With your support our Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund has become the largest community-funded initiative in the Foundation’s history.

This generosity has yielded nearly $4 million in grants to address urgent needs throughout this crisis, but we know that the fight for a fair and just Brooklyn is far from over. 

We have seen the COVID-19 pandemic not only exacerbate existing challenges but also expose new ones. We know that the lasting effects of the pandemic will continue to disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous and other communities of color. 

This moment demands meaningful change to the unjust systems devastating our communities. Because this kind of change doesn't happen overnight, we are investing an additional $2.5 million in community-led advocacy and organizing over the next five years.

Our grantees have told us how instrumental our funding has been in supporting their work mitigating the harm of the pandemic on the ground. However, these injustices the pandemic surfaced require long-term change: 

“Before the pandemic, we focused specifically on women and girls who have been incarcerated, or formerly incarcerated. Now, thanks to Brooklyn Community Foundation’s support, we've expanded to families impacted by poverty, homelessness, trafficking, substance misuse...We're able to provide more services to more people by understanding that there's an intersection between all of these systems of oppression—it is all systemic. In order to create a solution to incarceration, we have to address the root issues of poverty.”

- Topeka Sam, Executive Director of The Ladies of Hope Ministries,
Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund grantee

Please consider making a donation today to support the next phase of our Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund to continue this critical work.

Change starts here, and it starts with you.