Group With Ties to N.Y. Council Chief Quadruples City Grant

A charity founded by a political adviser to New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito received $1.3-million in the first budget passed under her leadership, a more than four times what it received last year, reports Crain’s New York Business.

The Hispanic Federation received $307,000 in the previous city spending plan. The organization was launched in 1990 by Luis Miranda, who now serves as its paid lobbyist. Mr. Miranda is also a partner in the MirRam Group, a lobbying firm that serves as Ms. Mark-Viverito’s campaign consultant.

The $1.3-million grant includes some $830,000 from a new program for charities serving minority communities, monies for which are directly under the speaker’s control. MirRam lobbied New York lawmakers to establish the $2.5-million Communities of Color Non-Profit Stabilization Fund, which a spokesman for Ms. Mark-Viverito said “had widespread support throughout the council.”