Amanda Salazar

A red ghoul floats out of a home’s second-story window. Skeletons get into mischief together. Tombstones poke out of lawns. Pumpkins line walkways. Orange twinkly lights outline a front porch. The Halloween spirit is alive and well in the Marine Park neighborhood, with decorations like these to be found adorning the front of homes throughout the area.

The Thursday, October 16th meeting of Community Board 18 (CB18) passed without much fanfare or dramatics at the Community Board Office at 1097 Bergen Avenue, featuring discussions of Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget requests, a new battery storage facility and a lawsuit over city ballot proposals.

The Mill Basin Civic Association (MBCA) held its first meeting of the season on Tuesday, October 14th, at Mary Queen of Heaven Church, at 1304 East 57th Street — for the last time at this location. Starting next month, MBCA meetings will be held at the new Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club headquarters, at 5809 Avenue T. The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, November 18th.

If there’s anywhere young people can make their mark, it’s New York. Politicians like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elise Stefanik rapidly achieved a political status that once took decades to attain. Polls suggest New York City is on track to elect Zohran Mamdani, who would be the city’s youngest mayor in over a century. Lesser-known but equally talented young New Yorkers are on the rise in politics and in other areas too, from advocacy to the innovation economy.
City & State’s 40 Under...

City & State’s Information Security Summit: Protecting NY’s Data & Information Systems, held on Tuesday at EmblemHealth in Lower Manhattan, delved into various facets of cybersecurity in New York, including what the biggest threats are and how to shield against them.

New York is one of the few states in the nation to have a dedicated Cyber Office, which centralizes cybersecurity management efforts. The office, led by New York’s first Chief Cyber Officer Colin Ahern, works to protect the state’s critical infrastructure, digital assets and individuals’ information from cyber threats. Ahern and Deputy Chief Cyber Officer for Operations Michaela Lee will be speaking at City & State’s “Information Security Summit” on Oct. 7.

It was a warm morning, with blue skies and a light breeze, when around 300 community members in athletic gear gathered on Gerritsen Avenue to prepare for what would possibly be the final Dan’s 5K Fun Run/Walk for Cancer on Saturday, September 13th.

Providers welcomed a new three-year strategic plan announced by the Administration for Children’s Services to better connect families’ experiences in the prevention services it provides to the support of social work nonprofits that contract with the agency.
A variety of social work, welfare and community-based organizations provide these services across the city. New York Nonprofit Media reached out to several for their reactions to the new strategic plan.

Economic and workforce development were discussed at City & State’s “Economic & Workforce Development Summit: Creating & Developing Opportunities for NY’s Economy & Workforce,” held on Thursday at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, sponsored at the platinum level by NYCETC.

More than a dozen city and state elected officials were arrested Thursday while participating in a protest at the federal building that houses immigration courts in lower Manhattan.

FPWA, formerly the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, is an anti-poverty organization in New York City that advocates for policies and initiatives that support New Yorkers living in poverty. The nonprofit looks at ways to raise wages, end wage segregation, enforce pay equity, establish accurate poverty measures and dismantle unjust systems.

It was a beautiful, warm late summer morning when the Mill Basin Civic Association (MBCA) held its 18th annual 9/11 tribute, just like it was 24 years ago on the day of the World Trade Center attacks.

New York has long been at the forefront of a movement to support businesses owned by women or minorities. City & State’s Who’s Who in MWBEs, researched and written by City & State’s Amanda Salazar, highlights many of the most important figures in this space, including leaders of MWBE firms large and small, public officials who are developing and carrying out key MWBE programs, and an array of industry leaders, advisers and advocates who are leveling the playing field for MWBEs.

New York City City Hall used “Nonprofit Week” to celebrate the organizations that keep the city running, such as by providing meals for the hungry, social care for the elderly and shelter for the homeless. Various agencies spent last week providing trainings, sharing information on municipal contracts and honoring human service organizations with awards.

New York City Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos will be giving one of the keynote speeches at City & State’s “Education in New York: Shaping Tomorrow’s Schools Through Innovation” summit next Thursday. With the event just a week away, Aviles-Ramos gave City & State a preview of what attendees can expect to hear about next week at the event, touching on various initiatives and goals the education system is prioritizing.