On April 26th we woke up with thrilling news: The GoVoteNYC Fund in The New York Community Trust announced $1 million in grants to nine nonprofits for nonpartisan get-out-the-vote education and activities.
The grantees include The Hispanic Federation, MinKwon Center for Community Action, New York City Employment & Training Coalition, New York Civic Engagement Table, New York Immigration Coalition, Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, and the city’s three public library systems—New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Public Library. The groups will conduct intensive get-out-the-vote activities and ranked-choice voting education, produce candidate forums and guides, and deliver language-specific events and materials to diverse New Yorkers. Hester Street and F.Y. Eye—will receive grants to support the work of the other organization as technical assistance providers.
This cohort works directly with more than 60 community and citywide groups and has a presence in more than 200 neighborhoods. They aim to build off of unprecedented levels of get-out-the-count efforts for the 2020 census and voter mobilization for the November 2020 election and create a robust nonpartisan infrastructure for consistently high voter participation in the 2021 primaries and future electoral processes.
This announcement shows the trust that funders and key actors in our democratic life have in nonprofits. In a way, nonprofits are the crafters that ground policies and promises that come from institutional levels-.
Nonprofits carry the power of great transformation through the organization, close and consistent work with their communities, and innovation.
In Hester Street we call it Civic power. The daily democracy that shapes promises and dreams into a thriving reality for the many, especially for those historically left out.
We celebrate this news by renovating our commitment and enthusiasm to contribute to achieving the goals of higher voter participation and strengthening the network that makes it possible.
We invite you to read the full note here.
