Meet our interns: From the left: Janelle Anderson, Clair Beltran, Natasha Pena, Shirley Urena, and Nana Amponsah!

June 2nd was the orientation for this year’s class of Hope Reichbach Fund interns. Our interns (Nana, Janelle, Clair, Natasha, and Shirley) and several friends of Hope gathered for an afternoon of fun and learning at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, together with representatives from four of this year’s internship organizations: STREB, Legal Aid, Gowanus Canal Conservancy, and Brooklyn Community Services. We thank all four representatives for being so generous with their time and for helping us to prepare the interns for a very exciting summer.

The participants in the 2013 Hope Fund Orientation. Bottom row, from left: Friends of Hope Katie Roscher, Rebecca Karasik, and Ellen Meyers; Interns Clair Beltran, Natasha Peña and Shirley Ureña; STREB Director of Education and Community Relations Ashley Walters; Friends of Hope Lily Mandlin and Daniela Quiroz. Top row, from left: Brooklyn Community Services XXX; Friends of Hope Clare Richardson and Diane Martins; Intern Janelle Anderson; Friend of Hope Sanda Balaban; Intern Nana Amponsah; Gowanus Canal Conservancy board member Ben Jones; Legal Aid attorney Peter Mitchell; Friend of Hope Dylan Suher.

We started off with a lunch, at which the internship organization representatives got to meet with the interns in a casual setting, talk to them about their plans for the summer, and discuss the work that their organization does with all of the orientation participants.

Lunch with the internship organizations

After lunch, Ellen Meyers, Hope’s mother and a long-time activist and organizer, led a social justice workshop, in which we learned a little bit about history and practiced devising creative solutions to pressing social problems. Lily Mandlin, our program and outreach chair, led the group through a “Work on Purpose” workshop, which prompted us to think about what is most important to us, what skills and capacities we have, and how we can best work towards what we want through the strengths we have. To close out the afternoon, our special guest Didier Sylvain led a leadership workshop and discussion program.

What matters.

As an icebreaker, everyone at orientation thought of one word that represents what matters the most to them. For Clair, inclusion is what matters.

Happy birthday, Becky! Pictured, from left to right: Friends of Hope Lily Mandlin, Sanda Balaban, and Giselle Marie Leon; Interns Janelle Anderson and Clair Beltran.

We also wished Hope Reichbach Fund chair Becky Karasik a happy birthday!

Above all, we were all impressed by the intelligence and motivation of this year’s five terrific interns. We hope the afternoon prepared them for what we are sure they will accomplish in the coming summer, accomplishments made possible in part through your generous donations.

Thank you all so much for participating in the first annual Run for Hope 5K Run/Walk. We beat our goal of raising $10,000 and had a great time with friends and family. Check out some photos from the race and the meeting at Hope’s tree in Borough Hall after the run. (More photos by Colin Thomson available here.)

See you next year!

Dear friends,

Everyone who knew Hope knows that, whether it was softball or boxing, athletics, physical achievement, and the spirit of competition were always an important part of Hope’s life. For that reason, what could be a more appropriate way to raise money for the Hope Reichbach Fund than a 5K walk/run?

On April 28th at 9 AM, please join the friends of Hope for a 5K (3.1 mile) walk/run around Prospect Park. For the $27 registration fee, which will go directly to the Hope Reichbach Fund, you will get a spot in the race, receive an official individual race time, and be provided with refreshments. For $35, you will receive all of the above and a t-shirt. Even if you don’t quite feel up to running, we encourage you to join us for the walk: it takes only about an hour to walk 3.1 miles at a regular pace. Or you can donate and then join us at 12 PM, at Hope’s Tree in Borough Hall Park (in front of the State Supreme Court, near the Christopher Columbus statue; take the 2/3/4/5 to Borough Hall, N/R to Court Street ar A/C/F to Jay St/Metrotech) to celebrate the fund and to commemorate Hope and Gus on the second anniversary of Hope’s death.

To register, simply sign up on the Run for Hope Crowdrise site.

Also, be sure to join the Run for Hope Facebook Event!

The friends of Hope believe that together, through dedication and hard work, we can achieve something great: we can work to achieve a more equitable, more just NYC. If you share that common goal, be sure to run with us on the 28th!

UPDATE: The application period is now closed.

We are pleased to announce that the application period for the 2013 Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund Scholarships is now open! We look forward to reading your applications. Please send them in no later than March 1st, 2013.

We now have two ways to apply for the Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund Scholarship. The online application can be found here. The online application is the preferred method of application. It’s easy to use, it allows you to save your work and pick up where you left off at any time, and it allows you to continually revise your application up until the point of submission.

The scholarship application form (PDF format) may be downloaded here.

For more details on how to apply, please roll over “How to Apply” in the top navigation bar.

Basic instructions for applying:

1. Complete all pertinent information in the Personal and Educational forms.

2. Provide a copy of your resume, detailing: your educational background, student activities, honors and awards, previous work experience, and computer and language skills.

3. Have your college bursar mail a copy of your official academic transcript to: Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund, c/o Brooklyn Community Foundation, 45 Main Street, Suite 409 Brooklyn, NY 11201.

4. Provide two references in the spaces provided on page 3. They may be academic (i.e., prior/current professors) or professional (i.e., former employers).

5. In 500 words or fewer, tell us why you are applying to the Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund internship program.

6. In 250 words or fewer, please answer one of the following:

a. Give us an example of a social issue you would like to see changed and how you   would change it.
b. What does “hope for Brooklyn” mean to you?
c. How would this internship program advance your career goals?
d. Tell us a good, true story from your life.

7. This program is designed to give opportunities to outstanding applicants who have demonstrable financial need but are committed to social justice work. Please provide your FAFSA worksheet or a documentation letter from your school’s office of financial aid documenting your finances.

8. (Optional) You may describe, in 250 words or fewer, any outstanding financial circumstances that might not be apparent from your financial forms or the rest of your application.

Please attach all required forms and send the completed application to
apply@hopeforbrooklyn.com with subject line: “[Last Name], [First Name] 2013 Application” by March 1st, 2013.

All of us at the Hope Fund are hard at work preparing for the upcoming application cycle and the next successful year of the Hope Reichbach Memorial Foundation internship program, but we’d like to take a moment to thank somebody who has gone above and beyond the call of duty in supporting the mission of the Hope Fund to provide internship opportunities for New York City college students. As you may know, we recently held a benefit concert for the fund at St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn Heights, featuring Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music and the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra. All the proceeds from the concert—upwards of seven thousand dollars—went directly to the Hope Fund.

We were able to keep all the proceeds for the fund itself thanks to the efforts of one unbelievably generous individual: Ms. Wanda Fleck, the manager of the Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music. Wanda not only paid for all the concert expenses out of her own pocket, but she also took the lead in planning and coordinating the event. Thanks to her remarkable generosity, the scholarship for one of this year’s Hope Fund interns is already paid for in full. We’d also like to thank the musicians who selflessly donated their time and energy to making this concert happen.

Wanda most certainly did not ask for us to write this note, and was content to contribute her time and money without recognition, but in light of the extraordinary magnitude of her aid to the Hope Fund, we would feel remiss if we did not mention and praise what she has done for us. We are deeply appreciative and deeply grateful for all her work; there are surely not many people like her in this world. It is thanks to Wanda and people like her that the Hope Fund is able to continue its work, and to keep the memory of Hope alive.

Happy holidays to you and yours, from all of us at the Hope Fund.

Dear friends,

The church was packed with over 400 attendees!

Thank you all for your support and attendance at the benefit concert! In what was truly a lovely event, family and friends of Hope and Gus joined together on November 18 at St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn Heights to attend a benefit concert. The concert was put on by the Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music, together with the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, and directed by Nicholas Armstrong. The performance featured Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 and Beavers’s Roscoe, a concerto for violin, narrator and orchestra on a text by William Kennedy. Harris Yulin, a good friend and wonderful actor, performed the part of the narrator in the Beavers concerto.

The concert was a wonderful tribute to Hope Reichbach and her father Honorable Gustin L. Reichbach, who passed away in July 2012. Over 500 people attended the event, and many partook in a toast after the concert!

Some photos from the event are below:

The musicians included J Freivogel and Nicholas Mann on violin and David Geber on cello.

Ellen Meyers and Allyson Chung, a Hope Fund committee member.

Hope Fund members and event volunteers Lily Mandlin and Daniela Quiroz!

The Karasik sisters hand out fliers at the door!

Please join us for a concert to honor the memory of the Honorable Gustin L. Reichbach (1946-2012) and Hope (1988-2011), daughter of Judge Reichbach and Ellen Meyers:

Sunday, November 18 at 3 PM
Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity
Clinton Street at Montague Street, Brooklyn Heights

The Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music, together with the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra (artistic director: Nicholas Armstrong), will be playing Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 and Beavers’s Roscoe, a concerto for violin, narrator and orchestra on a text by William Kennedy. J Freivogel and Nicholas Mann are featured on violin, David Geber is featured on cello, and Harris Yulin, our good friend and a wonderful actor, will perform the part of the narrator in the Beavers concerto.

All proceeds will be donated to the Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund.

Tickets: $20 at the door, $10 for students (You can pre-order online here)

For additional information, call (718) 855-3053 or (347) 915-5141, or visit the websites of Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music or the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra.

Dear Friends,

All of us here at the Fund are pleased to report the successful completion of the first-ever Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund summer internship program!

Intern Ben Joson knocked on dozens of doors in East New York on behalf of VOCAL-NY, seeking signatures to end the NYPD’s “stop-and-frisk” policy. Ariel Estrella wrote about hundreds of public mural projects for Groundswell, the youth arts organization for which she interned. As part of her internship with Brooklyn Defender Services, Brenda Grande shadowed attorneys in the courtroom during arraignments and sentencing hearings, an experience that affirmed her aspirations of becoming an immigration lawyer. Nia Gumbs worked in the classroom at The HOPE Program, a nonprofit job readiness program, helping its students learn the skills they needed to find a job. Colleen Mims’ helped coordinate a major event for the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, a community development organization that partners with residents and businesses to improve the quality of life of Central Brooklyn.

Continue reading →

Ellen, Hope and Gus

Dear Friends,

On hot summer days like today—the days that our friend Hope Reichbach loved most of all—it’s hard to believe she’s been gone for fifteen months. On July 14th, we lost Hope’s greatest role model and mentor—her father, Gus Reichbach. As a community, we gather again to reflect on how best to honor this incredible public servant, father, and progressive leader. Hope was her father’s daughter through and through, and we know that we can best honor Gus by honoring her.

Last summer, though our grief was still raw, we began thinking what we could do to honor Hope. We set out to create something in memory of the intrepid, ambitious 22-year-old young woman we so missed. A core group of Hope’s friends began meeting on Bond Street in Brooklyn, in the house where Hope was raised and where her mom, Ellen Meyers, still makes her home.

And so we created the Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund, a fund that would give young people opportunities to work toward social justice and progressive values in Brooklyn, as Hope had done. The fund provides generous stipends to college students in financial need for summer internships in Brooklyn-based community organizing, activism, and civic leadership.

This summer, the interns we’ve selected are bright, dynamic, and eager to make a positive impact on the world. These five interns recently began working at a great group of Brooklyn-based organizations that are offering opportunities for civic participation in many forms.

Hope’s much too short life continues to influence the politics, policies, and lives of the people of Brooklyn through the impact our interns are making on this community, and the influence the program will have on their paths. One year later, we are resolved to continue Hope’s legacy in this way.

July 24th would have been Hope’s 24th birthday. Please consider honoring her memory by making a gift to the Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund. The support of the community Hope built allows her values and her spirit to live on. Thank you for being a part of the Circle of Hope.

Donate online:

http://www.brooklyncommunityfoundation.org/give/hope-reichbach-fund

Donate by mail:
Please make checks payable to the Brooklyn Community Foundation–note the Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund in the memo section of the check. Donations to the Brooklyn Community Foundation for the Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund are tax deductible as provided by law.

Brooklyn Community Foundation / Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund
Attn: Development Office
45 Main Street, Suite 409
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Much love,
Hope’s friends and family

Introducing the inaugural class of Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund recipients:

The HRMF interns, with their organizations and with representatives of the fund. Front row, from left to right: Ellen Meyers (HRMF), Rebecca Karasik (HRMF), Benedict L. Joson (Recipient), Brenda Aracely Grande (Recipient), Nia Gumbs (Recipient), Colleen Mims (Recipient), Ariel Estrella (Recipient)

All of us at the Hope Reichbach Memorial Fund are proud to present our interns for the Summer 2012 session. These five amazing candidates stood out from a selection group for over 30 applicants. We look forward to getting to know them better over the summer and continuing to work with them for many years to come.

Benedict J. Joson was born in Bulacan, Philippines, where he spent the first 5 years of his life. In 1996, Benedict moved with his grandparents to New York City. To better integrate into the culture and to learn the English language, he attended St. Sebastian School in Woodside, New York. This experience opened his mind to the possibilities of education and society. He graduated with achievements in 2007 and continued on to Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood, New York. Academic, athletic, and extracurricular programs nurtured him in body, mind, and spirit. He graduated in 2010 and moved on to CUNY Hunter College in New York, New York. Eager to contribute and learn more about campus life and the college, he decided to join the Undergraduate Student Government. His involvement has been a catalyst for a future in service and leadership in the government and society.

Brenda Aracely Grande is from New York City. She is currently a sophomore at Mount Holyoke College, majoring in English, with a minor in Law and Public Policy. She is interested in law and plans to be an immigration lawyer because she has been surrounded by the political prejudices against undocumented immigrants. She likes to be active in Latino issues and is a member of MEChA, the Chicano club on campus, for which she is the treasurer. Her other interests include literature, which is why she decided to become an English major. She also enjoys writing and enhancing her writing skills.

Nia Gumbs is 19 years old and attends SUNY Geneseo. She is currently a sophomore, majoring in Childhood with Special Education. In 2011, she co-founded the volunteer group Hearts for Sammy, a group that raises money each year to donate to the Children’s Heart Link Foundation for Congenital Heart Defect Disease. In 2012, she organized the Geneseo Hoodie March for Trayvon Martin. She is also involved in various organizations, such as Women’s Leadership Institute, the Black Student Union, and FACE AIDS. In fall of 2012, she will be the public relations representative for FACE AIDS and part of the Women’s Leadership Professional Development Team. After graduation, she wants to teach in inner-city schools, because she feels that she can relate to those students and help them, since she used to be an inner-city school student herself. She understands the struggle for students who attend inner city schools and, as someone dedicated to working towards success, she feels that it is her job to give back and to help disadvantaged students to excel.

Colleen Mims is a sophomore at Kingsborough Community College, majoring in Business Administration. Throughout the past five years, Colleen has contributed to her home, Brooklyn, by participating in groups like Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Center, College for Kids, Kingsborough’s Honor Society, Student World Assembly and others. She has tutored children in music, English and Math; opened an art gallery gift shop; helped Brooklyn’s environment by participating in campus clean-ups; planted trees; and promoted good environmental practice by creating compost piles and coming up with ideas to help her college’s urban farm. She writes poetry and participates in student publications, Business Council and other clubs at Kingsborough. Colleen plans on starting her own daycare by age 22 and attending Howard University after she graduates from Kingsborough. She currently operates an online jewelry and clothing business.

Ariel Estrella was born and raised in Queens. She studied at Hunter College High School and graduated from City-As-School, and is currently a student at Macalester College. She intends to double major in English and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. She participates in many school organizations and committees relating to gender and sexuality issues, including organizations that promote feminism, anti-sexism, the LGBTQ community, sex-positivity, and all-gender spaces/issues. Off-campus, she plans to begin working with a nonprofit that hosts a mentoring program for young women. She is also passionate about art, community activism, fighting against gentrification, and improving access to better education and community resources for urban youth (especially those from historically marginalized identities). She hopes to create even more opportunities in the future for empowering youth and the communities in which they live, carrying on the transformative spirit of Hope herself in the best way that she can.