NEW YORK – The New York Community Trust has approved $13.2 million in grants to support 73 nonprofit groups working to benefit education, the environment, health care, and human services, and the arts. Some highlights:
HELP FOR YOUNG IMMIGRANTS: A $180,000 grant to Internationals Network for Public Schools will train educators to provide academic, social, and emotional support for newly arrived immigrant students. A $98,000 grant to Columbia University’s Teachers Collegewill help identify English language learners with speech-language disabilities, while a $75,000 grant to Community-Word Project will expand arts education for those learning English in Queens and Brooklyn schools.
CONNECTING PEDIATRIC PROVIDERS WITH COMMUNITY GROUPS: Low-income children fare better when their doctors work closely with neighborhood groups to identify risks to healthy development and connect families to services. Grants totaling $160,000 to Mount Sinai Hospital, New York University School of Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian/ Columbia, NewYork Presbyterian/Queens, Northwell Health, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, and New York City Health + Hospitals will be used to connect families to early childhood programs, parental counseling and support, affordable nutritious food, and other social services. This program, known as Partnerships for Early Childhood Development, is also being funded by the Altman Foundation and the United Hospital Fund. The United Hospital Fund also received $40,000 to coordinate a learning collaborative with the partnerships and evaluate this effort.
ENCOURAGING CIVIC PARTICIPATION: In a time of “fake news,” The Trust is awarding $100,000 to New York Public Radio for fact-based reporting on local issues, as well as $120,000 to the Participatory Budgeting Project to engage high school students and parents in schools.
STRENGTHENING SMALL ARTS GROUPS: The Trust is awarding nine grants totaling more than $1 million to help arts groups throughout the city through important transitions. See details below.
The Trust is committed to helping solve some of New York’s toughest problems. For each of the following grants, we offer journalists one-page background memos that detail the problems we’re addressing and our approaches to solving them. Please contact Amy Wolf at [email protected] for more. Other new grants include:
Education
New Visions for Public Schools, $1,843,000 to create a data system to track children’s literacy and improve teaching.
PowerMyLearning, $75,000 to expand a digital program to involve parents in their children’s math homework.
Teaching Matters, $3,608,000 to expand over three years a flagship Early Reading Matters program to 62 Bronx elementary schools.
Urban Assembly, $170,000 to improve algebra instruction in City high schools.
Arts and Culture
The City’s creative sector employs nearly 300,000 people, many working at an estimated 4,700 small arts groups. Small arts groups strengthen neighborhood social and civic ties, yet they remain extremely fragile: A delayed payment or loss of a lease can end their run. We’re supporting the following nine arts groups at critical junctures, such as a change in leadership, a merger, or the development of a new facility:
Artopolis Development, $97,000 to expand a mobile artist residency program in city parks.
Bronx Children’s Museum, $110,000 to help the borough’s first children’s museum prepare for visitors to its new building, opening near Yankee Stadium in 2020.
Bronx Documentary Center, $150,000 to increase its photography, film, and new media programs as part of an expansion.
Cave Canem Foundation in Brooklyn, $61,000 to help the preeminent African-American literary group in the nation with a leadership transition.
Chocolate Factory Theater in Queens, $135,000 to prepare this avant-garde theater company for its move to a larger space in western Queens, near the Queensbridge Houses.
Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance in Brooklyn, $150,000 for a marketing campaign to increase attendance at dance and music classes in its new Bedford-Stuyvesant center.
Dieu Donné in Brooklyn, $100,000 to include a community papermaking studio in its Brooklyn Navy Yard space.
Fourth Arts Block, $50,000 to fund a long-term collaboration with Downtown Art; both groups are based on the Lower East Side.
National Black Theatre, $150,000 to support the development of its new 125th Street space.
RIOULT Dance NY, $150,000 to open a dance center in Queens.
More Support for the Arts
Local Initiatives Support Corporation, $160,000 to create opportunities for impact investors to invest in creative businesses. The corporation will partner with Upstart Co-Lab, a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors focusing on the creative economy.
Opening Act, $150,000 to adapt an afterschool theater program for students enrolled in alternative high schools.
Youth and Workforce Development
Futures and Options, $100,000 to expand an internship program for City high school students.
Global Kids, $100,000 to build high school girls’ leadership and technology skills through STEM classes and exposing them to industries that apply STEM principles.
Grace Institute of New York, $160,000 to expand a workforce program for low-income women.
Hetrick-Martin Institute, $40,000 to provide housing and social services for LGBTQ teenagers.
JobsFirstNYC, $540,000 to connect high school students who have re-started their educations to training and jobs.
Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, $120,000 to improve career opportunities for unemployed young people in Brooklyn by developing partnerships with health, hospitality, financial, and technology employers.
Samasource, $150,000 to teach jobseekers how to succeed as freelancers.
STRIVE, $125,000 to help entry-level workers upgrade their skills and advance their careers.
Youth Communication, $100,000 to train staff of several agencies to use story-writing to build the skills and confidence of marginalized girls and young women.
Youth Engagement
University Settlement Society of New York, $80,000 to increase resident and youth engagement in public housing community centers.
Elderly
Enrichment Audio Resource Services, $45,000 to help LGBTQ seniors cope with vision loss.
Long Term Care Community Coalition, $50,000 to research quality disparities that affect nursing home residents and advocate for improvements in care.
New York Legal Assistance Group, $75,000 to develop and test strategies to help older adults without families make end-of-life plans.
Health
Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, $130,000 to research the links between obesity and the risk of diabetes.
Montefiore Medical Center, $200,000 to integrate primary care into behavioral health settings.
Village Senior Services Corporation, $150,000 to help improve clinical outcomes for older adults living with HIV/AIDS.
Human Services
City Harvest, $200,000 to deliver millions of pounds of free, healthy food to 50 poor neighborhoods in priority areas and provide nutrition education programs in early childhood centers.
Community Food Advocates, $95,000 to make sure students are participating in the New York City Department of Education’s universal free lunch program.
Early Childhood Partners Fund, $125,000 to expand access to high-quality early childhood services through this collaborative fund in The Trust.
Forestdale, $100,000 to support healthy relationships between caregivers and young children in foster care.
Goddard Riverside Community Center, $85,000 to better assess and address the social, educational, and recreational needs of residents in an Upper West Side public housing development by conducting focus groups and surveys.
Providence House, $50,000 to train social workers to help homeless women meet their children’s developmental needs.
Sunset Park Health Council, $90,000 to expand and improve early childhood services in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Human Justice
VOCAL-NY, $90,000 to expand its Court Watch program to Queens and the Bronx. The program trains volunteers to monitor and publicize prosecutors’ decisions about criminal charges, bail, and sentencing.
Technical Assistance
Behavioral Ideas Lab, $400,000 to train nonprofits and government agencies to encourage clients to participate in programs that improve their lives.
Cause Effective, $40,000 for a program to support development of directors of color in advancing to leadership positions.
Human Services Council of New York City, $120,000 to establish rating systems for New York City and state human services contracting agencies.
Community Development
Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, $65,000 to push for preserving industrial business clusters that generate jobs in low-income neighborhoods.
Churches United for Fair Housing, $70,000 for tenant services and advocacy in rent-stabilized buildings in Brownsville.
City Limits, $50,000 to produce articles on affordable housing, zoning, and land use policies in low income neighborhoods.
Flatbush Development Corporation, $70,000 for tenant services and advocacy in rent-stabilized buildings in Flatbush and surrounding neighborhoods.
Preserving Wildlife
With the world’s population expected to reach 10 billion by mid-century, the current wildlife conservation strategy of protecting isolated pockets of land will not be sufficient, especially amid the consequences of climate change. We gave three grants totaling $240,000 to organizations supporting the establishment of wildlife corridors, one of the most promising strategies for preserving wild species.
Blackfeet Nation, $80,000 to restore bison to their traditional habitat along the U.S.-Canadian border and enable natural migration patterns by connecting tribal lands with federally protected natural areas. The project will include a partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Center for Large Landscape Conservation, $60,000 to develop an internationally recognized legal designation for wildlife conservation corridors that connect protected habitats.
Wildlands Network, $100,000 to create and strengthen wildlife conservation corridors in the Eastern United States.
Animal Welfare
GallopNYC, $70,000 to support the medical care of 32 therapeutic riding horses.
More Environmental Grants
ALIGN, $150,000 to reduce air and noise pollution from New York City garbage trucks by helping the city develop a system in which private carting companies serve specific areas rather than the duplication that results from contracting with individual businesses.
Clean Energy Group, $120,000 to accelerate the use of solar and storage technologies resilient to extreme weather in coastal communities. This year, Clean Energy will bolster demonstration projects in Southeastern coastal states and Puerto Rico.
Coming Clean, $100,000 to protect communities from chemical disasters caused by severe weather and flooding. This national coalition of more than 200 nonprofits will advocate for stronger government oversight and protections for chemical facilities. It also will share model approaches for preventing and preparing for chemical disasters.
Healthier Products Coalition, $110,000 to discourage the use of toxic chemicals in consumer products. It will focus on carpeting and flooring companies’ use of three major types of toxic chemicals.
Meridian Institute, $75,000 to support a regional dialogue on carbon pricing in the Northeast.
National Audubon Society, $150,000 over two years to conserve coastal bird habitats that also protect communities from flooding.
Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, $100,000 to promote clean energy innovation in the New York modular housing sector.
About The New York Community Trust
The New York Community Trust connects past, present, and future generous New Yorkers with vital nonprofits working to make a healthy, equitable, and thriving community for all. We are a public grantmaking foundation dedicated to improving the lives of residents of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island. For more information, visit us at nycommunitytrust.org.