Inside this Issue:

• MillionTreesNYC Plants 250,000th Tree and Mobilizes Volunteers for Fall Planting Day
• NYCº Cool Roofs Helps Combat Climate Change
• NYC Civic Corps Members Get to Work
• Year Two of the MillionTreesNYC Training Program Begins
• Office of Financial Empowerment Helps New Yorkers Get Ready for the Tax Season

ANNUAL GIFT GIVING GUIDE

This holiday season, the Mayor’s Fund invites you to give gifts to family, friends and co-workers that will also touch the lives of other New Yorkers. When you contribute to a New York City public program though the Mayor’s Fund, we will send a letter detailing your gift to the recipient. Here are a few ideas . . . A $100 donation will: Plant a tree in a park and help us reach the goal of MillionTreesNYC by 2017. Fund four “Fresh Start Kits” for runaway homeless youth. Provide a stroller or a two-month supply of diapers and wipes to a domestic violence victim at one of the City’s Family Justice Centers. Donate Your Blank for Good: Contribute your talent, time and energy by volunteering through NYC Service. Current NYC Service volunteer opportunities include helping at food pantries and soup kitchens, outreach efforts to educate New Yorkers about the flu and vaccination, or mentoring a middle school student. Go to www.nyc.gov/service to get involved. For these and many more gift ideas, or to donate online, visit our gift giving guide, or call us at 212-788-7794.

BECOME A FAN OF THE MAYOR’S FUND
We continue to update the Mayor’s Fund Facebook page. Visitors can view pictures, browse links to news stories about innovative City programs, and receive information about upcoming events. Check out our page and become a fan!

MILLIONTREESNYC CELEBRATES 250,000TH TREE AND PLANTS OVER 20,000 TREES IN ONE DAY On October 5, MillionTreesNYC celebrated its two-year anniversary by planting tree number 250,000 at the home of Sharon and Thomas Stoney in St. Albans, Queens. At the announcement, Mayor Bloomberg and Bette Midler launched a new “Put Down Roots” pilot program encouraging New York City homeowners to plant trees in their front and backyards as part of NYC Service. Homeowners wanting to participate or find out about upcoming tree giveaways should visit www.milliontreesnyc.org. At each tree giveaway event, information is provided to teach New Yorkers how to plant and care for a tree.  On October 24, more than 1,000 volunteers planted 20,703 trees throughout the five boroughs, bringing the total number of trees planted since October 2007 to nearly 300,000. This year the MillionTreesNYC Fall Planting Day coincided with the semiannual It’s My Park Day sponsored by Partnerships for Parks, a joint program of the City Parks Foundation and the Parks Department. It’s My Parks Day organized an additional 4,000 volunteers to help paint fences and benches, and clean up parks, making the day the largest fall volunteer event in New York City. While the planting season is now coming to a close, there are still many opportunities this winter to care for our newly planted trees this winter through the MillionTreesNYC Stewardship Corps. Go to www.milliontreesnyc.org to sign up and stay tuned for the spring season planting season opportunities beginning in March!

MAYOR LAUNCHES NYCº COOL ROOFS WITH AL GORE
On September 24, Mayor Bloomberg and former Vice President Al Gore launched NYCº Cool Roofs, an NYC Service initiative to coat the roofs of NYC buildings with reflective white paint. A “cool roof” absorbs 80 percent less heat than a dark roof and can lower the rooftop temperature by 60 degrees and the indoor temperature by 10-20 degrees. The Cool Roofs pilot kicked off in Long Island City, a neighborhood with higher temperatures than the citywide average due to the high percentage of industrial rooftops in the area. NYCº Cool Roofs conforms with the City’s new building code, which requires that all new buildings constructed in New York City to have a reflective white cool roof. The program is being evaluated by Columbia University’s Center for Climate Systems Research, which will report on the energy and cost savings generated by cool roofs on participating buildings. NYCº Cool Roofs is also a initiative of the Mayor’s PlaNYC sustainability agenda to help combat climate change. For more information, go to www.nyc.gov/planyc2030.

NYC CIVIC CORPS MEMBERS BEGIN YEAR OF SERVICE
The NYC Civic Corps is making its presence felt throughout the City. The current 176 Corps members have been placed at 56 different sites to help address the six priorities of NYC Service: strengthening communities, helping neighbors in need, education, environment, health, and emergency preparedness. A recent project led by the FDNY Foundation, tasked its Civic Corps members to recruit 12,000 New Yorkers in targeted neighborhoods for CPR training. On November 20, Civic Corps members continued their training in developing sustainable volunteer programs at Lehman College in the Bronx.

SECOND YEAR OF TREE TRAINING PROGRAM BEGINS
The MillionTreesNYC Training Program kicked off its second year this fall. Having just completed their eight-week orientation period, this year’s participants are now selecting the concentration (Arboriculture, Ecological Restoration or Landscape Design and Installation) they want to pursue as they prepare themselves for a future in the “green collar” industry. To date the trainees have completed several technical and life skills trainings, including Trees New York’s Citizen Pruner course. In addition, they staffed two sites at the Fall MillionTreesNYC Planting Day and hosted Saturday community tree plantings in Trees for Public Health neighborhoods. On November 24 the current participants joined last year’s participants for a meet-and-greet and a tour of City Hall (at left). The trainees will soon embark on a ten-day program sponsored by the Tree Research and Education Endowment (TREE) Fund in which industry experts will instruct on topics such as proper chain saw use and nursery stock selection and production. In recognition of the success of the program and the continuing need for job training initiatives, another class of participants will begin in January 2010.

CITY HELPS AT TAX TIME
On January 23 the Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) will host “Get Your Refund!” Day to raise public awareness about the importance of making informed choices at tax time, including where to access high-quality tax preparation assistance and how to use refunds to pay down debt and start saving. The Mayor’s Fund is helping to raise funds to support a range of financial empowerment initiatives to help New Yorkers navigate through the current economic downturn. For more information, go to www.nyc.gov/ofe.

To support any of these or other innovative public projects, please visit www.nyc.gov/fund.
Together we can make a difference.

Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City
One Centre Street, 23rd Floor
New York, NY 10007
Phone (212) 788-7794 - Fax (212) 669-8484
www.nyc.gov/fund

Rob Speyer, Chair • Megan Sheekey, President
For general NYC information, call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov
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