Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Queens nonprofits and community groups urge borough funding for food access, senior services, and youth programs
Summary
More than 70 community groups and nonprofits testified at the borough hearing, requesting discretionary expense or capital funding for food distribution, senior services, legal aid, workforce programs, and youth education. Requests ranged from $5,000 grants to multi‑million capital asks.
Dozens of Queens‑based nonprofits presented short funding requests and program descriptions at the Borough Board’s FY27 hearing, urging continued discretionary support and, in some cases, capital investments.
Community organizations framed their requests around service continuity and scaling: the Consortium for Worker Education asked for $3,000 to expand ESL and workforce training; the New York Irish Centre requested $25,000 in discretionary funds to sustain social care and older‑adult programming; the Queens County Farm Museum sought $682,000 in discretionary support for education and food‑access programming and $194,000 in capital for a tractor and pickup truck; and CJA (Criminal Justice Agency) asked for $56,458 to purchase a second van to transport clients to court.
Several groups highlighted measurable service delivery: Swim Strong Foundation reported more than 7,700 Queens participants in swim lessons and more than $1.2M in scholarships provided; Urban Outbound (East River Development Alliance) noted it filed over 21,000 tax returns in 2025 and asked for $5,000 in expense funding for its tax prep program; Queens Community House requested $490,000 to replace aging meal‑delivery vehicles that support homebound older adults. Multiple social‑service and immigrant‑serving organizations (Her Justice, Immigrant Children Advocates/EyeCare, CHAYA, India Home, KFSC) sought operating funds or support for staff to meet rising need.
Speakers emphasized that discretionary and small capital investments keep operating programs running and allow scale‑up to reach more residents; several asked the Borough President’s office to advocate to city council and agency partners for complementary funding. As with other panels, the hearing captured requests, but made no formal budget decisions on the spot.
