The latest from UJA-Federation of New York ... Justice League NYC

Robot at Upper Manhattan school

Robot at Upper Manhattan school Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office

Justice League NYC has its own way of commemorating the birth, life and death of Emmett Till. The advocacy organization plans to launch a new campaign called #ThisIsUs on Aug. 28, the anniversary of the death of the fourteen year-old boy who was lynched in Mississippi after being falsely accused of whistling at a white woman in 1955.

The campaign will seek to link that case with the immigration policies of the Trump administration, including how a “zero tolerance” border policy has separated families and institutionalize torture, according to a July 27 email from Justice League NYC.

Find out more about the upcoming campaign here.

 

A new $2.65 million investment aims to create a state-of-the-art STEM center in Upper Manhattan. The facility will focus on aviation and robotics and is located at Gregorio Luperon High School for Science and Mathematics, according to a July 27 press release from the city. A $2.7 million investment got the project going, with a robotics lab opening in the 2017-18 school year.

Several hundred people hit the streets in West Seneca on July 26 to demand better services for disabled people. The VOICE-Buffalo Accessibility Task Force organized the march, WIVB reports, which took particular issue with accessibility issues at the Developmental Disabilities Regional Office.

"This is supposed to be the organization that focuses on people first. An inaccessible office is not people first,” Mike Rogers, co-chairman of the task force, told WIVB.

Read more here.

 

UJA-Federation of New York raised $249.3 million this past fiscal year. A press release states that the record-breaking amount was a $11.2 million increase from the previous year, according to a July 26 press release. About $156.1 million of this year’s total came from its annual campaign, another $55.8 million came from planned giving and endowments and $37.4 million was from capital projects and special initiatives such as hurricane relief.

 

Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, had something to share via social media on the need to create more peaceful discourse on social issues.

 

Send your press releases, photos, and word of your latest happenings to reporter Zach Williams at zwilliams@nynmedia.com.