Rep. Nydia Velázquez comes through for the youth of Marcy Houses!

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Friends of Marcy Houses is thrilled to announce that Rep. Nydia Velázquez has awarded FoMH $150,000 to provide after-school programs for middle school students who live in the Marcy Houses NYCHA development in Brooklyn.

The grant will be used to fund FoMH’s educational and mentoring programs, which include activities such as music, computer programming, homework help and karate. Additionally, FoMH provides students with mentors to enhance their study skills, provide life-coaching and connect them to job skill development.

FoMH thanks Rep. Velázquez for her tireless work in advocating for the Marcy Houses community, and for coming through once again to support the youth in her district. She has been an invaluable partner to the organization since its inception, and she has our deepest gratitude.

“Friends of Marcy Houses will be able to use this money to reach even more students and expand our programming to the summer months as well,” said FoMH President and co-founder Pete Eikenberry. “We are thankful to Rep. Velázquez for her steadfast commitment to families at Marcy.”

“This grant will allow us to increase the high-quality programming that youth and children residing at the Marcy Houses need and deserve,” said Dr. Bonnie Nuzum, co-founder and Program Director. “We’re excited to be able to expand our services to families in this underserved area in Brooklyn.”

Rep. Velázquez made the announcement after a sweeping $1.5 trillion omnibus bill was approved by the House of Representatives late Wednesday, March 9. The bill includes several community funding projects in Velázquez’ District 7.

“With our country continuing to emerge from COVID-19, it was crucial that we made sure in this legislation that federal dollars reach the organizations and initiatives on the ground that are helping to support working families,” said Velázquez. “Everything from job training and mentorship for youth living in public housing to ensuring culturally appropriate mental health services are available to those struggling, these funding projects will go a long way towards achieving a more prosperous and just New York City.”

Friends of Marcy Houses works to improve the lives of students and families in Marcy Houses, and to close the educational achievement gap between Marcy students and their peers.

The grant will fund:

– Personnel, including partial funding towards an Executive Director, Administrative Assistant and Education Specialist, and full funding for a Program Coordinator
– Partial funding towards incidentals such as travel, intern stipends, supplies, equipment and communications
– Funding for indirect costs, including full administration costs and partial costs of insurance and utilities

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Dominique Bravo

Dominique Bravo was born in Los Angeles to parents from Peru. Dominique is an attorney and advocate for social and racial justice with three decades of counseling and representing community and arts organizations.  

 

Dominique currently serves as the Associate Executive Director of the Center on Race, Law and Justice at Fordham Law School.  Dominique previously served as General Counsel of the Roosevelt Institute, a think tank and college campus network that seeks to carry forward the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.  She founded and directed Pathways to Apprenticeship, a non-profit workforce development agency that assists low-income people — and in particular, the formerly incarcerated — to access apprenticeship opportunities in the union construction industry. She previously served as General Counsel to the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.  

 

In addition to her work with Marcy Houses, Dominique also currently serves as pro bono counsel for children seeking asylum with the Safe Passage Project, a non-profit legal clinic.  Dominique also serves as President of the board of American Oversight, a nonpartisan, nonprofit ethics watchdog law firm in Washington D.C., that focuses on litigation involving the Freedom of Information Act. She is also a member of the board of St Ann’s Warehouse, a performing arts institution in Brooklyn, New York.  Dominique is also President and General Counsel of Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance, a dance and drumming studio and performance space she co-founded in Brooklyn.  

 

Dominique previously served on a number of other boards of directors for other social service and arts organizations throughout New York City and was a member of Community Board 6 in Brooklyn.  She received her J.D. from Northeastern School of Law and her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.  Dominique has lived in Brooklyn for the past thirty years, and she and her husband, Eric Sloan, have raised three children in Brooklyn.