October News: Spark Prize Finalists, Our Newest Board Member, $1.3M for Immigrant Rights + More from Your Community Foundation
Spark Prize Committee Selects 20 Finalists for $100K Award
We are excited to announce the 20 finalists for this year’s $100,000 Spark Prize—the only award of its kind honoring longstanding nonprofits that have “sparked change” across Brooklyn.
The finalists were chosen by the 30-member Spark Prize Committee (pictured above), from a highly competitive pool of over 120 applicants. Following in-person interviews, the Committee will select five winners, to be announced in January.
The finalists are…
$1.3M for Immigrant Rights Since 2016
As we near the 3rd anniversary of our Immigrant Rights Fund, we are pleased to announce our largest disbursement of quarterly grants from the fund to date: $255,000 to 18 immigrant-serving, immigrant-led organizations across Brooklyn.
The newest infusion of support for frontline nonprofits is a direct response to the growing intensity of the threats facing Brooklyn’s immigrant communities, including increased detainments and deportations.
Welcoming Aisha C. Mills to Our Board
We are pleased to announce the addition of CNN political commentator and social impact advisor Aisha C. Mills to the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
“I am excited to join the Board at such a consequential time in our country and our community. I’ve spent over two decades working in national politics and policy, and know firsthand that social change doesn’t simply trickle down, it must be sparked from the ground up. The Foundation is a powerful catalyst for community change and I am honored to be of service.”
This Friday: Invest in Brooklyn!
Tickets are almost sold out for our Invest in Brooklyn Dinner featuring progressive leader Stacey Abrams in conversation with journalist Elaine Welteroth. We are so grateful to our donors and sponsors, including lead sponsor National Grid, for their generous support of this event, which raises funds for vital Brooklyn nonprofits.
We hope to see you Friday at 6:30pm at the Weylin!
400 Years of Inequality
This month, we are partnering with Brooklyn Historical Society to spotlight our nation’s legacy of slavery in the program series 400 Years of Inequality: Slavery, Race, and Our Unresolved History. The series features our Fair and Just Fellow Heather McGhee in conversation with Michael Eric Dyson this Friday, October 18th at 6pm for "Reckoning with Racism."