NEW YORK, N.Y. /New York Netwire/ — Neotrope is honored to make New York-based CITYarts Inc. one of the chosen recipients for 2012 of its annual Non-Profit PR Grant Program. With this commitment, Neotrope aligns itself with CITYarts’ mission to bring young people and professional artists together to create Public Art. Through this creative process, CITYarts empowers youth and connects children locally and around the world to become active participants in transforming communities.

As part of this grant program, Los Angeles-based Neotrope(R) is providing PR solutions, news dissemination (through its Send2Press(R) Newswire service), search marketing and advertising for CITYarts Inc. (www.cityarts.org) to help raise awareness to both media and the public regarding their efforts in producing permanent artworks that address important civic, educational and social issues while beautifying the urban environment of New York City’s five boroughs.

“We’re grateful to have Neotrope aboard to assist our efforts to bridge cultural differences within diverse communities and foster cultural understanding internationally,” stated Tsipi Ben-Haim, Executive and Creative Director, CITYarts. “Neotrope has done great work with many other non-profits, and I look forward to working with them in expanding the awareness of our efforts locally and internationally.”

“We’re honored in providing assistance for CITYarts Inc. as part of our grant program,” said Neotrope CEO, Christopher Laird Simmons; a member of PRSA and ASCAP. “As an artist and creative person inspired by the arts in my own youth, I highly value the importance of involving kids in the art process to open young minds to their own possibilities and potential.”

Additional information regarding the Neotrope PR Grants for U.S. charitable non-profits and other 2012 grant recipients can be found at: http://send2press.com/non-profit/index.shtml .

About CITYarts Inc.:

CITYarts, Inc. (www.cityarts.org) empowers children and youth by bringing them together with professional artists to create public art that addresses civic and social issues, impacts lives, and transforms their communities. Thinking globally and acting locally, CITYarts’ projects build bridges of cultural understanding, giving youth the opportunity to take an active role in shaping their own future. Since 1968, CITYarts has created over 284 projects that have transformed communities and impacted over 100,000 kids, collaborated with more than 500 artists, partnered with over 1,500 sponsors, and engaged over 500,000 volunteers in the process. CITYarts’ projects frequently foster community revitalization by galvanizing businesses, schools, and community organizations into developing youth programs and constructing playgrounds and gardens.

View current projects at: http://www.cityarts.org/current-projects/index.html .

“It is our responsibility as adults to open opportunities for our youth and direct their energies into positive activities. Art is vital to the life of New York’s neighborhoods and its youth in particular,” says Tsipi Ben-Haim, Executive and Creative Director, CITYarts. “For that reason, CITYarts created five programs that through art, address the civic, social, and educational issues facing today’s youth. Through these programs they create murals, sculptures and mosaics that impact their lives and transform their neighborhoods into vibrant, beautiful spaces for them to meet, celebrate their achievements, and bridge cultural differences.”

Thinking globally and acting locally, we most recently created the Young Minds Build Bridges program. Through this program we united the youth of New York City and their peers from around the globe around the common purposes of promoting peace and raising awareness of global warming.”

Learn more about CITYarts’ Five Programs: http://www.cityarts.org/our-five-programs/index.html .

About Neotrope:

Since 1983 Neotrope(R) has delivered services to raise organization awareness including brand identity, marketing, public relations (PR), and SEO services. Neotrope is also an entertainment publishing company involved in books, music, software, and online portals; is listed with GS1 for barcodes, with Bowker for ISBNs, and the RIAA for ISRC codes. The company pioneered the concept of search optimization of press release content back in 1997 (verifiable via archive-dot-org). Neotrope was an Inc. 5000 company in 2009, and has an A+ rating with the BBB. More information: www.Neotrope.com .

The Neotrope(R) marketing team includes Christopher Laird Simmons, who is an award-winning designer (including a design award from Apple Inc.), photographer, musician and digital artist. He is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and ASCAP. Simmons has been widely interviewed by publications as diverse as Entrepreneur, Chicago Post Tribune, PCWorld, Monster-com, and TrendWatch. He has been on the launch team for numerous successful companies including the second PPC company on the net, Findwhat; and the MacMall(R) mail-order company. He also built Oprah’s first ecommerce solution for her “Begin with Love” video series. Other team members include accredited public relations professionals, working journalists and broadcast veterans.

Neotrope’s annual Non-Profit PR Grants(TM) Program was originally launched in 2000 by company founders Christopher Simmons and the late Dr. JL Simmons, with the goal of providing a “better donation” for worthy U.S. charitable 501(c)3 non-profits than simply writing a small check; instead utilizing the company’s capabilities to grow awareness to media and the public, attract halo sponsors/donors, and bring together disparate resources not generally affordable to small organizations.

Past recipients of the Non-Profit PR Grant Program include Children Awaiting Parents, Girls Write Now, Paws of Life Foundation, Special Equestrians, The Bob Moog Foundation, The Starlight Children’s Foundation, The Native Voices Foundation, World Savvy, and many others.

About Send2Press:

Send2Press(R) (a service of Neotrope) offers best-in-class affordable Direct-to-Editors(TM) news distribution to working print and broadcast media, online and social media, and deep into search engines using proprietary Neotrope ContextEngine(TM) technology. Send2Press is unique because it was the first newswire service with staff entirely comprised of accredited public relations professionals, published authors, working journalists, and marketing experts. Originally launched as MindsetNetwire in 1997 exclusively for Neotrope’s corporate clients, the service became Send2Press(R) in 2000. Learn more about Send2Press at www.Send2Press.com .

Copyright © 2012 New York Netwire™ and Neotrope®. NewYorkNetwire™ is a news publication of the Neotrope News Network and a trademark of Neotrope – all rights reserved. NEWS SOURCE: CITYarts Inc.