At Neighbors Together, we envision a future in which emergency food programs are obsolete.
Neighbors Together is a dynamic soup kitchen, social service and community advocacy center located in the heart of Brooklyn. We are committed to ending hunger and poverty in Ocean Hill, Brownsville, and Bedford-Stuyvesant three of the lowest-income areas in New York City.
As a member-led organization, our services, programs and organizing campaigns flow directly from the stated needs of our members. Our mission of not just fighting, but ending hunger and poverty is deeply grounded in a belief in the dignity and potential of each person to be a vital part of creating a more just society.
Neighbors Together opened its doors on October 25, 1982, founded by a group of Catholic nuns and local residents who saw that more and more people were unable to make ends meet in their community.
Neighbors Together opened its doors on October 25, 1982, founded by a group of Catholic nuns and local residents who saw that more and more people were unable to make ends meet in their community.
They had no idea that despite their efforts, hunger would increase over the next 40 years.
Today, New York City’s deepening affordable housing and homelessness crisis, the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, gentrification, sustained inflation, exorbitant food prices, and the influx of asylum seekers into central Brooklyn have led to a dramatic increase in the demand for Neighbors Together’s meals and mounting requests for help finding affordable housing.
In 2023, the cost of rent in New York City rose seven (7) times faster than wages, and the cost of food increased by 25%. Our low-income neighbors face the impossible choice between paying rent or feeding their families. Most people who come through our doors are in critical need of stable, safe, affordable housing.
We know firsthand that hunger and homelessness are symptoms of poverty. At Neighbors Together, we believe that our three-program approach that combines direct life-stabilizing services and member-led work for systemic policy change is needed to end hunger, homelessness and poverty.
Since 2020, our Community Café has provided more than 330,000 nutritious meals, reaching over 40,000 men, women and children experiencing food insecurity. Our Empowerment Program has offered life-stabilizing resources to over 1,300 members, including housing advocacy services to 700 members. Our team has successfully placed over 100 individuals and families in safe, affordable, permanent housing despite skyrocketing rents and NYC’s high cost of living. Our organizing campaigns have engaged over 1,200 members in policy advocacy efforts.
Our Values and Vision
Ensure that our members have stable and sufficient income, safe affordable housing, nutritious food, quality health and mental health care and other stabilizing social supports.
Promote the leadership development and participation of low-income people in shaping anti-poverty and anti-hunger policies.
Create a model for integrating community organizing and direct service delivery that can be shared with emergency food and social service providers to actively engage their clients in the political process.
We want you to be a part of what we’re doing. Here’s how you can help: