Brooklyn Org awards $500K in grants to organizations

BOROUGHWIDE — BROOKLYN ORG IS PROVIDING NEARLY HALF A MILLION DOLLARS through its Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn Campaign to organizations that bolster family stability, immigrant and older adult services, legal rights, and neighborhood resilience. The Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn Campaign will fund 12 non-profits around the borough as part of its first round of grants. Each organization is receiving $40,000 in general operating support grants to strengthen the essential services they provide to Brooklyn communities, which have been impacted by federal policy changes over the past year.

Brooklyn Org launched the Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn campaign in July of 2025 to meet growing community needs amid federal funding cuts, escalating immigration enforcement and restrictions on programs and services for marginalized communities. The two award categories are Protecting Families and Protecting Rights.

The organizations receiving Protecting Families grants are the Arab American Family Support Center; Center for Family Life; the Coney Island Lighthouse Mission, which operates a community food pantry and after-school support; the Council of Peoples Organization, which serves Muslim, South Asian and local immigrant communities in southern Brooklyn; Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation; the Flatbush Development Corporation; the Power of Two, which supports caregivers to children; and the Hook Initiative.

The Protecting Rights grant recipients serve as critical lines of defense through advocacy, litigation and direct support to Brooklynites as fundamental rights erode for Brooklyn’s most vulnerable residents, the organization said. Receiving these grants are LiveOnNY, which advocates for elderly persons; Brooklyn Defender Services; New York Immigration Coalition; and the Osborne Association, which helps justice-impacted persons rebuild their lives.

The effort aims to raise $5 million throughout the year to expand its strategic community-led grantmaking by 25%. Gifts to the campaign directly fuel grants, programs and impact across the borough.

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