{"id":207175,"date":"2026-04-23T13:20:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207175\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T13:20:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:20:37","slug":"brooklyn-org-awards-first-round-of-microgrants-to-38-local-nonprofits-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207175\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Org awards first round of microgrants to 38 local nonprofits \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brooklyn Org this week announced the first round of recipients of its Brooklyn Org Microgrants<\/a>, a new funding stream designed to strengthen smaller Brooklyn-based nonprofits.<\/p>\n

The microgrants program complements Brooklyn Org\u2019s existing Donor Advised Fund grantmaking and Strategic Grants program for organizations with budgets exceeding $100,000. The new stream supports smaller Brooklyn-based nonprofit and grassroots groups with annual budgets under $100,000 that might not otherwise qualify for larger grant opportunities.<\/p>\n

Dr. Jocelynne Rainey, president and CEO of Brooklyn Org, said the smallest organizations often have the most powerful ideas and solutions for their communities\u2019 needs.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough our Microgrants program, we are proud to invest in these grassroots leaders who are building community power and delivering critical services across Brooklyn,\u201d Rainey said.\n<\/p>\n

The 38 recipients of the first round of microgrants, which provide awards of up to $10,000, are:\n<\/p>\n

afrolatin@ forum
\nAlfreda\u2019s Picture Show
\nArts & Democracy
\nBlack Diaspora Liberty Initiative (BDLI)
\nBrooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival
\nBrooklyn Community Kitchen
\nCentral Asian Foundation
\nComo un lugar
\nFor The Better Inc.
\nGood Co. Cares
\nGowanus Mutual Aid
\nHealthJox Foundation
\nHeart, Body & Soul
\nIglesia Cristiana Pentecostal Movimiento Las Maravillas del \u00c9xodo
\nImani\u2019s Safehouse
\nIt\u2019s All Love Assisting Through Action (IALATA)
\nLoving You Into Freedom
\nMeals for Unity
\nMindfulness & S.T.E.A.M. Lab
\nMuscle Inspires New Empowerment (M.I.N.E.)
\n\u00d1a\u00f1os in Action
\nNew Sanctuary Coalition
\nNYC Trans Archives
\nParl\u00e9 Endeavors
\nPassive House for Everyone
\nPerennial Muse
\nPineapple Ride
\nPlaza Proletaria
\nPower Of We (POW!)
\nPrincess Chambers
\nReady, Set, Grow to Glow
\nReImagine Legacy
\nRooted Theater Company
\nRovaco Dance Company
\nTea Arts & Culture
\nUniquely Me Creative Arts
\nWoman Unsilenced
\nYadestiny Treasure Chest<\/p>\n

Power Of We (POW!)<\/a> is a free, inclusive weekly youth enrichment program in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, serving the whole family. It offers activities such as art, music, dance, soccer and storytime for children with developmental diagnoses like autism, ADHD, Down syndrome and other developmental differences, as well as neurotypical children, in an environment designed to accommodate individual needs.<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional youth programs, POW! does not require a diagnosis, and its programming is designed to address participants\u2019 sensory needs, offering calm-down spaces and activities for children who need breaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn New York there are lots of great youth enrichment programs that are mostly tailored for neurotypical kids, but there\u2019s not a lot out there that is inclusive and open and is accommodating for kids with and without diagnoses and with a wide range of different abilities,\u201d Jesse Laymon, the organization\u2019s executive director, told Brooklyn Paper, noting that over time children with developmental diagnoses became more comfortable and confident, and even discovered hidden talents, like a young participant with Down syndrome who discovered an affinity for the harmonica and now plays alongside the music teacher.<\/p>\n

\"\"Brooklyn Org supports local nonprofits and community-based organizations across the borough through philanthropic funding and grantmaking programs.File photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Thanks to the microgrant, the traditionally free program remains free for families and covers the costs of instructors, the program director and materials, Laymon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis micro grant certainly allowed us to tell the whole community of families and how that they could sign up for ongoing semesters, ongoing weeks at PAL, and not have to pay anything,\u201d Laymon explained.<\/p>\n

Passive House for Everyone<\/a> educates New York City public school students in grades K-12 on passive house principles through hands-on workshops and creative STEAM-based learning<\/a>. A passive house is a highly energy-efficient building designed to reduce carbon emissions through air sealing, high-performance windows and doors, thermal-bridge-free construction and balanced ventilation.<\/p>\n

In Cho, an architect and co-founder of Passive House for Everyone, told Brooklyn Paper that while designing passive houses for private clients, she wanted to make sustainable building technology accessible to all. The workshops teach students how building science can reduce energy costs, improve indoor air quality and make homes more climate-resilient.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two tracks,\u201d Cho explained. \u201cOne is where they combine science and art. And this is especially for the younger students in elementary school. We also have another track for high school students, particularly in what we call CTE schools, which is career technical education, and they\u2019re getting technical training. This is a pathway to prepare them for green careers, especially in the building sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, 100 schools are on the organization\u2019s waitlist for workshops. Thanks to the microgrant, it can \u201csay yes to more schools and to more students,\u201d Cho said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know public schools are stretched thin financially, so this allows us to continue delivering these workshops for free. It also allows us to build our capacity moving forward,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Cho\u2019s fellow co-founder and executive director of Passive House for Everyone, Caroline Zayas King, added: \u201cBrooklyn Org\u2019s Microgrant is major for us. It powers the behind-the-scenes work that is essential to our programming. With this funding, we can say \u2018yes\u2019 to more Brooklyn teachers and students. Also, attending their capacity-building series has already led to new collaborations with other organizations serving Brooklyn youth, so we can expand our reach together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Org this week announced the first round of recipients of its Brooklyn Org Microgrants, a new funding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,32496,13709,82129,82130,9,24,12,370,12702,63],"class_list":["post-207175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-brooklyn-nonprofit","tag-brooklyn-org","tag-brooklyn-org-microgrants","tag-microgrants","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-non-profit","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}