10 New Microgrants From CitizensNYC and Brooklyn Org Power Grassroots Change in Brooklyn

A Message From Brooklyn Org’s Partners At CitizensNYC

In every borough in New York, you’ll find CitizensNYC’s partners transforming their blocks. We start small—microgrants of $5,000 or less—but the outcomes ripple far beyond the budget line. Our role is simple: fund the first step, and stay in the corner of the people who take it.

Today, we’re proud to announce that CitizensNYC is joining forces with Brooklyn Org to fund 10 new projects across Brooklyn, build new relationships, and spotlight the civic leadership that already exists across the borough. Because we both know this truth: communities don’t need to be told what to do. They need tools, support, and resources to do it.

Brooklyn Org shares that vision. As a place-based funder and platform for community-led change, their commitment to Brooklyn is deep and sustained. Through grantmaking, nonprofit capacity building, advocacy, and special partnerships, they’ve helped unlock local power, especially in communities that have historically been excluded from philanthropy. Their work has always centered equity, trust, and local voice.

Brooklyn Org’s partnership is supporting three major areas of our work: funding 10 microgrants in the borough, fostering connection among nonprofits through co-hosted convenings, workshops, and peer-learning opportunities boroughwide,  and increasing the visibility of Brooklyn’s grassroots leaders through joint storytelling efforts, media outreach, and events to open doors to larger opportunities, partnerships, and policy impact.

We’re reimagining what infrastructure looks like when it’s designed from the bottom up and put in the hands of local leaders, and we’re doing it right here in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn is one of the most civically engaged places in the country. From Canarsie to Crown Heights, Boerum Hill to Bay Ridge, neighborhood-based leaders are mobilizing to build resilience and joy, often with limited resources and limited recognition. CitizensNYC’s 2024 Brooklyn grantees included groups creating platforms for neighborhood storytelling, building police-community dialogue, and screening Studio Ghibli films in NYCHA housing. These projects are as diverse as Brooklyn itself—but they share something crucial: local roots and bold ambition.

Our new cohort of Brooklyn grantees, funded with support from Brooklyn Org, is made up of 10 extraordinary organizations receiving grants of $3,500 each:

• BADA Community Development Corporation (Crown Heights)
  Empowering Black and Brown trans individuals through a 17-week entrepreneur training program that blends business development, mentorship, legal support, and wellness care.
• Crown Heights CARE Collective (Crown Heights)
  Expanding block associations through public summits and an online directory to create safer, more connected neighborhoods.
• Friends of Abolitionist Place (East Flatbush)
  Honoring Brooklyn’s Black liberation legacy through expanded walking tours and advancing plans for a community-centered heritage space.
• GayRidge (Bay Ridge)
  Creating a joyful, intergenerational Queer Prom that centers belonging and safety for LGBTQ+ Brooklynites.
• Gowanus Mutual Aid (Boerum Hill)
  Delivering fresh, regional produce to NYCHA residents while supporting local farms and food sovereignty.
• Isabahlia Ladies of Elegance Foundation (Brownsville)
  Hosting a Healthy Food Fair with cooking demos and nutrition education to combat diet-related illness and promote health equity.
• Prospect Lefferts Gardens Heritage Council (PLG)
  Beautifying Midwood Street with planters and roses while deepening neighborhood pride and cultural heritage.
• Rockaway Parkway Merchants Association (Canarsie)
  Rebuilding and growing small businesses through monthly workshops, lease/legal help, and neighborhood networking.
• South Brooklyn Sanctuary (Sunset Park)
  Running weekly Know Your Rights clinics for immigrants that provide legal info, peer support, and attorney access.
• Stoop Stories (Boerum Hill)
  Producing an intergenerational film to reduce isolation, spark storytelling, and build deeper connection between neighbors.

These are part of a longer arc of people stepping up, staying present, and building power where they live. Our job is to show up with them.

Our work with Brooklyn Org is rooted in shared values: trust in local leadership, a belief in bottom-up change, and a commitment to racial and economic justice. And it’s built on a shared vision of the future—a Brooklyn where small grassroots groups have just as much access to funding, support, and visibility as the city’s largest institutions.

We’re proud to be walking this path together.

More updates are on the way—including highlights from our spring convenings and the leadership development workshops kicking off later this year. For now, we want to thank the partners, grantees, and community members already doing the work. You’re the reason what we do matters.

Let’s get to it.