Patch.com: Brooklyn Non-Profit Awards Over $300,000 in COVID-19 Grants
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New York, N.Y. – Brooklyn Communities Collaborative (BCC) today announced an additional $338,000 in grants to nonprofits serving Brooklyn's neighborhoods and residents most impacted by COVID-19. The grants are a part of the organization's $3 million commitment to help the City of New York return and recover. The funds, provided through BCC's Strong Communities Fund, aims to supply community-based organizations with the necessary resources to serve the borough of Brooklyn.
This new round of grantmaking will be distributed to the following Brooklyn based organizations:
The Campaign Against Hunger has been awarded $125,000 to meet the food needs of its constituents. Funding will be used for social services assistance, transportation, and food.
Little Essentials has been awarded $50,000 to support the organization's goal to provide families with early childhood care supplies like diapers and strollers. The funding will support the organization's expansion in Brooklyn.
New Heights Youth Inc. has been awarded $50,000 to provide athletic and academic support to Brooklyn's at-risk youth. The funding will be used to implement virtual and in-person learning components for its participants, minimizing the academic, athletic and social deficits caused by the pandemic.
Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls has been awarded $45,000 to support its arts education curriculum for girls and trans youth in the digital environment. The funding will be used to provide additional digital equipment and resources, retain personnel and cover operating expenses.
The Red Hook Initiative has been awarded $30,000 to provide funding for the residents of Red Hook.
Anne Kastor Brooklyn Free Clinic has been awarded nearly $20,000 to support its free clinic, providing funding for personnel and operating costs.
GrowHouse International has been awarded $20,000 to teach out of school Brooklyn youth how to create racial and health equity interventions. Funding will cover technology supplies for the Youth Leadership program.
"Throughout the pandemic, we have seen the disproportionate effect of this virus on our local communities; and, we made a commitment early to combat these challenges. We know that the only way forward is together, and assisting community-based organizations to get the resources they need will help us to recover. These organizations are joining a long list of doers and fighters that are making an impact in their neighborhoods and their communities," said Marilyn Fraser, MD, CEO of Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health and Brooklyn Communities Collaborative Board Member.
"Little Essentials is honored to receive $50,000 from the Brooklyn Communities Collaborative Stronger Communities Fund! We were established in Brooklyn in 2011 to serve struggling parents in need. We have continued to serve Brooklyn families through our nine community partners based in the borough. We are excited to move back to Brooklyn in 2021 where we will be able to strengthen our community ties and expand our partner network. We are thrilled to receive this grant to help us continue to address the needs of families struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as focus on the long-term needs of Brooklyn families living in poverty," said Zakiyyah Mohamed-Stevens, Interim ED, Little Essentials.
"New Heights is a sports-based youth development organization dedicated to supporting youth and families by combining academic, athletic, and social-emotional learning to create college and career opportunities. New Heights is honored to receive a generous grant from the Strong Communities Fund. 2021 will be a game-changing year for our organization as we open a new facility in the heart of Brooklyn that will enable us to scale our impact, and this partnership with the SCF will play a big role in our community engagement," said Ted Smith, Executive Director, New Heights Youth Inc.
"BCC's Strong Communities Fund allows us the opportunity to create impactful, interactive, and supportive social-emotional online programming for our community partners, thereby meeting the moment during the COVID reality and leaning into the healing, community building facet of creative expression," said LaFrae Sci, Executive Director, Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls.
"The Anne Kastor Brooklyn Free Clinic is honored to have received a grant from the Strong Communities Fund. The Brooklyn Free Clinic is a student-run clinic in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn that provides completely free healthcare to underserved, uninsured adults. With the help of medical students, nursing students, and other allied-health students, we strive every day to combat the health disparities experienced by our patients and our community. These much-needed funds will help the Brooklyn Free Clinic to deliver high-quality primary care and target social determinants of health," said Nicholas Tan, CFO, Anne Kastor Brooklyn Free Clinic.
"GrowHouse NYC educates, trains, and challenges Latinx, Black, and Indigenous youth to become leaders in designing healthy and racially equitable communities by guiding young leaders through a project-based, design-focused curriculum in which they develop 21st-century skills and use them to enact change in their communities. We're proud to be recipients of the Strong Communities Fund," said Shanna Sabio, Executive Director, GrowHouse International.