hMark your calendars. HNBA’s next in-person meeting will be on Tuesday, January 9th, at 7:00 PM.

We’ll meet at the Salvation Army Building: 2306 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10035 (our meeting room is on the 2nd floor - staff will guide you there).

We’ll have a presentation from ConEd’s Harlem consumer representative, who will talk about free energy audits, energy-saving devices, and ways Harlem residents can qualify for help from ConEd to lower bills and energy usage.

We’ll also have an information session from HNBA neighbor Tony Shaw on personal finance and achieving your goals for college, home ownership, or retirement.

Lastly, we’ll hear from the Randall’s Island Park Alliance (RIPA), who steward a lot of what happens on Randall’s Island. We’re very excited to hear more about their plans for 2024 and perhaps even a field trip to see what’s happening across the river.

All welcome. Bring a friend or bring a neighbor

MulchFest Returns

Drop your holiday tree at Marcus Garvey Park’s south-east corner:

 www.nyc.gov/mulchfest.

Mulchfest 2023 will run from December 26 through January 7. New Yorkers will be able to drop off holiday trees at one of 72 sites – 34 are chipping sites – across the five boroughs, including parks and Greenthumb gardens. The trees are then chipped and recycled, and the mulch is used to nourish city trees and plants in every corner of the city.

Mulchfest, part of the New York City holiday tradition, encourages New Yorkers to make greening a family activity—turning holiday trees into mulch which can be used for gardening and to increase soil fertility. For more than 20 years, Parks has collected and mulched trees to help planting beds and community gardens around the city grow. Mulch maintains the health of our trees and plants citywide by deterring weeds, retaining moisture, preventing compaction, adding nutrients to the soil, and keeping roots warm. In recent years, Parks has mulched between 25,000 and 30,000 trees.