As the president of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City—managing over $40 million for more than 100 city programs annually—Megan Sheekey has a special role in the life of the city. Collaborating closely with Mayor Bloomberg and First Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris, she helps identify the needs of the city, big and small, and marshals together public and private resources toward addressing urgent as well as long-term quality of life issues.
“I think it’s remarkable what you can achieve through public-private partnerships,” Sheekey says of what she loves about her job, praising the Mayor in recognizing the value of working with the private sector. “The Mayor’s Fund allows City government to move beyond traditional service delivery, test the efficacy of projects, expand reach, as well as respond rapidly to community needs. I love being involved with such a wide variety of programming—from school gardens to anti-poverty initiatives—[and] I feel so fortunate to work with so many hardworking, committed people serving the city.”
On any given day, Sheekey can be doing anything from overseeing grant applications to meeting with different agencies about important projects as varied as youth development and financial empowerment. One recent ongoing effort she’s been particularly pivotal in managing is relief for Hurricane Sandy. To date, the Mayor’s Fund has committed $51 million of the $57 million in donations they received—including providing over 330,000 hot meals and essential services like showers and transportation for evacuees and volunteers—on top of gathering $6 million in donated supplies. Now, Sheekey and the Mayor’s Fund are focused on large-scale recovery projects that include help with legal services, a mold-removal program, and funding repairs (in close partnership with the Mayor’s Housing Recovery Operations office).
At home, instead of drawing a hard work-home boundary after a long day at the job, Sheekey turns her responsibilities at the office into teachable moments for her three daughters. After Hurricane Sandy, she showed her daughters—6 months, 2 years, and 4 years old—photos that she took at Staten Island, the Rockaways, and Coney Island, explaining why she had to be away from home and what was happening in the city. “I try to make them aware of local issues and of the fact that they are part of a larger community,” Sheekey says. Indeed, her elder children now ask if she helped the people who lost their houses when she comes home at the end of the day. And if she’s involved in a weekend volunteer service project, like the MillionTreesNYC planting day, you can be sure that she brings them out to help.
For this busy mom, prioritizing is a very important factor to staying sane, as is having a sense of humor—“like when you’re about to get out the door in the morning and someone covers you in orange juice,” Sheekey laughs. In fact, as difficult as the balance between parenting responsibilities and work can be, she believes being a mom has helped her manage her position at the Mayor’s Fund. “Being a parent can [help] you bring a greater sense of calm in stressful situations,” she explains. Maintaining a sense of humor, in the right manner, doesn’t hurt in the workplace, either.
When she’s off-duty, Sheekey loves visiting the carousels—a favorite of her daughters’—and enjoying the plethora of low-cost or free attractions in the city, like all of NYC’s parks and museums. But what she particularly enjoys is simply spending time with her daughters and husband in their borough of Brooklyn. And perhaps that’s what has made her such a great person for the job. Who better to help manage the city’s most important projects than a mom immersed in finding joy at the neighborhood playground and the local library?
Visit nyc.gov/fund. To read about more local Moms We Love featured this year, click here.
