Friends of Astoria Heights Park hosts 4th Its My Park, May 16, 2015, 9am
Astoria Heights Playground, Astoria, NY
Volunteers from Park Day 2014
On May 16, the Friends of Astoria Heights Park will host Its My Park.
On the upper terrace of the park, three activities will take place:
Basketball clinic for children ages 5-8 will be 9-9:45am
Learn to Ride by Bike New York and NYC Park Department from 10-12pm
Family yoga by a teacher from The Yoga Room at 11am
On the lower level in the playground,
Mural completion 9:30am
More information about activities
Learn to Ride—Kids is a free group class for children who are ready to ditch their training wheels and pedal a two-wheeler for the first time. With our safe, easy, effective method and experienced instructors, kids will learn how to balance, pedal, start, stop, and steer a bicycle. Most students get the hang of it in one session, but even if they don’t, parents will leave equipped with an easy, low-stress technique that will have their kids riding independently in no time.
About Bike New York
Bike New York is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and New York City’s leading proponent of cycling as a practical, sustainable, and healthy means of transportation and recreation.
They offer free bike education programs throughout the five boroughs, whereby they teach kids and adults how to ride a bike, and how to do so safely and confidently in the city. In 2014 alone, they taught bike skills to 16,000 New Yorkers. Bike New York organizes numerous annual events, including the TD Five Boro Bike Tour (the world’s biggest charitable bike ride), Bike Expo New York, and smaller regional and community rides.
About The Yoga Room
In 2003 The Yoga Room opened the doors of its former Steinway Street location in Astoria. Since then we have expanded into two beautiful, large spaces in both Astoria and Long Island City. Each location features three large studios to accommodate over 100 classes per week, as well as treatment rooms for our acupuncture and massage services. They have a wide variety of class offerings including hot yoga and hot Pilates, Iyengar-based alignment classes, vinyasa flow, prenatal and mommy & me yoga, and even our ballet infused Barre Blast Pilates and Aerial yoga.
About the mural project
The Friends of Astoria Heights Park in collaboration with local schools, are creating a mural, conceptualized by Artist, Lenore Koppelman.
Mural Project made possible with support from Partnership for Parks, a joint program of City Parks Foundation and NYC Parks. The Capacity Fund grant is funded in part by Parks Equity Initiative of the leadership of Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito.
Artist’s Rendering of Mural
About the Park
Astoria Heights Park is one of 35 sites targeted in NYC Parks’ Community Parks Initiative, a multi-faceted investment in the smaller public parks that are located in New York City’s densely populated and growing neighborhoods. The Community Parks Initiative is NYC Parks’ first major equity initiative. It will invest $130 million capital dollars and also bring enhanced programming, maintenance, and community partnership building to community parks serving high-need communities. The initiative will engage New Yorkers in rebuilding local parks, create new reasons to get out and get fit, and reconnect communities to the green spaces right outside their doorsteps.
About the New Bulletin Board
Astoria Heights Park installed a new Bulletin Board on April 17, sponsored in part by a grant from Parks and Trails, New York
Lynn Kennedy, Lauren Biniaris with Senator Gianaris, Assemblywoman Simotas, and Councilman Costantinides
The statewide advocacy group Parks & Trails New York (PTNY) awarded almost $16,000 in Growing the Grassroots capacity building grants to seven not-for-profit park and trail organizations. The groups will use the funds to increase organizational visibility, generate community support, grow membership, and attract additional volunteers. The awards are supported, in part, by the visionary philanthropist, Merryl H. Tisch.
PTNY’s program is unique in that it awards funding for activities not normally covered by existing grants. PTNY’s Growing the Grassroots capacity building grants focus are designed to help park and trail not-for-profits develop and strengthen the skills, processes, and resources that will allow them to thrive and better foster the expansion, stewardship, and promotion of New York’s parks and trails. New to the program this year were awards to undertake small park or trail capital projects that will raise the visibility and capacity of park and trail not-for-profits.
“Hundreds of not-for-profit organizations are working to build, protect, and promote our state’s parks and trails which contribute so much to our economy and quality of life,” said Robin Dropkin, Parks & Trails New York Executive Director. “With our Growing the Grassroots grant program, we can help propel these groups to new levels, enabling them to leverage more private funding and marshal more volunteer power to aid their stewardship efforts.”
Since it initiated the awards program in 2009, PTNY has assisted 59 organizations in 36 New York counties. For more information on Parks & Trails NY go to their website at www.ptny.org.
Special Thanks for donations from:
Bike Stop, www.bikestopastoria.com
Tony’s Bicycle, www.tonysbicycles.com
Sorriso Italian Pork Store
Bagels on the Ave, www.bagelsontheaveny.com
Dunkin Donuts
Learn more about us: http:friendsofastoriaheightspark.org
Visit us on Facebook: //www.facebook.com/groups/astoriaheightspark/
Follow us on twitter:https://twitter.com/astoriaheights/
