Grantee Spotlight: Neighbors Together
Organization: Neighbors Together
Recent Grants: $100,000 Spark Prize (2016-17)
Website: www.neighborstogether.org
Year Founded: 1982
Communities Served: Neighbors Together is committed to ending poverty in Brownsville, Ocean Hill, and Bedford-Stuyvesant
Our grants support:
The Spark Prize provides $100,000 over three years in general operating support, which allows Neighbors Together to use the funds as they are needed most. Neighbors Together takes a multifaceted approach to poverty and hunger relief through its storefront soup kitchen, community center, and social service programs. Neighbors Together’s cafe serves over 400 people each day, for a total of over 80,000 meals served annually. Its empowerment programs provide members access to critical resources including housing, public benefits, job training, health and mental health care, legal services, and tax filing. Through its Community Action program, Neighbors Together organizes clients to engage with policymakers to advocate for change on issues such as three-quarter housing and raising the minimum wage.
Why we’re supporting them:
Neighbors Together was selected through a rigorous application and interview process by our Spark Prize Committee to be an inaugural recipient of our $100,000 Spark Prize for Brooklyn nonprofits. The Spark Prize recognizes service to Brooklyn’s communities, strong organizational values, commitment to equity and justice, and a dynamic vision for future work in Brooklyn and beyond. For 35 years, Neighbors Together has been a source of strength for Brooklynites facing hunger and homelessness, helping them to fight for better lives for themselves as well as the elimination of the need for emergency hunger relief programs altogether through advocacy and policy change.