Community Health Outreach and Support Grants

The deadline for this opportunity has passed

BACKGROUND

Brooklyn Community Foundation launched the Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund in March 2020 to address the health, economic, and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fund is deeply rooted in our values of racial equity and centers our racial justice lens, which prioritizes support for nonprofits that are led by members of affected communities, and centers the voices of those directly impacted by structural racism in decision-making. We do this because we understand that our most vulnerable communities already exist at the margins of power and access due to historical and systemic denial of adequate resources. 

In the Fund's first phase, we awarded over $3 million to frontline organizations responding to immediate needs, as well as to sustain Brooklyn-based nonprofits' critical services and programs. In addition, we provided a range of capacity building services focused on accessing the Paycheck Protection Program, sharing strategies for crisis fundraising, risk management, sustainability, financial planning systems, forecasting, leadership and management. 

From December 2020 - February 2021, the Foundation held Brooklyn Insights 2020, a community engagement process of listening sessions with over 200 community members co-hosted with community-led organizations, to inform the next phase of the Fund. The process focused on the voices of residents, largely from communities of color, who shared their experiences and needs exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as strategies to address systemic injustices and provide direct relief. 

During the listening sessions, participants from across geographic locations and demographic groups consistently expressed a need for culturally relevant, medically accurate COVID-19 education and support. In response, we have created Community Health Outreach & Support grants. 

GRANT DETAILS

• Creating safer spaces for conversations with community members and credible messengers on COVID-19 related community health concerns. 
• Outreach, engagement, and education activities to provide culturally relevant, medically accurate information about COVID-19 prevention, testing, vaccines and related issues to support community members' ability to make informed health decisions.   
• Navigation support to people interested in accessing COVID-19 related health services, such as vaccines, including scheduling appointments, providing transportation/supporting transportation costs, among other services.

• Priority Community Districts: Bedford Stuyvesant (CD 3), Bushwick (CD 4), East New York (CD 5), Sunset Park (CD 7), Crown Heights North (CD 8), Crown Heights South (CD 9), Coney Island (CD 13), Brownsville (CD 16), Flatbush (CD 14), East Flatbush (CD 17)
• Priority Populations: Older adults; Black, indigenous, and people of color; immigrants; low-wage and nontraditional workers; people with compromised immune systems; people who are unhoused and housing insecure; people who are formerly or currently incarcerated; people who are LGBTQIAGNC+; and people experiencing domestic violence. 

PARTNERSHIP WITH OUR GRANTEES

PRIORITY CONSIDERATIONS

• Use a racial justice lens in their work. Organizations consider inequities based on race and their impact in designing programs, looking for solutions and defining success;
• Center the voices and leadership of community members. Organizations craft solutions to problems and work in authentic partnership with community members to actively engage those most impacted in directing their own lives and shaping their own communities, and building the capacity of emerging leaders in their organizations; 
• Acknowledge intersecting oppressions. Organizations understand how multiple oppressions impact one another and the lives of the people with whom they work;
• Work on the frontlines of issues. Organizations that are grassroots and doing work on the ground and at the community level.

ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS

• Be incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization or be working under the auspices of an authorized fiscal sponsor;
• Have a minimum annual budget of $50,000 or submit an application to work in partnership with an organization that does. Grant awards will not exceed 10% of the applying organization’s annual budget.
• Have an office or a regular physical presence in Brooklyn

• Individuals
• Capital campaigns
• Schools (public, private, or charter)

TIMELINE

1. Friday, February 26, 2021: Community Health Outreach and Support Grant Guidelines Released
2. Monday, March 8, 2021 at 12pm: Informational Webinar & Application Clinic. Stream the Recording and Download the Slides
3. Friday, March 26, 2021 at 5pm: Deadline for organizations to submit an application. 
4. Friday, April 2, 2021: Award decisions announced
5. TBD: Community of Practice initial meeting 

HOW TO APPLY

• Brief organizational background questions. 
• Brief narrative summary questions.