CONTACT 
Marty Lipp, (917) 774-8159, mbl@nyct-cfi.org
or Amy Wolf, (845) 676-6180, aw@nyct-cfi.org
nycommunitytrust.org

New York, June 10, 2020 –The New York Community Trust announced $7.8 million in grants to 52 groups, including many to help New Yorkers most affected by the coronavirus. While the pandemic has affected the entire city, many of these grants focus on helping young people, older adults, and communities of color as they deal with the pandemic’s ongoing economic consequences, social distancing, and the challenges of navigating the child welfare system and other overwhelmed bureaucracies.   

Below is a list with summaries of The Trust’s recent grants, starting with those aimed at aiding the most vulnerable.

[For each of the following grants, journalists can request background memos that detail the issues and how The Trust and its nonprofit partners are addressing them.] 

COVID-19 AND YOUTH – Addressing summer jobs, education, child welfare, job training

Brooklyn Defender Services, $100,000. To help parents understand the child welfare system and get legal advice.

CASA NY, $100,000. To use court-approved volunteer advocates to support young people in foster care who are facing court backlogs and other challenges resulting from the COVID-19 crisis.

Center for Family Representation, $200,000. To help immigrant families involved in the child welfare system stay together despite the wide-ranging challenges they face today.

Community Food Advocates, $85,000. To strengthen the city’s COVID-19 emergency school food efforts and improve the system overall.

Educational Video Center, $150,000. To move its curriculum online so it can continue to teach documentary-making to more young people who have experienced trauma and/or are learning English.

ExpandED, $400,000. To work with the city, nonprofits, and the philanthropic community so that 40,000 young people will have online paid jobs or career-oriented classes this summer. 

Knowledge House, $150,000. To revamp a free coding program geared toward low-income young people and make it accessible online.

NPower New York, $100,000. To continue a tech training program for young people online and then in-person, assuming social distancing guidelines subside.

NYC Arts in Education Roundtable, $215,000. To enable nonprofits to adapt to changes in public schools so they can continue to offer arts education.

Per Scholas, $200,000. To help graduates of a tech training course upgrade their skills so they can earn higher wages.

Rise, $100,000. To help parents involved in the child welfare system advocate for systemic reform.

COVID-19 AND OLDER ADULTS – Overcoming greater challenges to deliver needed services

Griot Circle, $65,000. To expand outreach to help LGBTQ seniors, mostly low-income and African-American, get health and social services.

Public Health Solutions, $150,000. To create a test program to help older adults transition to living at home, including meal provision, after hospital stays.

Selfhelp Community Services, $100,000. To expand a virtual senior center for quarantined and homebound low-income seniors.

Service Program for Older People, $75,000. To provide more access to culturally appropriate behavioral health services, particularly for poor and immigrant LGBTQ seniors.

Volunteers of Legal Service, $150,000. To increase access to legal assistance for seniors, including veterans, because of the increased demand for end-of-life planning and issues arising from the pandemic.

COVID-19 AND VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES – Supporting health care and nonprofits facing new challenges

Cause Effective, $120,000. To assist nonprofits in adopting new fundraising and marketing approaches in the era of social distancing.

City Harvest, $400,000. To expand the group’s distribution network so it can deliver food to the estimated 2 million New Yorkers struggling with hunger.

City Parks Foundation, $400,000. To help open-space groups continue stewardship efforts that keep the City’s parks safe, accessible, and well-maintained. 

Coalition for Behavioral Health, $150,000. To help the coalition’s member agencies strengthen their capacity to serve low-income New Yorkers against a backdrop of new pandemic-related challenges.

Community Resource Exchange, $175,000. To help nonprofits with contingency planning.

Dance/NYC, $120,000. To fund emergency grants to small dance groups that lost revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, New York University, $80,000. To research the impact of the pandemic on the city’s affordable real-estate market.

IndieSpace, $50,000. To provide emergency relief to theater artists, small groups, and venues that have lost performance-related income due to COVID-19.

Lawyers Alliance of NY, $175,000. To expand this organization’s capacity to help nonprofits with legal issues.

Montefiore Medical Center, $200,000. To integrate primary care into its behavioral health settings.

National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control, $200,000. To gather data on COVID-19 patients in New York City to inform national treatment protocols.

Primary Care Development Corporation, $200,000. To help primary care practices and small health centers serving poor neighborhoods adjust to the coronavirus crisis.

Re-Amp Network, $75,000. To support Midwestern nonprofits working on climate and energy issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Support Center for Nonprofit Management, $140,000. To facilitate the assignment of crisis-tested executives to nonprofits that need help navigating the impacts of the pandemic.

OTHER GRANTS – ARTS & CULTURE

Chamber Music America, $233,000. To strengthen emerging chamber music ensembles.

Jack Arts, $150,000. To prepare for and navigate the organization founder’s transition.

Morris-Jumel Mansion, $150,000. To create inclusive, bilingual interpretative materials for this historic house and its collection.

Nuyorican Poets Cafe, $150,000. To allow the performing arts place to prepare for and navigate a temporary space transition.

Partners for Sacred Places, $112,000. To expand the inventory of historic houses of worship that can be used as rehearsal and performance spaces for dance companies.

viBe Theater Experience, $150,000. To plan for and navigate a leadership transition.

OTHER GRANTS – COMMUNITY

Central American Legal Assistance, $100,000. To appeal wrongful denials of asylum.

Center for the Study of Social Policy, $200,000. To incorporate social-work principles in the training of city social-services personnel.

Early Childhood Partners Fund in The New York Community Trust, $100,000. For a grantmakers’ collaborative to expand access to high-quality early childhood services.

FIERCE, $140,000. To expand an advocacy program for lesbian, gay, and transgender young people.

Fund for New Citizens in The New York Community Trust, $150,000. For a collaborative fund to assist immigrants and refugees in New York.

Fund for Public Schools, $319,000. To evaluate the effect of comprehensive health education on public school students’ attitudes about sex, relationships, and gender.

Justice in Motion, $90,000. To help the City’s Central-American immigrants prove their claims for asylum or other immigration relief.

New Economy Project, $75,000. To provide services and advocacy to prevent abusive debt collection practices.

OTHER GRANTS – ENVIRONMENT

American University, $150,000. To promote reform of the nation’s environmental protection system.

Center for Large Landscape Conservation, $60,000. To develop internationally recognized standards for establishing and managing wildlife conservation corridors.

Coming Clean, $120,000. To protect communities located near industrial facilities from pollution and chemical accidents.

El Puente de Williamsburg, $150,000. To address localized air pollution impacts by advocating for increased green spaces in South Williamsburg.

New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation, $100,000. To facilitate energy-efficiency upgrades within the affordable housing sector.

NY Renews Education Fund, $100,000. To foster effective implementation of statewide climate legislation.

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. The Trust is a public grantmaking foundation dedicated to improving the lives of residents of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island. For more information, visit nycommunitytrust.org.