Community Fund Grants
Filter the grants using the options below:
| Organization | Year | Amount | Initiative |
Program |
Project Description | Neighborhoods |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simone Leigh | 2015 | $5,000 | Neighborhood Strength | Crown Heights Grant Program | Resident Simone Leigh is receiving a $5,000 grant to support an innovative series of drumming classes and workshops for black women and girls in Crown Heights, which seeks to build bridges across cultures and communities and provide a nurturing environment where participants can relax, learn new skills, exercise, and connect in a non-competitive way. | Crown Heights |
| UHAB | 2015 | $15,000 | Neighborhood Strength | Crown Heights Grant Program | UHAB organizes tenants to fight poor living conditions in buildings neglected or abandoned by landlords; in 2013, three UHAB-organized tenant associations formed the Crown Heights Tenants Union. A $15,000 grant will support their focus on ending bad living conditions, illegal displacement, and loss of rent-regulated housing in Crown Heights by bolstering tenant and neighborhood power. | Crown Heights |
| Weeksville Heritage Center | 2015 | $10,000 | Neighborhood Strength | Crown Heights Grant Program | Weeksville Heritage Center is an historic site museum and community cultural center that preserves the legacy of the original Weeksville community founded in 1838 – one of the first and most prolific free African American communities in the United States. Funds will support a performance project featuring new oral histories and collaborations with local performing artists and teens to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1991 Crown Heights Riots. Weeksville will also host a community dinner for residents of its immediate vicinity. | Crown Heights |
| Young Movement | 2015 | $5,000 | Neighborhood Strength | Crown Heights Grant Program | Young Movement provides research, advocacy, and partnerships on socio-economic issues like financial literacy and employment alternatives for young adults. Funds will support the Weeksville Entrepreneurship Project to train 10 young adults from the Weeksville section of Crown Heights in tools to find and create sustainable solutions to employment, financial, and health disparities in Weeksville. | Crown Heights |
| The Youth Farm | 2015 | $10,000 | Neighborhood Strength | Crown Heights Grant Program | The Youth Farm is a one-acre farm on the Wingate Campus that grows approximately 15,000 pounds of fresh, culturally relevant crops for the Crown Heights community each year. Funds will support a year-round youth program, an advanced organic farming training program for adults, and a paid summer youth employment program. | Crown Heights |
| 596 Acres | 2017 | $20,000 | Neighborhood Strength | Crown Heights Grant Program | To support stewardship, preservation, and transformation of two neighborhood lots into community gardens. | Crown Heights |
| Brooklyn Clergy Action Network | 2015 | $10,000 | Neighborhood Strength | Crown Heights Grant Program | The Brooklyn Clergy Action Network mobilizes faith leaders and the community to end gun violence in low and moderate-income communities in Brooklyn. Funds will be used to establish a mentorship program for 12 to 17-year-old males designed to reduce and prevent violence by training them in methods of communication as an alternative to violence. | Crown Heights |
| Bethany United Methodist Church | 2017 | $20,000 | Neighborhood Strength | Crown Heights Grant Program | To support services, workshops, and cultural programming that engage residents around issues in the community. | Crown Heights |
| Be More | 2015 | $5,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Incubator Project | Be More aims to raise awareness about race-based disparities, train change agents with tools to reduce unconscious bias to eliminate racial inequities, and foster leadership to enable multiracial social change movements. In the coming year, Be More will launch its second #Vision2040 social media video campaign, organize community gatherings to heal from racism, and prototype a training to reduce unconscious bias using evidence-based techniques. | Boroughwide |
| Domestic Workers United | 2015 | $5,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Incubator Project | DWU is an organization of Caribbean, Latina and African caregivers and housekeepers—concentrated in Crown Heights and Flatbush—that organizes to end exploitation and oppression for all workers whose labor is based primarily in homes and is not protected by most labor laws in New York City. DWU has adopted a model that centers on the development of strong, low-income immigrant women of color leaders who have the drive, training, and sensitivity to lead a movement for social change. | Crown Heights, Flatbush |
| The Precedential Group | 2015 | $5,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Incubator Project | The Precedential Group, founded by Marlon Peterson in 2014, is an organization working to establish “Child Safe Zones” to reduce gun violence in Brooklyn neighborhoods by engaging young people, local police, schools, and residents. Marlon Peterson has led, advised, and supported several criminal justice reform organizations including Fortune Society, Crown Heights Mediation Center, and New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. Marlon recently received the Soros Fellowship Award from Open Society Foundation. For more information: marlonpeterson.com | Crown Heights, Brownsville, East New York |
| Common Justice | 2017 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | A restorative justice program of the Vera Institute of Justice that works with responsible parties and those harmed by violent crime in Brooklyn. Founded in 2008, Common Justice is the first and only alternative to incarceration program for violent crimes in the adult courts in the United States. It works with 16 to 24-year-olds to address the criminal justice system’s over-reliance on incarceration, to halt cycles of violence, and to meet the needs of victims of crime. To date, fewer than 8% of its participants have been terminated from the program for committing a new crime. | Boroughwide |
| Make the Road New York | 2017 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | An immigrant-led organization that develops grassroots leadership to mobilize Latino and working class communities. It provides legal services, education, and employment access to achieve policy change. MRNY is dedicated to building community power and racial equity in Bushwick, where it was founded in 1997. It now has over 20,000 members and 200 staff working across New York City, Long Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. | Boroughwide |
| MoCADA | 2017 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | A “museum without walls” that serves the African Diasporan community through art exhibitions, education, and community programs to promote African diasporan art, racial equity, and social justice in Brooklyn. Founded in 1999, this year it is expanding from 2,000 sq. ft. to a new 20,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Fort Greene. | Boroughwide |
| Neighbors Together | 2017 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | A dynamic soup kitchen, social service provider, and community center committed to ending hunger and poverty in Ocean Hill, Brownsville, and Bedford Stuyvesant since 1982. It provides empowerment and community action programming to organize community members to advocate for policy change, in addition to serving 80,000 meals annually out of its community café. | Ocean Hill, Brownsville, Bedford Stuyvesant |
| Cave Canem | 2018 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | Founded in 1996 to remedy the under-representation and isolation of black poets, Cave Canem has grown from a gathering of 26 poets to become an influential movement and artistic incubator based in Brooklyn with a high-achieving international fellowship of over 425, and a local workshop community of over 900 poets. | Boroughwide |
| Center for Law and Social Justice | 2018 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | Founded in Brooklyn in 1985 as a community service unit of Medgar Evers College to serve as an institutional response to pervasive racial injustices, the Center for Law and Social Justice continues pushing for meaningful policy changes to stem the institutionalization of police brutality and systemic racism across New York City. In addition to promoting alternative community policing solutions, it is a leading advocate for the protection and integrity of voting rights and for racial equity in public education. | Boroughwide, Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Flatbush, East Flatbush, Brownsville |
| Brownsville Community Justice Center | 2020 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | For a multi-faceted initiative that seeks to re-engineer how the justice system works in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The Justice Center addresses systemic inequities by helping young people disengage from the justice system and discover routes to economic security, so they can, in turn, reinvest in their community. | Brownsville |
| exalt | 2018 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | Since its founding in 2006 in Brooklyn, exalt has worked with over 1200 youth ages 15-19 who have been involved in the criminal justice system. exalt equips youth with tools and experiences to avoid further criminal justice system involvement through structured classes for tangible skill development, individualized support to navigate the education and justice systems, placement in paid internships, and an alumni network of resources. | Boroughwide |
| Children of Promise, NYC | 2020 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | To empower children of incarcerated parents to break the cycle of intergenerational involvement in the criminal justice system. CPNYC offers a broad array of services in a safe supportive space where young people, ages 6-18, can share similar experiences. | Boroughwide |
| Griot Circle | 2018 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | Founded in 1996 by a group of LGBTQ elders of color living in Brooklyn to address the systemic racial, social, and economic injustices that LGBTQ elders of color experience, GRIOT Circle now offers culturally-sensitive, innovative programming to over 400 members throughout the year, | Boroughwide |
| The Noel Pointer Foundation | 2020 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | To enrich the lives of children of color in under-served communities by connecting them with music education and performance opportunities. | Boroughwide |
| Red Hook Initiative | 2018 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | Founded in 2002 as a program of a local hospital in response to the severity of health and social issues in Red Hook, RHI has become a neighborhood stronghold and nationally recognized model for youth and community development, providing safe and enriching opportunities for young people ages 11- 24 primarily living in the Red Hook Houses—New York City’s largest NYCHA housing development. | Red Hook |
| North Brooklyn Coalition | 2020 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | To address systemic racism, institutional injustice, and cultural barriers facing survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault by creating a community-based support network. | Williamsburg, Bushwick, Greenpoint |
| Sadie Nash Leadership Project | 2020 | $100,000 | Spark Prize | Spark Prize | To equip, strengthens, and supports young women and gender-expansive youth of color to be agents of change in their lives and in the world. | Citywide |
| Audre Lorde Project | 2017 | $100,000 | Brooklyn Accelerator | Spark Prize | An inter-generational organizing center for LGBT people of color that promotes community wellness and progressive social and economic justice in New York City. Founded in Brooklyn in 1996, ALP works with over 8,000 members on issues including creating safety models against police brutality and hate crimes, as well as training small businesses, community organizations, and neighborhood leaders on de-escalation and safety strategies. | Boroughwide |
| New York Peace Institute | 2015 | $100,000 | Invest in Youth | Brooklyn Restorative Justice Project | New York Peace Institute will provide restorative justice practices and coordination at the Rachel Carson High School for Coastal Studies in Coney Island. New York Peace Institute is one of the nation’s largest community mediation services, with expertise in special education mediation. They have previously partnered with the Department of Probation, the New York City Department of Education, NYPD and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s offices. | Coney Island |
| Good Shepherd Services | 2015 | $100,000 | Invest in Youth | Brooklyn Restorative Justice Project | Good Shepherd Services (GSS) will provide restorative justice practices and coordination at the School for Democracy and Leadership in East Flatbush. GSS is a leading New York City youth and family development agency with over 85 programs serving more than 30,000 children, youth, and families in under-resourced communities. | East Flatbush |
| Partnership with Children | 2015 | $100,000 | Invest in Youth | Brooklyn Restorative Justice Project | Partnership with Children will provide restorative justice practices and coordination at Ebbets Field Middle School in Crown Heights. Partnership with Children provides critical social and emotional support for the hardest-to-reach students and engages families in the school community so they can succeed in school, society and life. They have social workers in 32 public schools in all five boroughs and manage all community resources and support services in 12 community schools. | Crown Heights |
| Sweet River Consulting | 2015 | $100,000 | Invest in Youth | Brooklyn Restorative Justice Project | Sweet River Consulting will provide restorative justice practices and coordination at Science Skills Center High School in Downtown Brooklyn. The founders of Sweet River Consulting have over 10 years’ experience implementing school-wide restorative justice policies and programs, and providing youth programming and leadership development. Sweet River Consulting is supported by the Center for Nu Leadership, a criminal justice advocacy organization in Central Brooklyn. | Downtown |
| Eco:StationNY | 2016 | Invest in Youth | Youth Voice Awards | Award recipient Iyeshima Harris with Eco:StationNY for "Farm to Cafeteria," a student-led outreach project focusing on healthy eating and self-empowerment that engages students at a place and time they are thinking about food: the lunchroom. The project will use school lunch and culturally relevant food to teach youth how to healthfully and affordably prepare meals they love. Through cooking demos, students will learn how they can combine fresh produce with goods from their supermarket, instilling in them the knowledge, access, and creativity to needed to transcend and redefine what food means in a low-income neighborhood. | Bushwick | |
| Center for NuLeadership | 2016 | Invest in Youth | Youth Voice Awards | Award recipient Yamil Torres with the Center for NuLeadership for “Bridging the Healing Gap,” which will facilitate gatherings that provide space and educate youth who are affiliated with gangs and/or are street involved about how, why, and where gangs originated, explain political and racial history, and principles of what gangs were founded on. The second half of the project will focus on changing the way the larger community views the youth by opening up dialogue with an intergenerational event. | Bedford Stuyvesant | |
| Off the Page, Inc | 2016 | Invest in Youth | Youth Voice Awards | Award recipient Shaqur Williams with Off the Page, Inc for "All American Boys," a show adapted from the book by the same name that addresses different points of view between a black teenager and a white teenager in a community and the way police officers approach them. The project brings black and white actors together to work on this production and to talk about the problem facing the black community and how to work together to address it. | Park Slope | |
| Arts & Democracy | 2016 | Invest in Youth | Youth Voice Awards | Award recipient Hasiba Haq with Arts & Democracy for "Sari Project," which aims to connect young Bangladeshis with women in the community in an intergenerational exchange of stories using the idea of Saris, a traditional outfit for Bangladeshi women, to explore their immigration stories and their histories. The project will help young immigrants and second-generation youth connect with elders in their society, and help carve an identity for them in a diverse borough. | Kensington | |
| Brooklyn Free School | 2016 | Invest in Youth | Youth Voice Awards | Award recipient The Brooklyn Free School Team for "Let's Talk About It! Housing Justice," a project aimed at educating and creating a documentary on housing justice and gentrification. It will engage youth by arranging visits to town hall meetings, reading articles and watching interviews addressing housing, gentrification and justice, as well as opportunities to engage with the Mayor’s office and participate in local shelter events. As part of the project, the youth team will create a documentary and facilitate a workshop for youth on housing rights. | Fort Greene, Clinton Hill |