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HEAT’S ON BX. POL FOR FIRE FUNDS

A nonprofit group with ties to Bronx City Councilman Larry Seabrook received more than $300,000 in city money to improve firefighter diversity - a program that did little beyond burn cash, sources said.

The “Firefighter Advocacy Program” - run by the Northeast Bronx Redevelopment Corp. - was supposed to “produce up to 25 members of the NY Fire Department each year,” increase “the number of minority applicants and firefighters” and provide “information and services . . . [for] minority recruitment,” according to the organization’s proposal.

In 2006 the group received $310,000 for the effort - with $205,000 earmarked for staff salaries.

Two years later, the FDNY says its only contact with the group was a request to provide free posters and recruitment materials - which it was asked to leave in Seabrook’s office.

A source affiliated with the group said it did print recruitment materials and do community outreach, but steered most applicants into already established training programs run by the Vulcans, the FDNY’s association of black firefighters, and John Jay College. The group also gave about $15,000 to the Vulcans for study materials.

But it’s unclear where the bulk of the $310,000 went - the group’s proposal shows it filled two of 12 funded positions. One was an administrative assistant. The other was the $25,000 “executive director” position, which went to Gloria Jones-Grant - who reportedly already receives a $71,000 salary from the Northeast Bronx Redevelopment Corp.

The proposal also included $42,000 for rent - even though Northeast Bronx said it would work out of its existing offices.

Seabrook has long been linked to the organization, once located in the same building as his office. In March, the city froze his request for $912,000 to the obscure Bronx African American Chamber of Commerce, also in that building.

Jones-Grant and Seabrook did not return multiple calls for comment.

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City Freezes Bronx Councilman’s Million-Dollar Non-Profit Play

Amid recent revelations about a secret Council slush fund and taxpayer-funded shenanigans at non-profits, the city has denied Councilman Larry Seabrook’s near million-dollar request to fund a new non-profit that’s located within his district headquarters.

The city system of checks and balances denied the Bronx Democrat’s appropriations, freezing his Fiscal Year ‘08 requests of $887,244 to fund the newly founded Bronx African-American Chamber of Commerce. The non-profit did not have the proper paperwork in place for the money to be released.

A divider is all that separates the commerce chamber, at 3687-B White Plains Road, from Seabrook’s district headquarters at 3687-A White Plains Road.

The office of United States Attorney Michael Garcia would neither confirm nor deny that Seabrook or the Bronx African-American Chamber of Commerce were targets of the ongoing federal investigation, said spokesman Yusill Scribner. That investigation has already snared two former aides to Brooklyn City Council Member Kendall Stewart for their roles in funneling Council cash to the Donna Reid Memorial Education Fund, and then taking that money for personal use.

Neither Seabrook nor Carl Green, director of the Bronx African-American Chamber of Commerce, returned repeated calls for comment. The organization also denied repeated requests to furnish public records about its financing.

Being less than a year old, the Bronx African-American Chamber of Commerce does not have much of a public profile, only receiving media attention for a recent press conference to discuss a program to train minority applicants to become truck drivers. A group flyer announces the “Jobs to Build on Initiative,” jointly sponsored by Seabrook, that “offers free training and employment services to low skilled, unemployed or under employed individuals.”

According to the New York State Department of State, the Bronx African-American Chamber of Commerce was founded on May 2, 2007 — just weeks before the deadline for council members to submit requests for the FY2008 budget. The group incorporated using the Bronx address of 1530 East 222nd Street, but now shares Seabrook’s office. Read more..

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