July News: New Grants for Immigrant Rights, $3.7M Given for COVID-19 Relief, and More from Your Community Foundation

New Grants Support Ongoing Fight for Immigrant Rights

We are pleased to announce $390,000 in new support from our Immigrant Rights Fund for 13 immigrant-led organizations that are advocating for systemic change and providing critical services to immigrants across Brooklyn. 

As the economic, social, and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic take a vastly disproportionate toll on communities of color, here in Brooklyn—where nearly 40% of residents are immigrants—our grantee partners continue to be essential lifelines to residents facing unjust immigration policies, economic disenfranchisement, discriminatory policing, deportations, and more. 

Giving for Racial Justice: Donor Advised Funds

As part of our institutional commitment to Racial Justice, we actively encourage our Donor Advised Fund holders to mobilize money and resources to dismantle systemic racism and repair centuries of devastation and injustice done to Black communities and other communities of color. 

We are here to work with you, our Donor Advisors, to dramatically increase your giving to Black-led and other people of color-led organizations who are working on the frontlines of the fight for social change. What guides all of the Foundation’s work is the belief that those who are closest to the challenges faced by our communities are closest to the solutions for our communities.

Brooklynites Give $3.7 Million to Support COVID-19 Relief for Neighbors in Need

Since launching the Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund in March, we have raised over $3.7 million from over 1,600 donors—making it the single largest community-funded effort in the Foundation’s 10-year history.

Grants from the Fund have addressed the vastly disproportionate social, economic, and health impacts of the pandemic in communities of color, and have provided emergency food, direct cash assistance, healthcare and mental health services, small business loans, and much more. 

Major supporters of the Fund include MailChimp, Tiktok, Take Two Interactive Software, National Grid, Cumberland Packing Company (the makers of Sweet ‘n Low), the Sheehan Family Companies, the Endeavor Foundation, Harman Family Foundation, and the Seedworks Foundation.

“We are incredibly grateful to our generous partners who have helped power this racially just, boroughwide response to the COVID-19 pandemic in our communities. As we move to the next phase of the Fund, we want to focus on the profound economic impacts of this crisis and work towards reimagining and dismantling racist systems and policies that have so clearly failed us. In this way, we continue our mission to fight for a fair and just Brooklyn for all.”

- Brooklyn Community Foundation President and CEO Cecilia Clarke

2020 Youth Voice Awards Go Virtual to Fund Projects for Youth, By Youth

Streaming live from across Brooklyn, last month our Brooklyn Youth Activists presented the 2020 Youth Voice Awards, honoring eight exciting projects led by youth that offer innovative solutions to the impacts of COVID-19 and systemic injustice in their communities. 

The Youth Voice Awards is a youth-led grantmaking program, through which our Brooklyn Youth Activists select youth-led projects that center racial justice for funding up to $2,500. Youth Activists manage the process from beginning to end, reviewing and evaluating projects with criteria they designed.