Press Release

For Immediate Release
March 31, 2010

Crowley Presents Jewish Association for Services for the Aged with $10,000 in Federal Funds to Help Co-op City Grandparents Program

Bronx, N.Y. – Today, Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-Queens, the Bronx) joined grandparents and students to present $10,000 in federal funding to the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged (JASA).  These federal funds will be used for after-school activities in Co-op City through JASA’s Grandparents Connection program, including tutoring, homework assistance and intergenerational family programming. 

Congressman Crowley spoke about the importance of after-school activities, especially those that involve intergenerational interaction: 

“The work of Jewish Association for Services for the Aged to create opportunities for children and their grandparents is precisely the type of activity that helps keep our communities strong, our families solid and our streets safe,” said Congressman Joseph Crowley.  “By empowering role models for our youth, JASA also helps ensure young people have hope for their futures – and that is good for families and our entire community.”

Grandparents Connection is a JASA-sponsored group that provides support to grandparents who are raising their grandchildren.  With the new funding, Grandparents Connection will expand its programming to provide more opportunities for students, so that they have a safe haven and supportive place to go after school hours.  

 “Grandparents often live on fixed incomes and don’t have the financial capacity to provide for all of their family needs – especially if they have also assumed responsibility for raising their grandchildren,” added Congressman Crowley.  “Grandparents who raise our community’s young people deserve not only our respect, but concrete help.”

Said Hattie Lucas, with JASA’s Grandparents Connection, "Congressman's Crowley's continued support to the JASA Grandparent Connection Program has enabled us to provide additional support for  children. The grant will allow us to continue providing activities that give the children in our program a safe alternative to hanging out in the streets."

In addition to Congressman Crowley and Hattie Lucas, other invited speakers include:

-          Michael Benedetto, New York Assemblyman

-          Leo Johnson, Director of the Mosholu Montefiore Teen Center

-          Danielle Palmisano, JASA

JASA's mission is to sustain and enrich the lives of the aging in the New York metropolitan area so that they can remain in the community, with dignity and autonomy.  JASA works extensively in Co-op City, which is the largest Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) in the United States.  JASA manages 3 senior centers in Co-op city. 

Congressman Crowley is a 6-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives who sits on the exclusive Committee on Ways and Means, which has jurisdiction over Medicare, Social Security and many other issues involving seniors, as well as students.  Crowley established the Crime Stoppers quality of life program in Fiscal Year 2002 to provide small grants to community groups and organizations that are working to reduce crime, make quality of life improvements, and strengthen families and communities across the Bronx and Queens.  Over the last seven years, he has secured more than $1.1 million for the Crime Stoppers initiative.

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