Opinion: Funding The First Step to Community-Led Change

"Sometimes, all it takes is a few thousand dollars and someone who believes in you. At CitizensNYC, we've spent 50 years investing in that kind of possibility. With grants of up to $5,000 and capacity-building support, we don't just back ideas. We make long-term commitments to community leaders-investing in their success through coaching, skill-building workshops, affinity groups, larger convenings, collaborative projects, and connections to other private and public funding opportunities. This multi-pronged approach leads to something powerful: sustainable, community-led change."

"In philanthropy, scale is often talked about in millions of dollars. But the reality is that some of the most transformative projects in New York City start with much less. Our grantee partners begin with limited infrastructure, small budgets, and big ideas. What they lack in resources, they more than make up for in vision and understanding of local needs. And when they succeed, which they do, time and time again, it's not just their communities that benefit. It's the entire city."

"Two of our longtime partners, Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project and Think!Chinatown, offer a window into what this growth looks like. When Darnell Benoit founded Flanbwayan in 2004, she was a teacher trying to help newly arrived Haitian students navigate New York's public school system. She had no formal nonprofit training-just a deep understanding of what her students needed and a desire to build something better."

CitizensNYC provides microgrants of up to $5,000 alongside capacity-building support to local leaders rooted in their communities. The organization offers coaching, skill-building workshops, affinity groups, convenings, collaborative projects, and connections to other funding opportunities, forming long-term commitments to grantee success. Grantee partners often begin with limited infrastructure and small budgets but possess deep local knowledge and vision. Early, modest investments frequently grow into transformative, sustainable, community-led initiatives that benefit neighborhoods and, cumulatively, the entire city. Examples include longtime partners such as Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project and Think!Chinatown.

Read at City Limits