The Berk Foundation

February 10, 2016

Founded in 2011,  the goal of the organization is to use music as a vehicle for social change by engaging Union City’s at-risk children and youth in an afterschool program devoted to promoting arts appreciation, academic excellence, community awareness, and family involvement.  The grant will be used to expand a currently running successful program by providing resoruces to bring on 15 part-time teaching artisits.  The program is desgined to build self-confidence in the participants and provide performances to this underserved population.  The program includes parent training and involvements, international musicians, mentoring and reinorces student commitement.

Total Grant: $5,000

February 10, 2016

Founded in February 2015, Restorative Justice Initiative (RJI) seeks to increase access to restorative justice processes for all New Yorkers. Restorative justice is a community-based healing practice that addresses harm and conflict by centering relationships. Restorative justice allows for a nuanced inquiry into the causes and conditions that engender harm from the personal to the structural, while fostering meaningful accountability. RJI was built based on the recognition by local restorative justice practitioners and supporters, that New York is not currently—but can and should be—a leader in the field. This grant will help launch a youth leadership development and organizing project focused on providing restorative justice training and opportunities to learn from peers about how restorative justice can disrupt the school-to-prison-pipeline.

Total Grant: $5,100

February 10, 2016

Founded in July 2013 by Kenneth Acquah, Hope for Us works with youth in an effort to improve their living conditions. Ultimately, supplying children with a better life is the goal. Sickle Cell Anemia is an inherited disease that affects the blood cells. With no known cure, Sickle Cell influences the lives of many families, including Acquah’s. By providing children with recreational activities such as art and music classes, Hope for Us in turn provides assistance to those affected with sickle cell disease.  The grant will help fund the full year implementation of a 2015 pilot program that allows young children to explore art.  The program's goals are to encourage creativity and build self-confidence.

Total Grant: $3,000

February 10, 2016

Founded in 2005 by dancer / choreographer/ master teacher Naomi Goldberg Haas, DVP is a multigenerational dance company and educational organization promoting strong and creative movement among all people with a special focus on older adults. The grant will fund the continuation of the Phoenix Project that brings in older professional dancers who work with seniors to do public performances around the city.  First executed successfully in 2015, the presence of well known dancers brings much needed attention to the need for elders to dance, move and improve their balance.

Total Grant: $6,000

June 1, 2014

CO/LAB Theater Group is a non-profit organization dedicated to providingCreative Opportunities without Limits AndBoundaries. CO/LAB exists to offer individuals with developmental disabilities a creative and social outlet through theater arts.  The group promotes  building  self-esteem among participants and teaching artists alike. They seek to honor and celebrate the individual, transcending the label of a disability.  Our grant will allow them to provide 2 free acting classes to 24 actors in their program.

June 1, 2014

The Resolution Project was founded by a group of young professionals who had attended youth leadership summits as university students and had been frustrated with being the “leaders of tomorrow.”  They realised that there was a lack of the necessary support and mentor network to fully develop into those leaders.  Through multiple programs and fellowships, The Resolution Project seeks to help support these individuals to become those leaders.  Our grant will help them formalize, scale, and launch a new mentorship system.

June 1, 2014

The mission of PAWS NY is to preserve, support, and nurture the human-animal bond for New York City’s most vulnerable residents. Their programs help keep pets in their homes while protecting and promoting the human-animal bond that is so physically and psychologically valuable to our clients.  They envision a society that honors the vital role that pets have on the lives and well-being of humans, where a lack of ability never threatens to separate humans from their animal companions, and where the physical, emotional and social benefits of the human-animal bond are incorporated into health care and social services.  Our grant will allow PAWS NY to exapnd their current services in NY. 

June 1, 2014

Smack Mellon is a nonprofit arts organization located in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Smack Mellon's mission is to nurture and support emerging, under-recognized mid-career and women artists in the creation and exhibition of new work, by providing exhibition opportunities, studio workspace, and access to equipment and technical assistance for the realization of ambitious projects. They see themselves as a vehicle whereby under-represented artists can create, explore and exhibit their creative ideas outside the concerns of the commercial art world, offering many artists the exposure and recognition they deserve.  Our grant helped to support their 2013-2014 Art Ready intiative that provided an intimate introduction to the arts for 20 high school students.

June 1, 2014

The mission of the Long Island Alzheimer's Foundation (LIAF) is to improve the quality of life for those living with alzheimer's disease and related forms of dementia and their families.  LIAF has developed a reputation for excellent services provided by a caring and highly qualified staff. To carry out its mission, LIAF combines a supportive and welcoming environment with state-of-the-art Alzheimer's disease programs, social events, comprehensive caregiver programs, in-home respite featuring cognitive stimulation activities and an array of educational workshops and conferences. LIAF’s caring and supportive environment gives participants and caregivers a space to relax and share their journey with Alzheimer's disease with other people experiencing similar situations and challenges.  Our grant was given in memory of Robert Levien

October 1, 2013

Urban Creators is an urban gardening organization that mobilizes often disenfranchised members of a community to develop gardens and greenhouses on vacant lots in poor areas.  Specialty produce is sold to restaurants producing revenue that helps pay for expenses.  

The organization has been extremely successful in Philidelphia.  The grant will provide funding for expansion into New York City.  

October 1, 2013

This organization brings theater, writing and acting to incarcerated individuals to help them build empathy, communication skills, and teamwork/compromise techniques.    Inmates involved in the program have lower recidivism rates than other prisoners.  The grant will provide funding for system and software platforms to stream line the organizations activities as they look to expand the program.

October 1, 2013

This organization brings art of various kinds into cancer treatment wards, to engage and distract patients, their families and their medical professionals and caregivers.    The grant will provide funding to be used for a Spanish speaking instructor.

April 22, 2013

Girl Be Heard is an organization that takes young women from very troubled and dysfunctional backgrounds who are exceptionally talented in singing, acting and dancing and provides training and mentoring while these girls pursue professional careers.   The young women write and perform plays around the country on issues of concern to women.   The grant will provide funding for expansion of after school programs and touring expenses.