Scary Halloween stories of nonprofit lore

The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York will have a vigil today to speak out against violence. Specifically, participants will denounce recent violence against transgender people, gender non-conforming people and Jewish people, according to the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, of which the council is a member. The vigil will begin at noon on the steps of the Bronx County Building, located at 851 Grand Concourse at East 161st Street.

“This is a hard day, and we must work to find hope,” reads a statement from the NPCC, an umbrella membership and service organization for nonprofits. “NPCC stands with the nonprofit community, and our communities throughout the country, as we begin the hard work of building a society of safety, security, and deep respect for every life within it. As Rev. Dr. Chloe Breyer, Executive Director of our member The Interfaith Center of New York, stated today, ‘We have to live together. We have to do this.’”

Yms Management Associates has won a $9.37 million contract from the New York City Department of Social Services. The money will fund accounts maintenance for child support cases, according to the City Record. The Department of Correction, meanwhile, is looking for some help providing protection at the Brooklyn Detention Complex. A pre-bid conference is scheduled for Nov. 14.

One small nonprofit has just won a legal victory over a much larger one. Community United to Protect Theodore Roosevelt Park, a community group in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, is celebrating a temporary restraining order obtained against the American Museum of Natural History, according to an Oct. 29 press release. The order will halt until at least Dec. 11 efforts to construct the Gilder Center, a project aimed at expanding the museum’s scientific and education offerings. Critics of the project say that museum expansion cannot happen at the expense of the existing park. Read more about the lawsuit here.

The fall newsletter for the state Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence is out. Topics include a new community partnership in the Albany area to support Karen refugees from Myanmar and a Q&A with an immigration attorney about issues surrounding asylum claims for domestic violence survivors, and efforts to bring their perspective into the office through job vacancies. Read the newsletter here.

Halloween is a day for horror stories – even those involving state funding for nonprofits. The Strong Nonprofits Campaign is hosting a social media campaign on Oct. 31 to highlight the needs of human services nonprofits. “Through the advocacy of the Strong Nonprofits Campaign and human services providers from across the state, we were able to achieve State and Municipal Facilities (SAM) funding for nonprofits. $475 million was appropriated for SAM funding for (fiscal year) 2019, and $385 million of that funding includes language to expand the eligibility criteria to include nonprofits. The grants are awarded by the executive and legislative members of the Senate and Assembly, and administered through DASNY,” reads an event announcement on the Human Services Council website.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Human Services Council was hosting a social media campaign on Nov. 1. In fact the Strong Nonprofits Campaign is hosting the event on Oct. 31.