Good Morning, Brooklyn: Thursday, December 9, 2021

December 9, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Share this:

INNOVATIVE HOLOCAUST EDUCATION PROGRAM: The Blue Card, a national non-profit organization assisting Holocaust survivors in need, and the Turkish Cultural Center New York have partnered to launch a historic Holocaust Education Program for Muslim students, the first time in U.S. history that such a program has been established. This ten-week program, that Dr. Mehnaz Afridi is leading, will provide curriculum support, teacher development, VIP speaker programs including Muslim community leaders and Holocaust survivors and curriculum implementation to high school students at the Amity School in Brooklyn. This pilot program was born out of the recent history of xenophobia, often in the form of anti-Semitism, which has been rampant throughout the United States, and of particular concern to New York’s significant Jewish and Muslim communities.

The impetus event of its kind was virtually hosted in May by Rita Cosby, Emmy-Winning TV host, radio host, & daughter of a WWII POW. Notable speakers included: Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and, via special video messages: Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, Assembly Member Steven Cymbrowitz, Councilmember Alan Maisel, Emre Celik, NBA All-Star Enes Kanter, Dr. Irit Felsen, Holocaust Survivor Sami Steigmann, among others.

✰✰✰

MEALS FOR KIDS WITH INCARCERATED PARENTS: Participants in Children of Promise, youths whose parents are incarcerated, will receive meals thanks to the Food Bank for New York City. Today, December 9, the Food Bank for New York City will deliver boxes of dried goods, fresh produce, and frozen protein to Children of Promise, NYC’s children and families who have an incarcerated parent. Following the delivery, CPNYC Youth Action members will package the food in order to distribute to 150 families and children whom the organization serves.

Children of Promise, NYC is a one-of-a-kind organization that provides robust support to the children of incarcerated parents and their families through child-centered, trauma-informed programming and activities.

✰✰✰

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR ANNUAL SURVEY OF HOMELESSNESS: Registration has opened for volunteers to assist in the annual HOPE NYC survey of homeless New Yorkers. Every January, thousands of volunteers across the five boroughs participate in NYC’s annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate, named HOPE, in which during a single night, volunteers canvass streets, subway stations, parks, and other public spaces across the city to identify individuals living unsheltered. https://a071-dhsmobile.nyc.gov/dhsmobile/hope/registration/#/

HOPE, which is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to receive funding under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Using a consistent sampling methodology since 2005 and decoys as a quality control measure, HOPE remains one of the most methodologically rigorous efforts nationwide to estimate the number of individuals who are experiencing street homelessness.

✰✰✰

NEW HOME VISITS PROGRAM LAUNCHES: New Family Home Visits program is open to first-time families in public housing, who are engaged with child welfare, or who live in neighborhoods with the greatest social burdens, including three in Brooklyn. This program, which the Health Department announced on Wednesday, offers a range of evidence-based home-visiting services via trained health care workers—from breastfeeding support and creating a safe home, to mental health screenings, to Doula services.

The program, whose rollout was delayed in the pandemic, will focus on neighborhoods, including Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville, hardest hit by COVID-19 and with the greatest health and social burdens—for example, overcrowded housing, prevalence of chronic disease, and the number of people experiencing poverty. Families who are eligible can call 311 to enroll. More neighborhood rollouts are scheduled.

✰✰✰

HIGHWAY EXIT RAMP SAFETY: New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez today announced the completion of a $1.7 million project to enhance safety on exit ramps on state highways throughout New York City. Part of a citywide initiative to prevent wrong-way driving on exit ramps on state highways, the project built on the existing safety measures on NYSDOT’s 274 exit ramps across New York City’s five boroughs by replacing and/or adding signs, adding retroreflective strips to enhance visibility of signs, and implementing pavement markings on the ramps.

Highways in this borough included the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (I-278), Gowanus Expressway (I-278), Prospect Expressway (which connects to the Gowanus and is part of NY-27 through parts of Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kensington); and the Belt Parkway (which circles the rim of Brooklyn and Queens, from Bay Ridge to the eastern Brooklyn shorelines and parts of Queens)

✰✰✰

SPEAKING OUT ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: “Speak Out: For the Elimination of Violence against Women” is a virtual conversation that the Women’s Committee of Brooklyn Community Board 16, Real Woman International (Brooklyn NY, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Sigma Kappa Zeta Chapter, and elected-officials Assemblymember Latrice M. Walker, Councilmember Alicka Ampry-Samuel and other local community-led organization sponsors are backing. The virtual discussion takes place this Sunday, December 19. To register: visit www.4rwi.org.

✰✰✰

BISHOPS’ LUNCHEON RAISES $300K FOR EDUCATION: The Diocese of Brooklyn’s annual Bishops’ Christmas Luncheon raised $300,000 for Catholic education and youth ministries in Brooklyn and Queens. Honorees were Bishop Emeritus Nicholas DiMarzio who received the St. John Paull II Distinguished Stewardship Award; The Tablet’s Editor Emeritus Ed Wilkinson, who was presented with the Emma A. Daniels Benefactor’s Award; and Robert Schirling, board chair of Divine Wisdom Catholic Academy, who received the Spirit of Hope Award.

The Most Reverend Robert J. Brennan, the newly-installed Bishop of Brooklyn, attended this luncheon for the first time, which was held Tuesday at Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach, Queens. Mistress of ceremonies was 1010 WINS Reporter Juliet Papa.

Left to right: Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, Diocesan vicar for development, Robert Schirling, Bishop Brennan, Ed Wilkinson, Bishop Emeritus DiMarzio.
Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Brooklyn

✰✰✰

IPS NEWS: MALLIOTAKIS: ‘DEFUND INJECTION SITES’: U.S. Rep Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) led the New York State Republican delegation in introducing the ‘Defund de Blasio’s Injection Sites Act of 2021,’ legislation that would withhold federal funding from city, state, tribal, or private entities that operate supervised injection centers in violation of the Controlled Substances Act. She denounced the partnership of “OnPoint NYC,” and are operating the two injection facilities in New York City which, together, have received more than $1 million. Malliotakis’ legislation would have prevented these funds from being dispersed.

According to the Controlled Substances Act “…Except when dispensed directly to an ultimate user by a practitioner other than a pharmacist, no controlled substance in Schedule II, which is a prescription drug as determined under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 USC 301 et seq.), may be dispensed without the written or electronically transmitted (21 CFR 1306.08) prescription of a practitioner,” except in specified emergency situations.

✰✰✰

IPS NEWS: NEW AGREEMENT IN FIGHTING OPIOID CRISIS: Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Letitia James, also on Wednesday, announced an agreement with opioid manufacturer Allergan Finance, LLC and its affiliates that would deliver up to $200 million to New York state to help combat the opioid crisis. The agreement resolves claims brought by Attorney General James for the company’s role in helping to fuel the opioid epidemic and requires the company to make full payment of the $200 million by mid-2022 if certain conditions are met — more than $150 million of which will go towards opioid abatement.

The deals with Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen have a global value of approximately $26 billion, while cases against Mallinckrodt and Rochester Drug Cooperative are moving separately through U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The trial against the final remaining defendant — Teva Pharmaceuticals USA — is currently underway, with closing arguments slated to begin today.

✰✰✰

IPS NEWS: RECONSTRUCTING PROSPECT PARK BALLFIELDS: Thanks to funding from Mayor de Blasio and Councilmember Brad Lander, the Prospect Park Ballfields will be the site of a groundbreaking ceremony this morning. NYC Parks Commissioner Gabrielle Fialkoff and Prospect Park Alliance Sue Donoghue to join New York City Councilmember Brad Lander, New York State Assemblymember Bobby Carroll, Prospect Park Baseball Association President Eddie Albert, and community members will participate in the ceremony. The fully-restored ballfields will have additional drainage to keep the fields in good playing condition. There will also be new pathways and benches, dedicated clay storage bins, and shaded dugouts.

Construction will officially begin in January 2022, with completion anticipated for next December 2022. The funding for all seven fields totals nearly $8 million through funding from the Mayor, New York City Council, and the Brooklyn Borough President,

✰✰✰

IPS NEWS: NEW YORK STATE’S HOLIDAY DRIVE: New York’s annual statewide holiday donation drive to benefit families in need across the state of New York will begin today, December 9, Governor Kathy Hochul announced. Donations of new unwrapped toys, coats and school supplies are being sought to assist community-based organizations during the holiday giving season. The drop-off location in Brooklyn (one of only two in New York City’s five boroughs, is at the Shirley A. Chisholm State Office Building, 55 Hanson Place, in Fort Greene.

Those wishing to order gifts online should have them sent to: Empire State Plaza, P1 South Dock J, Albany, New York 12242 and have them marked as NYS Holiday Drive.

✰✰✰

NYPD SERVICE AREA TOY DRIVE: Likewise, the NYPD’s Police Service Area (PSA) 3 will be hosting its Toy Giveaway this Friday December 10 from 3pm to 5pm at 25 Central Ave, Brooklyn NY. Gifts will be on a first-come, first- served basis and while supplies last.