Supporter Spotlight: The Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals

Supporter Spotlight: The Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals

MA_10YearLogo The Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, founded by Jane Hoffman in 2003, is a key partner of AC&C, and has played an indispensable role in saving animals’ lives over the past decade. The Alliance serves as the umbrella organization for more than 150 animal welfare groups, and tackles the issue of animal homelessness through a number of important programs. AC&C works closely with the Alliance on several fronts, and is delighted that it's celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Hoffman serves as President of the Mayor's Alliance (which, despite its name, is not a government entity) and is also a founding member of the NYC Bar Association’s Animal Law Committee. Years ago, she saw the need and opportunity for an organization that brought those concerned about animal welfare together, and the nonprofit has grown from five members in 2003 to more than 150 APOs, or Alliance Participating Organizations, today. An APO itself, AC&C participates in the mega-adoption events organized by the Alliance each year, including Adoptapalooza and Whiskers in Wonderland.

Wheels of Hope walking to van "My thought was wouldn’t it be great to try to do something good in an area that really matters to you?" Hoffman says, reflecting on founding the Alliance. "I thought it was great for me and hopefully we would be able to create something good for the city. And I think working together we've accomplished this. Look at AC&C today...it's really moved in the right direction. We've saved a quarter of a million animals, and we've built a collaboration that's really envied around the country."

Hoffman emphasizes the importance of teamwork, and it's epitomized in everything the Alliance does, including its Wheels of Hope transport program. While AC&C communicates directly with other shelters and rescue groups known as New Hope partners many times a day in order to find placement for animals in need, it's vital that animals, once they have placement with these other groups, can be moved quickly. The Mayor's Alliance (a New Hope partner itself) helps make this possible. AC&C New Hope Liaisons coordinate numerous times each day with Alliance transport coordinators, and dozens of dogs, cats, and other animals are transported to partners in Wheels of Hope vans each week - thousands of animals each year.

Wheels of Hope loading into van The Alliance is also a central player in AC&C’s efforts to reunite lost pets with their families. Mayor’s Alliance volunteers (many of whom also volunteer with AC&C and/or the ASPCA) and staff seek to match animals at our centers with the lost pet reports that people file on our website. They also compare listings on numerous external lost and found websites with those animals entering AC&C shelters. Funding for the program comes from the ASPCA. Launched after funding cuts hurt our previous lost and found program, this new joint effort has helped increase the number of animals returned to their owners.

In addition to helping place animals, the Alliance also seeks to reduce the number of homeless animals entering shelters in the first place. Its NYC Feral Cat Initiative has promoted trap-neuter-return (TNR) since 2005, and offers a variety of resources, both material and educational, to help individuals help cats throughout the city. With approximately 30,000 animals arriving at AC&C each year, efforts to lower intakes are an important factor in helping to save lives.

AC&C is grateful for its longstanding partnership with the Mayor's Alliance, as well as for the community spirit the Alliance promotes.

"In real estate, it's location, location, location," notes Hoffman. "In animal rescue, it's collaboration, collaboration, collaboration."