St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation

Jennings Hall Hosts Train Show for the Holidays

St Nicks Green Revolution

St. Nicks Alliance, formerly known as the St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corp., emerged in 1975 at the forefront of a nationwide grassroots movement to preserve and improve threatened urban areas. In Brooklyn NY's Williamsburg, a group of determined residents and local business people united and committed themselves to end general decline in their neighborhood.

Today, St. Nicks is dedicated to keeping North Brooklyn sustainable for low- to moderate-income people. Each year St. Nicks provides essential services and programs to more than 9,000 people. We strategically focus on providing services in five main areas: affordable housing, health care, workforce and economic development, and youth and education.

Our Mission
The St. Nicks Alliance is a nonprofit, nonsectarian community-based organization founded in 1975 with a mission to serve as a catalyst to improve the quality of life of Williamsburg-Greenpoint residents by addressing economic, educational, health, housing and social needs while preserving the vibrant and diverse character of the entire community, particularly for low- and moderate-income residents.

Big News

Arts@Renaissance Fundraising Benefit
"Postcards for North Brooklyn" raises over $3,000 for community arts space

St. Nicks Alliance's own arts space, Arts@Renaissance, held its first ever fundraising benefit on December 2, 2011 called "Postcards from North Brooklyn." Over 90 artists created 'postcards' representing the North Brooklyn community. We would like to thank all of the artists, board members, and supporters who came out to help make the event a success.

Arts@Renaissance connects the neighborhood's longstanding ethnic communities with the area's burgeoning artistic population. As North Brooklyn's largest community development corporation, St. Nicks created A@R as an extension of its work to address the challenges of the area's low and middle income residents while building community. A@R integrates the presentation and creation of high-caliber work with artistic initiatives that make a concrete impact on the community.

More coverage on the event can be found here: http://www.greenpointnews.com/news/4029/greetings-from-north-brooklyn

If you missed the event, there are still postcards available for sale to benefit Arts@Renaissance and own a fantastic piece made by a North Brooklyn artist. They will be on sale through the end of the month and make a perfect present for the holidays. A full gallery of the available postcards can be found at this link.

All postcards are $50, with all proceeds going to Arts@Renaissance. If you are interested in purchasing a piece, please contact arts@stnicksalliance.org or call 718.388.5454 x 169

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More After-School Budget Cuts on the Horizon

The City of New York has announced even more plans to cut funding to after-school programs. This time, it is the Out-of-School Time program, that serves over 53,000 elementary and middle-school students. Over a third of these positions could be lost in the proposed cuts. The program was meant to help those students whose parents are unavailable after school due to work schedules.

Learn more about the cuts from this New York Times article by Anna Phillips: http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/12/12/out-of-school-time-program-facing-deep-cuts/

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Interested in Hosting an Intern?
St. Nicks "Learning To Work" Program looking for new partners

St. Nicks Alliance's Youth & Education Division is home to a program called "Learning to Work" (LTW), where students at Bushwich Community High School are exposed to real-world work experience while getting paid.

SNA is looking to partner with new companies who wish to have interns for the coming Fall semester. LTW pays for the internships via funding through the New York City Department of Education’s Office of Post-Secondary Readiness. Interns work after school between 10 and 15 hours per week. LTW staff provide seminars and advisors to make sure the students are getting the most out of their experience and building for tomorrow.

Interns are placed in cycles, so deadlines are rolling. The first round of interns will be placed by the end of September with more in October.

For more information and to sign up to be an Internship Partner, please contact LTW Program Director Dapheney St. Fleur at dstfleur@stnicksalliance.org

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Summer Camps
Hit Hard by Budget Cuts
Our Youth Need You

Please give to the 2011 Walk for Camp campaign and show your support for St. Nicks and School Settlement youth and families!

Due to state and city budget cuts to afterschool program grants, your contribution is more important this year than ever before. In December 2010, our city-funded Beacon and Out-of-School Time (OST) programs lost a combined total of $130,000 – and another $60,000 cut is expected this coming July 2011.

Your support will help us sustain quality programming for 650 young people of modest means in North Brooklyn (reduced from 800 youth just two summers ago). Almost all campers also attend our afterschool programs during the year, thus sustaining their academic and social development during the summer. Please don’t let our young people bear the brunt of the economic crisis!

This year’s Walk for Camp will take place on Thursday, May 26 (rain date: Friday, May 27). In addition to raising much needed resources for the St. Nicks and School Settlement summer camps, the walk also puts an important focus on physical fitness.

For more information about 2011 Walk for Camp and donating via check, click here

You can also donate online – remember to designate your contribution to Walk for Camp and the program site or staff (optional).
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