Former City Councilman Steve DiBrienza’s scandal-scarred Windsor Terrace non-profit has practically gone out of business after the city stopped funding the organization this summer — even the sign has been changed.
The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation started by DiBrienza in 2002 and funded almost entirely by $1.19 million in taxpayer money is not running any programs and no longer has any staff.
The Council’s so-called “slush fund” steadily and quietly paid for DiBrienza’s low-profile organization until reports in The Brooklyn Paper and elsewhere in March showed that a the vast majority of the money was spent on the staff — which at times included DiBrienza’s wife and former aides from his years as a councilman.
In the scandal’s aftermath, the Council didn’t include any money in the current city budget for DiBrienza’s group, which claimed to run youth sports leagues and anti-graffiti drives but was largely unknown in the community for six years.
One of the few signs that the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation ever existed — literally the sign on its Fort Hamilton Parkway storefront — has been replaced by a placard for a lawyer who moved in and shares the space with DiBrienza, who still runs his law practice there.
DiBrienza says that his non-profit will continue to operate despite the elimination of all public support this year and the absence of any specific programs underway.
“It’s basically going to continue as a volunteer organization as of July 1. It will survive, it will assist, it will still help, but without city funding,” the four-term legislator told The Brooklyn Paper. “We will revamp for the fall.”
The group ran a Friday night basketball program through June with money it received from the Council last year, DiBrienza said.
The former lawmaker, who left office in 2001 after losing a race to become public advocate, said he didn’t want to receive city funds anymore.
“We didn’t ask for city funding. We’re going to move to in a new direction,” he said.
A new window sign for the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation will be installed soon, DiBrienza said.
