Field Insights: Our Partners Holding Brooklyn Communities Together

As part of our grantmaking process, Brooklyn Org’s program team meets annually with nonprofit grantee partners to discuss their progress one year after receiving their award. This past fall, we met with 15 organizations that received funding from Brooklyn Org in 2024, and these conversations with our partners overwhelmingly showed that local organizations are standing up for Brooklyn and holding our communities together in times of great need.

Despite the challenges of declining federal funding, reductions in public benefits, attacks to the trans community and an increase in ICE raids and arrests, our grantee partners are stepping up their advocacy efforts and services to ensure communities across the borough can still receive critical, timely support support.

Meeting The Interconnected Needs Of Immigrant New Yorkers & Other Vulnerable Communities

Throughout the past year, communities across Brooklyn experienced a notably increased ICE presence — with Bushwick, East New York, Brownsville, and Sunset Park particularly impacted. In response, BKO’s partners have expanded Know Your Rights trainings, participated in local ICE watch networks, shifted typically public open-door services (such as food pantries) to appointment-based models, and brought together neighbors to accompany community members to immigration court to help ensure the safety of undocumented residents. These efforts are further complemented by other grantee partners providing mental health support for immigrant communities, as well as translation assistance for individuals with new or ongoing legal cases.

Beyond immigration, our community partners are actively engaged in advocacy and program delivery to advance tenant, domestic workers and street vendor rights, influence criminal justice system reform, expand access to affordable housing, and support the well-being of Brooklyn’s youth, older adults and the trans community.

The needs of immigrant New Yorkers and our other vulnerable neighbors are often interconnected, and this is reflected in our partners’ approach as many of our grantees actively participate in coalitions and advocacy efforts at the local, state, and national levels. Out of the 15 organizations we met with last fall, 60% are members of coalitions, and 87% engage in advocacy across a wide range of issue areas.

Read below for updates on how our partners are working to advance housing rights, police and legal system reform, support for older adults, immigrant protections, connecting families with resources, workers’ rights, food security, healthcare access, and more:

ADVANCING SUPPORT AND PROTECTIONS FOR IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES

• Jews for Racial and Economic Justice expanded their advocacy and organizing efforts in response to a rise in ICE arrests at courthouses. They coordinated daily court watches and partnered with other organizations to sustain long-term court watch participation, work that is still ongoing.

• RaisingHealth Partners expanded its mental health support services, reaching immigrant communities during a time of heightened anxiety. Services included bilingual Chinese and Spanish psychotherapy, individual peer counseling, group therapy, and the launch of a new arts-based mental health counseling group in Chinese for older adults, designed to promote healing through creative activities.

• Refugee Translation Project significantly broadened its free language services, supporting 221 immigration cases, translating more than 4,782 pages of legal, medical, and informational materials, and providing over 170 hours of interpretation across a wide range of settings. Services were offered in more than 30 languages, including many Indigenous languages such as Pulaar, Soninke, and Wolof.

DEFENDING HOUSING ACCESS AND EQUITABLE LIVING CONDITIONS FOR BROOKLYNITES

• East New York Community Land Trust contributed to the launch of the Jewel Street Neighborhood Plan, a city initiative to improve sewage infrastructure in the Jewel Street area along the Brooklyn–Queens border. The plan will deliver much-needed upgrades to a flood-prone neighborhood that has experienced septic overflows, pollution, road blockages, and property damage due to heavy rain and storms for years.
• Fifth Avenue Committee opened a new 100% affordable housing development in Sunset Park—its first in more than five years—which provides 84 units for low-income older adults. In 2025, the organization also launched the 2,000 Brooklyn Homes campaign to develop and preserve over 2,000 affordable homes for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers, with a total development cost of nearly $1 billion.

• Unlock NYC played an active role in supporting the “End Source of Income (SOI) Discrimination” bill package, a comprehensive set of six bills introduced by Councilmember Shekar Krishnan aimed at strengthening housing protections for voucher holders across New York City. Unlock NYC also partnered with the Office of the State Attorney General to do outreach to renters entitled to receive compensation from the Shamco Management discrimination lawsuit settlement, reaching more than 300 renters.

GROWING VISIBILITY AND RECOGNITION FOR UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES

• Black Trans Femmes in the Arts provided year-round programs and opportunities that uplifted and connected Brooklyn’s Black trans artists, increasing their visibility within the arts and the public sphere. Activities included regular studio visits and professional meetups, programming at their Brooklyn artist studios, a high-profile celebration of trans visibility in Times Square, and a financial aid program supporting members facing immediate economic challenges.

• The Women’s Empowerment Coalition of NYC (WECNYC) helped pass the MENA Bill in collaboration with a broad coalition of partners. This piece of legislation establishes a distinct demographic category for people of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) heritage, allowing for more accurate representation of the MENA population in New York State and supporting advocacy and opportunities that address their specific needs.

• Voces Ciudadanas advocated for street vendors’ rights through phonathons to City council members, leading to the City Council’s successful override of the Mayor Adams’ veto of Introduction 47-B bill, which would remove criminal penalties for unlicensed street vendors and would replace them with fines.

Sector Trend: A Decline In Fundraising

While nonprofits continue to act as lifelines for our most vulnerable neighbors, they are doing this all in a time of financial uncertainty, as a notable trend in the sector this past year has been a decline in fundraising. In 2024, approximately one-third of our grantees experienced reductions of 3% to 55% in their operating budgets. Most of these decreases stem from losses in federal funding, while a smaller number result from shifts in national and international foundations’ priorities that led to discontinued support. Of the nonprofits we polled through our Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn – Nonprofit Survey (Fall 2025) —  which included both BKO grantees and nonprofits we do not currently fund —  60% shared they experienced cuts in government funding over the past 12 months, with 42% reporting funding cuts of 20% or more. More than half of survey respondents said they are concerned about whether their organizations will be financially stable in 2026.

Stay Updated On Ongoing Work Across Brooklyn

These are just a few examples of how our grantee partners are responding to community needs in real time, while also anticipating future challenges our borough has yet to face – which makes consistent, general operating support like the funding Brooklyn Org provides even more important than before.

We are proud to invest in this work to improve the lives of Brooklynites across the borough. Learn how you can join us to back Brooklyn and stay up-to-date on how we’re responding to community needs by signing up for our newsletter below: