priorities
for the state's Open Space Conservation Plan,
is preparing to reconvene for the first time in
three years. And NYCEJA is tackling the equity
issue yet again.
"There's no monitoring mechanism and no
standards" to ensure fairness, complains Hugh
Hogan, formerly of NYCEJA and now director
of the North Star Fund, a progressive founda-
tion. For example, he points out, Hudson River
Park, which runs from the Battery to 59th
Street, will cost an estimated $400 million to
complete; a new plan to create or renovate 13
parks in lower Manhattan will cost $25 million;
and then there's the High Line. "There's a cer-
tain focus on communities that tend to be white
and tend to be wealthier and connected to the
halls of power."
Before he left NYCEJA, Hogan helped map
the distribution of green space correlated with
factors such as race, income and asthma rates.
Though the report is not yet completed, its
preliminary findings are striking: In the 20
highest-income community board districts,
there are more than five acres of open space for
every thousand people. In the 20 lowest-
income districts, the same number of people
have barely 1.5 acres.
With few exceptions, the areas with the least
open space (including Bushwick and Bed-Stuy
in Brooklyn and High Bridge and Mott Haven
in the Bronx) also have the highest proportion
of people of color. More than half of New
York's children live in neighborhoods of color,
but they only have immediate access (within
their community board districts) to 27 percent
of the city's open space.
While any good High Liner is quick to point
out that Chelsea is also relatively low on open
space, activists say its generous average house-
hold income ($50,580 per year) is an argument
against special treatment. In more affluent dis-
tricts, "residents are more likely to have access to
other homes [in greener areas] or cars to leave
the city, " says Irene Shen, the NYCEJA's Open
Space Equity campaign director.
Residents of Bushwick, where the average
household income is $22,100, are far less likely
CITY LIMITS
to have a weekend-getaway option. That's one
reason Make the Road by Walking, a local non-
profit, wants to turn abandoned lots into mini
parks. The group succeeded in getting the city to
rake over one lot at Myrtle and Grove, and sell it
to them, but the project has languished awaiting
$50,000 promised by the state to complete its
two playground areas. "It's been really hard to get
help from the city," says Manuel Castro, Make
the Road's environmental justice project organ-
izer. "It's fenced; there's a gazebo," he says. As for
the all-important greenery, however, "there was
some grass, but it died. "
The same problems have plagued UPROSE,
a Sunset park group whose teen members have
worked to bring more open space to their indus-
trial neighborhood. The Port Authoriry
expressed interest in creating a new waterfront
park, but pulled our after 9/11, says director
Elizabeth Yeampierre. The state pledged
$75,000 to help plan a new greenway project,
bur the money has yet to materialize.
Hogan points our one reason the High Line
is on the fast track while Sunset Park is, well,
parked, has to do with the neighborhoods' dif-
ferent capabilities when it comes to raising pri-
vate funds. "We've moved to this public/private
paradigm," Hogan says. "It's a pay-to-play way
of providing park services, and it's not serving
the needs of communities of color. "
DESPITE THESE STRUGGLES, there are also signs of
success for the environmental justice movement.
Two new parks are underway in the Brxon, and
after years of wrestling over the fate of the Sheri-
dan Expressway in Hunts Point, the state
Department of Transportation is finally consid-
ering the community's plan to tear it down and
create open space instead.
Majora Carter, executive director of Sustain-
able South Bronx, the nonprofit that helped
steer the campaign, considers this a pivotal time.
If low-income communities become more liv-
able, she says, they can attract economic devel-
opment and that will bring jobs. "We're trying to
instill in the public consciousness that the cli-
mate in these neighborhoods can and will
change," she says. "I don't think it's unrealistic. "
Ironically, if Carter's vision pans our, resi-
dents could have another problem on their
hands: gentrification. "Environmental justice
communities are acutely aware that they need
more open space and also aware that the only
thing that maintains affordable housing is the
despicable quality of life," explains Joan Byron,
architectural director for the Pratt Institute
Center for Community and Environmental
Development (PICCED).
The solution, she says, is for local residents
JANUARY 2004
to stay heavily involved in land use planning,
and for the ciry to employ new anti-displace-
ment tools, such as the creation of land trusts.
In January, Byron will help launch PICCED's
Environment and Equity initiative to harness
the efforts of community groups already push-
ing the city toward environmental reform.
As for the High Line, Byron just hopes the
Queer Eye for Free Speech
THE USAGE of a single word-queer-has
sparked an unusual tangle between a Manhat-
tan graduate student and the New York Depart-
ment of State that has as much to do with free-
dom of expression as it does linguistics.
With the help of two friends, Christopher
Benecke, 24, started an organization called
Queer Awareness. The group plans to ptomote
a healthy image of "non-heterosexuals"
through "tasteful advertisements" and public
speaking engagements. But when the group
applied for recognition as a not-for-profit cor-
poration in June, state officials refused.
Using the term "queer, " the Division of
Corporations contended, is not allowed under
Section 301 of the Not-for-Profit Corporation
Law, which prohibits names that are "indecent
or obscene" or that "ridicule or degrade any
person, group, belief, business or agency of
government. " The Department of State
promptly returned Benecke's application,
along with the $75 processing fee.
For Benecke, the choice of "queer" for the
name was mostly a matter of economy. He
ruled out "Gay Awareness" as a name because
the group's mission wasn't restricted to gay
men. "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender
Awareness," on the other hand, was technically
accurate, bur too cumbersome.
So he set out to change the state's mind,
engaging in a lengthy and often philosophical
correspondence with Department of State offi-
cials. "Queer" had been a highly charged slur
against gays in the past, Benecke conceded in a
letter that accompanied his second applica-
tion. But the American Heritage Dictionary
notes that it has been reclaimed in the popular
lexicon and is now "an umbrella term that
include[s] gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and
transgendered persons. "
Daniel Shapiro, the department director
who handled the appeal , agreed that the con-
notation had changed, but denied the second
FRONT LINES
energy it generates will spill into other open-
space efforts. "It raises the bar in terms of
quality and imaginativeness. It gets people's
juices flowing," she says. "If it's a good idea [to
convert the High Line on Manhattan's West
Side], why isn't it a good idea to convert an
underused highway in the Bronx? We're not
any wackier than those people in Chelsea. "
application all the same. "In fact, the Mer-
riam-Webster Dictionary notes that the word
is usually used in a disparaging manner," he
countered. "Therefore, the name would be
unacceptable. "
Benecke applied again, this time with a
detailed etymology showing how "queer" has
changed over the last century into an expres-
sion of empowerment. "Ironically, " he wrote
in July, "in prohibiting the use of the word
'queer' to protect New York's citizens from
being offended by it, the State only prolongs
and promotes the negative implications that
the State finds so offensive."
But Shapiro refused a third time, leaving
Benecke no choice bur to appeal to the courts.
He is now suing Secretary of State Randy
Daniels to overturn the decision, asserting
that the Not-for-Profit Corporation law is
unconstitutional and arbitrarily applied.
''They ignored the everyday usage of the
term, " says Benecke's lawyer, Keith Halperin.
"The statute relies on an unconstitutional-
ity-the government cannot be in the busi-
ness of regulating language. "
Their case may be bolstered by legal prece-
dent, says Matt Coles, director of the ACLD's
Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. In the 1970s,
the state initially refused to incorporate the
Gay Activists Alliance, which was denied
because "gay" was in the name. A court over-
ruled the state in 1972, declaring that the word
was synonymous with homosexual, but it was
not obscene or vulgar. "The state believes they
are acting to protect people's sensitivities, bur
they are protecting sensitivities that just aren't
there anymore, " Coles says.
As the issue heads toward state Supreme
Court, where a hearing is expected in late Jan-
uary, the Department of State may finally be
seeing the light. Spokesman Peter Constanta-
kes says the department is taking a second
look at Benecke's application, and hopes to
resolve the issue without litigation. "We are
looking internally, to see if we can work with
this individual. It's a question of whether we
want to hold firm to our position, or whether
we can compromise."
-Daniel Hendrick
9
FRONT llNES
~ ~ ~ - ~ ~ I ~ = = ~
In The Zone
A CITYWIDE EFFORT to require affordable hous-
ing in new, market-rate developments came one
step closer to fruition in November, with the
introduction of a key wning amendment. Filed
by Brooklyn Councilmember David Yassky and
Community Board 1, which encompasses sev-
eral North Brooklyn neighborhoods facing
redevelopment, the amendment would enable
the creation of "Affordable Housing Zoning
Districts" throughout New York City.
The new designation would apply to any
housing development of 10 units or more on
land being converted from manufacturing to
residential use or uproned for higher densities.
The percentage of units required would depend
on their level of affordability, which could be
anywhere from 50 to 120 percent of the area's
median income. Unlike existing incentive
plans, providing below-market units within an
AHZD would be mandatory.
This "inclusionary zoning" approach,
already in use in cities such as Boston and
Sacramento and in voluntary programs in
Commitment is
parts of New York, would help ensure that
neighborhoods in transition maintain some
affordable housing.
That's a major concern for residents of Green-
point and Williamsburg, which have industrial
waterfront areas the Bloomberg administration
plans to rerone [see "The Growth Dividend"
September/October 2003]. The city's proposal
opens the door to high-rise residential develop-
ment that the city contends will include housing
for all income levels, but activists say it does not
do enough to protect those at the low end of the
spectrum. "It's been a mixed-use community, but
what amacts people is the divetsity of ethnicity
and class, and that will disappear," says Neil Shee-
han, a longtime Greenpoint resident who serves
on a CB 1 task force responding to the city's rede-
velopment plan.
Their core complaint is that the city's plan
relies on goals rather than guarantees, employ-
ing a rafr of incentives announced by the mayor
last year to encourage affordable housing. While
the mayor's goal is laudable, Yassky says, devel-
opers are unlikely to cooperate if they don't have
to. "In this hot housing market, the city cannot
assume that developers will use government
subsidy for affordable units, when landowners
can make so much more by building market-
rate housing, " he says. "Ic's a risk Greenpoint-
Williamsburg residents can't afford to take."
It's unclear how the Department of City
Planning will handle the AHZD proposal.
When Yassky pushed for inclusionary roning in
Park Slope last spring, the city balked. Depart-
ment press secrerary Rachaele Raynoff would
not comment on the AHZD specifically, but
voices skepticism that inclusionary roning is fis-
cally viable. "There has to be a sustainable value
that you can charge to offset subsidies for
affordable units, " she says. She stresses that
affordable housing is an "absolute priority" for
her agency, but that the city already has "exist-
ing tools that we believe will generate affordable
housing"-namely, the mayor's incentives.
But without guarantees, potentially lucra-
tive development on the waterfront may price
out working class and poor residents, says Shee-
han, who also coordinates the Greenpoint-
Williamsburg Clergy Cluster, an advocacy net-
work of 11 Roman Catholic parishes that is
backing adoption of an AHZD.
"Without it, we become what? Soho or
some urban gentry community, " Sheehan says.
"Hispanic and Polish Greenpoint is gone, His-
panic Williamsburg is gone."
- Tom Stabile
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10
CITY LIMITS
INSIDE TRACK
Dog Days
The city makes millions renting out park space to businesses-
and turns its back on labor abuses. By Alyssa Katz and Abu laher
A vendor for M&T sells food in a New York City park-but doesn't make a living wage.
NEXT TIME YOU BUY a hot dog in Central Park,
be careful: the guy selling it to you might be ill.
He doesn't want to sneeze on your order.
Bur park vendors don't get sick days from their
employer, M&T Pretzel. And when an irate
customer does something like break a vendor's
hand because a Gatorade costs $3-this actual-
ly happened a few months ago--the vendor
gets no medical coverage. Nor does he get paid
vacation. If someone steals a bottle of Hawai ian
Punch, the replacement cost comes from the
vendor's pocket-at retail price. And if the man
who runs the cart wants a hot dog for lunch, he
must buy it, too.
For all this, vendors are paid a flat rate of
$80 a day, which translates to minimum wage
JANUARY 2004
($5.15 an hour) including overtime-but the
extra labor is mandatory and grueling. Workers
punch the clock at the M&T garage at 7 a.m.
and don't punch out until 8 or 9 at night, when
the bosses have accounted for every last bun
and Creamsicle. If there's a big event in the
park, they won't leave work until1l or so. They
get a $75 bonus for working a six-day week,
bur that's assuming it doesn't rain or snow-in
which case they may be sent home without pay.
Now that it's winter, many are furloughed, not
working at all .
Before the State Attorney General's labor
division got involved in 2002, workers allege, it
was common for them to get just $60 or $65 a
day-effectively below the minimum wage.
According to lawyer Sean Basinski of
the Urban Justice Center, who alerted
the AG and helped with its investiga-
tion, M&T agreed to give back pay,
though how much does not yet appear
to have been resolved. (The office of
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer says it
has a policy of not commenting on
open cases.)
M&T co-owner Thomas Makkos,
a.k.a. "Mike" to workers, declined to
be interviewed. "Usually we don't like
to give interviews about our busi-
ness," he says.
Quasi Dahomani worked for
M&T from 1997 until a year ago. To
his bosses, he says, "I am nothing."
In late 2002, Dahomani led an
organizing effort among Central Park
vendors, demanding, as he recalls, "a
raise, salary, overtime, insurance." He
distributed a petition and tried to get
workers to a meeting held by the
attorney general and Urban Justice
Center. But vendors were scared, and
the meeting never happened. Soon a
snowy winter arrived and Dahomani
took the season off. When he
returned in early 2003, M&T said it
no longer needed him. "I come every
week, " he recalls. "They give other
people jobs, not me."
All this might seem like run-of-the-mill
exploitation of immigrant workers who can
make far more money at New York's worst
jobs than they can in their home countries.
Almost all M&T vendors are from
Bangladesh, where the average daily wage is
less than $2. Typically, these workers are stuck
at M&T -to support their families back in
Dhaka, they need to maintain their green card
status in the U.S.
Bur working as a Big Apple parks vendor
hardly falls in the same league as washing dish-
es at an immigrant uncle's hole-in-the-wall in
Queens. The food carts in Central Park, Wash-
ington Square, Battery and other parks make
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big money for the New York City Department of
Parks and Recreation. Each year, M&T pays
more than $4 million in concessions fees to the
Parks Department for permits for dozens of carts.
The most lucrative spot-in front of the Meuo-
politan Museum-bagged the Parks Department
$301 ,550 last year. The spot on 79th and Fifrh,
where a 12-year veteran ofM&T currently works
for minimum wage, brings the city $105,750.
Battery Park carts generate more than a half mil-
lion dollars each year.
The deal appears to have been good for M&T,
too. The family-run company, part of the Makkos
Organization, owns the carts and collects from
the sale of heavily marked-up comestibles. In
addition, its own affiliated companies manufac-
ture the pretzels and hot dogs that M&T vendors
The Parks
. .
commissioner
has to approve
concessionaires'
uniforms-but not
their wages.
sell, and they supply independent vendors, too.
Other M&T franchises include the Terrace on the
Park restaurant in Flushing Meadows and the
Cenual Park Carousel, which is worth nearly
$200,000 a year to the city. M&T paid the lob-
bying firm Greenberg Traurig $38,972 in 2002 to
negotiate with the city on its behal One parmer,
George Makkos, owns an apartment in a luxury
high rise on 57th Street. His brother Tom has his
own perch near the top of Trump Tower, Both
own homes in the Hamptons.
And now they're about to expand their parks
empire. George and Tom Makkos, with a third
parmer, have reached an agreement with the
Parks Department to take over the American
Place restaurant in Battery Park. For the next 15
years, the Makkoses will pay the city $4.8 mil-
lion annually, or 10 to 15 percent of gross rev-
enue, whichever is higher.
Parks puts numerous stipulations on how con-
cessionaires like M&T do business: They must
CITY LIMITS
keep the area surrounding the carts clean, post
price lists on them, carry liability insurance, and
so on. The agreement for the Banery Park restau-
rant contains hundreds of operations provisions,
including obligations to advertise the restaurant
(ads cannot be "indecent"), install a traffic light,
separate recycling into blue and green bins, and
not cut down dead trees without Parks' pernlis-
sion. In addition, the Makkos brothers are pledg-
ing $1.6 million in capital improvements,
including renovation of a public bathroom.
These costly requirements are needed to ensure
that the restaurant enhances one
of the city's grand public spaces.
But what about workers? The Parks cOmnUs-
sioner has to approve their uniforms, and the
company must employ 96 staffers in season
(including an atten-
dant for the public
and Santa Cruz all do this. So does Sr. Louis.
There's a particularly compelling reason to
extend living wage laws to concessions, say advo-
cates for these measures. When a municipality
hires companies to provide direct services, requir-
ing them [Q pay living wages means the city itself
will have [Q pay more to account for the cost of the
higher wages. Franchises and concessions are dif-
ferent, points out Howard Greenwich, policy
director for the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable
Economy and a key player in promoting living
wage laws in the Bay Area. Since the companies
are renting public space, they're paying the city,
not vice-versa. And because concessionaires bring
in revenue ITom customers, they can pass some of
the increased cost on to the consumer. As a result,
says Greenwich, "there is reason to believe there's
less cost passed on
[to a city] in a fran-
bathrooms) . Yet the
agreement contains
nary a word about
how these employ-
ees are to be treat-
ed-much less what
they get paid.
Parks Revenue Division Money, in Millions
clUsee relationship"
than with other liv-
70
mg wage-bound
contracts.
60
50
40
30
20
THINGS COULD BE
DONE differently, of
course. In 2002, the
New York City
Council unanI-
10
O - + - - ~ - - ~ - , - - ~ - - ~ - , - - ~
San Francisco's
airport is a good
example of a place
where costs ITom a
living wage law are
shifted on to con-
sumers, according
to a 2003 study 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
from the Institute
mously passed a liv-
ing wage law. Now
companies and non-
profits working
under certain city
In just seven years, the city's Parks
Department has tripled its revenues
from concessions.
of Industrial Rela-
tions at the Univer-
sity of California at
Berkeley. That city
has had a living
contracts-for home care, food service and a
few others-pay employees at least $8.60 an
hour, or $10.10 if they don't provide health
benefits. Though it did get brought up behind
the scenes, the idea of extending the living wage
on franchises and concessions like M&T's
pushcart business never made it to the table.
Concessions netted the New York City
Department of Parks and Recreation a record
$61.5 million in fiscal year 2002 (despite signif-
icant 9/ II-related losses), and included stadi-
ums, tennis courts, golf courses, ice rinks, mari-
nas and other businesses on Parks property. In
effect, these companies pay the city for the priv-
ilege of making money in public spaces.
Other cities, mostly on the West Coast,
already extend their living wage laws to conces-
sions, or have special mandates for tenants in
public facilities, such as airports. Los Angeles,
Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, Richmond
JANUARY 2004
wage law since 2000 (currently more than $10 an
hour), which ups the cost of doing business with
the city by an estimated $42.7 million a year.
Concessionaires at the airport don't just eat the
cost: When their leases expire, they can renegoti-
ate lower rent to compensate for additional labor
expenses. But, following Federal Aviation Admin-
istration rules, unmet operating costs are passed
on [Q airlines--which typically pass those [Q pas-
sengers as landing fees. The report's authors esti-
mate that the living wage will evenrually cost each
passenger using SFO an additional $1.42. (The
study also found that providing a living wage
solved a massive worker turnover problem that
was threatening passenger securi ry.) "It's a 0.7 per-
cent [fare] increase: incredibly small, not enough
to cause any major disruption," says coauthor Ken
Jacobs, a policy specialist at Berkeley's Center for
Labor Research and Education and a former
leader of San Francisco's living wage movement.
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Richard Waller, rhe official charged wirh
enforcing San Francisco's living wage laws (includ-
ing a new $8.50 minimum wage rhat applies to all
employers in rhe city), maintains rhe report's con-
clusions are sound, and rhat wage mandates don't
threaten rhe viability of concessions or orher estab-
lishments. "No business says, 'We can't do it-rhe
wages are too high,'" says Waller.
(City Limits sought an assessment from rhe
New York City Parks Revenue Department of
wherher living wages could be imposed wirhout
significantly cutting into city revenues. The
agency did not respond to a request for
an interview.)
To be sure, a living wage mandate can cause
problems for a business-especially if rhere's a
competitor nearby wirh no obligation to pay more
rhan rhe minimum. In Berkeley, a restaurant rhat
suddenly found itself located in a "living wage
wne" on a marina is currently suing rhe city, claim-
ing rhe mandate is an unfair imposition.
But it's much more typical for a city to put a
concession out to bid-and for companies who
don't like rhe terms to simply walk off and leave
rhe field to competitors willing to pay. Muses
Greenwich, "I've never quite understood why
organizations in rhe living wage movement
haven't focused on franchises and concessions."
IF All GOES AS planned, this is the last year
Mohammed will be working for M&T.
(Mohammed is not his real name-after what
happened to Dahomani, workers worry about
getting fired.) It's hard to know how unhappy he
is as he dispatches his duties with cheer and effi-
ciency, maintaining prep school kids on a steady
diet of Bubble Gum Swirls and Lemon Popsicles.
He reckons that his cart grosses $1,500 to $3,000
a day.
There is one thing vendors can do, especially
when a cart gets busy and frenetic: overcharge
customers and squirrel some cash into rheir own
pockets. That used to be easier-when sodas cost
$1. 75 instead of $2, vendors often rounded up
the price and kept rhe extra quarter as a tip.
Mohammed hopes this year will be his last, for
now, in rhe United States. He just learned rhat
he's getting his citizenship, but says rhere's no
point in bringing his wife and two daughters to
rhe US. "How would rhey survive?" he wonders.
Wirh a US. passport, he'll be able to live in
Bangladesh year-round, wirhout worrying about
his green card status, but always wirh rhe option of
returning to rhe US. in a pinch. ''This is why I go
back," says Mohammed. "No more America."
Abu Taher is executive editor of The Weekly
Bangia Patrika, a Queens-based newspaper.
CITY LIMITS
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JANUARY 2004 1 S
CITY LIMITS
Why Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's nonprofit
crackdown may not be all it's cracked up to be.
IN 1998, DURING THE FINAL WEEKS of his second
race for state Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer called a confidential meeting
for less than a handful of nonprofit leaders and philanthropy experts. The
candidate wanted to learn more about the Apollo Theater fiasco in
Harlem, in order to more clearly understand the AG's role in regulating
charities. At the time, Spitzer and his campaign staff were traveling all over
New York state, stumping in rusted-out industrial centers along the Erie
Canal and flying back to Manhattan at night, looking to outhustle incum-
bent Dennis Vacco. Many at the meeting figured that with the election so
near and the candidates so evenly matched, Spitzer would ask a few ques-
tions, probe for advice, then get onto a plane for Buffalo by lunchtime.
Instead, he wouldn't leave. He stayed at the meeting for four hours.
These days, Spitzer is still everywhere. He's fought gougers who sell over-
priced school milk. He's busted wayward tree loggers upstate. He's extin-
guished tobacco ads nom the school editions of news magazines. He's
attacked Wall Street's bogus research analysts, of course, and probed trade
tampering in the mutual fund industry (he currently has over 100 subpoe-
nas outstanding). His press secretaries' home and cell phones now ring in the
middle of the night and on weekends. Spitzer has become one of the nation's
most recognized attorneys general. And as political insiders point out, "AG"
has consistently stood for one thing in politics: Almost Governor.
But even as his lawyers go a&er big-money crooks, Spitzer has focused
a sliver of limelight on the state's poorly regulated charity industry. Some
watchdogs like to compare this do-gooder sector to the Wild West, a
land where oversight is scant, and where mischievous board members
and imperial directors are free to run for the hills with public money or
donations, leaving as their only spoor an incomprehensible paper trail of
IRS Form 990s.
Thus, in addition to Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, we have (with
help nom the Daily News) the charity Hale House, where a home for
orphans became a budget for Lorraine Hale's wardrobe. There is the string
of queries into improper fundraising and spending a&er September 11.
Less visibly, the AG's office has intervened into and overhauled other neg-
ligent nonprofits. One such organization is the Black United Fund of New
York (BUFNY) in Harlem. AG investigators discovered that BUFNY pres-
ident and founder Kermit Eady was taking millions in donations and
awards to specific grantees, and spending the money on real estate without
board approval. Eady has since been removed, an interim board has been
installed, and the AG's office is interviewing candidates for permanent
positions on BUFNY's board.
There's a new, take-no-prisoners attitude at the AG's charity bureau, say
nonprofit lawyers and leaders who've come under the office's scrutiny-
JANUARY 2004
By Geoffrey Gray
during merger discussions, for example. Attorneys are "more aggressive"
and "heavy-handed, " and can be "a total pain in the ass," says one. The
details of transactions are now subject to vigilance. The bureau seems more
aggressive about enforcing basic reporting requirements-it boasts that it
has collected 25 percent more in fines this year than last, thanks in part to
a $150 penalty on nonprofits that are delinquent in filing their 990s.
But in fact, former staffers say, Spitzer's Charities Bureau isn't doing
much more than his predecessors'. That's because the office has always
been terribly understaffed-and it still is. Only 20 attorneys and four
accountants are responsible for some 48,000 tax-exempt groups that file
with the AG's office every year, and another 9,000 registered nonprofits
that are delinquent in ftling. For the last three years, the number of
"assurances of discontinuances" (i .e., civil settlements reached by the
Bureau with nonprofits) has been roughly the same: some 10 cases annu-
ally, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Informa-
tion Act request. With 16 other bureaus in the AG's office and a total of
500 attorneys, and with so much of Spitzer's attention going ro investi-
gations of the financial sector, the Charities Bureau has been virtually left
to its own devices.
"Eliot doesn't bother us at all," says William Josephson, the Charity
Bureau Chief, adding that one of Spitzer's most effective qualities as AG
has been his ability to delegate responsibility.
So why have nonprofit executives around the state been competing
with hedge-fund managers in the intensity with which they watch
Spitzer's every move? The answer goes by the nickname "SOX," but the
full reference sounds vaguely like a brand of men's dress shoes worn with
argyles: Sarbanes-Oxley.
Over the last year, Spitzer has been advocating a state bill that would
enhance his office's capacity to monitor and, if necessary, take action
against nonprofit organizations. Not incidentally, the bill is also meant
to force non profits to govern themselves more effectively. The Charities
Bureau has spent the last year on a statewide campaign to sell nonprof-
its on the measure. "There's not a speaking engagement we turn down, "
Josephson told a crowd of nonprofit accountants during a speech at
"Camp Finance," a retreat at the Mohonk Mountain Resort in October.
The proposal is a nonprofit-oriented, state-based version of the fed-
eral Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which regulates publicly traded companies.
That's why many in the nonprofit sector dubbed the AG's proposal
SOX, and it's also why some leaders in the same field bristle at Spitzer's
cross-sector crusade. Financial controls that might be right for profit-
making enterprises, they say-including board audit committees and
financial statement certifications--may be a crushing burden on non-
17
profits, which typically run on shoestring budgets. Under the most
recent version of the proposed bill, all groups with more than $1 million
in revenue would be subject to the regulations.
"It's not a very good fit, says Dan Kurtz, a former Charities Bureau
Chief under Vacco and now a partner at Holland & Knight who spe-
cializes in representing nonprofit organizations. The SOX-style bill pre-
sumes all groups are guilty until proven innocent, he says. It gives the
AG's office more power and prosecutorial discretion, and ultimately cre-
ates potential for abuse by the AG's office itselE "Not all attorney gener-
als, says Kurtz, "can be as scrupulous and confident as Eliot Spitzer.
THE CHARITIES BUREAU IS LOCATED on the
third floor of AG headquarters at 120 Broadway. Milling around the
lobby, a visitor sees an eerie resemblance to a hospital emergency room.
Perhaps that's fitting, since the work that goes on behind closed doors
here can seem like painstakingly tedious, bone-cutting surgery.
When Spitzer first took over the AG's office, many sector leaders
hoped he would pick a bureau chief with extensive nonprofit experi-
ence-someone who sympathized with organizations forced to run on
dwindling funds, and who understood that to keep programs running
and pay the light bill, a nonprofit sometimes has to stick up Peter to pay
Paul. They wanted a chief who could relate.
Spitzer hired just the opposite. He picked Josephson, who'd recently left
his post at the white-shoe firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacob-
sen. Josephson had been there longer then anyone can remember, and was
anticipating a retirement listening to classical music, hiking near his coun-
try home in Columbia County, and playing his baritone flute.
Inside the AG's office, some workers call Josephson a stern boss and, at
times, mutter that he can be tough to work with. When one nonprofit
lawyer tried to orchestrate a merger between two groups, he says, the bureau
treated the move "like a reenactment of the Brinks robbery. But others call
Josephson a no-nonsense type whom the agency needs in order to deal with
dwindling resources and less oversight. They joke that Josephson's hard edge
has forced many charities to incorporate in other states.
Josephson does not sympathize with groups that fail to meet stan-
dards of good governance; he complains that "a pervasive sense of self-
righteousness has infected the industry. That attitude, he feels, needs
adjusting-no matter how much it hurts. The task requires resourceful-
ness: It's hard to find the best legal talent when starting pay is just
$40,000 and candidates must be at least two years out of law school.
Even so, 14 of the Bureau's 20 attorneys are new hires.
One ofJosephson's first moves as chief, he says, was switching a 20-year
veteran, Karin Kunstler Goldman, from head of the reclusive fUings depart-
ment to the more visible office of public education. So far, this seems to
have been a home run for the Bureau: Unlike Josephson, Goldman (the
daughter oflate civil rights attorney William Kunstler) has a warm bedside
manner. Her connections in the sector run deep, and it's hard to find any
nonprofit leader who does not praise the Spitzer Bureau's outreach to phil-
anthropy when soliciting feedback on SOX, which
many say has been like trying to spoon-feed medicine to a cranky child.
EVER SINCE UNVEILING its nonprofit regulatory legisla-
tion, the AG's office has been talking to sector leaders about the SOX
proposals, and making revisions when doing so has been politic.
Originally, SOX sought jurisdiction over all groups bringing in $250,000
or more---which generated an outcry among nonprofits. The quarter-mil-
lion-dollar minimum "was much too low, says Cristine Cronin, director of
Charity Wave, an online service that channels donors' gifts directly to
groups. She contends that small to mid-level groups on thin-ice budgets
18
would be strained trying to acquire accountants to assess and develop finan-
cial controls. Auditors doing this work charge about $15,000 for the first
year, experts say, and $5,000 to $8,000 annually after that.
So now the AG plans to focus on groups that take in $1 million a year
or more in revenues, or hold $3 million or more in assets. Each organi-
zation's board would have to form an audit committee to review finan-
cials. Executive directors and treasurers or fiscal officers would have to
certify financial statements, and they would bear criminal responsibility
for any cooked accounting. (Initially, board members had to certify a
group's financial statements-a clause many leaders felt would frighten
away volunteers.) Among other measures, the AG's office also wants the
power to challenge any decisions made by a board of directors that
involve insider dealing-transactions between members of the board or
the staff of an organization, done for their own benefit.
Spitzer maintains that, as stakeholders with a vested interest in keep-
ing an eye on things, audit committees can play the same watchdog role
in a nonprofit that shareholders do for business enterprises. Dan Kurtz
disagrees and calls the analogy "superfluous. In the corporate world, he
points out, only the biggest companies are required to submit to federal
Sarbanes-Oxley provisions. Without securing truly independent com-
mittee members, Kurtz says-an additional burden for groups already
struggling to attract volunteer board members-such financial controls
could be rendered ineffective.
Perhaps not surprisingly, accountants who work with nonprofits are
among the minority in the sector who welcome the legislation with open
arms. Concerns over spending money on audit committees are a "knee
jerk" response ftom panicked groups and the lawyers that represent them,
says Julie Floch, a partner and director of nonprofit services at the
accounting firm Eisner LLP. She insists there is no inherent cost to adopt-
ing SOX's current measures. (Floch also heads the accounting committee
of the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee, which has made recommen-
dations to the Charities Bureau on the shape of the legislation.) The idea
that SOX's more stringent regulations would take vital resources away
from services, she adds, is "perception, perception, perception.
Certainly, the AG has been ceding a lot of ground in the bargaining
process to nonprofits. Currently, the legislation states that the leader of a
group and its chief fiscal officer should be the only individuals held crim-
inally responsible for wrongdoing-and then only if the misdeeds were
committed with their full "knowledge and acquiescence.
But the bill still has some powerful hooks. It gives the AG authority to
challenge decisions made by a board of directors. The AG's office can
already do that, under statutes currently on the books, says Sean Delany, a
former Charity Bureau Chief for Vacco and now head of the Lawyer's
Alliance, a group that offers free legal services to non profits. Until now,
though, the language in the existing regulations has been interpreted in con-
voluted ways, he says. Spitzer's new provisions don't just make the office's
powers "crystal clear, Delany says, they also make it the nonprofit's respon-
sibility to prove it's done nothing wrong, rather than the AG's obligation to
prove it has.
With some reservations, Jonathan Small, executive director of the
Nonprofit Coordinating Committee, says giving the AG's office direct
power to challenge board decisions might be essential to SOX's effec-
tiveness in the furure. "It's our belief that [self-dealing] is the area where
the worst board conduct occurs, Small says.
Josephson agrees, and to prove it his office has compiled what they call a
"Chamber of Horrors-a catalog of egregious transgressions by New York
nonprofits. Consider the Grand Marnier Foundation, the nonprofit arm of
the French liquor importing company. In the past, the group has offered
three $5,000 fUm fellowships to students. At one point, the AG's investiga-
CITY LIMITS
tors determined, the foundation's board of directors received $33,000 a
month to mend board meetings, and board officers took in nearly $3.5 mil-
lion in personal compensation. (The Grand Marnier Foundation did not
return calls seeking comment.)
An independent audit committee and tougher certification standards
might have been able to prevent such behavior. Seen another way,
Josephson says, forming an audit committee or hiring an independent
auditor to assess internal financial controls could save some groups
money in the long run. If embezzlement couldn't be uncovered, then
budgets could at least be analyzed to reveal possible cost savings.
But, says Josephson, when he raises SOX's potential cost-saving compo-
nent before nonprofit audiences, he often sees blank faces or bewilderment.
AT THE BLACK UNITED FUND OF NEW YORK
(BUFNY), there is no audit committee. Until Spitzer stepped in, there
was virtually no board of directors either. And despite the group's small
size, the AG's siege on the organization has triggered a political brush fire
in Harlem. Picketers have taken to marching outside BUFNY offices on
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard. They say the Charity Bureau has
been too dictatorial, that Spitzer is abusing his powers, and that Kermit
Eady, BUFNY's founder, should have his baby back.
"Keep your hands offi" Eady warned the absent Spitzer during a recent
rally at the historicAME Church on 135th Street. "This fight we will win!"
"Teach!" hollered his angry audience.
It all starred with the Apollo Theater, Eady said. Spitzer had signed a
settlement agreement stating that board chairman and Harlem congres-
DONOR BEWARE
sional fixture Charlie Rangel, along with other board members, did not
violate their fiduciary responsibilities when they brokered the theater's
lopsided contracts with television executives. Even so, Spitzer forced
Rangel and the board to step down. Then the AG went after another
Harlem charity, Hale House, Eady said. Spitzer replaced that board, too.
Why, Eady asked, was Spitzer-the white, wealthy, Jewish son of a real
estate developer-mounting an assault on Harlem?
Eady's beef with Spitzer is personal. Acting on a tip in January 2002, the
AG's attorneys began to probe BUFNY, the charity that Eady founded near-
ly 25 years ago. Back then, Eady saw an opportunity, after noticing how eas-
ily groups like the United Way could raise money through a system of pay-
roll deductions--say, $1 a week-passed on to a grantee of the donor's
choice. Because many black charities weren't listed on the United Way's ros-
ters, Eady figured there was a need for one that included only black groups,
whether small or large, local or out of state. He wasn't the only one with the
idea. Several affiliate groups started to form. They merged as the National
Black United Fund. (Since then, the NBUF has cut all formal ties with
Eady's group over "accountability" issues and has sued Eady in court to stop
using their name. In his defense, Eady says the matter is a personality issue,
based more on an internal power struggle than on fiscal accountability.)
Once the AG began investigating BUFNY, however, attorneys in the
Charity Bureau began to notice inconsistencies and "disturbing facts." They
also saw a virtual lack of internal structure--not to mention oversight.
There were no formal business records or evidence of board meetings,
according to a preliminary report on BUFNY compiled by the AG's inves-
continued on page 39
Overwhelmed as it is, the Charity Bureau can be a reliable watchdog. Starting under Spitzer's predecessor, Dennis
Vacco, the agency has done an annual survey of the $185-million-a-year charity telemarketing industry. The findings
of the 2002 Pennies for Charity report are consistent with previous years': For every dollar you give by phone to a tele-
marketing solicitor in New York State, just 30 cents, on average, enters the coffers of charities. Tim Searcy, executive
director of the American Teleservices Association, the telemarketing industry's trade organization, says the AG's report
doesn't consider the high cost for telemarketing firms to find first-time donors who will give more in the future. The low
numbers, he says, "actually aren't that bad." Count on them to keep calling: The new national "do not call" regula-
tions explicitly allow non profits, and the telemarketers who make money on their behalf, to make fund raising calls. Out
of New York City organizations that took in more than $100,000 from phone fundraising drives in fiscal year 2001,
the following 10 had the smallest proportions of funds that actually went to charity. -GG
PROFESSIONAL FUND RAISER
Facter Di rect Ltd.
All-Pro Telemarketing
Associates Corporation
Optima Direct Inc.
Whiterock Marketing Group Inc.
Gelmar Ltd.
Share Group Inc.
Facter Direct Ltd.
Capital District Callers
Public Interest Communications Inc.
Share Group Inc.
JANUARY 2004
CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION
Anti-Defamation League of B' nai B' rith
American Foundation for
Disabled Children, Inc.
Educational Broadcasting Corporation
New York Veteran Police Assn. , Inc.
Cancer Care, Inc. & the
National Cancer Care Foundation
American Civil Liberties Union
Metropolitan Museum of Art
National Federation of the
Blind of New York State, Inc
National Audubon Society, Inc.
Educational Broadcasting Corporation
IQ
$125,090.00 -7.92%
$513,848.13 10.97%
$514,489.00 12.32%
$292,454.00 22.04%
$123,899.00 25.00%
$460,223.00 28.64%
$316,860.00 31.09%
$147,928.00 32.00%
$266,982.00 35.92%
$495,124.00 37.31%
19
20
An Allen Street mega ... church offers Fuzhounese
and begins to help them their troubles
Photos by Carey Kirkella
CITY LIMITS
immigrants the solace of heaven-
on earth.
Text by Kenne
JANUARY 2004 21
God saved Liu Zhu' en's life. He was
smuggled out of China to New York a decade
ago, at age 19-an ordeal that gained him
$24,000 of debt and a painful disorder in his legs
from the beatings he got when he didn't pay
quickly enough. "It was so bad I started to think
about how to kill myself," he says of his early days
here. But then Jesus came into his life.
"I had been living next to the Church of
Grace on Allen Street. The people there had
been helping me, sometimes paying my med-
ical bills, visiting me in the hospital, " Liu
explains. "One day, when the pain was so bad
I didn't know what to do, I went to the church
22
and prayed. I gave my life to Jesus. I think
that's when things started to rum around." The
pain continued, but Liu shouldered it better,
managing to work sporadically. He quit think-
ing about suicide and embraced his new Amer-
ican life.
Every week, Chinatown's Church of Grace,
as well as the smaller New York House
Church, is filled with hundreds of people like
the young Liu: Fuzhounese immigrants who
arrive here in isolation and land at the bottom
of Chinatown's economic ladder, but who find
both material and emotional support inside a
massive and growing informal network of
The Church of Grace
offers Fuzhounese
immigrants a familiar
home in a neighborhood
dominated by Cantonese
and Mandarin speakers .
I ts members pay for new
churches in Fuzhou
as well (inset) .
conservative Protestants.
In the 1990s, Chinese immigrants ranked
third among New York City's new arrivals.
Unlike previous waves of Chinese immigra-
tion-which came largely from the Guangdong
province and its capital city, Guangzhou,
known as Canton in those days-this mass
migration stemmed primarily from the towns
around a southeastern port city called Fuzhou.
The word among the Fuzhounese is that some
300,000 immigrants from the region now
make their home in the United States, with
60,000 to 70,000 in New York City at any
given time. These estimated figures are difficulf
CITY LIMITS
to corroborate. No comprehensive demograph-
ic survey exists. Nor is it clear one could ever be
accurate, given the transience of the communi-
ty's large population of undocumented workers.
For most Fuzhounese immigrants, China-
town is the first stop in America. Here they con-
nect with family, housing and jobs. But while
Chinatown is a gateway, for many Fuzhounese
it is also a trap, an ethnic enclave manufactured
by the neighborhood's Mandarin- and Can-
tonese-speaking economic and political elites to
keep them isolated and easy to exploit.
In April 1992, the Church of Grace bought
an old bathhouse on Allen Street at a public
JANUARY 2004
land auction. Opened at the turn of the centu-
ry to serve Jewish and Italian immigrants who
lived in tenements without hot water or
bathing facilities, the bathhouse was originally
built as part of an effort to better the moral
character of immigrants by improving their
hygiene. Ninety years later, it was reborn as a
spiritual center to ease this latest group of
migrants' path to eternal salvation.
From its beginning, the Church of Grace
has worshipped in Fuzhounese. In the 1950s,
the Chinese government introduced Mandarin
as the dialect of instruction in the public
schools and national media. But for rural Chi-
Every Sunday, hundreds
come to the church, both for
worship and to plug into an
informal support network.
So many congregants
arrive that many cram
into side rooms to watch
the service on closed-
circuit televisions.
nese-and most Fuzhounese fit that catego-
ry-Mandarin is just a second or third lan-
guage learned after their local one. So here,
board meetings are conducted in Fuzhounese,
as is most informal conversation. It is often the
only language older members speak. In a
neighborhood dominated by Cantonese and
Mandarin speakers, this common language is a
significant unifYing factor, and as a result the
Church of Grace has established a distinct
identity as "the Fuzhounese church."
The church's physical design reflects rural
Protestant churches everywhere in China: simple
and unadorned. The pews are hand hewn of
23
plain wood, varnished and cushionless. The stark
white walls deliberately lack ornamentation.
At 11 a.m., as the 90-minute service begins,
the sanctuary is packed with 350 people.
Another 60 sit on folding chairs in the foyer
watching the service on closed-circuit televi-
sion, as do another 70 in the church's social hall
upstairs. In the basement, three tiny Sunday
School classes squeeze in nearly 50 children.
The mailing list has well over 2,000 names,
with addresses all over the country, including
some detention centers. The Fumounese popu-
lation is highly transient and attendance reflects
this fact-pews are consistently filled, but par-
24
ticipants change from week to week.
Globalization theorists would call the Church
of Grace and the New York House Church
"nodes of access"-links to a web of social and
economic relations that spread from this New
York entry point throughout the city, across the
country, and eventually back to China.
The foyer of the Church of Grace is for its
members a place of transition between one reali-
ty and another. Outside they are derided as
uncultured "country bumpkins," or tubaozi;
inside they celebrate the common heritage of an
exploring people. Outside they are itinerant
workers moving from city to city; inside they
Members change week
to week as migrants ship
off to underground jobs
around the country.
find a place for reconnection. Outside they are
one step from imprisonment and deportation;
inside they are exhorted to remember that while
a U.S. green card would be nice, only God's
green card will get them into heaven.
Over bowls of noodles served afrer worship,
conversations roar with news of home, jobs and
places to live. A member of the Board of Dea-
cons passes along a videotape from Fuzhou
soliciting funds from overseas compatriots for
his church. A group of college students meets
in a corner to discuss their upcoming exams.
These diffuse interactions create the feel of a
community center, and they're the source of
CITY LIMITS
..
1
Gradually, the Church of Grace is finding ways to integrate its spiritual role
with a civic one. Members no longer object to a job board in the foyer.
the support people like Liu find here.
In the fall of 1999, a deacon at the church's
Brooklyn branch proposed to the board a way to
harness this informal network's potential for civic
engagement: create the Church of Grace Social
Service Corporation. He suggested the congrega-
tion open its own company, employ members for
fair wages working under decent conditions, and
attach a day-care center for children whose par-
ents would otherwise be forced to send them
back to China. Complete silence filled the room
when the deacon finished speaking.
Officially and publicly, the church rarely
addresses the earthly problems its members con-
front. Things like grinding work conditions,
mental illness and oppressive indebtedness do
make the pages of the church newsletter, but
they typically serve as background for testimoni-
als of miraculous healing or exhortations to pray
for relieE The church may be the focal point for
an extensive informal network of mutual assis-
tance, but the congregation provides few formal
services to address the community's needs.
Fuzhounese Protestantism is theologically
conservative, emphasizing faith, not good
JANUARY 2004
works, and personal, not collective, salvation.
Church leaders focus on the power of the Holy
Spirit and the love of God to comfort people in
their distress. As one older female deacon says:
"Jesus has taken my bitter life and given me rest
and comfort in my sadness." This is a place pri-
marily concerned about the soul, not the body.
Moreover, in China the official religious
domain is limited to personal devotion and
congregational activities focused on piety;
domains of power and social action are reserved
for the state. Having grown up in that environ-
ment, most church leaders have little experience
enacting social service programs, and therefore
have been reluctant to break new ground with
their seemingly fragile congregation.
But a couple of years ago, Rev. Chen Zhao-
qing took over as senior pastor. Born in
Malaysia, he's a child of the Fuzhounese dias-
pora who came to the U.S. as a missionary to
Chinese college students in Texas. He envisions
a more civically engaged church in Chinatown,
and has fired up a scattershot of programs.
He's started an early Sunday, English-lan-
guage service--distinctly lacking in Fuzhou fla-
vor-that's attended primarily by recent immi-
grants wishing to hear English. There are also
weekly English-as-a-Second-Language classes.
A bulletin board for job postings and apartment
listings has been revived, afrer succumbing sev-
eral years earlier to members' complaints that "a
church should not be an employment agency."
Representatives of a neighborhood women's
health program occasionally set up a table in the
lobby to schedule consultations on issues rang-
ing from HN testing to nutrition.
These developments are not the radical
organizational response suggested and dis-
missed a few years ago. But they do reflect a
slow expansion of the church's narrow personal
evangelism into a broader civic one, combining
public concerns with individual salvation.
"Things are changing here," Rev. Chen
explains. "We don't know how to address all
these needs, but we are beginning to try.
Kenneth J Guest is the author of God in China-
town: Religion and Survival in New York's
Evolving Immigrant Community. This essay is
excerpted from his book.
25
26
CITY LIMITS
Journey
to the
Indentured servitude, locked .. down borders
and the prosecution of a smuggling kingpin-
none of it deters Chinese migrants from
making it to East Broadway. By Amy Zimmer
Golden Mountain
He lives in Chinatown and wears a
white t-shirt draping down to the knees of his
baggy jeans. But Kevin, who's 13, still remem-
bers vividly one particular moment when he
was a toddler in Fuzhou. His father bought
him a dog, then left for New York.
A relative already living in the U.S. helped
finance the trip. Kevin's father spent the next
seven years working 12 hours a day, six days a
week, as a chef in a Chinese restaurant in Buf-
falo. First he was able to repay the debt. Then
he saved enough to fly his wife and Kevin to
New York. (All names of migrants in this story
have been changed.)
Kevin works hard at English with the help of
a tutor through church, and he likes to talk-
about soccer, basketball, playing video games at
a cyber cafe near his family's Chinese food mar-
ket, where he often helps out after school.
One thing he's not inclined to talk about,
though, is his experience being smuggled here
four years ago ftom Fuzhou, the capital ofFujian
Province. Kevin's reticence isn't unusual. For
Fuzhounese migrants, being smuggled is a com-
monplace experience, and people don't like to
discuss their journeys. They have, after all, more
pressing concerns-like finding housing,
employment and money for food. (Kevin's
mother also worries about talking to reporters,
saying that another storeowner who talked to
journalists had his shop closed down afterwards.)
So Kevin doesn't know much about his
father's trip seven years earlier-not by plane
but by boat, one likely similar to the infamous
Golden Venture. In that notorious 1993 disas-
ter, at least 10 of an estimated 286 passengers
on a freighter died, plunging into Rockaway
Peninsula's icy waters after allegedly being
ordered to swim ashore. Even a lot of non-Chi-
nese still recall the indelible images of Chinese
boat smuggling--of starving men huddled for
JANUARY 2004
months in foul, rusty holds.
Kevin's too young to have heard about the
Golden Venture. But he does know all about
Cheng Chui Ping, the 54-year-old Fuzhounese
woman awaiting trial for her alleged involve-
ment with the disaster. Everyone has heard of
Ping, he says. "She's a strong woman." Ping,
who amassed an estimated $40 million in more
than 10 years of operation as a smuggler of
Chinese to the United States, has pleaded inno-
cent to a seven-count federal indictment
including conspiracy in alien smuggling,
hostage-taking and money laundering. This
past summer, she was extradited from Hong
Kong for her arraignment, and currently waits
at the Metropolitan Detention Center in
Brooklyn. Her next hearing is scheduled for
February 6, 2004. She faces life in prison.
Ping's case is the highest-profUe U.S. prose-
cution yet of a Chinese "snakehead"-a smug-
gler who wiggles illegals, or "snakes," across
international borders. U.S. law-enforcement
agencies-from the FBI, which put together
the fUe for Ping's original 1994 indictment, to
the new Immigration and Customs Enforce-
ment agency (ICE), which worked with the
Hong Kong government on bringing her to the
U.S. for trial-are gloating about finally cap-
turing the fugitive. The diminutive, unassum-
ing Ping-she wears no makeup or flashy
clothes, and has simply cut, shoulder-length
black hair-was caught by Interpol agents at
Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport in April
2000 when she went to see off her son's flight.
In an announcement the day before Ping's
appearance in federal court, ICE Acting Assis-
tant Secretary Michael J. Garcia lauded the
work of his office. "It may have taken 10 years
to get Cheng into a U.S. court for smuggling
thousands of Chinese migrants," he said, "but
that only demonstrates ICE's resolve to iden-
tify, investigate, locate and bring to prosecution
those who traffic in human beings. "
But a decade after Ping fled her storefront at
47 East Broadway-a basement restaurant and
street-level variety shop-Chinatown's main
Fuzhounese artery has continued to expand
with families like Kevin's. Snakeheads' business
is as good as it's ever been-by some accounts,
even better. Tightened immigration enforce-
ment following September 11 appears to have
done little to deter new arrivals.
Peter Kwong, a Hunter College sociology
professor who has studied the underground
economy of undocumented Chinese immi-
grants in America, believes the Ping case will
do more for U.S public relations than it will to
slow the smuggling business. "They have the
goods on [Ping], " he says. "But they are barely
scratching the surface of the smuggling."
How deep Chinese immigrant smuggling
goes is, of course, hard to say. In 1994, the U.S.
State Department estimated that New York
City's Fuzhounese population was about
100,000 and that it would grow by 10,000 a
year if immigration continued at the same pace.
By those calculations, there are now approxi-
mately 200,000 Fuzhounese in the U.S. But the
number is most likely higher, say Chinatown
community leaders--closer to 300,000 in and
beyond New York.
The mountainous, southeastern coastal
region of Fujian has a long history of sending
its people abroad to places in Southeast Asia
and Taiwan, but migration to the U.S. is a rel-
atively recent phenomenon.
Migrants began to trickle into New York in
the early 1980s, paying snakeheads a fee of
about $18,000 apiece. Migration got a tremen-
dous boost after Tiananmen Square in 1989.
The U.S. responded to the demonstrations by
27
liberalizing its application procedures for polit-
ical asylum for Chinese, and illegal immi-
grants-even those who lived thousands of
miles from Beijing- began to capitalize on the
presumption of political persecution in China.
Since then, the price has moved steadily
upward. By the early 1990s, the fee had jumped
to between $25,000 and $35,000. Migrants
nowadays pay from $50,000 to $70,000. That
price tag-an extraordinary amount of money
in China, where the average yearly income
ranges from $500 to $1,200-sustains an elab-
orate international network that handles every-
thing from securing fake passports to paying off
border patrol agents to bankrolling American
lawyers who file bogus political asylum claims
on their behal (China's "one child" law is now
a leading pretext.)
Various developments have fueled the cost
increase. After the Golden Venture, the Chinese
government cracked down on boat smuggling,
which in turn upped the ante for local border
parrol officials-they started demanding larger
bribes. The U.S. tightened its borders, too, and
increased vigilance afrer 9/11. This has forced
smugglers to more frequently use air routes,
which uansport fewer migrants at a time and
depend on costly fraudulent passports.
So, while some migrants may still make part of
their journey to the "Golden Mountain" on dan-
gerously illegal fishing crawlers, many more now
come over in cargo containers or fly. The latter
method, with its safer commercial air routes, has
been a boon to women and children.
Boats still bring migrants to the Americas, if
28
not directly to the states. Steven Wong keeps a
photo album filled with images of boat smug-
gling in his cluttered basement Chinatown
office. He snapped these pictures of young,
gaunt men cramped together on the decks of
corroded freighters when he was working as a
rranslator for the Coast Guard in the mid-
1990s. Wong continues to work with the Coast
Guard and, to date, has interviewed around
2,000 migrants. "That's 2,000 people with
2,000 heartbreaking stories," he says.
Besides his work as a translator, Wong, 48,
runs an anti-drug community organization
that also focuses on legal rights for the undoc-
umented, and on domestic abuse and health
issues. In the front room of his office, a
woman registers community residents for free
medical insurance.
Wong is bombarded with cell phone calls-
about setting up a blood drive in Chinatown,
news of some Viemamese person working for a
smuggler on the West Coast, or the latest arson
of one of the Chinatown buses. He ofren jets off
to China, where he works on projects such as
land rights for farmers.
But Wong is the first to admit that not evety-
one in Chinatown welcomes him openly. "I'm
the black sheep in the family, " he says. He came
here from Hong Kong when he was 16, young
enough to develop what he calls an
mentality of crime," which means, he says, "I
don't care if I ruffle big feathers. I don't like the
code of silence in the local elements. "
Lighting up cigarettes throughout the day, he
cases the neighborhood in a beat-up minivan and
A group of Fuzhounese on board the
smuggling boat Fang Ming, intercepted by
the Coast Guard in 1995.
chuckles over the rumors people spread about
him-that he's a spy for the CIA, the KGB or the
KMT (the Nationalist Party of China). He also
jokes about the death threats he's received in
response to the anti-human-smuggling advertise-
ments he's taken out in the Chinese-language
daily Sing Tao. Wong has been crying to raise
awareness of what he maintains is the smuggling
indusuy's increasing capacity and hold on the
community. He says the smugglers "have routes
that are more frequent and more detailed than
any airline company."
Wong laments how peer pressure and fam-
ily expectations in Fujian Province continue
fueling these pipelines. "It became a fashion to
be smuggled here," he says, explaining the
Fuzhounese mentality. "If they don't go to
America, people say they have no future. Peo-
ple will laugh at them."
He talks about a man he interviewed who
had over 200 hammer marks on his body afrer
his journey. And an 18-year-old woman who,
in order to repay the debt and begin sending
money to her family, had delayed her education
to work in a Chinese take-out in North Car-
olina-where she was recently shot in a rob-
bery. "When they call home and the family
asks how they're doing, they lie," Wong says.
"They don't want to upset the family."
Migrants knowingly assume the trip's
exrreme costs. "They make the calculations
before they come," says Rutgers School of Crim-
inal Justice Professor Ko Lin Chin, who has
interviewed more than 300 smuggled Chinese
migrants: ''' If I work for free for four years and
payoff my debt, then I can make money, but if
I stay in China, I will be poor for the rest of my
life.'" And families willingly lend the money.
Explains Chin, "In China, if you're going to
open a business, no one will help you. But if you
tell them you are going to the U.S., it's like an
American kid asking for money to go to Har-
vard Law School."
Everyone pools money together, anticipat-
ing assistance in return down the line-
money wired from America for a washing
machine, maybe a television or a new house.
But more and more these days, the reward is
one's own voyage to the U.S.
When the newcomer arrives, he or she may
CITY LIMITS
"When they call home and the family how they're doing,
they lie," Wong says. "They don't want to upset the family."
be greeted by the snakehead or someone
related to the snakehead, a welcome sight.
Back in Ping's day, they'd be picked up by
members of the notorious Fuk Ching gang,
who would transport newly arrived immi-
grants to notoriously unsafe "safe" houses.
Migrants must make a down payment
before leaving, then supply the balance upon
arrival-cash on delivery-usually paid by rel-
atives in China, to leave no trace of the trans-
action stateside. Until they pay, the snakeheads
detain them. Money-laundering services keep
the cash flowing. That's what Cheng Chui
Ping's East Broadway storefront used to do.
"Ping would just make a call to a relative in
China and wire money to your family right
away," says Jack Wang, a reporter for the Chi-
nese-language World Journal. People preferred
her service to the Bank of China across the
street, with its long waits, and said she was even
faster than Western Union.
Fuzhounese consider most snakeheads
decent, smart people trying to help fellow
countrymen achieve the American dream.
Although U.S. authorities charge Ping with
taking advantage of the misery of her fellow
Chinese-calling her, with little affection, "the
mother of all snakeheads"-in the Fuzhounese
community she's a Robin Hood figure, known
affectionately Big Sister Ping.
She was one of them, and she'd made good.
Ping came to the U.S. in 1981-as an illegal, later
becoming naturalized-and soon started bring-
ing a few people from her hometown, Shengmei,
to New York. Her business, and reputation, grew
rapidly. After Judge Michael Mukasey refused the
$1 million bail request Ping's lawyer Lawrence
Hochheiser made last September, Jack Wang
interviewed people from Shengmei along East
Broadway to get their reaction. Their unanimous
Smugglers hire gang members to escort
their clients-and make sure they pay.
Enforcers, like these on the 1995
smuggling boat Fang Ming, have learned
to blend in to avoid detection if the
Coast Guard picks up their boat.
JANUARY 2004
response: They would have gladly raised the
money to post her bail.
Chen Xi, who runs the Hua Yi Florist shop
across the street from Ping's restaurant (now
operated by Ping's husband and daughter) says
through a translator, "Most snakeheads are not
that bad. They need to build a good reputa-
tion, since smuggling is their business." Ping's
alleged ties to the Fuk Ching gang, Xi says,
were unavoidable. "What could she do? [The
Fuk Ching] had total control of everything
along East Broadway in the early ' 90s. All peo-
ple in Chinatown were afraid; everyone had to
pay a protection fee. Not even federal law
enforcement could do anything."
Jian Chan, a garment worker with slicked-
back, feathered hair and a cell phone clipped to
his black slacks, says through a translator that a
client must pay for services provided, just like
with any other business. "Smugglers have to get
their smuggling fee, " he says. "If you can't pay
the money then you shouldn't come with them
to the U.S., because you know what kind of
threats they're going to make."
In the heyday of boat
snake heads needed gangsters to watch over
their loads of human cargo in safe houses-
migrants ofren experienced terrible abuses,
such as torture with a phone strapped on so rel-
atives back in China got the message to pay up.
Jian refused to offer any details of his experi-
ence being smuggled here from Fuzhou in 1993.
''I'm not the kind of person who likes to really
fight with people," is all he'll say. Jian had hoped
to find the famous Big Sister Ping for his trip.
"To us Fuzhounese people, [Ping] is like a god or
a savior," he says. He had heard that unlike other
snakeheads, Ping let her migrants take their time
repaying, and that they could go to her for help
fmding jobs or for assistance if they had health
problems. Ping was so well known that other
snakeheads would claim they worked for her
(which may have inflated her reputation). But
Jian couldn't find her, and, in the end, simply
relied on someone else's services.
Needless to say, there's a lot of money
to be made in the smuggling business, which sup-
ports a well-staffed circuit of fixers and middle-
men. The all-inclusive fee covers transportation
expenses, lodging, food and, most importantly"
the necessary papers to cross borders. Accommo-
dations are rarely deluxe, and snakeheads never
provide an itinerary beforehand. The journey
involves a fluid international web of players who
devise ever-changing routes. On direct flights,
29
"Why would the government stop people from coming when they
would want their own family members to go?"
which are increasingly in demand, the trip may
take as lime as a few days. Journeys with several
layovers may last six months, with the final land
crossing through the desert trom Mexico or across
lakes bordering Canada.
Big snakeheads put up money to fund the
schemes, and little snakeheads recruit villagers,
telling them of riches awaiting them in Amer-
ica-big houses and fancy cars. People who can
help produce counterfeit passports and visas are
key members of the rings: gangs who specialize
in stealing Asian passports, and corrupt Chi-
nese government officials who accept bribes
for the documents.
Many migrants come over on a "photo-sub-
stitute" passport-a real Chinese or other
Asian passport with the migrant's picture doc-
tored onto it. And there are many ways to get
"photo-sub" passports of varying quality. Some
30
Chinese smugglers work with Taiwanese part-
ners, since Taiwanese passports are machine-
readable and thus more easily pass the stricter
post-9/11 U.S. detection methods. So a Tai-
wanese smuggler might put an ad in a paper
looking for a truck driver or secretary, and have
the many job applicants fill out papers with
personal information. They select the applicant
most similar to the migrant, using the appli-
cant's information to get a new passport.
Smugglers also arrange fake marriages, some-
times with people already in the U.S. on legiti-
mate student visas, which allows migrants to
come over on family visas and bypass immigra-
tion questions about language ability or income.
Snakeheads may also pay Chinese government
officials to attach migrants to legal delegations
visiting the United States-the migrants just slip
away from the group. The corruption of the Chi-
nese government contin-
ues to fuel the under-
ground smuggling net-
work. Says Kwong, "Why
would the government
stop people trom corning
when they would want
their own family members
to go?"
Smuggling networks
also rely on Taiwanese
fleet owners who sell their
old fishing trawlers, as well
as shipping crews, truck
operators and subcon-
tracted "coyores"-snakes
who've come to Mexico or
other parts of the Ameri-
cas across the U.S. border.
In a 1998 investigation
East Broadway
employment agencies
link Fuzhounese
migrants to an
underground network
of jobs from Albany to
Cincinatti .
called "Operation Over the Rainbow II," U.S.
and Canadian law enforcement officials exposed
a smuggling ring at a Mohawk reservation where
more than 3,600 migrants had passed through
in two years.
Immigration lawyers who file political asy-
lum claims for illegals are also important players.
In 2002, Robert Porges, the lawyer who filed for
political asylum claims for 250 of the Golden
Venture passengers, was sentenced to six to eight
years for making traudulent claims and collect-
ing $13.5 million in fees trom snakeheads.
Applying for political asylum is a common
tack because it makes migrants eligible for an
employment authorization card. Of course,
there are complications. Applicants typically get
detained and must pass an interview for the
application, one that establishes they have a
"credible fear" of persecution. But while immi-
gration officials in New York and New Jersey are
notoriously tough, elsewhere in the country it's
relatively easy to get paroled from detention.
Canada is another haven for asylum-seekers.
In 1999, Lin, a shy, sweet-faced young woman
with large glasses and a big smile revealing
brownish teeth, left her shoe facrory job in
Changle to find work in New York. Friends
brought her ro a smuggler who sized her up for
a photo-sub passport from Hunan province.
She flew to Guangzhou, then Hong Kong,
where someone was waiting to give her a new
Hong Kong passport. From there she
decamped for Vancouver. As instructed, she
went to the ladies room, flushed the passport
down the toilet, waited an hour for her arriving
plane to leave, and surrendered herself to
authorities. After immigration officials kept her
in a room for eight hours, they explained they
had to detain her unless she was applying for
political asylum. She said she was. They had
her sign a piece of paper, told her to come back
in two or three weeks to pick up more forms,
and then released her. An enforcer waiting for
her at the airport took her ro a safe house. The
next leg of the itinerary included hopping a
flight to Toronto, then a tour bus with a Cana-
dian passport to New York.
The relative ease of obtaining political asy-
lum has some law enforcers feeling powerless to
stem the tide of smuggling. Jim Goldman, who
acquired the nickname "Mongoose"-an ani-
CITY LIMITS
Developments funded by New York
migrants are transforming rural towns in
Fujian Province.
mal that eats snakes-before reunng last
August as the head of investigations for the
INS in Florida, calls the U.S. government an
"unwitting collaborator" in smuggling. Gold-
man has little faith in the recently restructured
department, now part of ICE. "If you want to
know what's going on today, " he says, "you'd
have to ask 33 different offices. "
Mark Thorn, the New York spokesperson
for ICE, acknowledges the challenges but says
his office has the resources to disrupt the oper-
ations and ptosecute smugglers. "Trafficking
today is more sophisticated than in the past,"
Thorn says. "Instead of boats, individuals are
being smuggled through airports. "
But Wong insists that boat smuggling contin-
ues. Fewer boats may be coming to U.S. shores,
but many are still landing in South or Central
America and Canada, he says. "You have hun-
dreds coming in by boat, ending up in safe houses
in Guatemala or Mexico," Wong says, "given
maybe one or two meals of rice and beans a day.
Then they're separated into smaller groups and
handed over to coyotes to cross the border."
Other layovers include Russia and Cuba, Jamaica,
Haiti and the Dominican Republic, or Bolivia.
Guam is a hotspot, since migrants can apply for
U.S. political asylwn there.
"Even though my friends work in immi-
gration," Wong says, they can't acknowledge
the increased flow of migrants-"It would
make them look bad." Because of bureaucracy,
he says, U.S. authorities have their hands tied;
different government agencies simply do not
cooperate effectively. "If [ICE] knows or says
something," Wong explains, "the U.S. govern-
ment would think this low-level agency is just
fantasizing, and that only the big guys like the
FBI would know something." And, of course,
investigating smuggling rings requires interna-
tional cooperation, roo.
Smugglers, on the other hand, can work
together using their tremendous resources-
the State Department estimates the industry
brings in $8 billion a year worldwide, with
Chinese smuggling making up almost half that
total. "Smugglers can form a joint task force,"
says Wong, "but American law enforcement
agents can't." After all, it took a five-year hunt
and three years for extradition from Hong
Kong just to bring Ping to trial.
JANUARY 2004
On a Monday morning, the one day
a week most Chinese workers have off, groups
of men smoking cigarenes stand outside one of
the several employment agencies scattered
around East Broadway under the Manhattan
Bridge, waiting to line up the next job. Inside
are other men and a smattering of women cran-
ing their necks to read the lime slips of paper
posted on the walls, or the other job listings on
the dry-erase board behind the agency's counter.
The journey for migrants doesn't end once they
reach New York. This next phase-working to
repay the smuggling debt--can last several
years, and it may bring migrants to dishwashing
or waitress jobs far away from the safety net of
New York's Fuzhounese community. Every
small town across the country has a Chinese
take-out with Fuzhounese kitchen workers.
These employment agencies link to an under-
ground network of jobs in such places as Cincin-
nati, or upstate in Albany, or a slew of other sites
across the nation from VlIginia, Tennessee, the
Carolinas, and Florida, to WISCOnsin, Michigan
and Nebraska. The agencies post phone numbers
for special bus service to these places. (Fung Wah
and other bus companies that have become pop-
ular ways of traveling to Boston, Philadelphia
and Washington, D.C., were originally com-
muter routes for Fuzhounese workers.)
Constant migration in search of work
makes the newcomers particularly isolated, vul-
nerable and dislocated. Baruch sociology pro-
fessor Kenneth Guest noticed the transience of
the population when he tracked Chinatown's
religious institutions [see "Amazing Grace,"
page 20]. At the area's largest Fuzhounese con-
gregation, the Church of Grace, Guest found a
different crowd of 500 Fuzhounese worship-
pers each Sunday. He believes that approxi-
mately 60,000 Fuzhounese are in New York at
any given time.
Manna Chan, who works at a mental health
clinic serving undocumented immigrants, sees
many clients suffering complete breakdowns-
from the stress of debt repayment, the isolation
of working long hours in the middle of
nowhere, and post-trawnatic stress from the
ordeals of the smuggling trek. Men are espe-
cially lonely, since they vastly outnumber
women. Her clients, however, don't talk about
the specifics of their journeys. Chan sees men
in their twenties or thirties who, she says,
shouldn't be working because of the state of
their mental health, but have no choice.
Poverty rates in Chinatown are staggeringly
high: In 1999, the Asian American Federation
found one-third of Asian families in Chinatown
living below the poverty line, and Chinatown's
post-9/ 11 economic downturn has undoubtedly
pushed more over the edge. Migrants rarely find
jobs outside of the restaurant, garment and con-
struction industries-fields that are presently
suffering. Kwong observes that U.S. employers
who hire Fuzhounese for sub-minimum wages
are a critical link in keeping the smuggling sys-
tem going-without those jobs, migrants would
have no way of paying back the smuggling fees.
"Because of the pressure of having to pay the
continued on page 40
31
INTELLIGENCE
THE BIG IDEA
Down for the (Re)Count
The Census counts prisoners
in their cel/s, not their
neighborhoods. Now a
move is afoot to change
their addresses.
By Matthew Schuerman
EVERY TIME NEW YORK CITY sends a convicted
criminal to an upstate prison, it also gives up
money and power.
That's because the Census Bureau counts
prisoners as residents of the towns they are incar-
cerated in, instead of the neighborhoods they
lived in before being locked up. The result: Every
calculation that uses Census data-rrom federal
funding formulas to drawing srare legislative dis-
tricrs--gives more money and representation to
communities with prisons than they would get if
reckoning were based solely on their non-incar-
cerated populations. That makes prisoners a hot
commodity thar everyone wants to claim.
32
Take Franklin County, a bucolic getaway on
the Canadian border. Of the county's 51,000
residents, more than 5,000 are behind bars. An
estimated 3,600, many black and Latino, come
from New York City to the overwhelmingly
whire area. This influx of big-city convicts
brings extra anti-poverty funds to the little
towns of Franklin County. It also inflates the
population count for the legislative district, even
though convicted felons cannot vote. As a result,
in one Franklin County district, one state sena-
tor represents 287,000 free individuals; in
Queens, each stare senator represents 318,000
people. That gives each free person in Franklin
County a bigger voice in Albany than someone
in, say, South Jamaica.
That disparity in political power has
researchers and advocates, both in New York
and nationally, raking a closer look at the sys-
tem-and pushing to change it. One option is
to convince the Census Bureau to count differ-
ently; another is to allow state legislatures to
conduct counts themselves, instead of relying
on the Census. Proponents of these changes say
the current situation has economic and political
ramifications. They note that the current
method bolsters Republican domination of the
Srate Senate, helping to perpetuate drug sen-
tencing laws that discriminate racially. Further-
more, proponents note, the current counting
system siphons resources from downstate, so
ex-cons returning to impoverished city neigh-
borhoods get fewer services to help them rein-
tegrate into the community.
Commentators like Harvard Law School
professor Lani Guinier have remarked on the
injustice of the arrangement. 'The strategic
placement of prisons in predominantly white
rural districts orren means that these districts
gain more political representation based on the
disen&anchised people in the prison," she wrote
in The American Prospect in 2001, "while the
inner-city communities they come from suffer a
proportionate loss of political power and repre-
sentation." The situation, according to Guinier,
is comparable to the three-fifThs rule that
allowed srares to count slaves to bolster the
South's representation in Congress-which
helped the South preserve slavery.
While many agree the injustice exists, it's
harder to pin down the best solution. Advocates
admit that repatriating money and power to
CITY LIMITS
urban areas might not have an immediate, signif-
icant impact. Nationally, each prisoner brings in
only about $100 in local and federal aid-and
figures for New York state might be lower,
according to rough estimates by Eric Locke, a
Soros Justice Senior Fellow. Currently, 43,740
people &om New York City are incarcerated else-
where, and Locke's research suggests that these
prisoners exPOrt, at most, $4.37 million annually
&om the city-peanuts compared to budget gaps
in the billions. Further, prisoners &om New York
City collectively represent only about one-sev-
enth of a New York City state Senate seat. That's
not enough to tip the 38-to-24 Republican
advantage in Albany, or to compel significant
change in the Assembly, where Democrats
already outnumber Republicans.
Short-term calculations aside, advocates
believe that the count should be brought in line
with demographic real-
cates would have to win over a lot of people with
a lot of interests at stake-including the presi-
dent, the U.S. Congress and the state Legislature.
Defenders of current practice have tradition on
their side-the Census has been counting pris-
oners the 5an1e way since 1790. Some officials do
not even pretend the method is rational; they're
simply pleased to see their communities benefit
&om it. "From a selfish point of view, hey, what-
ever works," Henry Rausch, a mayor in upstate
New York, told the Boston Globe three years ago.
Rausch's town, Coxsackie, counts a third of its
residents in local prisons. ''I'm not about to set
out and change it if it helps us," Rausch added.
Even liberal redistricting experts admit that
the most obvious alteration-rearranging pris-
oners in Census counts based on where they
come &om-might not be constitutional. David
Bositis, a senior political analyst at the Joint
Center for Political
ity and social justice
principles, so the chips
can fall--even if they
fall slowly.
The issue of count-
ing incarcerated con-
victs could have its
biggest impact on the
larger prison reform
movement. "This is a
complicated issue
that's been below the
radar," says Peter Wag-
ner, a Soros Fellow and
assistan t director of the
"The idea of a home
being a prison is
absurd," says one
critic of current
Census practice.
and Economic Studies
in Washington, D.C.,
predicts that approach
would fail. "They
would have to get the
Supreme Court to
come up with a deci-
sion contrary to the
last 40 years of
jurisprudence," Bosi-
tis said. "Do I think
that's particularly
likely? No."
Prison Policy Llitiative in Springfield, Massa-
chusetts. "Interest has been growing since the
2000 Census showed that there are two million
people in prison in this country, and we are
beginning to see some of the effects" of that bal-
looning population.
Wagner's research has focused on the state of
New York, where several senate districts straddle a
statistical border that may eventually push them
into court challenges. When prisoners are sub-
tracted &om five of New York's state Senate dis-
tricts, the disparity between their size and that of
the most populated districts in the state is larger
than federal law allows. If prisoners were excluded
from those districts' counts, all five would have to
be expanded geographically. It's anybody's guess
what political ramifications that would have. But
Wagner speculates it could shi& the political bal-
ance of the districts by bringing in new voters.
THE POLITICAL OBSTACLES to changing the way
the Census counts, however, are daunting. Advo-
JANUARY 2004
State-managed
counts that depart
from Census methods are not unprecedented,
however. For example, Kansas subtracts out-of-
state students and military personnel for state
legislative districts. In 2001, a Texas state repre-
sentative &om Houston, Democrat Harold Dut-
ton Jr., proposed a bill to count prisoners in their
hometowns. It got Out of comminee but lan-
guished on the floor.
As for New York, Wagner argues that legal
precedent and the state constitution are on his
side. New York's constitution does require using
Census data to draw legislative districts, but it
also allows alternate methods when the Census
"fails to give the information as to any civil or ter-
ritorial divisions which is required to be known."
Narrowly interpreted, this caveat suggests that if
the Census did not, for example, break out
Brooklyn's population &om the whole of New
York City, the state could do its own count. Wag-
ner, however, says it gives the stare some discre-
tion in figuring how the numbers should best be
used to crm legislative districts.
INTELLIGENCE
THE BIG IDEA
NEW REPORTS
Americans are more starkly divided than they
have been since the Reagan years, according to
this survey. The Pew Research Center polled
about 4,000 adults during four weeks in July and
October 2003, on topics ranging from religious
involvement to personal finance to national
security. With respect to both social and political
values, people identifying as Democrats and
Republicans were farther apart than they'd been
since 1987. Interestingly, the survey also found
the GOP steadily gaining on the Democrats in
terms of numbers of people who identify with the
former party.
-The 2004 Po/itica/landscape
The Pew Research Center for People and the Press
www.peop/e-press.orgor 202-293-3126
September 11 and the sluggish economy have
had virtually no effect on the pace of either legal
or illegal immigration, to the U.S. in general and
New York in particular, according to this counter-
intuitive report. Looking at unpublished 2003
Census data, researchers found that the 2.3 mil-
lion immigrant workers who have arrived in the
U.S. since 2000 almost exactly equal the number
who arrived in the three preceding years. In New
York State, 186,000 new immigrants joined the
workforce between 2000 and 2003, compared to
191,000 between 1997 and 2000. Moreover, the
foreign-born U.S. population jumped by a million
from March 2002 to 2003, hitting a record high
of 33.5 million.
-Immigration in a Time of Recession
Center for Immigration Studies
www.cis.orgor202-466-8185
Only one in three New York non profits met all of
the Better Business Bureau's standards in the
watchdog's 2003 holiday giving guide. BBB sur-
veyed 676 non profits and found that only 41 per-
cent could provide an annual report, and 13 per-
cent couldn't submit enough financial or pro-
gram information to even determine compliance
with the BBB's standards.
- 2004 New York State Giving Guide
The Better Business Bureau
www.newyortbbb.orgor212-533-7500
33
INTELLIGENCE
THE BIG IDEA
For legal precedent, Wagner points to an 1894
Court of Appeals decision involving a vagrant,
one Michael Cady, who was in the habit of get-
ting jailed in order to get free room and board.
Before an election, Cady attempted to list the
Tombs as his voter registration address. The court
said no. Key to the decision was a parr of the state
constitution that stipulates, "for the purpose of
voting, no person shall be deemed to have gained
or lost a residence, by reason of his or her presence
or absence ... while confined in any public prison."
So if jailed people awaiting trial must vote where
they were last registered, why shouldn't they be
counted at home arrer being convicted?
For now, Wagner's arguments are moot-the
legislature approved new districts in 2002, and
the conversation won't starr up again for seven
or eight years. So he and others have turned to
efforts to influence federal Census officials, who
are already discussing the 2010 count. Last
October, a tearn from the Brennan Center for
Justice at New York University School of Law
presented its case before two panels that advise
the Census Bureau: the Decennial Census
Committee and the Census African American
Advisory Committee. The latter has recom-
mended that the bureau count prisoners based
on where they come from.
34
Former African American Advisory Com-
mitree Chairman Robert Hill acknowledged
that his group would likely favor reapportion-
ment arguments before the Census Bureau
staff or members of Congress would. Still, says
Hill, "Our recommendation ... gives a basis of
support" to sympathizers in Congress. In 2005,
the bureau will begin outlining its plans for the
next decennial count.
Advocates are also trying to show that the
Census has always had changes and exceptions.
For example, it counts people at their "usual
place of residence," commonly interpreted as
wherever they spent the night of April 1. Wag-
ner points out that boarding-school students
are counted with their families, and travelers
based on where they usually sleep. The Census
Bureau has also modified its procedures in the
past. In 1950, for instance, college students
became residents of places where their dorms
were located, instead of their parents' homes.
Though that change seems similar to counting
inmates in prisons, the deeper point, says Wag-
ner, "is that the Census Bureau has changed
with the changing times. "
A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court case could help
persuade the Census that a home is more than
just a place to hang your hat, says Patricia Allard,
an associ.ate counsel at the Brennan Center.
There, the court upheld a new methodology
counting soldiers abroad as residents of states
where they maintain their "home of record." The
court held that a "usual place of residence can
mean more than mere physical presence, and has
been used broadly enough to include some ele-
ment of allegiance or enduring tie to a place. "
As for figuring out a prisoner's home
address, advocates suggest using the last legal
residence listed in court papers, and if that is
not available, the county where he or she was
convicted. Census enumerators likewise
approximate when' counting a homeless shelter
as the residence of homeless people, says Soros
Fellow Locke: "Even if they sleep in a different
shelter each night, they are still more or less in
that area and in that community of interest."
Adds Allard, "The idea of a home being a
prison is absurd. People who go to prison do not
all of a sudden lose their hometown. " When
they return and find social service resources
shortchanged because of the current Census
count, "the individual and the community are
being cheated out of what is rightfully theirs. "
Matthew Schuerman is a Brooklyn-based free-
lance writer.
CITY LIMITS
Bowling with Organizers
Real-world answers to academic worries about
the breakdown of community
By Gordon Mayer
Roots for Radicals: Organizing for Power, Action, and Justice
By Edward T. Chambers with Michael A. Cowan
Continuum Press, 160 pages, $18.95
IT WAS THE MID-1950S in Buffalo, and Ed
Chambers was working his first organizing
assignment for the Industrial Areas Foundation
(IAF). On the day of the local group's founding
convention, Chambers stepped off the hood of a
car, where he'd been yelling to restore order dur-
ing a protest, and met Father Jack Egan, a board
member who had arrived from Chicago along
with IAF founder and director Saul Alinsky.
"That was a nice job, kid," Egan said approv-
ingly. Chambers asked where Alinsky was. "Back
at the hotel having cocktails, " Egan answered.
Chambers recounts this anecdote in his
memoir-cum-training manual, Roots for &di-
caLs. The book's tirle is a clever play on two of
grassroots activism's foundational texts: Reveille
for Radicals (1946) and Rules for &dicaLs
(1971), both by Alinsky. Reveille and Rules
brim with well-told stories and excitement
about people power but they are short on
specifics about how to actually do the work-
which, as Chambers' anecdote suggests, is a
common critique not just of Alinsky's books,
but of his on-site organizing as well.
Alinsky essentially fathered the communiry
organizing tradition, but its by-now-venerable
legacy owes more to the activists who came
after him. A growing number are now nearing
Planning for Communities, Cities
and the Environment at Pratt.
Pratt's planning programs prepare students with the theory and skills necessary to respond to the diverse needs of
communities and foster comprehensive social. physical, economic and environmental development. Through courses,
studios and fieldwork. students leam both the principles and the practice of participatory, equityfocused urban planning.
The faculty, which includes practitioners from every arena of planning, introduces students to the real-life challenges
of urban development by engaging them in projects in New York City.
The Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment offers:
Master of Science degree in City and Regional Planning
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Joint degrees combining planning with law or undergraduate architecture
Concentrations include:
Community development with a focus on diversity issues, participatory planning, housing, economic development
Environmental planning with a focus on environmental justice, environmental policy, monitoring, regulatory controls
Pratt
Draw it. Build it. Make it.
JANUARY 2004
Preservation planning with a focus on integrating historic preservation with
community development
Physical planning, land use and urban design
Courses are offered in the evenings at Brooklyn and Manhattan campuses to
accommodate working professionals.
INTELLIGENCE
CITY LIT
retirement age and they've begun putting the
lessons they've learned down on paper.
Michael Gecan's 2002 Going Public links the
work to his personal story-surviving the disas-
trous Our Lady of Angels fire at his Catholic ele-
mentary school and going on to help start East
Brooklyn Congregations. The Garnaliel Founda-
Pratt Institute
Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
200 Willoughby Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11205
(718) 3994314 ext. 100 e-mail : gradplan@pratt.edu
35
INTELLIGENCE
CITY LIT
NOW READ THIS
Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers:
An Intimate Journey Among Hasidic Girls
By Stephanie Wellen Levine
NYU Press, $26.95
Levine delves into Crown Heights' Hasidic com-
munity with an anthropologist's zeal for stripped-
bare observation. She took up residence among
the Lubavitch sect for a year, not just watching
but also participating in the flow of life. The
result is a series of profiles of teenage Lubavitch
girls, chronicling their tortured trips through
puberty under the veil (or rather, wig) of a seem-
ingly all-consuming religious order. Levine's con-
clusion-that girls will be girls-isn't surpris-
ing, but figuring it out makes a good read.
Yo' Mama!: New Raps, Toasts, Dozens,
Jokes and Children's Rhymes from
Urban Black America
By Onwuchekwa Jemie
Temple University Press, $19.95
It's cliche to note that academics can suck the
life out of any conversation, but one can't avoid
the truism when reading Jemie's introduction to
this playful collection of black "street poetry"
from 1960s and '70s New York City and Philly
neighborhoods. Jemie's right: Black verbal play
is more reflective of high dramatic art than of
the ignorance mainstream culture has ascribed
to it. But dive straight into the collection if you
want to really understand what made Langston
Hughes so damn fly.
Keeping Up with the Dow Joneses: Debt,
Prison, Workfare
By Vijay Prashad
South End Press, $17
Prashad's latest assault on American hypocrisies
presents three well-argued essays deconstruct-
ing our late 20th century policy obsession with
punishing poor people. But the book's frame is its
most interesting aspect: Originally published in
India, it counters America's global marketing
campaign, which Prashad compares to that of
Clorox. The same company makes both a toxic
bleach and a salad dressing, but sells them
under different brands. The same is true of Amer-
ica's dual promises of wealth and poverty,
Prashad argues, and he wants the world to link
the two realities.
36
tion's Rev. Dennis Jacobsen wrote a guide for
clergy on the hows and whys of congregation-
based organizing in 2001, called Doing Justice.
Shel Trapp, retired co-founder of the National
People's Action network, self-published a memoir
and how-to of his own, Dyrulmics of Organizing,
in November 2003. (Full disclosure: I helped
draft Trapp's book and do media and communi-
cations work for the Gamaliel Foundation).
These activist authors face a challenge in
writing about community organizing that
Alinsky didn't have to face: They wrestle with
the question of whether community exists in
the first place. From Robert Putnam's much-
discussed rumination on isolation in America,
Bowling Alone, to the work of academics,
there's a rising concern for the health of Amer-
ican civic life. What constitutes community in
the 21st century? How is it mobilized? The
new memoirs by aging organizers brings
hands-on knowledge to this debate, moving it
from the abstractions of the ivory tower to the
practical realities of neighborhoods.
Chambers' contribution gives us a look
inside an accomplished community-building
operation. Now 71, Chambers-known as
"Big Ed" because of his six-foot-plus height-
built IAF's training institute and has run the
IAF for decades. Raised in rural, Depression-
era Iowa, Chambers was groomed from an
early age to be a priest. After a year traveling
across post-World War II Europe, where he
experienced such revolutionary developments
in Christianity as the French worker-priest
movement, he returned home to a Catholic
seminary. There, he writes in Roots, the profes-
sors derided him as a guy who asked too many
questions. Thirty minutes before his ronsure
ceremony, a ritual marking the first official step
on the road to priesthood, Chambers' superior
took him aside and informed him he would
not be allowed to participate. Soon thereafter,
he left the Midwest to join Dorothy Day's
Catholic Worker movement in Harlem.
Chambers' memories of his early IAF
exploits in Buffalo and on Chicago's southwest
side are among the best stories in Roots. He
describes his behind-the-scenes machinations
on long-odds campaigns, like convincing con-
servative, white Catholics on Chicago's South
Side to work with African-American congrega-
tions in the 1960s, and pushing ahead in the
1980s with the first two Nehemiah Homes in
Brooklyn even though the developer had
neglected to get building permits.
However, Roots is not as fun of a read as
either Reveille or Rules. The problem may be
the burden of detail Chambers has taken on.
"When we began the training institute [in the
late 1960s] we didn't know how to teach the
universals," he writes. "Saul could talk about
them, but he couldn't concretize them." Cham-
bers' book offers the nuts-and-bolts that Alin-
sky skipped.
Most of the chapters have the "how-to" feel
of a training agenda. The one on "relational
meetings" is typical. Chambers explains that
these one-on-one sessions, which form the
foundation of IAF's work, are the arena in
which participants clarifY their motivations and
hopes, and come up with common agendas. He
imparts some interesting observations on how
these meetings typically proceed: "Big-power
people will [focus] the first 20 to 25 minutes on
you. Ordinary people will let you keep the focus
on them. "
Chambers also offers a cogent analysis that
puts community at the center of things. The
private market, he argues, has captured the gov-
ernment, and only "civil society" can save the
country. But his stories never bring into focus
how he feels about the work he's done and
Roots thus fails to deliver what is prornised in
the introduction, that "readers who hunger for
meaning, for making sense of daily reality,
should be fed here." Studs Terkel better sums up
Roots' potential impact in his preface when he
calls it a "how-to book in the best sense: a
primer on how to beat the dragons."
In all fairness, anyone who tries to write
engagingly about organizing is faced with the
dilemma of describing something that's only
truly known through experience. It's hard to
understand organizing until you have seen pol-
icy changes result from scenes such as one that
sticks in my memory, where someone old
enough ro be my grandmother led the crowd in
telling a federal banking regulator "we're tired
of being screwed," while handing the bureau-
crat an unvarnished two-by-four peppered with
three-inch screws.
Yet, while books are no substitute for actual
public meetings, they have a part to play, too,
in giving Putnam's alienated bowlers a
renewed belief in collective action. As the
organizer old guard passes on its experience,
we can only hope that someone will create a
written legacy that marries Alinsky's eloquence
with Chambers' know-how. Now, that book
would deserve the title "radical."
Gorrkn Mayer is a Chicago-based writer and
communicatiom consultant. He currently works
with the Gamaliel Found4tion.
CITY LIMITS
Dressed
to Skill
Why the city's newest
workforce authority is
well suited to its job
By Aaron Fichtner
and K. A. Dixon
THIS TIME, it might be more than just a motto.
The slogan on the Workforce One Web page
of the city Department of Small Business Ser-
vices (DSBS) proucUy proclaims: "Where job
seekers and businesses come together." While
this has always been the goal of the city's job-
training efforts-and while the government
spends millions to this end each year-some-
thing crucial has been missing: a system for accu-
rately determining what skills businesses need in
their employees. As a result, job seekers have too
often lacked both up-to-date career advice and
training for the jobs employers needed to 6.ll.
DSBS, which recently took authority over
the city's adult workforce-development pro-
grams, is in an unusually strong position ro
change this. The transfer of workforce respon-
sibilities to the department, a business-oriented
agency that is overseen by the deputy mayor for
economic development, implies an under-
standing that workforce development is eco-
nomic development, and suggests an opportu-
nity ro bring businesses into the process in a
meaningful way.
Under the current administration, the city has
also begun to move away ftom traditional tax
breaks, and to restructure economic-develop-
ment programs so that the city targets key eco-
nomic sectors for meaningful investment. A sim-
ilar strategy is nor only possible for workforce
development, it is necessary if a sectoral approach
to economic development is to succeed.
Time is of the essence. The combined pres-
sures of the events of September 11 th and the
weakened national economy have resulted in
major job losses for the city. From December
2000 to June 2003, New York City lost
240,000 jobs. By July 2003, the city's unem-
ployment rate stood at 8.1 percent, nearly 2 full
JANUARY 2004
INTELLIGENCE
NYC INC.
A proiec:t of the Center for an Urban Future
percentage points higher than the national rate.
Particularly hard hit were induStries such as
finance, manufacruring, securities, computer
programming, advertising, publishing, motion
pictures, Internet-related industries, telecom-
munications and consulting. The federal gov-
ernment declared an end to the recession in
November 2001, but hard economic times are
still very much a reality for millions of New
Yorkers, to whom constructive career advice
and effective job training have never been more
important. A workforce-development system
geared toward the skill needs of key industries
would benefit these individuals, businesses and
the economy overall.
IfDSBS is to succeed in creating a dynamic,
relevant workforce strategy, it must follow the
lead of other states and cities across the coun-
tty by engaging employers in the development
and design of education and training pro-
grams. This means asking employers, early and
often, about where the job opportunities lie in
key induStries, and about what skills potential
employees will need to succeed. That informa-
tion can then serve both as the foundation for
partnerships berween educational institutions
and employers, and as a basis for job seekers to
make wise choices about their careers and their
training needs.
New York does have some data to build on.
For example, New Yorkers currently have access
to O*NET (Occupational Nerwork), a federal
Department of Labor database that provides
information on the skills, knowledge and abili-
ties necessary to perform nearly 1,000 jobs.
O*NET, which is accessible online, is a good
start, but its information is based on national
data; it lacks vital information about local skill
shortages or other trends that will affect the
demand for particular skills in the city. The New
York State Department of Labor publishes 10-
year projections, updated every rwo years, of the
expected number of job openings in some 700
occupations for the city and the state. However,
the department does not address what skills are
required to perform the jobs it tracks.
Other states are doing much more. For the
past year, the State of New Jersey has been work-
ing with employers, educators and industry
stakeholders, through federally mandated local
Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs), to deter-
mine the skill needs of eight important indus-
tries: information technology, finance, trans-
portation, conStruction, health care, utilities,
tourism and manufacturing. The goal of the pro-
ject is to profile the skill requirements of 80 key
occupations in the state, as well as to identifY
industry trends that will affect the demand for
employees, or for particular skills. The informa-
tion gathered by the Garden State will be dis-
seminated to students, job seekers, educators and
job counselors through a searchable Internet site.
In Oregon, the state WIB launched the
Health Care Sector Employment Initiative to
address the acute shortage of health-care work-
ers. In 2001, the WIB formed three teams
focused on employment strategies, workplace
issues, and occupational training and educa-
tion, and held a statewide summit to collect
information on the most important needs of
the sector. This effort identified and focused on
11 occupations that had a shortage of qualified
workers. In 2002, the Oregon WIB issued a
"course of treatment"-proposed strategies for
addressing the shortage-which is now being
implemented.
A new law in Virginia requires each local
WIB to develop a plan for future workforce-
development activity based on information
from employers about local labor demand.
Local WIBs will administer surveys and hold
focus groups with employers to identify occu-
pations experiencing worker shortages. The
Department of Commerce and Trade and the
Virginia Employment Commission are leading
this effort at the state level-another example
of a partnership berween economic develop-
ment and workforce development.
The aforementioned efforts are all
admirable, but even they are not enough in and
of themselves. Communication berween
employers and educational institutions cannot
37
INTELLIGENCE
NYC INC.
be a one-time data gathering exercise. For any
workforce system to succeed, the dialogue with
employers must be ongoing, and conducted in
a language that both sides understand. In
places without this kind of dialogue, work-
force-development programs, community col-
leges, technical schools, and colleges and uni-
versities can do little more than make their best
guess at what their students need to know.
Many of these programs offer certificates, cer-
tifications and even degrees, leading job seekers
to believe that they are earning the qualifica-
tions they need for the kind of work they want,
as well as credentials that employers will recog-
nize. But all too often neither job seekers nor
employers are getting what they need.
For example, in the construction industry
in New Jersey, employers cite the need for
many of their workers to have "advanced math
skills." But what this means to them is not nec-
essarily what it means to educational institu-
tions. These employers explain that while
many high school and college graduates leave
school understanding basic and advanced math
theory and concepts, these grads frequently are
unable to apply the math to work situations.
To address the need for ongoing dialogue
with employers, DSBS need look no further for
inspiration than the city's own Garment Indus-
try Development Corporation (GIDC), which
provides one of the best models for aligning
training programs with the skill needs of a par-
ticular industry. GIDC, which was creared by a
labor union to upgrade the skills of its mem-
bers, works closely with garment companies to
design curricula thar provide career paths and
opportunities for garment workers. North Car-
olina has taken a similar approach srarewide,
partnering with irs community colleges to cre-
ate a manufacturing certification program.
Individuals who complete the program, which
includes courses in subjects as teamwork and
communications, measurements and math,
earn a certificare thar is recognized by manu-
facturing companies across the state.
In New Jersey, a labor supply-and-demand
analysis completed in the fall of 2002 by the
Heidrich Center for Workforce Development,
a research and policy organization at Rutgers,
The State University of New Jersey, concluded
that the state was likely to experience a severe
shortage of employees in the pharmaceutical
industry. To encourage collaboration to com-
bat the problem, the HealthCare Institute of
New Jersey, the industry group for the phar-
maceutical and medical-device sectors, brought
together industry and education leaders at reg-
ular "skill summits." These summits produced
38
numerous partnerships between educational
institutions and employers, as well as the devel-
opment of new degree programs.
Once the dialogue has been started and the
relevant information is being collected, the
final step is to make rhat information available
to those who need it. Job seekers and students
often make decisions about careers and occu-
pational training based on anecdotal informa-
tion and advice from friends or relatives. In
addition, individuals rarely know the types of
skills or educational requirements that they
need for particular careers or occupations, and
are unable to keep up with the constantly
changing skill requirements of employers. A
successful workforce system should provide
the tools to allow individuals to make
informed choices.
Dialogue with
employers must
be ongoing, and
conducted in a
language
that both sides
understand.
New York state's CareerZone Web site pro-
vides a strong foundation for further efforts. The
site uses dara ftom O*NET to deliver informa-
tion on the skill requirements and attributes of
occupations to high school students in a
straightforward, user-friendly manner.
Silicon Valley's NOVA Workforce Invest-
ment Board, which with assistance from the
David and Lucille Packard Foundation has
launched an ambitious effort to identify the skill
needs of key jobs in the region, offers another
model. The WIB has developed clear, accessible
materials to deliver information on careers to
students and job seekers. These include both
print and online reference guides that provide
everything ftom labor-market information to
advice on preparing for a job interview.
The prescription for New York's workforce
system is clear: The city must work to build a
bridge between employers and providers of job
training and education. The ciry's leaders
should take particular pains to convince
employers that this is not a dead-end dara-col-
lection exercise, but one that will lead to
action. We have found in New Jersey that
employers are willing to be a part of the effort
as long as it has a clear purpose and relates to
tangible improvements in the workforce.
There are concrete steps that the city can
take right now. DSBS should inaugurate its
management of the city's adult workforce-
development programs by working with the
WIB to determine the skill needs of employers
in important industries, and to identifY skill
gaps and shortages. Industry advisory groups
should be convened for each selected sector, to
guide the effort. Members of these groups must
be familiar with the needs of the given indus-
try, and might include top executives, human-
resources managers or even operations man-
agers from the relevant field. Focus groups,
interviews and surveys could be used to obtain
input from additional employers.
The city and its advisory groups must then
work closely with the educational institutions
and community-based organizations that pro-
vide workforce-development services, in order
to determine how to deliver the skills employ-
ers seek. Foundations or industry associations
can also play important leadership roles, work-
ing with the city to help support educational
institutions, community-based organizations,
and workforce-development providers that
develop creative ways to address skill shortages
and gaps. Both North Carolina's manufactur-
ing certification program and GIDC can serve
as useful models as well.
Skill summits, such as those convened in New
Jersey in the pharmaceutical industry, are also a
good mechanism for disseminating information,
as well as an opportunity for industry and educa-
tion leaders to discuss areas for collaboration and
partnership. These summits can focus partici-
pants on a common goal, and can produce the
seeds of innovative partnerships, as they have in
New Jersey's pharmaceutical industry.
By taking these steps, the city can begin to
build a dynamic, demand-driven workforce-
development system that both its job seekers
and its employers deserve .
Aaron Fichtner is the director of research and
evaluation at the John J Heidrich Center for
Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey. KA. Dixon is a senior
project manager at the center.
CITY LIMITS
Charity
Busters
continued from page 19
tigators. The handwriting on the group's 990s was
barely legible. The forms, which are supposed to
be filed with the AG's office every year, hadn't been
submitted in three years. More important, in years
the group did submit the filings they were incom-
plete, with hundreds of thousands of dollars unac-
counted for.
Some grantees were also complaining that
they hadn't received funds in years, according to
the AG report. Of the $1.1 million BUFNY
raised through payroll deductions in fiscal year
2000, only $7,000 went to its designated chari-
ties. Payments to those charities, acknowledges
Eady, have "not been high."
So, where did all the money go? With the
"full" consent of BUFNY's donors and grantees,
Eady says, the group decided to change its mis-
sion to "economic empowerment" and invest
grantees' money into several apartment buildings,
in order to create affordable housing in gentrifY-
ing Harlem. When asked by the AG's attorneys
how many donors or grantees knew about the
change in mission, records show that Eady
replied, "Some do, and some don't."
Currently, BUFNY has more than 400 housing
units, at an estimated worth of$15 million to $40
million. Yet the group is somehow still $2 million
in debt. Investigators from the AG's office are try-
ing to figure out why. Eady's cooperation has been
"limited," according to AG documents.
When the new interim board appointed by
Spitzer first arrived at BUFNY's offices this sum-
mer, many of the members were shocked. "It was
like a giant monsoon had come and tossed every-
thing around," says Briding Newell, a board
member and former commissioner of Nassau
Counry's Drug and Alcohol Addiction depart-
ment. "We find something new everyday," she
says, "another piece of the puzzle." The new
chairman, William Davis Jr., an architect from
Harlem, says Eady had "a fundamental, pro-
found, philosophical difference" with traditional
forms of charitable oversight. Says Davis, "It was-
n't clear Mr. Eady understood at all that BUFNY
was a public entity, using public dollars for a pub-
lic mission."
With so little money, such high expenses, and
the disadvantage of being a black charity, Eady
says, a director must creatively find ways to keep
the organization afloat and pay its employees. "I
may have not have been perfect," he says, "but I
never missed a payroll."
Afrer only a few months, Newell, Davis Jr.
and Spitzer's other board appointees voted to
terminate Eady from his $100,000 a year post as
president, along with Eady's secretary, Larry Bar-
JANUARY 2004
ton, who earned $67,000 annually. (Before the
Spitzer team moved in, Eady and Barton, along
with disgraced DC-37 union boss Stanley Hill,
were listed as the group's only board members.)
The new board voted to make Newell its execu-
tive director.
In Harlem, the battle for BUFNY has since
become a turf war. Eady's outraged supporters
claim the new board members are cultural
strangers. "Oreo cookies!" one person at the
church rally called Out, chiding the members
because four of them live in Nassau County.
It doesn't matter if Spitzer wins the gover-
nor's seat, Eady says. The Bureau's actions
against BUFNY show that he is trying to recon-
struct Harlem institutions to bolster his politi-
cal advantage. That sends a dangerous message
to black voters and community leaders. Long-
time tenant organizer James Lewis, who runs
Operation Takeback Harlem, has taken Eady's
fight to the streets with the picketers. Lewis says
it doesn't matter if Eady committed any finan-
cial wrongdoing while running BUFNY. The
issue is domain.
"They're outsiders," he said of Spitzer's
appointees.
COULD THE AG'S proposed regulations
stop a BUFNY-style debacle-if a board or a direc-
tor is determined to get away with it? Probably not,
contends lawyer Dan Kurtz. "There are a lot of bad
people in the world," he muses.
Even supporters think Spitzer will have to
overcome many obstacles for the proposed bill
to become more than just a list of talking points.
The first problem, many say, is resources. If the
Charities Bureau is already strapped for money
and manpower, how can it make sure its new
laws are enforced?
The second problem is political. Regardless of
the bill's merits, it was created by a Democratic
contender-so how does the bureau plan to push
it through the Republican-controlled State Sen-
ate? Ask virtually any of SOX's supporters what
the game plan is to slip the revised bill past
Majority Leader Joe Bruno in this year's session.
The response is usually a shrug.
''The hope," says Small, "is that the good
governance of nonprofits won't be seen as a par-
tisan issue. " To Delany, that lofry aspiration is a
pipe dream. Asked about SOX's future, he
chuckles: "Unfortunately, the Republicans in
the state Senate would rather fund Eliot's entire
campaign for Governor than hand him a victo-
ry like this."
Floch says that it's not important anymore
whether the law passes, because its goals are
already being accomplished. "The whole
point is to get non profits thinking more about
ways they can govern themselves better," she
says. "By now, with all the back and forth,
there might be some groups out there saying,
'You know, maybe we should put together an
audit committee.'"
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39
J oumey to the
Golden
Mountain
continued from page 31
debts back as soon as possible, they are willing to
get low pay and much more willing to tolerate
abusive conditions," he says. As Fuzhounese
migration has risen over the past decade, wages
in these industries have fallen. Indeed,
Fuzhounese have effectively displaced many
Cantonese workers from the Chinatown labor
market, pushing them to seek work elsewhere.
At the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut, 25
percent of the workers are now Chinese, most of
them Cantonese.
As the area's newest immigrants, Fuzhounese
occupy the bottom rung in Chinatown, resent-
ed for lowering wages, straining social services,
and being "fresh off the boat." A Fuzhounese
college student, Keith Young-who emphasizes
that he flew with his parents from Hong Kong
legally-prefers to hang out with mostly Can-
tonese speakers and stays away from East
Broadway, saying the people there are rude and
rural. "They spit on the street all of the time,"
he says. "They still come by boat."
"You walk down East Broadway, you see thou-
sands, maybe tens of thousands, of lost souls
walking around," says Wong. He calls the area "an
. undetonated time bomb," and says that because
the debts are higher than ever, the system contin-
ues to fuel the underworld: Men gravitate to ille-
gal gambling joints, and women see prostitution
as a quicker way to pay back the money.
Jean Zhao, who works with HNIAIDS
patients at the Chinatown Manpower Project,
knows many women who've turned to sex
work to repay debts. One of her clients had
been working at a restaurant under slave-like
conditions-she lived in the restaurant, was
abused, had no time off. She replaced that with
rwo parr-time restaurant jobs, which still
wasn't enough to pay back the debts. So, she
took a third part-time job as a prostitute. Peo-
ple will do whatever it takes to make money,
says Zhao, and they don't think of looking for
help from outside organizations-for fear of
being sent back. They do not use the service
agencies that have Mandarin- or Cantonese-
speaking staff because of their obvious hostility
to the Fuzhounese newcomers. Only one social
service organization-the New Life Center, a
Lutheran church-affiliated group-has a
40
Fuzhounese-speaking staff dedicated to helping industrialists and the poor farmers, with cor-
the Fuzhounese population; it opened in ruption running rampant. China has a "floating
December 2002 as a post-9/11 public assis- population" of more than 100 million-people
tance initiative. who move from rural regions to cities for work
Even Fuzhounese who own their own busi- but are prohibited from getting citizen status in
nesses are struggling to survive-including those cities and therefore cannot own land or
Kevin's parents. His father worked in restau- send their children to school. So, for now, the
rants (and suffered a back injury from repeated impetus to escape remains.
stress); his mother came home afrer midnight And, according to Ko Lin Chin, a new gen-
when she worked as a seamstress. They saved eration of smugglers is cropping up and
and borrowed enough to open their own Chi- recruiting in places like the city ofWenzhou in
nese market this summer. Now, they work even Zhejiang Province-regions that in the past
longer hours running their business--every typically sent people to Europe rather than the
day, 8 a.m. until midnight-but at least they U.S.-as well as three northeastern provinces.
can watch their three-year-old daughter in me -_ Chin reports that smugglers charge people
shop. She rejoined them about a month_ago-;- from the northeast $12,000 to $15,000, since
afrer spending most of her life with her grand- it is easier to get U.S. visas there.
parents in Fuzhou. (Sending newborns back to Banners hanging in Fujian villages discour-
China is a standard babysitting arrangement age people from going to the U.S. Lin remem-
while parents are working.) Kevin's family lives bers seeing them, and she remembers how no
in one room with a makeshifr divider in an one paid attention. Now, however, some peo-
apartment on Catherine Street. They couldn't pie may decide to stay as potential economic
meet the $l,OOO-a-month rent, so they share gains in China develop--and as terrible stories
their apartment with two other families. mter in. Like Lin's.
Difficult conditions in Chinatown have even Lin, the woman who went from working at a
inspired some reverse migration. Don Lee, exec- shoe factoty to landing on a plane in Vancouver,
utive director of the Chinese Consolidated didn't make it to Toronto as planned. The person
Benevolent Association, says a travel agency who met her at the airport said he couldn't get
recently asked for his help in smuggling a group the tickets. She ended up in Vancouver for three
of 60 undocumented migrants back to China. years, where she says she was held captive and
Immigration lawyer Ted Cox also knows of sev- repeatedly 'raped and beaten by her smuggler. He
eral people who've worked here for 10 years and, had her sign up for refugee benefits, so he could
unable to bring their families over through get the money, and he forced her to cook and
reunification laws, simply go back. clean for new arrivals. Afrer two years, he allowed
Life in Fujian Province has certainly
improved thanks to China's global economic
gains-and thanks to remittances from Ameri-
can migrants. An estimated $1 billion is sent to
China every year, according to Jack Wang.
Kevin's grandparents tell him about new build-
ings and parks in his hometown of Fuzhou,
especially in the last two years. They recently
sold their farm to the government, which plans
to build a new road. All this rapid economic
development leads Kwong to believe that some
people now have the option to stay, a choice ear-
lier migrants didn't have.
When Guest visited Ping's hometown in
2001, he saw many new and empty multi-story
homes. He also saw mostly elderly people
walking around with little children who busied
themselves with English classes, waiting for
their turn to come to New York. Guest says
that half of the town's 60,000 to 70,000 people
are in America. The dwindling population sug-
gests that some Fujian villages may be tapped
out. But recruiters continue going into more
remote rural areas, wearing flashy new watches
and boasting of America's bounty.
Wong says China's present economic gains
are only widening the gap between the rich
Lin to work in the kitchen of a nearby restaurant.
It was there that she befriended a woman who
helped her escape to Toronto, where she found
another smuggler who gave her Canadian papers
so she could board a bus to New York.
Lin has paid the $34,000 she owed the Van-
couver smuggler, but he is still looking for her,
afraid she will testifY against him (though that
rarely happens in these cases); his brother, a
government official in Changle's justice depart-
ment, has been threatening her family in
China. To protect her relatives, she can't even
let them know where she lives. "I keep telling
people in China when I hear someone wants to
be smuggled in, 'Don't do it,'" she says. "But
some think I don't want to share the paradise."
And Kevin's mother, who withstands poor
- housing in hopes that her children will have a
better future, believes her son will get a well-
paying job since he speaks English and Chinese.
Afrer all, the family came here for his education.
Now, his uncle wants to come to New York, and
Kevin's mother advises him against it. But if he
really wants to come, he'll find a way .
Amy Zimmer, a Manhattan-based freelance
writer, is New York correspondent for the Public
Radio International program Pacific Time.
CITY LIMITS
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IN THE 1III0NX: WHAT'S JlDnEN WITH NICklAUS' NEW GOLF
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JOB ADS
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LIMITS!
To place a classified ad in
City Limits, e-mail your ad to
advertise@citylimits.org or fax
your ad to 212-479-3339. The
ad will run in the City Limits
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RENTALSPACE
OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE - Brownstone:
Some office space available for rent: Faith-
based org. on Upper East Side (70's), to com-
patible 501(c)3 orgs. focusing on women's
issues, trauma recovery, peace-bUilding.
Rentpeace@aol.com.
OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT - available to non-
profit group(s) on a month-by-month basis.
Two separate 1st floor spaces available: 600
SQ. ft. and 400 SQ. ft. Near Brooklyn waterfront,
short walk from Borough Hall. Contact Edward
Brown, Habitat for Humanity NYC, 718-246-
5656, ext. 317, ebrown@habitatnyc.org.
SPACE AVAILABLE - 1,000 + SQ. feet of Fully
Furnished Loft Office Space in Flatiron area on
20th street off Fifth Avenue. Sublet up to 3
years. No Fee, Many dollars under the market!
3 offices, 4+ workstations, reception area, con-
ference room, kitchen and bathroom. Fully fur-
nished with desks, chairs, conference table, file
cabinets, Norstar phone system with 10 phones
Fully network wired and ready for internet con-
nection Natural lighting with two pyramid sky-
lights 5 ton HVAC unit controlled by tenant Ele-
vator directly into the space. Principals Only.
Inquiries: Call Dolores 212-204-1383 for more
information or e-mail: info@seedco.org.
SPACE AVAILABLE - 216 West 18th Street:
space is approximately 8.5 feet wide by 17 feet
long, incl udes 2 telephone lines and local
calls, local faxes, furniture, Tl line, office
amenities. $1200/month, I-year lease, one-
month security. 212-741-2709 or
leslie.faerstein@musiciansoncall.org.
42
SPACE AVAILABLE - Broadway & 21st Fur-
nished office space within private office suite.
Perfect for small non-profit or independent
professionals. Amenities: conference room,
copy and fax, AC, utilities and cleaning. Con-
tact: Linda at 212-420-0570 ext. 100.
SPACE AVAILABLE - Broadway/36th-space in
renovated, semi-private office. Amenities: con-
ference room, copy and fax, reception, pantry,
AC, utilities, and cleaning. $750-$1450. Con-
tact: nyofficerental@policylink.org or call
Kaoula at 212-629-9570 eX.206
SPACE AVAILABLE - Neighborhood Preserva-
tion Center (NPC) offers the following to eligible
organizations: Work station space - approxi-
mately 150/sQ ft. Access to telephone, fax, lnter-
net, photocopier, printer, and kitchen. Cost starts
at $250/month. Fee scale based on
group's annual budget and staff/volunteer size.
Call Felicia at 212-228-2781 or email
fmayro@nycnpc.org for more information. Two
meeting rooms - for day, evening, and weekend
use. Combined meeting space can accommo-
date up to 40 people, available by arrangement
for modest fees. Call Eric at 212 228 2781 or
email meeting-rooms@nycnpc.org for more
information. NPC is located in the East Village on
11th Street bet 2nd/3rd Avenues.
www.nycnpc.org
SPACE AVAILABLE - Seeking small non-prof-
it (three to seven fit staff) to share furnished
state-of-the-art office and facilities in secure
doorman building. 5,000 SQ. ft. in midtown
with voicemail , copy machine, DSL Rent is
negotiable. Call Maggie at 212-564-7199 ext.
101 or email mbrennan@hwatch.org.
SPACE WANTEO - Ttre Center for Family Rep-
resentation seeks office space to share or sub-
let in the downtown Manhattan/City Hall area.
The Center would like to share reception area,
waiting area, kitchen, conference room, secu-
rity and custodial services, office machines
and computer server. 5-6 private offices need-
ed. Willing to negotiate all shared costs.
Available: January 2004. Contact Selina
Robinson 718-637-6583 or email SRobin-
son@CFRNY.ORG
JOBADS
ACCOUNTANT (PTl - The National Alliance
for the Mentally III of New York City is seeking
a part-time accountant. Description: Manage
finances for small, energetic NYC nonprofit; 3
days/week. Responsible for all accounting and
bookkeeping functions; NYC contracts; bud-
gets and financial reports; audits and taxes;
grant accounting; membership and dona-
tions; employee benefits; vendors and insur-
ance database development and manage-
ment. Required: accounting degree; nonprofit
bookkeeping experience; QuickBooks, Excel ,
and Access. Mid-$20Ks. Apply ASAP: Cover
letter, resume, references:
execdir@naminyc.org OR Executive Director,
NAMI-NYC Metro, 432 Park Avenue South,
#710, New York, NY 10016
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT - Responsible for
the efficient and effective administration of the
residence. S/he is responsible for maintaining all
office functions including supplies, machines,
filing and charting systems, and designated
tasks that support operations. Reports to the
Program Director, takes direction and assign-
ments from the Supportive Services Manager
and Building Supervisor, and works with the fis-
cal Officer and other staff on an as needed basis.
An Associates or Bachelor's Degree. At least three
years of paid fulltime experience performing
office functions described above. Knowledge of
and excellent skills in Microsoft Word, Excel and
Outlook. Demonstrated familiarity with telephone
systems, facsimile and copier machines. Well-
organized, punctual, flexible and able to work
under pressure in an environment that is c u ~ u r
ally diverse. Maintains the inventOlY of office
supplies and equipment and arranges for order-
ing, repair and scheduled maintenance. Main-
tains the administrative office files and assists
with maintenance of tenant filing and chart sys-
tems, both computerized and paper. Maintains
and monitors the communication network of
phones, fax machines and copiers. Creates, files
and maintains personnel forms and including
timesheets, employment applications, insurance
and benefits vacation, sick and holiday records.
Assists in th'e tenant rent billing and collection
process. Prepares all vendor invoices for pay-
ment vouchers. Prepares all purchase orders.
Answers telephones, takes and distributes mes-
sages. Stamps and posts outgoing mail and logs
and distributes incoming mail. Types memoran-
da, letters, procedures, reports and other docu-
ments as assigned. Administers, maintains and
monitors the computerized Local Area Computer
Network. Records minutes of on-site meetings as
appropriate. Bi-lingual (Spanish/English) are
encouraged to apply. Fax resume and cover letter
to HR DEPT. 718-602-9107
AOVOCATEITENANT SUPPORT COOROINATOR
- New Destiny Housing Corporation, a not-for-
profit with the mission of providing housing and
services to low-income domestic violence sur-
vivors and others at risk of homeless ness, is
seeki ng a candidate with a strong background
in organizing and social services. The candidate
will work full-time as an advocate in the Hous-
ingLink Program and providing services to ten-
ants in 3 of New Destiny's buildings in Brooklyn.
The candidate will report directly to the Hous-
ingLink Director. The Qualified candidate will :
maintain the HousingLink Online Resource Cen-
ter; Conduct workshops for shelter residents,
staff, and advocates; Respond to telephone and
website inquiries and advocate on behalf of
individual cases; Assist the HousingLink Direc-
tor to prepare testimony, letters, and position
papers; research issues and programs; explore
opportunities for coalition-building; and develop
strategy; Support the tenant's association; Pro-
vide counseling and service referrals to tenants
as well as workshops on topics of interest to ten-
ants; Develop an inventory of neighborhood-
based resources; Assist with screening of apart-
ment applicants /orientation of new tenants.
Bachelor'S degree required. Masters in social
work, planning, or a related field is highly desir-
able. Minimum of 2 years work experience In
community organizing, affordable or supportive
housing, and/or social services. Excellent
speaking and writing skills, computer literacy,
tenacity and commitment, and ability to work
independently. Salary commensurate with expe-
rience. Excellent benefits. Fax resume and cover
letter to New Destiny at 646-472-0266.
AFTER SCHOOL CURRICULUM SPECIALIST -
Description: Innovative Chelsea-based multi-
service organization seeks extremely creative
person to design and implement standards-
based project oriented curriculum throughout
all component of an after school program foe
elementary school students. NYS certification
and teaching experience a must. Great oppor-
tunity for alternative- minded educators.
Salary $35K plus benefits. Send/fax/email
resume to: Human Resources, Hudson Guild,
441W 26th St., NYC, NY 10001; Fax 212-268-
9983; jobs@hudsonguild.org
ASSISTANT OCCUPANCY SPECIALIST - Large
multi-service agency has a position of Assistant
Occupancy Specialist available in our Senior
Housing Dept. Responsibilities include assisting
in managing of rent-up process for new build-
ings including conduction marketing and .out-
reach, assist waiting lists for HUD 202 buildings.
Some clerical duties. Reqs. HS diploma, BA pre-
f'd. Computer literate, excellent communication
skills. Bi-lingual a+. Benefits. Fax resume to:
718-722-6134, Attn.: C. Ferrari , EOElAA.
ASSISTANT PROGRAM DIRECTOR - The Citi-
zens Advice Bureau (CAB) is a large, multi-ser-
vice non-profit organization serving the Bronx for
more than 31 years. The agency provides a broad
range of individual and family services, includ-
ing walk-in assistance and counseling, se.rvices
to special-needs populations, such as Immi-
grants, children, adolescents, seniors, homeless
families and singles, individuals and families
affected by Hlv/AIDS. CAB provides excellent
benefits and offers opportunities for advance-
ment. Resumes and cover letters indicating
position of interest may be mailed to 2054 Mor-
ris Ave. Bronx, NY 10453, or faxed as directed.
The COBRA Program seeks an Assistant Program
Director for an intensive case management pro-
gram. This is a dynamic opportunity to work w.ith
a high needs population. ResponSibilities
include supervision of staff, and conducting
staff trainings. The position requires an MSW.
Experience with Quality assurance and director
services preferred. Fax credentials to J. Smlth-
Houk at 718-293-9767. CAB is an equal oppor-
tunity /affirmative action employer.
ASST TO THE CHAIRPERSON! FOUNDER OF
MENTORING USA - Mentoring USA, NYC's
largest site-based, one-to-one mentoring pro-
gram, seeks a well-organized & detail orient-
ed Executive Asst to handle all admln functIOn
for its Chairperson & Founder, Former First
Lady of New York State, Matilda Raffa Cuomo.
Qualifications: Bachelor'S Degree with a con-
centration in Engl ish or Communications pre-
ferred. The right candidate will have excellent
communication, organizational & social skills,
and will also have experience working with
high-profile VIPs &lor executives. The ability to
work under pressure & independently IS cru-
cial. Computer proficiency (MS Office) & good
typing skills required. Salary: $30K w/full ben-
efits. Candidate should submit a
CITY LIMITS
writing sample with resume to: Susan
Moesker via fax: 212-253-1267 or email:
smoesker@mentoringusa.org. EOE. A Drug
Free Workplace
BI-LiNGUAL [SPANISH-SPEAKING] ATTORNEY
- Represent domestic violence victims;
extensive advocacy, litigation, community out-
reach. Admitted NYS Bar. DV experience pre-
ferred. Excellent benefits. Send resume to: Lois
Schwaeber, Esq., NCCADV, 250 Fulton Avenue,
Hempstead, New York 11550 or fax 516-572-
0715 or email: Ischwaeber@cadvnc.org
BI-LiNGUAL CASE MANAGER - The Hunter
Center on AIDS, Drugs and Community Health
is seeking a highly motivated, responsible and
caring worker, bilingual fluent/bicultural
Spanish, to work with adolescent males at Rik-
ers Island and in the community at a partner
agency in an HIV prevention
intervention/research project. Must be com-
fortable facilitating groups, conducting
intakes, keeping careful notes. Must be able to
get DOC clearance and willing to travel.
Experience with CJ, HIV prevention and
adolescents a plus. Please email your
resume to: jdaniels@hunter.cuny.edu or
huntercenter-jobs@yahoo.com, put Case Man-
ager Search in the subject line of your email or
via regular mail to: Hunter College - CADCH,
425 East 25th Street, 8th floor, West Bldg. ,
New York, NY 10010. Attn: Case Manger
Search. No faxes or phone calls please. EOE.
BILINGUAL CENTER MANAGER - Help entre-
preneurs in the Bronx start their own business-
es! Recruit entrepreneurs, provide new mem-
bers with business training and assistance (in
Spanish and English), help entrepreneurs apply
for loans and manage a portfolio of loans.
Learn more at www.projectenterprise.org.
Fax/email resume to 212-678-6737 or
bethd@projectenterprise.org.
BOROUGH HOUSING ASSISTANT / BROOKLYN
(PT) - The City Wide Task Force on Housing
Court, Inc., is currently seeking a part-time Bor-
ough Housing AssistantIBrooklyn. Responsibili-
ties: Distribute information to unrepresented lit-
igants in borough housing courts. Provide gen-
eral assistance at the Task Force information
table and with the telephone hotline. Assist Bor-
ough Coordinators in obtaining documentation
of problems from unrepresented litigants, and
monitoring the courtrooms and hallways of
housing court to determine problems experi-
enced by unrepresented litigants. Qualifications:
Minimum of one-year experience with
landlordltenant issues or other relevant commu-
nity service. Bilingual preferred. Send Resume
and cover letter to the City-Wide Task Force on
Housing Court, 29 John Street, Suite 1004, New
York, NY 10038, Attn: Stephanie Townsend-
Bakare, Executive Director, or by fax: 212-962-
4799 or email : stephaniet@cwtfhc.org. Salary:
$14/hr, with excellent benefits. Please, no calls.
BUSINESS MANAGER (PT - 25hrslweek) -
Develop new business relationships, design
proposals and manage accounts for our grow-
ing and dynamic consumer-driven Horticulture
business. The business operates as part of a
larger vocational rehabilitation program ser-
JANUARY 2004
vicing formerly homeless, mentally ill people.
Prior business and/or marketing experience
necessary. Related education and experience
preferred. Send resume/cover letter to: Patricia
Dawes, GRCC, Top Opportunities, 577 Colum-
bus Avenue, NY, NY 10024. www.goddard.org
CACFP PROGRAM ASSOCIATE - NMIC seeks
a Program Associate for our NYSDOH Child and
Adult Care Food Program, which provide reim-
bursement to family daycare providers for
meal expenses. Responsibilities: 1) enrolling
new family daycare providers into program; 2)
training providers on CACFP guidelines and
menus; 3) Coordinating required nutrition
training; 4) conducting home visits to ensure
providers are following CACFP guidelines; 5)
collecting, reviewing and entering providers'
monthly menus and attendance record data
into CACFP computer database; 6) submitting
monthly claims; 7) preparing and distributing
monthly checks to providers; and 8) handling
other CACFP related tasks. Qualifications: 1)
BS in Early Childhood Education; 2) least 2
years experience in family daycare; 3) Bilingual
English/Spanish; 4) Highly organized, detail
oriented and previous administrative experi-
ence. To apply please send a resume and cover
letter to: Andrea Vaghy, Director of Workforce
Development Fax 212-928-4180 or email
andreavaghy@nmic.org No Calls Please!
CASAC COUNSELOR (JAMAICA IPRn - FEGS
continues to set the standard for excellence
and innovation. We are the largest, not-for-
profit health related and human service corpo-
ration in the US with an operating budget in
excess of $167 million, over 3,000 employees,
twelve subsidiary corporations and operations
in 280 facilities throughout the metropolitan
New York Area. FEGS also provides consulting
services and technical assistance nationally
and internationally. We seek experienced appli-
cants to work in our Jamaica IPRT (Intensive
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Treatment) Pro-
gram, which serves adults with co- occurring
psychiatric, and substance abuse disorders.
This program assists clients improve their
functioning in areas of work, education, living
and socialization. The CASAC Counselor will
provide individuaVgroup counseling and reha-
bilitation services to individuals with co-
occurring mental health and substance abuse
disorders. Must be able to do intake, vocation-
al assessment, case note documentation, and
lead groups. CASAC and a BA degree required.
Experience in rehabilitationltreatment settings
preferred. We offer a competitive salary and
benefits package (4 weeks vacation). If you are
interested, please send resume and cover let-
ter with salary requirements to our HR Consul-
tants: HR Dynamics, Inc. (Dept. BHISS) 161
William Street, 4th Floor, New York, New York
10038 or fax 212-366-8555 or email
sgsmalls@hr-dynamics.com. EOE, M/FIDN.
CASE MANAGER - Bushwick Family Residence,
a Salvation Army Tier II for homeless families,
seeks a Case Manager. Experience with this pop-
ulation preferred. BA degree required. Salary
$30,900. Send resume and cover letter to:
Peanette Scott, Fax 718-574-2713.
CASE MANAGER - Experienced Case Manag-
er needed to work with the frail elderly popula-
tion in Queens. Candidate must have a Bach-
elors degree in Social Work, Human Services or
other related field, and experience in the
human service field. Fax or email resume and
cover letter to Karen Gore, Director, at 718-
426-2250 or nyulkmg@nyc.rr.com.
CASE MANAGER - Position is within NMIC's
Domestic Violence and Employment Project - a
new project to address the employment and
economic stability and safety of victims of
domestic violence. Responsibilities: 1) con-
ducting intake and assessment of partici-
pants, 2) providing case management and
counseling on employment, financial indepen-
dence, work place safety and public benefits,
3) referring clients to supportive services and
4) tracking clients' progress in achieving
goals. Qualifications: 1) bilingual
(Spanish/English), 2) B.A. degree, and 3) 2+
years of experience working with immigrant,
low income and/or domestic violence popula-
tions. To apply please send a resume and cover
letter to: Andrea Vaghy, Director of Workforce
Development Fax 212-928-4180 or email
andreavaghy@nmic.org No Calls Please!
CASE MANAGER - The Citizens Advice
Bureau (CAB) is a large, multi-service non-
profit organization serving the Bronx for more
than 31 years. The agency provides a broad
range of individual and family services,
including walk-in assistance and counseling,
services to special-needs populations, such as
immigrants, children, adolescents, seniors,
homeless families and singles, individuals
and families affected by HIV/AIDS. CAB pro-
vides excellent benefits and offers opportuni-
ties for advancement. Resumes and cover let-
ters indicating position of interest may be
mailed to 2054 Morris Ave. Bronx, NY 10453, or
faxed as directed. The Services For Seniors pro-
gram is seeking a Case Manager. The position
requires a Bachelor's degree, interpersonal
skills and organizational skills. Knowledge in
dealing with the aged and bilingual
English/Spanish is a plus. Fax credentials to
M. Edwards at 718-293-9767. CAB is an equal
opportunity /affirmative action employer.
CASE MANAGER - The Citizens Advice
Bureau (CAB) is a large, multi-service non-
profit organization serving the Bronx for more
than 31 years. The agency provides a broad
range of individual and family services,
including walk-in assistance and counseling,
services to special-needs populations, such as
immigrants, children, adolescents, seniors,
homeless families and singles, individuals
and families affected by HIV/AIDS. CAB pro-
vides excellent benefits and offers opportuni-
ties for advancement. Resumes and cover let-
ters indicating position of interest may be
mailed to 2054 Morris Ave. Bronx, NY 10453, or
faxed as directed. The Services For Seniors pro-
gram is seeking a Case Manager. The position
requires a Bachelor's degree, interpersonal
skills and organizational skills. Knowledge in
dealing with the aged and bilingual
English/Spanish is a plus. Fax credentials to
M. Edwards at 718-293-9767. CAB is an equal
opportunity /affirmative action employer.
JOBADS
CASE MANAGER (Assertive Community Treat-
ment) - Provide case management and psy-
chiatric services on our Homeless ACT Team in
Upper West Side and West Harlem. Be part of a
creative, dynamic team-serving people with
severe mental illness and addiction, helping
your clients achieve psychiatric and medical
stability, sobriety, housing and employment.
Able to drive strongly preferred, bilingual pre-
ferred, experience in mental health or addic-
tion a plus. Salary mid $20's, excellent bene-
fits. Fax letter, resume to Alison Arthur at 212-
531-3636 or mail to Alison Arthur, ACT Team,
Goddard Riverside Community Center, 593
Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10024
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER - Neighborhood
Housing Services of New York City ("NHS") is a
citywide, not-for-profit community revitaliza-
tion organization working to increase invest-
ment in underserved neighborhoods; to
encourage and support neighborhood self-
reliance through resident-led community orga-
nizations; and to create, preserve, and promote
affordable housing in New York City neighbor-
hoods. The Chief Executive Officer will have
primary responsibility for managing the orga-
nization's day-to-day activities and operations,
leading the organization's fundraising, direct-
ing and coordinating the work of a profession-
al staff, and serving as the primary spokesper-
son for NHS. The Chief Executive Officer will
have a working knowledge of community
development issues and be a leader and man-
ager who is adept at balancing internal man-
agement with external impact and visibility.
The individual must be an outstanding com-
municator who is able to convey effectively the
mission and activities of NHS to a variety of
constituencies, as well as to the broader pub-
lic. The ideal candidate will have proven
senior-level managerial, problem-solving,
strategic planning, fundraising and financial
management experience to support a complex,
multi-site organization, as well as solid expe-
rience in the community developmentlhousing
field. Ten years of professional experience and
a Bachelor's degree are minimum require-
ments. Familiarity with New York City and its
particular community development challenges
and opportunities is desirable. To apply for the
position, please send a substantive cover let-
ter, resume, and a representative writing sam-
ple to: Lauren I. Gumbs, Executive Search Con-
sultant, ligsearch@aol.com
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER - A well-estab-
lished large, human service non-profit corpo-
ration is seeking a chief financial officer. The
position includes full responsibility for strate-
gic management of the corporation's financial
affairs, encompassing multi-source contracts,
grants, real estate development and asset
management. This individual will promote and
manage an expanding set of revenue opportu-
nities including complex financial and man-
agement systems. Essential skills include:
extensive financial knowledge, IT systems,
ability to work effectively with senior managers
as well as high level public and private execu-
tives in partnering agencies, capital sources
and government. Verbal and written communi-
cation skills and the ability to think and act
strategically are essential. Please forward
43
~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
JOBADS
resume and cover letter to: Attn: Nancy Schon-
berg, Palladia, Inc., 10 Astor Place, NY, NY
10003, Fax 212-375-0851. E-mail:
nancy.schonberg@pal ladiainc.org.
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER - Responsible
for managing the housing production, real
estate development and all internal affairs.
The candidate should have a graduate college
degree and over 10 years of work experience,
preferably in the field of real estate develop-
ment and/or not for profit management.
Salary: $70,000. Send resume and cover to fax
718-246-2787.
COMMUNITY ASSISTANT - Manhattan Com-
munity Board 8 is seeking a Community Assis-
tant to work in the Community Board 8 Upper
East Side office beginning on or about Novem-
ber 17, 2003. As a staff member, the Commu-
nity Assistant's responsibilities include: Work-
ing as committee liaison to the Street life
Committee which includes researching all
liquor license and sidewalk cafe applications,
providing assistance to Committee Co-Chairs
and notifying the public of scheduled meet-
ings; Serving as liaison to various Community
Board 8 committees; Assisting in the notifica-
tion to community members of Board events;
Assisting in the preparation for Full Board and
Land Use Committee meetings; Assisting in
the monthly distribution of the calendar;
Assisting constituents with complaints
regarding delivery of municipal services Qual-
ifications: Ability to handle multiple tasks and
keep track of details; Strong interpersonal
skills; Experience in city government and/or
community-based; organizations a plus Col-
lege degree preferred; Knowledge of electronic
mail, Microsoft word, Excel and Access Salary:
$23,000-$26,000, commensurate with educa-
tion & work experience Send resume to: Man-
hattan Community Board 8 505 Park Avenue,
Suite 620 New York, NY 10022-1106 Fax: 212-
758-4616 Email: cb8m@aol.com No telephone
calls please. Manhattan Community Board 8 is
a small city agency, representing the Upper
East Side and Roosevelt Island. The Board
plays an advisory role on a wide range of
issues affecting this district. The Community
Board office plays a support role for the ali-vol-
unteer Board and assists local residents, busi-
nesses and institutions with municipal service
delivery complaints. For further information,
see our web page at www.decny.com/cb8.
COMMUNITY ASSOCIATE - Westside (Man-
hattan) Community Board seeks PIT or FIT
Community Associate to provide administra-
tive support and undertake tasks related to
outreach, planning and advocacy. Specific
responsibilities include: processing citizen
complaints; monitoring/reporting community
conditions; assisting with meeting prepara-
tions/follow-up. Qualifications: knowledge of
government, good computer and interpersonal
skills, self- starter. Compensation equivalent
to $26-28K FIT. Cover letter should specifically
indicate interest in THIS position, and if
applicable, reasons enabling part-time status.
CB4 is an Equal Employment Opportunity
Employer. Send materials via fax 212- 947-
9512 or e-mail: job@ManhattanCB4.org. More
information: www.ManhattanCB4.org.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT VISTA MEMBER
- Rewarding yearlong VISTA positions avail-
able with leading Brooklyn CDC. Help Fifth
Avenue Committee launch and expand projects
in affordable housing, adult education, finan-
cial literacy, job training and criminal justice
reform. Compensation: living stipend, educa-
tion award, health insurance, childcare
stipend. Job announcement at
www.fifthave.org. Send cover letter, resume to
tanderson@fifthave.org.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER - Develop organiz-
ing strategies, coordinate events, build mem-
bership, maintain database, etc. Require-
ments: commitment to LGB/transgender
empowerment, experience in grassroots orga-
nizing and leadership development, highly
organized, strong computer skills. lGBT, peo-
ple of color, and disabled individuals encour-
aged to apply. Send cover letter and resume
ASAP to advocacyorganization@earthlink.net.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER/INTERFAITH ORGA-
NIZER - The Northwest Bronx Community
and Clergy Coalition seeks organizer to coordi-
nate work involving churches, mosques
and synagogues. 5 years experience,
Spanish required. 32-42K plus benefits. For
details, see job bank at noacentral.org.
Send resume and letter to Clay Smith,
nwbstaffdir@mindspring.com, fax 718-329-
2848.
CONTROLLER - The Controller will serve as
the financial executive responsible for MFE and
its affiliates' financial, reporting and internal
control systems. The Controller will report direct-
ly to the Executive Director and will be responsi-
ble to the Board of Directors for the timely and
accurate production of financial statements.
Please view full job description at www.aafe.org
COORDINATOR OF ADULT EDUCATION -
Responsibilities include: recruit students;
design curricula; teach English, Spanish, com-
puter literacy and GED classes; supervise pro-
ject staff; fundraising. Salary based on experi-
ence, generous benefits. Bi-lingual
English/Spanish a must. Adult education and
organizing experience preferred. Email/fax
resume and cover letter to Andrew Friedman:
Andrew@maketheroad.org or 718-418-9635.
CYPRESS HILLS TENANT ORGANIZER - The
Cypress Hills local Development Corp. is a
multi-faceted not-for-profit community devel-
opment organization, serving a struggling eth-
nically diverse neighborhood in Northeast
Brooklyn. The organization sponsors compre-
hensive housing preservation, economic devel-
opment, and youth and human services pro-
grams that address the needs of over 8000
residents per year. Responsibilities: Organize
and educate tenants in severely distressed
buildings about their rights and assist in the
establishments of tenant and block associa-
tions; Assist individual tenants and landlords
to resolve housing conditions and access
housing benefits, grants, loans; Conduct out-

RUMBL IN THE BRONX OVER
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New York really works.
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Bye-mail, by fax or on the web, you'll find information-packed updates on
housing, politics, development education, social services-and breaking
news on budget and legal decisions that decide the city's future.
44
There's more in CITY LIMITS wrnrn[J:.Z[],1?:
Job ads for New York's non profits.
Events listings telling you where the latest action is.
CITY LIMITS
START THE WEEK WITH NEWS THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE.
E-MAIL WEEKLY@CITYLIMITS.ORG, OR CALL 212-479-3315.
CITY LIMITS
reach throughout the community disseminat-
ing information on housing rights and advo-
cate for clients in administrative hearings and
with government agencies; Develop, organize
and assist in the establishment of a Cypress
Hills Tenant Coalition and provide ongoing
support to tenants and tenant leaders. Qualifi-
cations; BS in Urban Studies, Social Work, or
related field; Well-organized, highly motivated
self-starter to work both independently and as
part of a team; Knowledge of housing law,
housing programs, & rent stabilization and
regulations preferred; Commitment to working
with culturally diverse community and work
environments; Excellent communication &
writing skills; EnglishlSpanish bilingual pre-
ferred; Computer literate. Salary: High 20s to
low 30s depending on educational background
and!or experience; health, dental and other
fringe benefits offered. If interested, please
mail or fax resume to: Elvin Nunez, Tenant
OrganizerlProgram Director, Cypress Hills Local
Development Corporation, 3214 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn, NY 11208, fax 718-647-2104
DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE - Award winning
supportive housing program in downtown
Brooklyn seeks Development Professional.
Responsible for expanding base of private giv-
ing; working with volunteers to develop special
events; developing marketing plan including
newsletter and annual appeal; preparing pro-
motional materials. Report to Executive Direc-
tor. Send cover letter including salary history,
writing sample, and resume to Human
Resources, fax: 718-625-0635
DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE - Brooklyn com-
munity organizing group seeks Development
Associate. Temporary with possibility of perma-
nent. Responsibilities: grant writing, database
management, communications. Strong writing
and technology skills required. Women and pea-
pie of color encouraged to apply. Send resume
and cover letter attn: Karen, Make the Road by
Walking, 301 Grove Street, Brooklyn, NY 11237.
DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE - The New Press,
an award-winning not-for-profit book publish-
er, seeks a full-time Development Associate to
support the Press's fundraising efforts with
foundations and individual donors. Responsi-
bilities include: Assembling and some drafting
of grant proposals; Tracking all grants and
grant payments, renewals, etc.; Maintaining
updated accounting of all grant income; Track-
ing and drafting grant reports; Coordinating
special events, including managing invita-
tions, guest lists, catering, rentals, follow-up
correspondence, and collections; Keeping
development minutes, tracking foundation
contacts; Managing all foundation-related
documents & database files; Conducting foun-
dation-related research; Coordinating all
development-related book mailings; Drafting
and mailing annual report; Managing mailings
and contacts database of the Press's subscrip-
tion program; Serving as point person for inter-
action with foundations and individual donors.
Previous fundraising experience in a not-for-
profit setting required. Position requires excel-
lent verbal and writing skills, diplomacy,
attention to detail, pro-activeness, discretion,
and high-energy level. Minority applicants are
strongly encouraged to apply. Please submit
resumes to newpress@thenewpress.com
DIRECTOR OF ADULT SERVICES - Responsi -
ble for management, administrative oversight,
supervision and coordination of existing and
future shelters!programs for adult popula-
tions. Responsibilities include direct supervi-
sion of program directors, grant writing, fiscal
administration and community relations.
Experience in program service for the homeless
and multi-site administration necessary.
MAIMS degree, computer literacy and excellent
communication skills a must. Sal $68+ bene-
fits. Fax 212-337-7279 or e-mail resumes to
patricia_delouisa@use.sal vationarmy.org. No
Phone Calls Please.
DIRECTOR OF CONSTRUCTION - NHSNYC, a
Citywide, not-for-profit seeks an energetic and
talented person to lead our 7-person construc-
tion department, to manage and monitor con-
struction projects to homeowners ranging from
rehab lending to major gut rehab and new con-
struction projects. Degree in engineering or
architecture or architecture; five years working
experience, at least two years supervisory or
management experience in new construction!
gut related field; strong experience in housing
development a plus. Fax resume with cover let-
ter and salary requirements to E. McLawrence
212-242-66801 Email: hrdept@nhsnyc.org.
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT - Bronx Overall
Economic Development Corporation, a county-
wide economic development non-profit organi-
zation, seeks professional to manage/imple-
ment fund raising program. 4-6+ years expo
with foundation, corporations, government
grants. Strong writing, computer & organiza-
tional skills essential. Salary and benefits
competitive. Persons of color are strongly
encouraged to apply. Mail or fax resume with
salary req to: Rafael Salaberrios, BOEDC, 198
E. 161st Street, Suite 201, Bronx, NY 10451;
fax 718-590-3499. No call s please.
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT - Lawyers
Alliance for New York, which provides legal ser-
vices to NYC nonprofit groups using staff and
volunteer attorneys, seeks professional to
managelimplement annual fundraising pro-
gram. 4-6+ years fund raising expo with foun-
dations, corporations, law firms, events, etc.
Supervise staff. Strong organizational, com-
JOBADS
puter, writing and interpersonal skills essen-
tial. Salary and benefits competitive. Qualified
minority applicants and persons of color are
strongly encouraged to apply. Mail or fax
resume with salary req to: S. Delany, LANY, 330
Seventh Avenue, 19th floor, NYC, 10001, fax
212-941-7458. No calls please.
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT - Rockaway
Development and Revitalization Corporation
(RDRC), a community development corporation
serving the people of the Rockaway Peninsula,
seeks a dynamic, results-oriented Director of
Development. Responsibilities: plan and exe-
cute a comprehensive, diversified and aggres-
sive fundraising program Requirements: must
be well-versed in foundation and corporate
fundraising, capital campaigns and special
events, as well as government contracts; a
proven results-oriented track record; knowledge
of the community development field a plus;
Bachelor's degree plus 5 years of successful
fundraising experience; strong organizational ,
written, interpersonal and computer skills; the
ability to manage multiple projects concurrent-
ly. Salary: competitive salary plus excellent ben-
efits. Send cover!resume to fax 718-327-4990.
RDRC is committed to workforce diversity. EEO.
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND HUMAN
RESOURCES - This position reports to the
Executive Director. Compensation: High $50's
+ benefits, will consider consulting arrange-
ment. Requirements: An experienced, take-
charge professional who can manage and
guide the growth of our well-established and
growing agency, B.A. Accounting or Finance,
CPA a plus; 5+ years' experience as Con-
trolierlDirector Human Resources comparably
sized organization ($1.5+ million expense
budget); Experience with restricted fund
accounting; Establish and maintain financial
and personnel policies and procedures; Review
PROFESSIONALDIRECTORY
SPECIALIZING IN REAL ESTATE
J-51 Tax Abatement/Exemption 421A and 421B
Applications 501 (c) (3) Federal Tax Exemptions All forms
of government-assisted housing, including LISC/Enterprise,
Section 202, State Turnkey and NYC Partnership Homes
KOURAKOS & KOURAKOS
Attorneys at Law
Eastchester, N.Y.
Phone: (9141 395-0871
Social Policy Research Design and Evaluation
Valnl0nt Consulting LLC
Mary Eustace Valmont, Ph.D.
Phone: 7187888435 Fax: 7187880135
Email: valmont-consulting@earthlink.net
JANUARY 2004
212.721.9764
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JOB ADS
major categories expense regularly to identify
savings; Strong FUND EZ, Excel and Word pro-
ficiency. Responsibilities: Develop and monitor
expense/revenue budget; Work with Executive
Director and Treasurer to develop financial
presentations for Board meetings; Prepare
monthly and quarterly reports for financial
results; Work with auditor to prepare financial
statements, Form 990; Work with Department
Heads to monitor performance to budget; Man-
age cash balances; Supervise junior Finance
staff; Human resources issues including: per-
formance appraisals, hiring and termination,
progressive discipline, regulatory compliance.
If Interested, send resume/cover letter to by
email , mail or fax:
jobposting@breadandlife.org or Executive
Director, St. John's Bread and Life Program 75
Lewis Ave. Brooklyn, N.Y. 11206 or fax Execu-
tive Director, St. John's Bread and Life Program
718-455-7796. For more info: www.breadan-
dlife.org. No Phone Calls.
DIRECTOR OF HOMEOWNERSHIP SERVICES
- The Director of Homeownership Services
oversees all homeownership education and
lending components that are part of Neighbor-
hood Housing Services' full cycle lending pro-
grams. The Director will design, train, imple-
ment and assess pre-purchase education,
homeownership counseling and post-purchase
programs in insurance, delinquency preven-
tion and anti-predatory lending. Experience in
housing and mortgage lending required, along
with a track record in designing and imple-
menting innovative programs. Teaching expe-
rience helpful. Strong supervision skills
essential. Fax resume with cover letter and
salary requirements to E. McLawrence 212-
242-6680/email hrdept@nhsnyc.org
DIRECTOR OF HOUSING - Arizona Family
Housing Fund, Phoenix, AZ - The Arizona Family
Housing Fund, which was launched by the Star-
dust Foundation with seed funding of $20 mil-
lion over 5 years is seeking a new Director of
Housing. This is an exciting opportunity for an
experienced Housing Director to lead an organi-
zation focused on providing opportunities for
Arizona's low-income working families to build
better lives by preserving and expanding afford-
able housing and family support. The new
Director of Housing will report directly to the
President and serve as advisor to the President
regarding housing development, financing and
special housing program activities. He/She will
coordinate and provide leadership internally
and externally regarding products, policies and
other relevant housing issues. The successful
candidate must possess a Bachelor's degree
with a Master's degree strongly preferred. At
least five years demonstrated experience in
housing and,community development and real
estate finance/development. Must have organi-
zational management, planning and superviso-
ry experience. Prefer experience in both home-
ownership and rental housing. To apply: please
contact Donna Cramer at Isaacson Miller, 334
Boylston Street, Suite 500, Boston, MA 02116
Telephone: 617-262-6500; Fax: 617-262-6509;
email : dcramer@imsearch.com
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC POLICY AND GOVERN-
MENT RELATIONS - The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
46
& Transgender Community Center of NYC is seek-
ing a seasoned public policy professional and
community organizer to serve on the Center's
senior management team. Responsibilities will
include management of our public policy pro-
grams, including representing the Center on
related matters at the local, state and federal
level. Qualified applicants will possess proven
community organizing experience; demonstrated
knowledge of political/legislative systems; expe-
rience in a manageriaVpolicy position; and a
strong knowledge of LGBT communities, progres-
sive and related issues. Applicants must be high-
~ organized and possess excellent communica-
tion and interpersonal skills. To apply, submit a
cover letter stating desired position and salary
req with resume to Center HR, 208 West 13th
Street, NYC 10011 or by fax 212-924-2657. No
calls. Visit us on the web at www.gaycenter.org.
The Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
DIRECTOR OF RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT -
Common Ground Community (CGC), an inter-
nally recognized housing development and
property management organization dedicated
to ending homelessness, seeks a Director of
Resource Development to expand and imple-
ment a comprehensive fundraising program,
and to oversee grants administration and indi-
vidual giving. Reporting to the CGC Executive
Director, and together with outside consultants
and its Board of Directors, and program man-
agers, the Director will implement and oversee
all fundraising goals, objectives, and pro-
grams, with special emphasis on foundations
and major individual giving. S\he will also pro-
vide technical expertise in preparing grant pro-
posals, budgets, annual reports, newsletters,
special events, and public relations materials.
Masters degree preferred AND 5-7 years experi-
ence in a comparable leadership position; a
track record of obtaining significant foundation
grants and/or major gifts; superior writing,
analytical , and presentation skills; and the
ability to manage and implement multiple high
priority projects simultaneously. Qualified can-
didates send a cover letter with salary history
and a resume via regular first class mail (no
calls, e-mails or facsimiles) to CGCIHR Attn: JF,
505 Eighth Avenue, New York, New York 10018.
DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES - Well-
established non-profit housing agency in
Westchester County seeks an experienced, cre-
ative administrator with excellent verbal, writ-
ten and management skills. Position requires
an MSW with a minimum of five years supervi-
sory experience in social work. We offer an
excellent salary, benefits and a supportive,
professional work environment. Send resume
with cover letter to Director of Human
Resources, Westhab, 85 Executive Blvd., Elms-
ford, NY 10523. Fax 914-345-3139. Email
westhab@cloud9.net. EOE.
DIRECTOR, COMPREHENSIVE EVENING TEEN
PROGRAM - to lead year- round, community-
based, educational and recreation program,
evenings & summer, for 200 youth aged 12-18,
and supervise 18 p- t staff. Requirements: 2
years' supervisory experience in similar setti ng.
Afternoon & evening hours + 1 Saturday per
month. B.A.; advanced degree preferred. Span-
ish bilingual a +. Annual salary: mid-$30s-
40,000 + comprehensive benefits, incl. 401(K).
New Settlement Apartments & Community Ser-
vices have a strong track record in youth devel-
opment, community building & organizing. See
website of idealist.org, under "new settlement
apartments" for more info. To apply: Send let-
ter, resume and contact info for 3 professional
references to Search Cmte. -Teen Program
Director, New Settlement Apts. 1512 Townsend
Avenue, Bronx, NY 10452. Fax: 718-294-4085.
Email: nsajobs2003@yahoo.com.
EMPLOYMENT SPECIALIST - Duties/Respon-
sibilities: Develop and maintain employer
partnerships that lead to 10 job opportunities
per month for BRC participants. Seek out and
develop jobs with potential employers, create
and maintain job bank and help design train-
ing modules and programs based on employer
needs and specifications. Enter and maintain
participant progress and placement informa-
tion as needed into BRC's database. Related
duties as assigned. Qualifications: BA
required, MS preferred. Job development expe-
rience and established job bank required.
Sales and/or marketing and/or human
resource recruitment experience preferred.
Excellent computer, writing, speaking, and
presentation skills required. Experience work-
ing with the homeless, mentally ill , and sub-
stance abusers a plus. Please send resumes:
Valarie Westphal , Fax: 212-533-1893-0R-
email: ValerieW@bowrescom.org
EMPLOYMENT/OUTREACH COORDINATOR -
Conducts external marketing efforts, provide
counseling to clients, and resp. for overall
coordination of services. Prior coordination
expo required w/ HS diploma, college preferred.
Knowledge of MS Office and MS Access a plus.
Send resumes to: 53 West 23rd Street, NYC
10010 or Fax to 212-633-8456 or email to
jobs@fortunesociety.org. No calls. EOE
EVENING PROGRAM COORDINATOR - for
men's shelter. Supervise eight residents and
instructJob Readiness Program. Part-time job,
Mon-Fri 4:30-8:30pm, $15 an hour. Interested
persons should fax or e-mail their resume to:
Raquel Granda, Director, Cathedral
Community Cares, 212-316-7582 or
rgranda@cathedralcares.org
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT - Seeking seasoned
professional to work directly with Vice President
of Youth Services in the management/oversight
of all program components. Responsibilities:
Research programmatic and funding resources,
grants management, handle a variety of
administrative tasks, organize meetings, take
minutes, draft correspondence, handle calen-
dars, and maintain office records. Requires
strong computer proficiency in MS Word, MS
Publisher, Excel , and PowerPoint. Superior
organizational , writing, oral and interpersonal
skills; ability to be flexible, handle multiple
tasks, meet deadlines, and work as part of a
team. Experience with database management
a plus. Qualifications: Minimum B.A. or equiv-
alent proven work history. Salary commensu-
rate with experience, competitive salary & ben-
efits package offered, bilingual Spanish a plus.
Mail orfax resumes to: Estel Fonseca, Vice Pres-
ident c/o Project READY, The Mount Hope Hous-
ing Co. 2003-05 Walton Avenue, Bronx, NY
10453. Fax 718-466-4788. No telephone calls.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - Neighborhood Hous-
ing Services of Birmingham (NHSB), Birming-
ham, AL, a 25-year old non-profit organization
located in the largest and most dynamic city in
Alabama, seeks an Executive Di rector to lead
and grow its affordable housing, homeowner-
ship counseling, and neighborhood revitaliza-
tion initiatives. Since its inception in 1977, the
goal of NHSB has been to "promote homeown-
ership, housing rehabilitation, establish pre-
ventative maintenance, and empower residents
to identify and meet needs in targeted neigh-
borhoods." However, in recent years the mission
has expanded citywide rather than focusing on
targeted neighborhoods. The Executive Director
will report to a community-based board of
directors, and supervise a professional staff to
deliver housing development programs, includ-
ing new construction, first and second mort-
gage financing, and loans for rehabilitation.
Additionally, the Executive Director will repre-
sent NHSB to an array of constituencies such as
elected officials; city, county, and state officers;
bankers; and community residents. Motivated
and energetic partners and funders are eager to
support NHSB with funding. The successful
candidate must possess a Bachelor's degree
with a Master's degree strongly preferred,
demonstrated experience in housing develop-
ment/construction and real estate finance,
effective administrative and supervisory experi-
ence, and a commitment to community based
service organizations. To apply, please contact
Donna Cramer at Isaacson Miller, 334 Boylston
Street, Suite 500, Boston, MA 02116. Telephone:
617- 262-6500; Fax: 617-262-6509; email :
dcramer@imsearch.com Please reference
code CL when responding.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - Neighborhood Initia-
tives Development Corporation is a non-profit
multi-service organization in the northeast
Bronx operating the following programs: edu-
cational, recreational , arts and leadership pro-
grams for youth; housing assistance for ten-
ants and landlords; employment programs;
commercial revitalization projects and envi-
ronmental initiatives. We are seeking an Exec-
utive Director to manage the day-to-day oper-
ations including: hiring, training, delegating,
and supervising staff; working with Asst. Dir.
and Grant Writer on fundraising activities;
assisting Financial Manager with all financial
matters; engaging in planning and develop-
ment to implement new programs. Req: B.A. &
7+ years at senior management level in a non-
profit organization or similar entity; or M.A. &
4+ years senior management experience. Sub-
stantial fundraising and financial manage-
ment background and direct experience with
the program areas covered by NIDC. Familiari-
ty with the Bronx and NYC non- profit network
a plus. Send cover letter, resume and salary
requirements to: Search Committee, NIDC;
2523 Olinville Avenue; Bronx, NY 10467 NIDC
is an equal opportunity employer.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - The GIDC is a non-
profit consortium of industry, labor and govern-
ment established to retain and improve jobs in
NY apparel manufacturing by increasing the
CITY LIMITS
competitiveness of responsible manufacturers
and maximizing their customer base. The ED
provides vision and leadership for the organiza-
tion and is responsible for financial , program,
and administrative management. For a full
position description, please email:
edsearch@gidc.org. To apply, please send C.v.
and letter of interest to: E.D. Search Committee,
c/o Garment Industry Development Corporation,
275 Seventh Avenue, 9th Floor, New York, NY
10001, Fax: 212-366-6162, edsearch@gidc.org
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - The New York City
Environmental Justice Alliance (NYCEJA) is a non-
profit organization that provides technical and
financial support to grass-roots member groups
based in low-income neighborhoods and com-
munities of color throughout New York City.
NYCEJA is a 10-year old organization formed to
address all forms of environmental injustice
affecting low-income communities of color. Its
programs and policies are developed by the com-
munity-based organizations that comprise its
membership and the majority of its Board. NYCE-
JA seeks qualified candidates for the position of
Executive Director (ED). The ED reports to NYCE-
JA's Board of Directors, which is elected annually
by the member organizations. The ED's principal
responsibilities are as follows: Working with
member organizations and the Board in analyz-
ing and developing the organization's position
and programmatic response on environmental
justice issues; Program development and admin-
istration; Fund-raising and financial oversightfor
NYCEJA; Directing program implementation and
research projects; Hiring staff and evaluating
performance; Uaison between NYCEJA board and
membership; Strengthening the alliance among
its member organizations; Oversee compliance
with pertinent regulations and all filings applica-
ble to not-for-profit corporations. In addition, the
ED serves as NYCEJA's spokesperson and repre-
sents the city-wide alliance in public forums and
in its work with various environmental coalitions.
The successful candidate will have: Experience
with coalition building, membership organizing,
and maintaining political relations; Solid back-
ground in environmental policy, and
economic/social justice advocacy, or community
development and planning; Excellent skills in
communication, collaborative negotiation and
consensus building, in addition to critical think-
ing in the area of strategy development and tac-
tics; Substantial experience in fund raising,
grant writing and non-profit development or
other similar work; Ability to negotiate contracts,
leases and insurance; Excellent writing and oral
presentation skills. Bachelors Degree required;
advance degrees and other relevant professional
experience will be considered. Please send
resume and writing sample to: Mathy Stanislaus
via e-mail mstanisl@concentric.net (e-mail is
preferred) or fax at 718-448-8666.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - Transportation
Alternatives' longtime executive director, John
Kaehny, is stepping down in 2004. lA. is look-
ing for a strong new leader to take his place.
If you have the required skills and experience,
we encourage you to apply. Applications
due by November 15. Read the job
description for more information:
http://www.transalt.org/about/jobs.html#ex
JANUARY 2004
FAMILY DAYCARE TRAINER - NMIC seeks a
Family Daycare Trainer to provide required
training to new and renewing family and group
family daycare providers. Responsibilities: 1)
conducting required health and safety, 30-
hour and other related provider trainings; 2)
conducting home visits and supporting the
individual professional development of
providers; and 3) assisting with other family
daycare network activities as needed including
our lending library, food program, and other
community education and parent and caretak-
er outreach efforts. Qualifications: 1) BS in
Early Childhood Education required; 2) at least
five years experience in child care, preferably
family day care including experience conduct-
ing training; 3) certification to conduct the NYS
required Health & Safety Training; 4) Bilingual
EnglishlSpanish; 5) excellent written and oral
communications skills; 6) highly organized
and detail oriented; 7) Proven team-building
abilities; and 8) computer skills essential. To
apply please send a resume and cover letter to:
Andrea Vaghy, Director of Workforce
Development Fax 212-928-4180 or email
andreavaghy@nmic.org No Calls Please!
FIVE AMERICORPNISTA POSITIONS - NMIC
has 5 AmericorpNISTA positions working with
family daycare providers in our Child Care Net-
work, in our domestic violence program, our
Earned Income Tax Credit Project and working
with non-custodial parents in our employment
programs. In exchange for one year of service,
VISTA members receive a stipend, health
insurance, training, relocation expenses and
an education award. For more information on
each VISTA assignment, please email
andreavaghy@nmic.org. No Calls Please!
FUNDRAISER - Creative fund raiser needed
for a dynamic, well-respected NYC nonprofit
with environmental advocacy, youth and arts
programs. Join our small, friendly office and
bring your ability to identify and secure foun-
dation and corporate grants. Write well , give
and accept constructive criticism, and refresh
our entire fund raising strategy. Perfect for an
experienced fundraiser looking for a change
and more direct contact with program work. 4
days per week. 6 weeks paid vacation. Medical,
dental, 401k. Salary: $40,OOO/year. Send
resume, cover letter to: npbkprs@hotmail.com
GROUP TEACHER - HELP USA, a nationally
recognized leader in the provisions of transition-
al housing, residential & social services, has a
position avail for a Group Teacher. Will supervise
the planning & execution of the educational pro-
gram for the children. Requirements: BAIMA in
Early Childhood Education required. Classroom
experience in an ACD program as well as NYS
certification & bilingual skills (Spanish/English)
is a plus. Please send resumes to: HELP 1 Early
Childhood Program, Attn: Brandy Brooks, 515
Blake Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11207, fax: 718-485-
7303 or email: blbrooks@helpusa.org. EOE. A
Drug Free Workplace.
HOMEOWNERSHIP COUNSELOR - PIT for
wyandanch (Long Island) site. Pre-purchase,
budget and credit counseling; facilitate mort-
gage closings; facilitate homebuyer education
courses; loan packing. Desirable 2 to 3 years
experience as a homeownership counselor.
Assertive, organized and results organized.
Evenings- Monday through Thursday 6:30pm -
9:30pm. Salary range $12 - $15 per hour. Sub-
mit cover letter and resume or request job
description at: Homeownership, Faith Center
for Community Development, 120 Wall Street,
26th floor, NY, NY 10005 or fax 212-785-2787
or email: homeownership@fccd.org
HOUSING DIRECTOR - A nationally recognized
leader providing housing/support services for
people living with AIDS. Administer
housing/property management functions for
supportive housing programs: supervise staff;
consult/negotiate with vendors; develop poli-
cies/procedures; implement systems/controls.
Assure quality housing management services
for clients. Establish goals/objectives of
Department. Ensure compliance with building
codes, landlord/management/leases agree-
ments. Monitor, evaluate, revise housing man-
agement systems. Maintain effective working
relationships with grantors, vendors, related
service organizations. Support the mission and
core values of the agency. BA
management/related field experience in prop-
erty management/real estate administration or
equivalent. Three/five years progressive experi-
ence managing residential property. Knowledge
with supervision, accountability. Skill in man-
agement of a diverse team. Ability to effective-
ly communicate with clients, staff, grantors,
service providers. Computer literate. Knowledge
of property management software. Detail ori-
ented, work independently and with minimal
supervision. Fax resume/cover: 212-414-1431.
HOUSING SPECIALIST (pn - Position is with-
in NMIC's Domestic Violence and Employment
Project - a new project to address the employ-
ment and economic stability and safety of vic-
tims of domestic violence. Responsibilities: 1)
developing a "housing bank" of rooms, apart-
ments and other resources for clients, 2) net-
working with landlords, management compa-
nies, local residents, etc. to find housing for
domestic violence victims, 3) linking clients to
housing and 4) provide information and advo-
cacy regarding fair housing practice. Qualifi-
cations 1) bilingual (SpanishlEnglish), 2)
experience helping low-income individuals
locate housing and 3) knowledge of housing
practices, public housing, etc. To apply please
send a resume and cover letter to:
Andrea Vaghy, Director of Workforce Develop-
ment Fax 212-928-4180 or email
andreavaghy@nmic.org No Calls Please
l
INSTRUCTOR (JOB READINESS, LIFE SKILLS,
AND BASIC COMPUTER) - Duties/Responsi-
bilities: Develop and implement job readiness
and life skills curricula as well as basic com-
puter and internet workshops for unemployed,
homeless, and substance abusers in recovery.
Establish and measure participant progress by
their achievement of established competen-
cies and milestones. Enter participant data as
required into BRC's database and files. Meet
with other staff to discuss participant
progress. Related duties as assigned. Qualifi -
cations: BA required, MS preferred. Previous
teaching/instructional experience required.
Excellent computer, writing, speaking, and
JOBADS
presentation skills required. Experience work-
ing with the homeless, mentally ill, and sub-
stance abusers in recovery a plus. Fax cover
letter and resume to 212-533-1893 to Valerie
Westphal or email to valeriew@bowrescom.org
INSTRUCTORS - The Citizens Advice Bureau
(CAB) is a large, multi-service non-profit orga-
nization serving the Bronx for more than 31
years. The agency provides a broad range of
individual and family services, including walk-
in assistance and counseling, services to spe-
cial-needs populations, such as immigrants,
children, adolescents, seniors, homeless fami-
lies and singles, individuals and families
affected by HIV/AIDS. CAB provides excellent
benefits and offers opportunities for advance-
ment. Resumes and cover letters indicating
position of interest may be mailed to 2054
Morris Ave. Bronx, NY 10453, or faxed as
directed. CAB's Community School for Social
Justice is seeking instructors in dance, visual
arts, community action, and theater for its new
after school program. Responsibilities include
working under the supervision of the Program
Coordinator to provide students with instruc-
tional workshop in the arts (including painting,
poetry, writing, dancing and/or acting); intro-
ducing students to various medias of art
(museums, theater, poetry, readings, art gal -
leries); and preparing students for culminating
presentations. The position requires an Associ-
ate's degree with 2-3 years of work related
experience or a Bachelor's degree with 1 year
related work experience; experience working
with youth; excellent organizational and time
management skills. Fax credentials to V.
Vazquez at 718-590-5866 or e-mail her at
wazquez@cabny.org. CAB is an equal oppor-
tunity /affirmative action employer.
JOB DEVELOPER - Gay Men's Health Crisis
seeks Job Developer to place clients with barri-
ers to employment in suitable employment and
provide ongoing follow up and support to pro-
mote job retention. Responsibilities include
cultivating new relationships with employers
throughout the five boroughs who are willing to
hire individuals with barriers to employment,
matching clients' backgrounds and interests
with appropriate employment, and resolving
problematic situations which may arise with
employees subsequent to their employment.
Specific duties include cultivating and main-
taining positive relationships with employers,
assessing clients' backgrounds, assisting
clients with resume preparation, facilitating
job search skills education to encourage
clients to conduct independent job seeking
and maintaining case files and grant required
statistics. Bachelor's degree in Human
Resource Management, Social Science, Com-
munications or related field required. Demon-
strated experience in developing job opportuni-
ties and placing diverse individuals with bar-
riers to employment in jobs, as well as proven
experience working with former/current sub-
stance users in a social service organization
performing case management are essential.
Experience working with clients living with
HIVIAIDS is a plus. Strong interpersonal/mar-
keting skills, knowledge of current labor mar-
ket trends and Equal Opportunity/employment
laws and regulations are musts. Bilingual
47
JOB ADS
English/Spanish preferred. Qualified individu-
als should send resume with cover letter that
must include salary requirement to GMHC, HR
Dept., 119 West 24th Street, New York, NY
10011, or electronically to jobs@gmhc.org.
GMHC values diversity and is proud to be an
Equal Opportunity Employer.
JOB DEVELDPER - Position is within NMIC's
Domestic Violence and Employment Project - a
new project to address the employment and
economic stability and safety of victims of
domestic violence. Responsibilities: 1) assess-
ing participants' employability, 2) conducting
job readiness workshops, 3) developing link-
ages with employers and placing participants
in employment, and 4) tracking participants'
progress in obtaining employment. Qualifica-
tions: 1) bilingual (SpanishlEnglish), 2) current
job bank, and 3) 3+ years of job placement
experience, particularly with victims of domes-
tic violence. To apply please send a resume' and
cover letter to: Andrea Vaghy, Director of Work-
force Development Fax 212-928- 4180 or email
andreavaghy@nmic.org No Calls Please!
JOB DEVELOPER - The Center for Employ-
ment Opportunities, an employment and train-
ing project for adult men and women ex-
offenders, seeks a Job Developer to strengthen
placement outcomes for participants. The
essential functions include, but are not limited
to, the following: Develop and maintain a tar-
geted list of potential and current employers.
Assess and assist program participants in the
formulation of both short- and long-term voca-
tional plans for placement into permanent,
unsubsidized, full-time employment. Provide
follow-up services to participants and employ-
ers. Act as the liaison between participants
and the funding sources. Document all partic-
ipants and employer contact, including field
visits to worksites, into a computerized case
systems management. Performs other job-
related duties and responsibilities as may be
assigned from time to time. Candidates for
this position should have the following;
Degree; three to five years experience as a Job
Developer or equivalent, sales/marketing
experience a plus. A network of current con-
tacts with potential employers. English/Span-
ish language skills a plus. Compensation is
based on experience, with a good benefits
package. Please submit salary requirements.
Please fax, email or send cover letter, resume
and salary requirements to: Peggy Munoz,
Center for Employment Opportunities, 32
Broadway, 15th floor, New York, NY 10004 Fax:
212-248-4432, pmunoz@ceoworks.org
JOB DEVELOPER - wanted to develop job
opportunities for clients. Must have 2 or more
years' experience and Associates degree or
better with existing contacts in industry. Send
resumes to: 53 West 23rd Street, NYC 10010 or
Fax to 212-633-8456 or email to
jobs@fortunesociety.org. No calls. EOE
JOB DEVELOPERIEMPLOYMENT SPECIALIST
- HELP USA, a nationally recognized leader
in the provisions of transitional housing, resi-
dential & social services, has a position avail
for an experienced Job Developer for vocation-
al program serving the homeless. The ability
48
to develop employer contacts & a viable job
bank is necessary. Requirements: BA or BS
degree preferred. Strong communication &
presentation skills are required. Strong com-
puter skills (in Word & Excel) are necessary.
Bilingual ability (Spanish/English) is pre-
ferred. Please send resumes to: HELP SEC, 1
Wards Island, NY, NY 10035, Attn: Belinda
Eustache, Director of Programs, via fax: 212-
534-9826 or email : Beustache@helpusa.org.
EOE. A Drug Free Workplace.
LEAD SAFE HOUSE DlRECTDR - Director
needed for NMIC's lead Safe House Program,
which provides temporary housing to families
of lead-poisoned children. Responsibilities: 1)
Conducting outreach, and education on lead
paint and other housing-related child health
issues; 2) Supervising and training staff; 3)
preparing monthly and Quarterly reports; 4)
Serving as liaison with funding sources; and 5)
researching funding opportunities and prepar-
ing grant proposals. Qualifications: 1) MSW or
MPH; 2) Bilingual (English/Spanish); 3) experi-
ence in public health, mental health and social
services; 4) experience conducting workshops
and public speaking; and 5) innovative, cre-
ative and able to work independently. To apply
please send a resume and cover letter to:
Andrea Vaghy, Director of Workforce
Development Fax 212-928- 4180 or email
andreavaghy@nmic.org No Calls Please!
LITERACY INTERN - The literacy Intern will
work in the Education and Youth Development
Department, performing duties that will
include organizing, coordinating and main-
taining the Strategic Planning Grant on Com-
munity Engagement on Adolescent literacy. In
addition, the intern will provide support to
NUl's Early literacy initiative, Read & Rise, the
NUUScholastic Partnership and the UPS &
USED Reading Information Centers. Under-
graduate degree in education or other social
science area is required. Must have course-
work in reading and adolescent development.
Strong interpersonal and excellent oral and
written skills required. Must have a minimum
of one-year work experience. Internship ends
6/30/04. 24 hours per week. $16.00 - $18.00
per hour. To apply submit resume and cover
letter to recruitment@nul.org. Please mention
you were referred by Citylimits.org.
LOAN ASSOCIATE - The low Income Invest-
ment Fund (UIF), a non-profit development
financial institution, seeks a loan Associate for
the New York office. UIF is a steward for capital
invested in affordable housing, childcare, job
training, education and other community pro-
grams. The successful candidate will be an
energetic, organized self-starter experienced in
closing, servicing and monitoring real estate
loans. Financial database systems and soft-
ware proficiency is required. Teamwork, com-
munication dedication and flexibility skills are
essential. Must possess a bachelor's degree.
UIF, an EOE, believes that diversity ensures
excellence. Send cover letter, salary require-
ments and resume to hr@liifund.org or fax to
510-893-3964. www.liifund.org
MEDICAL DIRECTDR (FT OR 21 HRSJWK) -
Exciting FT position as Medical Director of a
comprehensive service program for the home-
less mentally illlMlCA on Manhattan's Upper
West Side. Provide assessment and long term,
intensive treatment to isolated, refractory
patients; oversight of on-site psychiatric and
medical services, liaison with hospital-based
physicians and other agencies. Candidate
must be excellent psychopharmacology experi-
ence, strong clinical and interpersonal skills,
and share our philosophy of individualized,
intensive treatment in the community. Experi-
enced in public psychiatry a plus. NYS license
and BElBC required. Competitive salary with
excellent benefits. Send CV with cover letter to:
Mona Bergenfield, Director, Project Rea-
choutlGoddard Riverside Community Center,
593 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10024
NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT -
National intermediary seeks Managementl
Resource Development Consultant with mini-
mum 10 years senior nonprofit management
experience, track record in capital campaigns!
individual giving, familiarity with community
development, to build capacity, train and
equip local nonprofit housing corps in NY
State. Based Ithaca or NYC. Resume to
susanm@nonprofitjobs.org Search detail at
http://www.nonprofitjobs.org
OFFICE MANAGER - We are seeking an orga-
nized person who will be directly responsible for
supervision of support staff and work with a
team of attorney and social work supervisors to
manage an interdisciplinary trial office. Duties
include overseeing day-to-day office and court
house office operations as well as data entry
and file-room activities, maintenance of office
facilities and equipment, general administra-
tive functions, and participation in the exami-
nation and improvement of internal procedures
and computer systems. Must possess excellent
interpersonal, communication and organiza-
tional skills. Computer proficiency is mandato-
ry. Previous administrative and supervisory
experience is strongly preferred. Salary is com-
mensurate with experience; excellent benefits.
Please fax cover letter and resume ASAP to
646-654-7081, Attn: Rosalina Then.
OUTREACH TEAM LEADER - Train/supervise
staff at an Upper West Side agency providing
outreach/case management to homeless men-
tally iIlIMICA. Be part of a creative, dynamic
team to engage mentally ill people living out-
doors and help them achieve psychiatric and
medical stabil ity, sobriety and housing. MSW,
related MA req. Experience w/supervision,
mental health, addiction preferred, able to
drive. Salary upper $30's, excellent benefits.
New grads welcome. letter/resumes: to S.
lewit at Project Reachoutl Goddard Riverside
Community Center, 539 Columbus Ave., New
York, NY 10024. www.goddard.org
OUTREACH WORKER - Work on the Upper
West Side providing outreach and case man-
agement to homeless people with mental ill-
nessIMlCA. Be part of a creative, dynamic team
to engage people living outdoors with untreat-
ed mental illness and help them achieve psy-
chiatric and medical stability, sobriety and
housing. Able to drive preferred. Experience in
mental health/addiction is a plus, but not
required. Bilingual Spanish also a plus. Salary
mid-$20's, excellent benefits. Fax letter and
resume to S. lewit at 212-721-7389 or mail to
S. lewit at Project Reachoutl Goddard Riverside
Community Center, 539 Columbus Ave., New
York, NY 10024. www.goddard.org
PART-TIME GED INSTRUCTDR - Instructor
will report directly to the Coordinator and will
be responsible for preparing materials and
lesson plans for GED instruction. Experience
teaching older youth, and knowledge of GED
requirements a must. Send resume by fax to
Program Coordinator 718-466-5262.
PART-TIME BOROUGH HOUSING ASSISTANT!
BROOKLYN - The City Wide Task Force on
Housing Court, Inc., is currently seeking a
Part-time Borough Housing AssistantlBrook-
Iyn. Responsibilities: Distribute information to
unrepresented litigants in borough housing
courts. Provide general assistance at the Task
Force information table and with the telephone
hotline. Assist Borough Coordinators in obtain-
ing documentation of problems from unrepre-
sented litigants, and monitoring the court-
rooms and hallways of housing court to deter-
mine problems experienced by unrepresented
litigants. Qualifications: Minimum of one-year
experience with landlordltenant issues or other
relevant community service. Bilingual pre-
ferred. Send Resume and cover letter to the
City- Wide Task Force on Housing Court, 29
John Street, Suite 1004, New York, NY 10038,
Attn. Stephanie Townsend-Bakare, Executive
Director, or by fax: 212-962-4799 or email:
stephaniet@cwtfhc.org. Salary: $14Ihr, with
excellent benefits. Please, no calls.
POLICY AND ADVOCACY ASSOCIATE - Coor-
dinate public advocacy initiatives; assist leg-
islative Counsel ; attend and monitor hearings;
organize educational events, including out-
reach to schools, local groups and cam pus
chapters. Commitment to civil liberties, excel-
lent research, writing and speaking skills; .
advocacy experience and computer proficiency.
Salary: mid 20's - low 30's plus excellent ben-
efits. Send resume, writing sample, and cover
letter to: David Addams, Deputy Director,
NYClU, 125 Broad Street 17th FI., NY, NY
10004 or via fax: 212-344-3318.
PORTER AND SAFETY MONITOR - The Citi-
zens Advice Bureau (CAB) is a large, multi-ser-
vice non-profit organization serving the Bronx
for more than 31 years. The agency provides a
broad range of individual and family services,
including walk-in assistance and counseling,
services to special -needs populations, such as
immigrants, children, adolescents, seniors,
homeless families and singles, individuals
and families affected by HIVIAIDS. CAB pro-
vides excellent benefits and offers opportuni-
ties for advancement. Resumes and cover let-
ters indicating position of interest may be
mailed to 2054 Morris Ave. Bronx, NY 10453, or
faxed as directed. CAB has temporary posi-
tions opened for individuals with a NYS secu-
rity guard license to work both as a Porter and
Safety Monitor. Interested candidates should
be willing to work both security and mainte-
nance in our homeless facilities. The position
requires heavy lifting. Fax credentials to P.
CITY LIMITS
Quan at 718-293-1946.
PROGRAM ASSISTANT - The "Lift Every
Voice": National Diabetes Education Program
of the National Urban League seeks a Program
Assistant. The duties include facilitating the
training activities of the program's training
and technical assistance consultant; arrang-
ing diabetes training for Urban League affili-
ates; completing quarterly reports; handling
the scheduling and particulars of training
workshops; collecting data from the workshops
and Urban League affiliates, and providing
other organizing and support functions as
needed. Bachelor's degree in business, public
administration or related area is required.
Must have experience in program development
and management. Demonstrated skills and
abilities working with a broad range of people
with diverse cultural, educational, and racial
backgrounds. Demonstrated ability to commu-
nicate effectively in both oral and written
forms. Must be proficient in Microsoft Office.
Salary $30k - $32k. To apply submit cover let-
ter and resume to recruitment@nul.org. Please
mention you were referred by Citylimits.org.
PROGRAM ASSOCIATE - NEDAP seeks a Pro-
gram Associate to work with grassroots, immi-
grant, senior and other community-based
groups on a wide range of pressing economic
justice issues. For more information on
NEDAP's programs and the position go to
www.nedap.org.
PROGRAM COORDINATOR - Financial educa-
tion program. BA; 3+ yrs in program coordina-
tion and case management; computer literate
(Excel); strong organizational skills; comfortable
with basic money management topics/num-
bers; people skills; commitment to underserved
populations. Occasional evening hrs required.
Salary -$30k, plus benefits. WomenRising,
Attn: CED/JB, 270 FairmountAvenue, Jersey City,
NJ 07306, fax 201-333-9305.
PROGRAM COORDINATOR-FIELD EDUCATION
- Job Description: Assist in the implementa-
tion of outreach strategies for Medicaid Man-
aged Care program services. Assist in the devel-
opment of promotional materials. Assist in the
scheduling of Medicaid Managed Care training
sessions, including securing of locations, pro-
gram promotion and coordination of materials,
throughout NYC. Assist in developing and be
responsible for conducting Medicaid Managed
Care workshops for consumers. Assist in train-
ing for CBO's on site and at general training
sessions. Represent CSS at outside meetings
and conferences. Perform other duties as may
be required. Job Requirements: BA degree pre-
ferred. Experience working with nonprofit com-
munity based organizations required. Strong
public speaking, presentation and writing skills
required. Word processing and other basic soft-
ware application skills preferred. Bilingual can-
didates preferred. Submit resume and cover let-
ter to: Community Service Society of New York,
HR Department PP-39 105 East 22nd Street,
New York, NY 10010 or fax 212-614-5336 or e-
mail cssemployment@cssny.org. EOE
PROGRAM DIRECTOR - Progressive multi-
service settlement house in Queens seeks
JANUARY 2004
director for clubhouse model program for LGBT
older adults/seniors. Administer daily opera-
tions including socialization & education pro-
grams, advocacy & training, outreach, and pro-
gram development. Supervise staff and wlun-
teers. Assist with fundraising. Experience with
senior or LGBT population necessary. Low 40's/
excellent benefits. Resume attn: KL via
klauritzen@fhch.orgorfax 718-592-3810. EOE
PROGRAM DIRECTOR (NYC) - Opening for
non-profit program working to make a differ-
ence in the lives of adolescents with experience
living in foster care. Must have non-profit
agency management background and demon-
strated success with fundraising and commu-
nity outreach efforts. Experience with, or exten-
sive knowledge of, child welfare system in New
York City a plus. Duties include overall devel-
opment of program as well as staff and youth
members, writing grant proposals and con-
tracts to secure and ensure financial stability
of program. Require Bachelor's degree in a
social service or related field plus min 5 yrs exp
in management of non-profit agency providing
youth services. MSW a plus. Send resume to
Trisha Faust by fax 512-912-7690 or email :
tfaust@swkey.org. EOE.
PROGRAM LPN NURSE - Work on Manhat-
tan's Upper West Side as part of a dynamic out-
reach team serving homeless people with men-
tal illness. Responsibilities include preparing
and dispensing medications, administering
injectable mediations, picking up doctor's
orders, coordinating access to pharmacy ser-
vices, ordering and stocking medical supplies,
routine medical assessment. Limited case
management responsibilities are possible. Cur-
rent NYS license required. Salary commensu-
rate with experience. Send letter and resume to
Kevin Baill, MD, Project ReachoutiGoddard
Riverside Community Center, 593 Columbus
Avenue, NY, NY 10024 or fax to 212-721-7389.
PROJECT COORDINATOR - Position is within
NMIC's Domestic Violence and Employment Pro-
ject - a new project to address the employment
and economic stability and safety of victims of
domestic violence. Responsibilities: 1) oversee
all program components and ensure project
goals are met, 2) supervise project staff, 3) col-
lect program data, and 4) serving as link to
partner agencies. Qualifications: 1) Bilingual
(English/Spanish), 2) a Masters in Social Work
or related field and 3) 3+ years of experience in
employmentltraining and/or domestic violence.
To apply please send a resume and cover letter
to: Andrea Vaghy, Director of Workforce Develop-
ment Fax 212-928-4180 or email
andreavaghy@nmic.org No Calls Please!
PROJECT DIRECTOR (DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
LEGAL PRDJECn - CONNECT Inc., seeks a
culturally sensitive Program Director with a
minimum of three years experience litigating
on behalf of domestic violence survivors. Fam-
ily court litigation necessary, immigration and
criminal practice important. Some experience
with program planning and development is
necessary; strong writing skills required. Con-
tact connect@connectnyc.org Attn: Rose.
PROJECT MANAGER - The Restaurant Oppor-
tunities Center of New York (ROC-NY) is seek-
ing a Project Manager to spearhead the devel-
opment of a new cooperative restaurant. Can-
didates should have community organizing
experience, strong business skills and interest
in working in a cooperative environment.
Restaurant industry experience or experience
starting a new business is required. Send
resume and cover letter to Saru Jayaraman,
fax: 212-343-7217.
PSYCHIATRIST PT - 24 hours/week. Patient
care only - Send CV, cover letter to Mona
Bergenfield, Project ReachoutlGRCC, 593
Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10024. Fax
212-721-7389. www.goddard.org.
PT DATA ENTRY CLERK/OFFICE SUPPORT -
Professional sought to process data, produce
reports and provide office support. 28- 35 hours
per week. To qualify must have HS diploma or
equivalent (college; studentlgraduate preferred).
Experience with computers and data entry
required. EOEIMinorities encouraged to apply.
Maillfax cover letter & resume to: T. Cipriaso,
Care for the Homeless, 12 West 21st Street, 8th
floor, New York, NY 10010, fax 212-366-1773.
PUBLICATIONS MANAGER - Develop and
manage newsletter and journal: solicit and
edit articles, format publications, manage
subscriptions and distribution. Requirements:
experience in designing, launching, editing
and managing regular publication, knowledge
of LGBT and gender issues, excellent oral,
written, interpersonal and computer
skills. LGBT, people of color, and disabled
individuals encouraged to apply. Send
cover letter and resume ASAP to
advocacyorganization@earthlink.net.
QUALITY CONTROL MANAGER - Quality Con-
trol supervisor for community-based, public
health insurance enrollment program. Experi-
ence with supervision, managing workflow and
deadlines, and troubleshooting public benefit
problems. Knowledge of Medicaid, Child Health
Plus and Family-Health Plus desirable. Fax
resume and cover letter to 212-681-6315.
RECRUITER - FirstSource Staffing, social
purpose staffing company owned by CDC,
seeking recruiter to screen resumes and inter-
view. Six weeks starting early December. $15-
25$lhour. Potential full time position. Growth
potential. BA plus 3 years experience required.
Interviewing experience a plus. E-mail :
Benjamin@fssny.com. Fax: 718-636-6109.
SITE SUPERVISOR - The Center for Em ploy-
ment Opportunities, an employment and train-
ing project for adult men and women ex-
offenders, seeks a Site Supervisor who will
supervise of 5-10 program participants within
CEO's guidelines for training, supervision and
discipline. Essential Functions: The essential
functions include, but are not limited to, the
following: Assign crew members to specific job
duties, setting reasonable goals for their com-
pletion, monitoring individual crew members
for job, performance and productivity providing
appropriate instruction or training as needed,
mentoring clients on employment etiquette,
JOBADS
performs other job-related duties and respon-
sibilities as may be assigned from time to
time. The ideal candidate will have a valid dri-
vers license and knowledge of the five bor-
oughs. Email/fax resume to
pmunoz@ceoworks.org, 212-248-4432.
SOCIAL WORK CONSULTANT - Office of the
Monitoring Committee, Brad H. Litigation. Are you
a highly responsible professional who is excited
by the prospect of doing something different?
Does the idea of performing meaningful work in
the context of a complex, class-action litigation
sound interesting to you? The Monitoring Com-
mittee is seeking a committed, talented and
energetic social worker with relevant experience
to assist it in monitoring the City of New York's
compliance under the recently-settled cause of
action entitled Brad H. V. City of New York. The
stipulation settling this litigation provides the
right to discharge planning and various after-
care services to certain people who received men-
tal treatment during their incarcerations
in the City's jail system. While flexibility will be
important, responsibilities will include: Interview-
ing class members in NYC Jails and in the com-
munity (including Review of records
and databases to assist in the compilation of
data; Assistance in the preparation of compli-
ance reports required by the Court; Assist in con-
ducting investigations into complaints received
by the Committee from Class Members. Qualifi-
cations: The successful candidate will have an
understanding of complex systems such as Cor-
rections, Medicaid, Community Mental Health
and the Shelter system and the clients they serve.
He or she will be willing to travel to different loca-
tions throughout the City to interact with a vari-
ety of agencies and Class Members. As these
duties will be performed in the context of a settled
litigation, the ability to maintain detailed and
accurate records will be crucial. An MSW and
state certification (or the ability to promptly attain
certification) are required for this position. The
ability to speak Spanish, while not essential , is a
strong plus. People with relevant professional
and life experiences are encouraged to apply.
Salary: Very competitive hourly rate; this
ing position does not provide benefits. Hours:
Flexible; an average of 35 hours weekly. Applica-
tions: Please mail or fax resume and cover letter
to, Brad H. Monitoring Committee, clo Henry Dlu-
gacz. CSW, JD & Erik Roskes, MD, 740 Broadway
5th Floor NY, NY 10003. Fax: 212-254-0857
SOCIAL WORK SUPERVISOR - The Center for
Family Representation (CFR), a new law and pol-
icy organization, seeks an innovative and ener-
getic individual to fill an immediate opening for
a social work supervisor. CFR's mission is to
strengthen and support legal representation for
parents in child protective, permanency and ter-
mination proceedings in Family Court and to pro-
mote parent engagement strategies in the child
welfare system which support reunification. The
social work supervisor's primary responsibility
will be to co-direct and provide social work
assistance to attorneys, paralegals and parent
advocates that comprise CFR's interdisciplinary
community-based representation teams. CFR's
community representation teams will provide
legal representation and social work assistance
to parents in Central and East Harlem as well as'
to parents who have a criminal justice history
49
I . L L U S T RAT ED MEMOS
OffiCE OFTHE OTIVISIONARI
; '
O. O. T. c. v.
Without a significant increase
in productivity, our underpaid
and overburdened child welfare
caseworkers can't possibly visit
every foster home often enough
to detect and prevent shocking
' incidents of neglect and abuse.
FOSTER HOME WEBCAM, STREAMING VIDEO
SUPERVISION PLAN NO. IT-/98Lf
Why not take advantage of
the internet? A comprehensive
Intervention Technology upgrade
at the Administration for
Children's Services might be the
best investment we can make;

DO
;- 0[1
Oil
_ CI 00
o
GOT AN IMPRACTICAL SOLUTION
TO AN INTRACTABLE PROBLEM?
OFFICE OF THE CITY VISIONARY
CITY LlMITSMAGA1.1NE
12.0 WALL ST., 20
TH
FLOOR, NY NY 10005
SEND IN ootcv@citylimits.
50 CITY LIMITS
that impacts their child welfare involvement. The
teams will be available to advocate for parents
from the time at which they first become involved
with the Administration for Children's Services
and will continue their work up to and through-
out any and all family court proceedings involv-
ing a family. This supervisor will provide direct
social work to clients, i.c., referrals, home visits,
advocacy with ACS, etc. in addition to co-direct-
ing the efforts of the teams along with a super-
vising attorney. As core staff in each team
expands, it is expected that this supervisory role
will also grow. This supervisor will also recruit
and supervise social work intems, and will assist
with training and other practice assistance CFR
provides. Last, this supervisor will work closely
with CFR's executive and deputy director to
develop CFR's social work unit and in other
efforts to develop CFR's interdisciplinary teams.
This position represents a unique opportunity for
a professional interested in engaging innovative
approaches to parent representation and in
guiding the integration of social workers in a new
organization. Applicants must have a masters
degree in social work, and at least three years
experience in Article 10ffPR family court prac-
tice. CSW and prior experience supervising staff
or students preferred. Fluency in Spanish is
desirable. Individuals who apply should be able
to demonstrate strong interpersonal and com-
munication skills, an ability to work as part of a
team, a keen interest in program development,
and a desire to share in both the exhilaration and
challenges of a new and growing endeavor.
Salary is commensurate with experience; excel-
lent benefits package. CFR is an equal opportu-
nity employer. Applicants should send or email a
cover letter, resume, writing sample and three
references (including phone and email contacts)
ASAP to Selina Robinson, Executive Assistant, to
the above address, or to srobinson@cfmy.org. No
phone inquiries please.
SOCIAL WORKER - Responsibilities: Candi-
date must be experienced in inter-team coordi-
nation and decision-making, possess excellent
clinical and case management skills, proven
experience providing services within a commu-
nity based setting. Proven capacity to work
with adolescent, grade school youth and their
families both individually and within group
modalities. Qualifications: MSW preferred.
Competent computer skills. Bilingual Span-
ishlEnglish skills are essential. Salary com-
mensurate with credentials and experience.
Comprehensive benefits package. Mail or fax
resumes to: Estel Fonseca, Vice President c/o
Project READY, The Mount Hope Housing Co.
2003-05 Walton Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453. Fax
718-466-4788. No telephone calls.
SOCIAL WORKER - The Cathedral Church of
Saint John the Divine is seeking a full-time
SOCIAL WORKER with Masters Degree and state
certification. SIFI certificate preferred and 3
years experience doing casework required.
Familiarity and experience working with emer-
gency relief organizations after 9/11 a plus.
SpanishlEnglish fluency required. Salary range:
$35,000-40,000 based on credentials, benefits
package included. Interested persons should
fax or e-mail their resume to: Raquel Granda,
Director, Cathedral Community Cares, 212-
316-7582 or rgranda@cathedralcares.org
SOFT SKILLS TRAINERS - Needed to imple-
ment workplace trainings in individual and
group sessions, modify program materials,
and assist in job development activities. Excel-
lent presentation skills required wi HS diplo-
ma, AS deg. or equivalent expo preferred.
PT and Evening positions available.
Send resumes to: 53 West 23rd Street, NYC
10010 or Fax to 212-633-8456 or email to
jobs@fortunesociety.org. No calls. EOE
STAFF ASSOCIATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS -
Responsibilities include: producing three
newsletters yearly; produce agency brochures;
manage CCC's website; produce state and city
budget advocacy materials, planning advocacy
activities at City Hall and in Albany; producing
information and education materials; update
press list; story placement; and community lead-
ership course. The position requires a college
degree, website management, computer skills
(Quark, Publishers . ..), knowledge of and demon-
strated commitment to child and family issues,
experience working in the field of communica-
tions or public relations. Applicants should be
highly motivated and organized with excellent
written and verbal skills. Interested applicants
should submit their applications and resume to
Rose Anello via e-mail at ranello@kfny.org
STAFF ATTORNEY - We seek a member of the
New York Bar with three + years experience rep-
resenting clients in matrimoniallfamily law
matters in NYC, with substantial experience
representing indigent clients and familiarity
with family and immigration law issues relating
to DV. Experience with public benefits, immigra-
tion and housing issues, and fluency in Spanish
desirable. An excellent organizational , interper-
sonal , communication and computer skills.
Responsibilities: Recruiting, training and men-
toring volunteer attorneys and law students to
handle complex matrimonial, family and VAWA
immigration cases. Providing counsel and
advice and/or brief services to women for whom
pro bono representation is not required or not
immediately available. Conducting client
intake, assessing legal issues and suitability of
placing cases with volunteer attomeys. Salary is
DOE, generous benefits and vacation. Send
resume and cover letter to Ramonita Cordero,
Esq., Director, Legal Program, Fax: 212-695-
9519 or Email: rcordero@inmotiononline.org
TEAM LEADER - HELP USA, a nationally recog-
nized leader in the provisions of transitional
housing, residential & social services, has a
position avail for a Team Leader. Experience in
the supervision of Case Management, Assess-
ment, Counseling and Crisis Intervention. Will
collect, analyze and report on team statistics as
indicated by organizational and regulatory bod-
ies. Coordinate specific areas of service delivery
as required. Requirements: MSW (preferred) or a
related degree required. Three (3) plus years of
LET US DO A FREE EVALUATION
OF YOUR INSURANCE NEEDS
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supervisory experience necessary. Should have
computer literacy specifically with Microsoft
applications. Must have understanding of team
concepts, preferably in a residential setting.
Bilingual in Spanish/English is a plus. Salary:
starts in the mid thirties. Resumes for this posi-
tion should be sent to: HELP Bronx Crotona, 785
Crotona Park North, Bronx, NY, via fax at 718-
901-3310 or via email at etumer@helpusa.org
Vp, CASE MANAGEMENT SERVICES - Housing
Works, the nation's largest AIDS service org pro-
viding care to the homeless seeks a proven pro-
fessional to join our management team in NYC.
Responsibilities include the strategic plan-
ning/overall administration of the COBRA pro-
grams; staff recruitment & the coordination of
client services. Will oversee implementation of
program policies/procedures & the work plan to
assure adherence to contractual agreements.
Serve as liaison to the nec contractors; facili-
tate case conferences & oversee COBRA billing
& program enrollment. You must possess min
4-6 yrs exp in program management & admin,
Master's degree in human svcs or related field
& ability to supervise a large staff. Strong lead-
ershiplverballwritten communication skills, PC
proficiency & ability to manage contracts/bud-
gets nec. Knowl of HIVIAIDS, homeless ness,
substance use & mental illness are important.
Comp salary commensurate w/exp. Excellent
bnfts. Email cover letter & resume, stating
position to: resumes@housingworks.org. No
calls please. We are an EOE. Women & minority
candidates are encouraged to apply.
YOUTH COMMUNITY PLANNING ACTIVITY SPE-
CIALIST - The Youth Community Planning Col-
laborative Facilitator/Activity Specialist respon-
sible for studio with youth in school-based envi-
ronment in after-school hours twice weekly.
Have relevant experience in community-based
planning or community organizing, experience
working with youth. BAIBS in urban affairs,
urban planning, social work. Graduate student
preferred. 11 hrslwk at $21/hr. Candidates fax
resume to Jen Fuqua at 718-830-5235.
We have been providing low-cost insurance programs and
quality service for HDFCs, TENANTS, COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT
and other NONPROFIT organizations for over 15 years.
JANUARY 2004
We Offer:
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ASHKAR CORPORATION
146 West 29th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001
(212) 279-8300 FAX 714-2161 Ask for : Bolo Ramanathan
Sl
Workshops on Legal Issues for Nonprofits
Tax Compliance and Financial Accountability
January 8, 2004 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Developing Low-Income Housing Using the Federal Tax Credit
January 22, 2004 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Incorporation and Tax Exemption
February 5, 2004 10:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
Employment Law
February 26, 2004 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Fundraising Law and Regulation
March 12, 2004 10:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
Lobbying & Political Activity
March 18, 2004 10:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
Family Child Care Networks*
March 26, 2004 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Legal Issues Related to Securing Financing* N E W W O R K S H O P
April 15, 2004 10:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
Employment Issues for Nonprofits Working with Volunteers and Interns
April 28, 2004 10:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
Role of the Board in Corporate Governance
May 6, 2004 10:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
Legal Aspects of Insurance
May 20, 2004 10:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
Incorporation and Tax Exemption
June 3, 2004 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
All workshops are located at Empire State Building, 350 Fifth Avenue, Room2925.
These workshops are open to grantees of NewYork Foundation and the Department of Youth and
Community Development (DYCD)and other nonprofit managers. For more information, or to make a
reservation, please call 212 219-1800. Due to limited space, registrations and cancellations must be
made no less than two days prior to the scheduled workshop.
Unless asterisked, these workshops have been made possible by funding from the City's Department of
Youth and Community Development (DYCD). *Family Child Care Networks and Legal Issues Related to
Securing Financing have been made possible with generous support from the Citigroup Foundation.
Lawyers Alliance for NewYorkis the leading provider of free and low-cost business law services to
nonprofits that are working to improve the quality of life in NewYork's neighborhoods.
330 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
(212) 219-1800
www.lany.org
Lawyers Alliance
for NewYork
Making a World of Difference ... Building a Better New York