![]() ![]() It’s things you don’t necessarily think about - not the ‘needs’ of people that we read about, but the real needs,” she said.Īnother major outcome of the Brooklyn Elders Fund’s insights meetings? Lowering the age of elder giving from 65 to 50, a change that community members pushed for. They make the decisions because they can say, ‘This is programming that works and that we need.’ You learn details and get intelligence from people who live in those communities and know about their population. “It allows us to learn what that population really needs. ![]() She believes philanthropy as a whole should “double down” on its commitment to participatory grantmaking. ![]() It is a lot, admitted Jocelynne Rainey, who came on board as president and CEO of BCF in 2021, after much of this work had already begun. To some, this may sound like a lot of time and money spent to decide what to fund. The Brooklyn Elders Fund currently funds 13 Brooklyn-based nonprofits that address these issues, giving each one general operating support grants of $45,000 per year over three years. These conversations directly shaped the giving of the Brooklyn Elders Fund, leading it to focus on its three current priorities: aging in place, promoting elders’ rights, and improving access to government benefits and entitlements. It also solicited additional input from homebound seniors. In 2019, the newly formed Brooklyn Elders Fund held 15 of these insights meetings in seven languages at senior centers throughout Brooklyn, with between five and 25 people in each. Out of the $13 million BCF channeled to charitable organizations in 2021, nearly $5 million went to strategic, discretionary funding for nonprofits addressing BCF’s five core concerns: elders, youth, immigrants’ rights, wellness and recovery, and the racial-justice-focused Spark Prize.Īfter encountering success with the elder community council, the foundation has created similar community-led advisory councils across all five of its core funding areas - a bold move to shift grantmaking power to community decision-makers.īCF kicked off its effort to center community engagement across its work with a set of conversations called “insights meetings.” These focus-group-like get-togethers were designed to let people across the borough share their ideas and concerns. Its participatory approach empowers residents like Jackson, who, in her role, helps steer the Brooklyn Elders Fund’s $600,000 in annual giving. But it’s also using the nimbleness that can come with being a relatively new community foundation to pioneer a high-touch form of community-led giving. Jackson brings her lived experience to the Brooklyn Community Foundation’s Brooklyn Elders Fund Advisory Council, a participatory initiative designed to harness community knowledge in grantmaking decisions and share power with the people touched by the foundation’s work.įounded in 2009, the Brooklyn Community Foundation is perhaps best known for its commitment to racial justice and for applying that lens to all its work. “From my perspective, it’s important to have people who have awareness of the needs in the community.” I know what the experience is,” Jackson said. “I know what some of the restrictions are and the challenges of people in the community. Selma Jackson, 77, lives in supportive housing in Brooklyn and has been a resident of the borough much of her life. ![]()
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