Local Immigrant Youth Orgs Among Brooklyn Community Foundation Grant Recipients
Youth education, leadership, and employment programs in Bensonhurst, Sunset Park and in Brooklyn at large, are getting some much-needed support thanks to $2 million in grants from Brooklyn Community Foundation (BCF).
Specifically, BCF has designated $20,000 for United Chinese Association of Brooklyn‘s Youth Leadership Team, which develops leadership, civic engagement, and advocacy among underserved Asian immigrant students in Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Sunset Park and Bath Beach; and $30,000 for Youth Stand: Coney Island, a project spearheaded by Brooklyn Community Services that engages young people in activities to help them develop job skills, improve their academic performance, and become community, with a focus on serving immigrant youth.
CASES‘ Brooklyn Youth Justice Programs in Downtown Brooklyn, Bed-Stuy, and Coney Island also received $35,000 to support prevention efforts to keep youth away from the criminal justice system, via education, employment, behavioral health treatment, community service, and access to local resources.
Other nearby funded project include $20,000 for Mixteca, a Mexican and Latin-American immigrant organization, to “expand immigrant advocacy work, community building and organizing, and skills-building programs.” and $30,000 for Council of Peoples Organization for its Join In, Find Out high school after-school program, which
“provides South Asian and Muslim immigrant and second generation students in Flatbush and Midwood with resources and support needed to address the pressures of family, assimilation, and education.”
Almost half a million Brooklyn residents are between the ages of 16 and 24—more than 35% of whom live below the federal poverty line. Over 40% of Brooklynites are foreign-born and half of all households’ speak a language other than English. In some neighborhoods, nearly 40% of youth are not in school and not working. Citywide, one in four incarcerated youth come from just six Brooklyn neighborhoods.
“We believe that by investing heavily in Brooklyn’s youth we are investing in a better future for Brooklyn—one that is vastly more equitable and offers more opportunity for all,” said BCF President/CEO Cecilia Clarke. “Right now, half a million young people are utterly disconnected from Brooklyn’s growing prosperity and influence. But we can change that by elevating our most vulnerable youth and helping them realize their own potential to lead our borough forward.”
[With additional reporting by Rachel Silberstein]