Who We Back

Provides high-quality pro-bono housing, family and end-of-life legal services, community legal workshops, and pro-bono training for attorneys and legal interns.

Cultivates awareness for Blackness within Latinidad by advancing research, public education, policy advocacy, and community dialogue that elevate the experiences and leadership of Afro-descendant Latinx communities.

Supports healthy aging and addresses isolation among older adults in Central Brooklyn, including a large community of Black elders, with cultural and social outings, scam-prevention and health education workshops, advocating for safe public transit options, and physical fitness activities like dance and yoga.

Operates a micro-cinema in Brooklyn that uplifts filmmakers of color through screenings and fellowships that center historically underrepresented stories.

Provides cultural, linguistic, and trauma-informed social services to immigrant and refugee families through adult education, youth enrichment, legal support, mental health counseling, and support enrolling in benefits and navigating critical services.

Supported through our Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn campaign to meet the moment, with a focus on protecting families.

Brings artists, organizers, and policymakers together through workshops, learning exchanges, convenings, and partnerships that use arts and culture as tools for civic engagement and social justice.

Improves the well-being of the pan-Asian American community – especially older adults, small business owners, and immigrants – through research, policy advocacy, public awareness, and capacity-building for nonprofits.

Provides emergency shelter, advocacy, and mental health and housing support for survivors of domestic violence from Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian communities in Brooklyn. The center delivers culturally sensitive survivor-led care using a model built on community trust, partnerships with local mosques and organizers, and pathways that help families move from crisis to safety, healing, and leadership.

Offers trauma-informed mentorship and healing programs that help Black and Latino young men in Bed-Stuy, Brownsville, and Bushwick build emotional resilience and leadership skills. Through summer camps, rites of passage groups, fatherhood workshops, and facilitated spaces for reflection and connection, The B.R.O. Experience Foundation supports young people in building coping skills, stronger relationships, and a sense of purpose.

Empowers BIPOC transgender individuals through a 17-week Future Entrepreneurs Empowerment Program offering business training, legal aid, mentorship, and wellness resources at Brooklyn Community Pride Center.

This grant was made in partnership with CitizensNYC.

Expands economic opportunity in Central Brooklyn through workforce development, financial empowerment, and community-based programming, connecting residents to careers in growing industries including energy.

Supported through our Brooklyn Energy Initiative, a partnership with the National Grid Foundation, focused on expanding pathways into energy careers.

Provides transitional housing, legal and mental health referrals, leadership training, and political education for Black LGBTQ+ immigrants while organizing advocacy campaigns for immigrant and LGBTQ+ rights.

Develops action-focused research and policy advocacy that centers the experience of BIPOC communities to help shape public discourse around public education, the environment, immigration, and economics.

Supports Black trans femme artists in Brooklyn through community-led programming, event production, and mutual aid that meet both creative and material needs. By offering residencies, emergency grants, free studio space, and public platforms for performance and storytelling—from ballroom events to a hit YouTube series—BTFA invests directly in artists and the sustainability of their creative lives.

Supports veterans with housing assistance, financial coaching, food access, and help navigating complex government benefits, ensuring Black veterans and veteran families of all backgrounds across Brooklyn receive comprehensive and dignified care.

Supports Central Brooklyn homeowners and renters with housing stability services, providing hands-on guidance to access energy efficiency programs, navigate rebates, and make informed home retrofit decisions.

Supported through our Brooklyn Energy Initiative, a partnership with the National Grid Foundation, focused on energy affordability and housing stability.

Showcases Caribbean writers and storytelling traditions through public literary events, workshops, literary prizes, and a podcast archive to amplify Caribbean voices across Brooklyn and the diaspora.

Prepares and serves free weekly meals for food-insecure and unhoused Brooklyn residents, using donated produce and creating a welcoming community gathering space while reducing food waste.

Advances lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer liberation by celebrating, commemorating, and convening LGBTQ+ Brooklyn through socially conscious and culturally responsive programs, partnerships, and advocacy.

Represents Brooklyn residents in criminal and family court while providing wraparound immigration and civil legal services, pairing public defense representation with advocacy work to protect families and address the ripple effects of involvement in the criminal legal system.

Supported through our Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn campaign to meet the moment, with a focus on protecting rights.

Combines a grocery-style pantry, benefits outreach, and community farming initiatives to strengthen neighborhood food access, empower residents to steward land and resources, and transform the local food system in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Provides personal care, home health, and housekeeping services through a care management approach to older adults and residents with disabilities in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Expands food access through a city-wide pantry network, home grocery delivery, and community farms that double as job training sites, supporting low-income families and communities disproportionately impacted by food insecurity.

Builds domestic worker and nanny coalitions in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens to advocate for fair wages and labor rights, providing trainings and certifications and strengthening worker protections with community-led solutions and affordable housing.

Serves as a trusted Sunset Park hub for culturally responsive services by pairing counseling and cultural programming with employment support, benefits access, emergency food services, and school-based youth and family programming for immigrant communities.

Supported through our Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn campaign to meet the moment, with a focus on protecting families.

Provides legal advocacy, conducts community education campaigns, facilitates research, and builds organizing capacity on behalf of Black New Yorkers and other marginalized groups.

Equips Central Asian immigrants with legal support, education and workforce training, youth programs, and social services that ease their transition to life in the United States.

Works towards housing justice and community empowerment through political organizing, youth engagement, and social services, especially for low-income immigrant communities of color.

Prepares young people to run restorative justice circles that address school conflicts before they escalate, teaching peer facilitation, mediation, and accountability; and builds youth voice to advocate for citywide education policies.

Organizes poetry festivals, multilingual poetry workshops, and open-access publishing projects that connect Latin American poets and immigrant artists across Brooklyn and the Global South.

Provides a vital safety net in Coney Island by delivering reliable food pantry services for thousands of families each month, while also offering benefits navigation and afterschool support for children in a community with limited nearby services.

Supported through our Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn campaign to meet the moment, with a focus on protecting families.

Provides thousands of low-income families passes for unlimited free access to dozens of cultural institutions citywide—museums, history and science centers, zoos, and more—and hosts neighborhood “Culture Clubs,” where families can experience and create art, connecting with educators and artists.

Supports South Brooklyn’s immigrant, South Asian, and Muslim families with case management that connects neighbors to benefits, emergency food, and mental health services, alongside immigration legal support and ESL and citizenship classes.

Supported through our Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn campaign to meet the moment, with a focus on protecting families.

Strengthens and expands block associations across Crown Heights through organizing support, public summits, and an online directory to foster safer, more connected neighborhoods.

This grant was made in partnership with CitizensNYC.

Serves as an essential neighborhood anchor in Cypress Hills and East New York, connecting families to childcare, youth programming, food access, and health supports through community centers and place-based services that reduce gaps in the local safety net.

Supported through our Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn campaign to meet the moment, with a focus on protecting families.

Publishes community-led journalism for and about immigrants across New York City to advocate for immigrant rights through policy change, demands for accountability, and research.

Provides formerly incarcerated young people with four-month paid learning and skills-building fellowships that equip them with the tools to succeed in the food service industry and become leaders in their community.

Secures community ownership of housing and land to fight displacement in East New York, with resident-led organizing and advocacy that aims to foster long-term neighborhood stability.

Works to end immigration detention and pretrial jailing, freeing people through bond payments, supporting them after release, and building power in the communities most impacted by the criminal legal system.

Combines direct aid and maternal health advocacy to meet immediate needs and address systemic inequities impacting families in East New York, providing essentials like food, menstrual supplies, and diapers through their Diaper Bank.

Works to end wrongful convictions by advocating for policy reform, supporting exonerees and their families with casework, and building a fairer criminal justice system rooted in racial justice and equity.

Supports families and children affected by crisis, illness, or loss through legal support for custody and eviction, HIV/AIDS prevention services, and mental health services.

Combines organizing, advocacy, and direct services to promote equitable and affordable housing, with programs that include financial coaching, free tax preparation, and support navigating government assistance and benefits for low- and moderate- income communities.

Helps Flatbush and East Flatbush families weather rising costs by offering emergency food assistance, benefits and case management support, tenant organizing through the Flatbush Tenant Coalition, and small business help that strengthens local stability.

Supported through our Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn campaign to meet the moment, with a focus on protecting families.

Cultivates youth health ambassadors through nutrition education, cooking classes, fitness programs, and community wellness events that support healthier lifestyles across Brooklyn neighborhoods.

Stewards Fort Greene Park as a public space where neighbors gather, connect, and enjoy nature through arts, wellness, and environmental programs, youth internships, and community partnerships.

Expands Mama Joy Abolitionist Walking Tours to celebrate Downtown Brooklyn’s Black liberation history and advances plans to establish an Abolitionist Heritage Center.

This grant was made in partnership with CitizensNYC.

Creates a joyful, inclusive Queer Prom where LGBTQ+ people of all ages can safely dance, celebrate, and connect in a space that affirms their identities.

This grant was made in partnership with CitizensNYC.

Ensures that NYC youth have a safe place to achieve academic excellence, be community leaders, and maintain healthy lifestyles, and strives to eliminate sex discrimination through community organizing.

Provides accessible, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed mental health and education services to immigrants and underserved residents, including crisis intervention and harm reduction for those struggling with substance misuse.