Trip to Citizens Committee for NYC

On our field trip to Bowling Greens, many of us entered a new, unfamiliar neighborhood, somewhat briefing us for our final project in Brooklyn. Our instructor sat our class down in a conference room with a huge expo wall to write and plan their community project. Ways we learned to be a part of a community project is that the size of a particular group does not matter. That means we do not necessarily need a voice in community board meetings or be a neighborhood mayor, “make noise to change what is in your surroundings”, the instructor of CC for NYC suggested. There were a few projects we discussed that dealt with community organization from empty lots owned by HPD (the Department of Housing Preservation & Development) to superfund sites. They introduced us to new vocabulary, such as place making when talking about community organizations that are good insight for our own projects. With blurbs of information on how different projects are able to work and how Citizens Committee functions as a non-profit company, it gave us a bit of direction on what we were headed in to with our fieldwork and final project.

            The most popular and intriguing question asked by one of my classmate’s, which I am sure we all thought of within the first ten minutes of our instructor’s brief about the program; where does your funding come from? We were told that Citizens Committee for NYC, received funding from private firms, galas and sponsors, and with that demand there was a separate section of the organization that dealt with receiving funds. It is not as simple as just taking the money; the group must then have a grass-root project that is willing to work in the field of choice by the sponsor.

            Citizens Committee provides workshops to groups to help the team members have a better understanding if needed, on how they will accomplish their project. They also act as crutch to these groups and don’t necessarily get too involved, just give them the money to accomplish their goal. I wonder if Citizens Committee, ever though to have another branch in their organization that would be dedicated to being on-site and more hands on with a group, with physical and moral support. Also another question I have for them is, can a returning person and/ or group receive funds from Citizens Committee if they had already used money for another project? I think that the people that are bettering the community are the same people that once get involved keep helping and giving, so there should be no restriction as long as the money and project is approved.

            Since we are still in the beginning stages of planning, I am looking to apply a quote to my research, that was written up on the wall when we first walked in, “If you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t matter which way you go.” I don’t want to become hung up on an outcome for my project right at first, because as I learned on our trip you encounter problems when doing this type of work and you must be ready to adjust your ideas while still having your goal in mind. We also learned about our own roles in our community in NYC and our hometowns, and a matter of fact we play such a small role no one expects much. In this project however, I want to feel as though I can use my voice and facilitate a project that could actually have an impact on a community in Brooklyn if the plan was brought to real life.