Brooklyn, NY, March 19, 2024: Today, MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving announced Neighbors Together as one of the Yield Giving Open Call’s awardees working with people and in places experiencing the greatest need in the United States. Neighbors Together received $1,000,000 million.
Founded in 1982, Neighbors Together is a dynamic soup kitchen and community center dedicated to ending hunger and poverty in Ocean Hill, Brownsville and Bedford-Stuyvesant, three of the lowest income areas in New York City. Neighbors Together serves over 100,000 nutritious meals through their Community Café annually, provides stabilizing social services through their Empowerment Program, and engages low-income New Yorkers in community organizing and policy advocacy at the city and state levels through their Community Action Program. For over 40 years, Neighbors Together has served as an anchor of stability and hope for over 12,000 men, women and children annually.
In March 2023, Yield Giving launched an Open Call for community-led, community-focused organizations whose explicit purpose is to enable individuals and families to achieve substantive improvement in their well-being through foundational resources.
“Neighbors Together is so honored to be selected as a Yield Giving Open Call awardee and to stand in solidarity with community-based nonprofits across the country working to advance social, racial and economic justice. Amid record homelessness and rising food insecurity in New York City, this $1 million award offers great hope and possibility as Neighbors Together works to sustain and grow our programs serving over 12,000 New Yorkers annually while advancing our vision of a future free from hunger and poverty”, said Denny Marsh, Executive Director at Neighbors Together.
The Open Call received 6,353 applications and initially planned for 250 awards of $1 million each. In the Fall of 2023, organizations top-rated by their peers advanced to a second round of review by an external Evaluation Panel recruited for experience relevant to this cause, and underwent a final round of due diligence. In light of the incredible work of these organizations, as judged by their peers and external panelists, the donor team decided to expand the awardee pool and the award amount.
“We are excited that our partnership with Yield Giving has resonated with so many organizations,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change. “In a world teeming with potential and talent, the Open Call has given us an opportunity to identify, uplift, and empower transformative organizations that often remain unseen.”
The impact of the Yield Giving Open Call award will be far reaching for Neighbors Together, allowing their small yet mighty team greater bandwidth to respond to the myriad needs facing low-income New Yorkers while strategically planning for the organization’s future. With this gift, Neighbors Together will continue to enhance their unique anti-poverty model of integrating direct services with grassroots organizing efforts, and supporting the full humanity of each person and family who comes to their doors while advancing systemic change.
More information on the Yield Giving Open Call and other initiatives can be found at www.leverforchange.org.
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Neighbors Together
Neighbors Together is a dynamic soup kitchen and community center dedicated to ending hunger and poverty in Ocean Hill, Brownsville and Bedford-Stuyvesant, three of the lowest-income areas in New York City. For over 40 years, Neighbors Together has served as an anchor of stability and hope for over 12,000 men, women and children annually.
Yield Giving
Established by MacKenzie Scott to share a financial fortune created through the effort of countless people, Yield Giving is named after a belief in adding value by giving up control. To date, Yield’s network of staff and advisors has yielded over $16,500,000,000 to 1,900+ non-profit teams to use as they see fit for the benefit of others. To learn more, visit www.yieldgiving.com.
Lever for Change
Lever for Change connects donors with bold solutions to the world’s biggest problems—including issues like racial inequity, gender inequality, lack of access to economic opportunity, and climate change. Using an inclusive, equitable model and due diligence process, Lever for Change creates customized challenges and other tailored funding opportunities. Top-ranked teams and challenge finalists become members of the Bold Solutions Network—a growing global network that helps secure additional funding, amplify members’ impact, and accelerate social change. Founded in 2019 as a nonprofit affiliate of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Lever for Change has influenced over $1.7 billion in grants to date and provided support to more than 145 organizations. To learn more, visit www.leverforchange.org.
