Local Youth Leadership Programs Receive Thousands In Grants From Brooklyn Community Foundation
Youth education, leadership, and employment programs in South Slope, 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:
• $25,000 for Turning Point Brooklyn for the development and empowerment of youth in Sunset Park through classroom instruction, case management services, and extracurricular activities focused on building advocacy and leadership skills and mentoring relationships, as well as support for their shelter for young women.
• $35,000 for UPROSE for community organizing, community-building, public education, and leadership programs for youth that advance environmental sustainability and resiliency in Sunset Park.
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 projects funded include the $25,000 for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden‘s Garden Apprentice Program and $30,000 for Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy, which focuses on helping “Central Brooklyn youth deepen their cultural identity, build assets, save money for college, develop artistic, personal and leadership skills, and advocate for solutions to pressing social justice issues.”
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.”