Each year at the Dime McCarren 5K, St. Nicks Alliance salutes those in the community whose day-to-day efforts lift the community. The following will be awarded the Civic Award.
Principal Joseph Mattina
“We are honored to present St. Nicks Alliance’s Civic Award to Principal Joseph Mattina for this Civic Award, celebrating his two decades of dedicated service to Williamsburg’s District 14 and his unwavering commitment to education and community leadership,” said Debra Sue Lorenzen, director of youth and education at St. Nicks Alliance.
Mattina has lead P.S. 23 in his role as principal for ten years. This school is known for its “CIVICS for ALL” focus, a NYC Public School initiative that integrates project-based civic education into the core K-12 curriculum. By fostering student voices and community engagement through participatory budgeting and civics week, among other activities, Mattina ensures students are prepared for a challenging world.
Civic learning is also exemplified by P.S. 23’s involvement in the Project Soapbox initiative, which empowers youth to speak out on critical community issues. His impact is evident in student success examples such when a fifth grader reached the city-wide finals.
STEM, creativity, and academic excellence are also prioritized by Mattina. During his previous tenure at M.S. 582, his 8th-grade math students successfully passed the Regents exam a year ahead of schedule.
St. Nicks Alliance has partnered with Principal Mattina since 2018 to operate a comprehensive afterschool program — one of his strategies that prioritizes the whole child by addressing the diversity of students, a third of whom live in temporary housing. P.S. 23 has an on-site food pantry to provide essentials to those in need. His collaborative leadership continues to shape a new generation of engaged and responsible community leaders.
Andre Mack has long been a supporter of St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development’s financial services training. He ensures that Bank of America teaches many of the financial services, job readiness, and financial literacy modules. He is also instrumental in getting training graduates hired.
Mack also actively supports the alumni network from St. Nicks Alliance’s workforce trainings, and he brings graduates of the bilingual financial services training hired by Bank of America to alumni events.
“Andre is our local Market Leader at Bank of America. He sits on our Workforce Development Business Advisory Council and is strong supporter of our bilingual financial services training. He uses the training as a working interview and works to hire as many of our grads as possible. In the past year BofA has hired sixteen relationship bankers at $25 an hour. Andre really values the partnership with St. Nicks Alliance and the strong candidates we have provided. Many of the graduates we placed when we started in 2018 are still with BofA today,” said Larry Rothchild, senior managing director of workforce development at St. Nicks Alliance.
Jessica Arocho was selected to be one of three recognized with this year’s Civic Award because she is a long term community member and throughout her career she has been an active community partner with St Nicks Alliance. Her involvement is consistent toward addressing local issues and she ensures resources are available for people in need. For example, as NYC Health + Hospital/Woodhull’s director of community affairs, she partnered with St Nicks Alliance Community Preservation Unit in several events and provided winter coats, backpacks for school, and other essentials to families in need.
“We celebrate Mrs. Arocho as a true community leader committed to improving the lives of residents in North Brooklyn. She is an invaluable partner of St Nicks Alliance and is always the first to sign up for community events such health and community resource fairs. We thank Mrs. Arocho for her dedication and commitment to North Brooklyn,” said Rolando Guzman, deputy director of community preservation for St. Nicks Alliance.
The Greenline 