City Year’s LICence To Serve Makes A Difference In Long Island City

Riis Settlement’s Queensbridge and Ravenswood sites got a splash of color and a touch of green in the spirit of community service on Saturday, May 1st as part of LICence to Serve, a day of community improvement and collaboration in Long Island City sponsored by City Year.

City Year New York’s Community Service Days are designed to bring people together and be sustainable and transformative, making a visible difference in one day. Volunteers started the day with a morning opening program and pep rally featuring Bishop Mitchell Taylor, Executive Director of Riis Settlement’s neighbor and community partner, The East River Development Alliance (ERDA).

Then they were off to various schools and community-based organizations throughout Long Island City on teams led by City Year, and finished by late afternoon. Work at Queensbridge and Ravenswood included planting a community garden, creating colorful and inspirational murals, and building book shelves.  The day ended with a block party at nearby P.S. 111.

Oshea Moye, Program Coordinator at Ravenswood reported, “The City Year workers were very professional, efficient and outgoing. The outcome is spectacular.”   We thank City Year and the dozens of volunteers who helped make the day a huge success. For more about City Year’s Spring Service days throughout the five boroughs, click here.