2022 Grant Recipients
In 2022, the Beacon group made grants totaling $120.2k to 8 nonprofit organizations.
THE BRAVE HOUSE
The Brave House is a community of support for young immigrant women and gender-expansive youth, ages 16-24, in New York City, with a focus on survivors of gender-based violence. They provide free legal aid, community events, and holistic services, including leadership training, one-on-one advocacy, wellness classes, job and school assistance, support for new and expecting moms, and much more. As the first and only non-profit in NYC to work specifically with young immigrant women and gender-expansive youth, the Brave House provides tailored services designed for this population. This focus helps facilitate a cohesive community, specialized legal strategies, and impactful events. The youth they work with co-create, lead, and design their programs. They believe that the impacted population should be at the forefront of decision-making.
CULTURE FOR ONE
Culture for One was created in 2010, when our Founder Linn Tanzman invited Kadijah, a young woman in foster care, to a Broadway show and out for a meal, in partnership with a local foster care agency. The impact this event had on both Kadijah and Linn motivated Linn to expand this opportunity to many more children in New York City’s foster care system. That year, 2010, Culture For One brought 53 children to the arts, and arts to the children. Today, they serve over 2,000 of New York City’s children in foster care each year. They offer four programs for children living in residences and in foster homes: Cultural Excursions, Family ArTogether, Creative Arts Workshops, and Individual Arts Scholarships. There is no other non-profit in New York City devoted to ensuring that children in foster care have access to arts and cultural programming.
DRAMA CLUB
Drama Club’s mission is to consistently care for youth who are incarcerated and court-involved by creating space for them to thrive, using improv as their guide. Drama Club participants come from all 5 boroughs of NYC. Their classes aren’t about becoming professional actors, but rather it’s about the joy of finding new friends in unexpected places. Drama Club is a space for young people to fully be themselves — no strings attached. Their workshops are based on the science of play and utilize improv and theater games. While the act of making theater is therapeutic and their curriculum is trauma-informed, it does not seek to be drama therapy. Instead, they make space for young people to discover the freedom of their own creative agency. Their performances are powerful not only for youth but also for their families when they see their loved ones modeling perseverance and being positively validated in front of an audience. Acting without a script is vulnerable and helps everyone see humanity in others. In the words of a Rikers Island Corrections Officer: “I’ve never seen them so free.”
GROUNDSWELL
Groundswell is a NYC-based organization that brings together youth, artists, and community organizations to use art as a tool for social change, for a more just and equitable world. In 1996, a group of New York City artists, educators, and activists founded Groundswell with the belief that collaborative art-making combines personal expression with the strength of community activism—and produces unique and powerful outcomes. Twenty years later, 500 murals have been completed by Groundswell, working with youth and teaching artists in collaboration with hundreds of community-based organizations, neighborhood groups, and government agencies throughout New York City. The collaborative process behind these compelling artworks demonstrate our enduring belief that art creates community and community creates change. Their five hundred murals in all five boroughs are only the final product of comprehensive youth, community and artistic development initiatives. They strive to infuse these initiatives with elements of social justice and activism to amplify the individuals we interact with daily.
HARLEM GROWN
Harlem Grown is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire youth to lead healthy and ambitious lives through mentorship and hands-on education in urban farming, sustainability, and nutrition. Since 2011, they've operated local urban farms, increased access to and knowledge of healthy food for Harlem residents, and provided farm-based development programs to Harlem youth. Healthy habits start young, which is why their programs target elementary-aged students. Because food justice is more than just providing and distributing food, their model seeks to positively impact the entire community through mentorship, education, and partnerships to create sustainable change. One of the many ways they fulfill their mission is by raising support for the physical renovation of abandoned lots in Harlem, transforming them into thriving urban farms. Currently, they have 13 urban agriculture facilities ranging from soil-based farms, hydroponic greenhouses and school gardens.
HOPELINE
The HopeLine provides an ever-evolving family assistance program that, through the years, has offered various services from ESL classes to home health aid training, and food security to baby care. Their services are established with their mission in mind–to intervene in the cycle of poverty by meeting the basic needs of disadvantaged families and helping empower those living in the South Bronx. Originally founded as The Resource Center for Community Development in 1990, it established itself as one of the first multifaceted centers that catered to Hispanic immigrants. Then the South Bronx experienced one of the worst fires in Bronx history–the Happy Land fire. It was in direct response to this fire that the Resource Center became The HopeLine, a beacon of hope for those affected by this tragedy. Born out of the ever-pressing need for mainly immigrants to have a place to call for help, The HopeLine became a referral line to connect more people directly to the services they really needed to live better lives. The HopeLines was at first an extension of the Resource Center, but soon became the name it is known by today. For those that speak Spanish, it is “La Linea de la Esperenza,” but even they call it simply HopeLine.
IMMIGRANT ADVOCATES RESPONSE COLLABORATIVE
The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights ("Young Center") is a Chicago-based non-profit with offices in Texas, Arizona, California, Washington, D.C, and New York. The Center's mission has been to protect and advance the rights and interests of immigrant children according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and state and federal law. The Young Center is a champion for the interests of children who arrive in the United States on their own, from all corners of the world.
This grant will support the New York office which provides services to more than 175 unaccompanied and separated immigrant children a year in deportation proceedings within and around the NY Area. They serve children as young as infants, and as old as 17. The grant will be used for direct services work in New York.
THE URBAN WILD
The Urban Wild, d/b/a Change Food for Good, is a New York City-based nonprofit organization that began as a grassroots, volunteer-led effort with a desire to radically change the food landscape of New York City. They saw that the tools that could alleviate poverty and food insecurity were not accessible to the communities most impacted by it - in New York City and abroad and decided to bring modern farming practices and agricultural technology to their communities and in the process, help up-skill young jobseekers to fill the gainful employment roles emerging from this booming sector. Their goal is to reshape the local food economy, to create pathways into these emerging sectors, and advance economic mobility. In addition to other services, they provide hands-on, interdisciplinary training for young adults (18-24 years old) interested in gaining agriculture, construction, and technology skills - free of charge for participants earning less than $40,000/year and work with New York City's schools, community-based organizations, and community gardens to build and maintain community smart farms, food hubs and green spaces.They aim to provide free workshops & training to 1500 individuals, secure 250 job placements for their alumni, and help build 100 green spaces & farms by 2025.
