The latest from Brooklyn Community Foundation ... Long Island Cares ... Project Renewal

Brooklyn Community Foundation is putting its money behind efforts to prepare communities for the 2020 Census. A total of $100,000 is going towards the effort to support local and statewide organizing efforts. Of that amount, $40,000 will go to the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College to support planning in historically undercounted African-American communities, according to a press release. The New York Immigration Coalition will also receive $40,000 to support the New York Counts 2020 statewide coalition, and an additional $20,000 will help support statewide coordination with other foundations.

Project Renewal raised $1.5 million at a June 7 gala in New York City. Eric Enderlin, president of the New York City Housing Development Corporation was honored at the event for his career in public policy and affordable housing, according to a press release. More than 600 guests attend the event, which also celebrated Project Renewal’s new Bronx supportive and affordable housing development, Bedford Green House. That facility will open next year and provide housing for 300 formerly homeless individuals, according to the press release.

Partnership for Children’s Rights will merge into Mobilization for Justice, according to a June 11 press release. The move will add legal assistance heft to the latter, a 55-year-old anti-poverty organization formerly known as MFY Legal Services. The idea to bring the two New York City organizations together came from Warren Sinsheimer, founder of Partnership for Children’s Rights.

“At age 91, I thought it was time to retire, but I wanted to find (the organization) a home that would not only carry on our work, but also expand it,” he said. “With a long history of defending the rights of people with disabilities, (Mobilization for Justice) was the clear choice.”

Long Island Cares celebrated the opening of its Center for Collaborative Assistance with a bit of ribbon cutting on June 12. Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy and other local officials were on hand for the occasion, which came after a June 1 opening of the new 2,000-square-foot facility. A press release states that the new space will help the nonprofit work with other organizations. Long Island Cares operates satellite operations in lindenhurst and Huntington Station.

And from sister publication City & State’s First Read: The New York City Council’s own invisible man got a highly visible send-off on Thursday, with a minutes-long standing ovation from council members. Longtime City Council Chief of Staff Ramon Martinez is departing, reportedly for a job in government relations at Chase Bank. Martinez was chief of staff for Speakers Christine Quinn and Melissa Mark-Viverito, and stayed on under Speaker Corey Johnson, who took over in January.

A mainstay on City & State’s annual New York City Power 100, Martinez is known as a political expert and stone-faced negotiator who could whip votes. “Politicians get grief for being ‘yes men’ sometimes.

But the true geniuses are those who can say ‘no’ in just the right way,” said City Councilman Joe Borelli in one of many tributes given in the Council Chambers while the body officially passed this year’s budget. Martinez studiously avoided reporters and public attention in City Hall, often deflecting questions with “I’m invisible” or “I don’t exist,” so Johnson provided him with a blank city proclamation to mark his retirement. Fittingly, Martinez declined to comment. Johnson declined to comment on who would replace Martinez, but the council deputy chief of staff, Jason Goldman, is widely expected to take over.

Send your press releases, photos, and word of your latest happenings to reporter Zach Williams at zwilliams@nynmedia.com.