Good Morning, Brooklyn: Tuesday, September 28, 2021

September 28, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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NY LAUNCHES BOOSTER SHOT PLAN: New York has launched a robust implementation of booster doses into the State’s COVID-19 vaccination program, with the goal of ensuring an efficient, equitable, and effective distribution of booster doses to eligible New Yorkers statewide. The initiative, in accordance with CDC guidelines, identifies four groups of New Yorkers who are now eligible for their COVID-19 booster dose: those 65 years and older or residents in long-term care settings; those between ages 50-64 with underlying health conditions.

Those who received the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine may be eligible for a booster if they are between 18-64 and at heightened risk because of their occupational or institutional setting; or between 18-49 with underlying medical conditions.

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GET YOUR VACCINE, RIDE FREE: Anyone who receives the one-dose Johnson & Johnson Vaccine at either of two MTA pop-up sites will be eligible to receive a free 7-day MetroCard, round-trip LIRR or Metro-North ticket. This offer is in tandem with the opening of two new pop-up vaccination sites that are opening in collaboration with the MTA at Brooklyn’s Broadway Junction station and one in the Bronx.

The program provides anyone, including those visiting New York, the opportunity to get vaccinated without needing to set an appointment.

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FLOODING RELIEF FOR UNDOCUMENTED NEW YORKERS: Undocumented survivors of the storms and flooding that Hurricane Ida remnants caused can now receive a portion of $27 million in funding that Gov. Kathy Hochul and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio have announced. This funding will be distributed through grants to an established network of community organizations including, in Kings County, the Brooklyn Chinese American Planning Council, 4101 8th Ave, 4th Floor.

These funds, being managed through New York State Office for New Americans (ONA), will target New Yorkers who are not eligible to receive storm recovery assistance through the FEMA Individual Assistance Program or other means.

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MENTORING PROGRAM TOPS $500 MILLION: MTA’s nationally celebrated program to mentor local minority-owned, women-owned and disadvantaged businesses (MWBE) has helped participating companies win a total of $500 million in MTA contracts since the state’s program was founded in 2010. A construction company in Staten Island put the total over the half-billion mark.

To be eligible for certification, a firm must be a small business, authorized to operate in New York State, that is at least 51 percent owned, operated, and controlled by minority group members and/or women.

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NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT PIONEER WORKS: Maxine Petry has been appointed as executive director of the Pioneer Works’ Board of Directors. Petry assumes the role after four years at Pioneer Works, during which time she made significant contributions to the interdisciplinary cultural center’s development, by building an engaged and philanthropic Board of Directors and donor base, diversifying and stabilizing the nonprofit’s revenue streams, and significantly improving its overall financial health.

Petry, who succeeds Eric Shiner and most recently served as managing director, will act as a partner to Pioneer Works’ Founder Dustin Yellin, Founding Artistic Director Gabriel Florenz, and Director of Sciences Janna Levin.

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LOCALIZED BROADBAND SURVEY: New York is racing ahead of the federal government as it launches a Broadband Mapping Consumer Survey to assist in the state’s first-ever in-depth statewide mapping study to identify the availability, reliability and cost of high-speed broadband services across the state. The survey’s contract with ECC Technologies, a New York State-based company with expertise in technology and communications consulting, will seek detailed information on service areas, upload/download speeds, network infrastructure and other data.

Unlike previous federal maps, which have been sharply criticized for their lack of specificity and accuracy, New York’s interactive map will focus on the status of broadband service at the address level.

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CONVERT MANUFACTURING STRUCTURE FOR SCHOOL: A variance to enlarge and use an existing building on 44^th St. and 2^nd Ave. in Sunset Park for the Brooklyn Rise Charter School is the agenda item being discussed at a public meeting that Community Board 7 will hold on Tuesday, Oct. 12. The 6 p.m. Zoom meeting (registration https://bit.ly/3lWM0a8) deals with the Board of Standards and Appeals Application #2012-30-BZ

The building, within Community Board 7’s boundaries of Windsor Terrace and Sunset Park and constructed during 1914-18, was zoned for manufacturing. Its use as a non-profit organization requires a zoning variance.

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POP-UP MARKETPLACE AT CITY POINT: FAD Market — a fashion, art and design pop-up marketplace—returns this weekend, Oct. 2 & 3 to Prince Street in City Point, Downtown Brooklyn for Made in NYC Week. FAD Market, a specially curated pop-up marketplace featuring more than 40 designers and makers is partnering with Made in NYC, an initiative of the Pratt Center for Community Development, which is part of Pratt Institute, for its fourth annual celebration of New York City’s vibrant and essential manufacturing community.

The FAD Market, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., will showcase a range of handcrafted goods including jewelry, apparel, leather accessories, stationery, bath and body care, tableware, home furnishings, hot sauces, confectioneries, and more.