• $6.5 million announced across area cultural groups, Mount Sinai Queens
• Hundreds connected at employment, immigrant and youth opportunity fairs
• NYCHA families, Western Queens residents empowered at town halls

Usanewsonline.com desk: Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. successfully brought his Borough Hall on Your Block initiative to Western Queens over the last week, carrying on his commitment to ensure Queens residents have equitable access to the services and resources of his office.

Over the course of the five-day initiative, Borough President Richards held a pair of press conferences to announce $6.5 million in capital funding for local cultural organizations and Mount Sinai Queens, held a pair of town halls, hosted resource fairs for job seekers, immigrants and youth looking for summer engagement opportunities and centered the mental health of our seniors with an older adult wellness day, among other events.

“Borough Hall on Your Block has been an incredible way to build bridges between my office and the residents we are sworn to serve, and I could not be more grateful for the old relationships we’ve strengthened and the new friendships we have made over the last week,” said Borough President RICHARDS. “Thank you to all our neighbors who came out to meet us and thank you to all our elected colleagues, city agencies and community-based organizations for partnering with us this week to ensure that Western Queens families are given the attention they deserve.”

Borough Hall on Your Block: Western Queens began on Tuesday, February 21 with a press conference to announce $5 million in capital funding across the Noguchi Museum and the Chocolate Factory Theater, supporting renovation and restoration work at both popular Long Island City cultural institutions.  That evening, Borough President Richards hosted a Self-Defense and Bystander Training Workshop at CultureLab LIC in partnership with Artemis Self Defense and the NYC Commission on Human Rights, providing Western Queens residents with the tools they need to keep themselves and those around them safe from violence, bias incidents and other negative interactions.

Day 2 of Borough Hall on Your Block: Western Queens saw the Borough President meet with job seekers at his Jobs Recruitment Fair at LaGuardia Community College, featuring more than a dozen employers across a wide array of industries, before heading to Sunnyside Community Services to meet with area seniors who came to attend his Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day event. The evening ended with his first of two town halls that week — a Western Queens NYCHA Town Hall at the Variety Boys and Girls Club, centering the voices of residents across the Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Woodside and Astoria Houses.

Borough President Richards’ second town hall of the week, a wider Western Queens Town Hall, took place on Day 3 at the Long Island City YMCA, which allowed dozens of residents from across the area to directly ask questions and voice concerns to nearly a dozen city agencies on hand. Earlier that day, Deputy Borough President Ebony Young held a Story Hour at the Long Island City branch of the Queens Public Library, as she read to a group of young children while their parents met with Borough Hall staff to discuss the services available through the office.

Highlighting his commitment to strengthening Queens’ healthcare network, Borough President Richards held a press conference on Day 4 to announce a $1.5 million allocation of capital funding to Mount Sinai Queens, which will go toward the construction of a new, 22-bed Intensive Care Unit at the Astoria hospital. Throughout that morning, more than 100 people came to his Queens Youth Opportunity Fair at the Variety Boys and Girls Club, which connected kids and families to summer youth employment, internships, volunteering opportunities and more.

Concluding Borough Hall on Your Block was an Immigrant Resource Fair at the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement in Long Island City, where attendees met with city agencies and community-based organizations to learn how to access healthcare, legal services, financial assistance, job placement and more.

Borough President Richards first announced his intention to launch the Borough Hall on Your Block initiative during his 2022 State of the Borough address. The inaugural Borough Hall on Your Block was held in Southeast Queens in late August 2022.

The date and location of the next iteration of Borough Hall on Your Block will be announced in the coming months.

(Press Release)