The Mosaic Network and Fund, housed in The New York Community Trust, is a first-of-its-kind collaborative that aims to provide more equitable funding for African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA) arts groups in New York City. In 2022, this partnership, underwritten by 27 funders, provided more than $5 million in grants to 168 organizations citywide.

Since it began in 2018, Mosaic has helped create a growing, vibrant learning community of more than 200 active members representing ALAANA arts and cultural organizations and city-based arts philanthropies and funding intermediaries. It has facilitated the distribution of $10.4 million to date and has inspired other similar collaborations in cities nationwide. In 2023, the Network will become an independent entity.

With a grant from The Trust, the American LGBTQ+ Museum is creating a plan for its collection in anticipation of its 2026 opening in a new addition at the New-York Historical Society. The Museum was established in 2017 to preserve, research, and share the history and culture of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people, as well as other gender and sexual identities. The museum will survey existing LGBTQ+ collections, create a policy for archival donations, and pilot at least one exhibition virtually or at another site. It will create educational exhibitions and programs, and steward oral histories, documents, art, and artifacts that share stories about everyday people and civic activism.

The Trust has a long commitment to funding and celebrating the contributions of LGBTQ+ communities in the city and was an early supporter of the Museum, providing funding to hire its first staff member.

This grant was made possible, in part, by the Bruce Dresner Fund, established for “the support and education of the gay and lesbian community.”

To aid local immigrants from Nepal, Adhikaar, a women-led nonprofit based in Queens, has taken a leadership role in a national coalition to gain permanent residency for immigrants who have lost their Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

Nepal lost its TPS-eligible status in 2018— three years after it was granted in the wake of a massive earthquake—throwing the lives of thousands of Nepalis in New York and across the United States into chaos. Adhikaar and its national partners brought a lawsuit, which resulted in extending TPS status to mid-2024, and they are negotiating with the current administration in Washington to redesignate Nepal, which is still recovering from the quake. In the meantime, with Trust help, its staff members are holding know-your-rights workshops, helping immigrants get legal assistance, and creating educational materials.

Adhikaar received one of 12 grants made in 2022 by our Fund for New Citizens, a donor collaborative, to groups helping local immigrants. The other nonprofits are African Communities Together, Damayan, DRUM – Desis Rising Up & Moving, Laal NYC, Laundry Workers Project, Lawyers Alliance for New York, New Immigrant Community Empowerment, Sapna NYC, Staten Island Community Job Center/La Colmena, Street Vendor Project-Urban Justice Center, and Workers Justice Project.

A community’s residents should have a voice in how their neighborhood changes and grows. That’s why when a mega development was proposed in Astoria, Queens, The Trust funded organizing efforts that helped local residents get their voices heard. The neighborhood is known for its rich diversity of people, including a vibrant community of predominantly working-class Bengali-American families, who face rising rents.

“Multi-generational families are cramming into small apartments to stay in the neighborhood,” said Sasha Wijeyeratne, executive director of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence. “They want to be close to their children’s schools, their relatives, and their jobs. We want to make sure residents can stay in the community and have housing they can afford.”

Through the Neighborhoods First funder collaborative, The Trust helped the Committee lead a coalition that mobilized residents to rally and testify at hearings. Thanks to these efforts and the persistence of the local City Council representative, the community won the designation of 1,650 affordable units, more than twice the original plan for the 3,000-unit development.

While the city still faces a huge need for affordable housing, particularly for low-wage workers, the concessions in the Astoria project show that community activism can make a difference.

This grant was made possible by the Ruth and Gerald Dickler Community Housing Fund, which supports community housing projects and advocacy for affordable housing in New York City.

Because more New Yorkers die of drug overdoses than homicides, suicides, and motor-vehicle crashes combined—an average of one death every four hours—we supported the development of the nation’s first overdose prevention centers in East Harlem and Washington Heights. These facilities, which have successfully operated in other global cities since the 1970s, provide a place where illegal drugs can be taken intravenously under the supervision of medical staff. Substance users are monitored and treated for overdosing, given sterile drug paraphernalia, and offered access to counseling and treatment referrals.

Operated by OnPointNYC, the facilities reduce the transmission of disease and prevent fatal overdoses. Since opening, the centers have reversed overdoses more than 800 times, pointing to the potential to save countless lives. They also reduce the amount of used syringes and drug paraphernalia discarded in local parks as a result of illegal drug use in public spaces. OnPointNYC hopes to become a national model to counter the country’s growing epidemic of drug-related deaths.

This grant was made possible, in part, by the Walter B. Ford Fund, created for the good of New York City.

Medicare—the federal health insurance for older adults and people with disabilities—is expensive. On average, enrollees pay about $15,000 each year in premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, and prescription drug costs. Many enrollees who struggle to afford these out-of-pocket costs are ineligible for Medicaid, the state-funded health coverage for low-income people. To help cover Medicare costs for those who do not qualify for Medicaid, every state, including New York, offers need-based financial assistance. But many low-income individuals do not know they are eligible, or are overwhelmed by the complex application process. Less than half of eligible New Yorkers are enrolled.

In 2022, Governor Hochul and the state legislature expanded eligibility for Medicaid and Medicare Savings Programs. As part of our efforts to strengthen the health safety net for the uninsured and underinsured, The Trust made a grant to the Medicare Rights Center to help enroll at least 500 older adults in Medicaid and 2,500 in Medicare financial assistance. The Center will lead information sessions for at least 10,000 professionals working with people who are likely to be newly eligible, and monitor the state’s implementation of the eligibility expansion.

This grant was made possible, in part, by the Katharine A. Park Fund for the Elderly.

In 2022, New Yorkers voted for the largest environmental bond act in the state’s history. Known as the Clean Water, Clean Air, Green Jobs Bond Act, this historic legislation might have remained under the radar had it not been for a successful voter engagement and education campaign operated by the New Yorkers for Clean Water and Jobs Coalition. The new bond act authorizes the use of $4.2 billion to fund critical environmental restoration projects throughout the state to improve water quality, restore wildlife habitat, protect family farms, create parks, modernize infrastructure, and expand renewable energy. The state plans to direct at least 35 percent of the funding toward low-income communities that are most impacted by pollution and climate change. In addition, the investments associated with the measure are projected to create nearly 100,000 new jobs.

The Trust-supported campaign successfully achieved many of our goals to reduce climate pollution, promote clean energy, and ensure all communities benefit from the clean energy revolution.

This grant was made possible by the Henry Phillip Kraft Family Memorial Fund, created to protect and conserve the environment.