BUZZ: The Rockefeller Foundation ... NYU ... NYC contracts ... LGBT rights

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Board of Trustees has a new member, Walter Isaacson,  the New York City-based philanthropy announced on March 27. Isaacson is currently the president of The Aspen Institute – where he intends to step down on June 1 – and a professor of history at Tulane University, according to a press release. “Walter is a globally-renowned thinker and champion for many of the things we stand for at The Rockefeller Foundation — equal rights, justice, human dignity, and for the power of information and innovation to improve the lives of people around the world. His decades of experience and diverse professional expertise will benefit our Board of Trustees,” Board Chair Richard Parsons said in a statement. 

New York University has received a three-year $1 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The money will support the Prison Education Program, which helps incarcerated people at Wallkill Correctional Facility access college classes, according to a press release.

Two New York City nonprofits scored contracts with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Institute for Community Living won a $261,103 contract to provide developmental psychological and behavioral health services, according to the City Record. The Children’s Aid Society meanwhile received a $100,000 contract for court-involved youth mental health  initiative services.

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is opposing new rules from the Trump Administration that would allow businesses and people to deny some medical services on the basis of “religious, moral, ethical or other beliefs,” according to a press release. He is joining forces with 18 other state attorneys general in fighting the rules through a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is considering the new rules. Aaron Tax, director of advocacy for the nonprofit SAGE, lambasted the proposed rules in a January op-ed in NYN Media.