Rabbi Niederman speaks at Council Member Stephen Levin’s press conference today in Williamsburg (Photo: Nicole Disser)
Today in South Williamsburg, Council Member Stephen Levin announced the allocation of new city funding for cleanup efforts across the city. The program– the City’s Council $3.5 million Cleanup NYC Initiative– aims to install better public trash bins and beautify public spaces and streets while contributing to a generally more, er, sanitized New York City. Because apparently having streets in Williamsburg and Greenpoint that the Mayor’s Office rated 83 percent to 96.6 percent “acceptable” is nowhere near clean enough.
Mr. Levin said the $68,628 allocated to the 33rd District will ensure “that our quality of life is maintained.” He said that clean streets lead to a sense of pride in one’s community as well as a “sense of security.”
But the mission isn’t entirely about fancy new “high-end litter baskets” — the 33rd District will be teaming up with the Center for Employment Opportunities to place formerly incarcerated individuals in cleanup positions. “We decided to partner with an organization that consistently delivers services in addition to providing opportunities for individuals who are facing some of the biggest challenges of anyone in society: those that are reentering society from incarceration,” Mr. Levin said.
Sam Schaeffer, the organization’s executive director, said that the Center for Employment Opportunities “helps men and women coming home from prison when they are having the hardest time finding a job.”
Rabbi David Niederman, director of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, was also present, and said that he’s happy to see a partnership between the 33rd district and the Center for Employment Opportunities. “It’s about empowering people for their life,” he said. “They come home broken and there is a community that raises them up.”